I have a lot of admiration for Diane Abbott.
A pioneer for black women in parliament, for her to have risen as far as she has in the face of the twin obstacles of racism and misogyny speaks to a canny and formidable political operator, for her to have held her ground in the warm beer and curly sandwiches Labour party of the 1980's speaks to her tenacity, courage and intelligence. She has been much traduced, unfairly vilified and highlighted by a media which has carried at times an only thinly veiled racist subtext. Which is why it was all the more disappointing to hear her making an absolute arse of herself about everyone's favourite toxic truth-seeker, Julian Assange, on the radio this morning.
You see, I get entirely why the Labour line has been to oppose the extradition of Assange to the US, her equivalence to the case of Gary MacKinnon has some merit, his crime there is essentially to have embarrassed the military, something which is generally to be applauded. It would be extremely off-brand for a Corbyn led Labour to oppose any manifestation of US imperialism. But that they've chosen to take this line without once mentioning the outstanding rape allegations is at best problematic and tin-eared, and at worst speaks to a politically dogmatic line which has no room for compromise.
Or, in another way, kinder gentler politics my arse. Just because he's on your side on one issue doesn't stop him being a scumbag. It was disappointing, when the allegations first surfaced, to see so many Assange supporters rush to deny them out of hand. The usual excuses and apologies which have grown so dog-eared down the years, they wanted it, it's not rape, she consented, they're lying. It was amazing how certain so many Wikileaks Bros were; no one, surely, could believe anything like that of St Julian, and if that means perpetuating a centuries old misogynistic narrative about lying women, then so be it. Not listening to rape victims wasn't a good idea then, and is even less so now. As women are finally starting to be listened to, Labour's stance is perplexingly old fashioned. It is entirely possible for someone to be both a fearless seeker of truth and a revolting sex pest / potential rapist with a god complex.
But, when pressed, Abbot stated, on three separate occasions, that no charges were brought. No, Diane, no charges were, that's because he hid in a cupboard and shat on the walls rather than go back to Sweden. But it's okay, because he was potentially in danger from extradition to the US, and the US is, in the Abbot and Corbyn worldview, irredeemably evil. Which is where we hit the real problem that we currently have with Her Majesty's Opposition, which has become so hopelessly dogmatic that it's very hard to see a realistic way forward for them, four legs good, two legs bad. I've known eight year olds with a better grasp of moral relativism.
And I wish there was a way forward, I like an awful lot of Labour's policies under Corbyn, I like the idea of a redistribution of wealth, I like the idea of a party which is on the side of the many, to paraphrase. I like to hear politicians engaging with the inequalities inherent in our societal structures, all this is undoubtedly A Good Thing. But this blind adherence to a sixth-form worldview devoid of nuance is in danger of dragging the whole thing under.
It started with the anti-Semitism thing, where nice, well-meaning lefties refused to believe that fellow travellers could be anything other than good people, to be a socialist was to be a good person, and so the political equivalent of stuffing fingers in the ears and going lalala I can't see you has been allowed to grow into a canker which has poisoned the party for many, denial is not just a river in Egypt, honey. Then, in true Animal Farm style, the hatred for more moderate MPs began to rear its head with increasing stridency. Just take a look at the abuse Jess Phillips receives on a daily basis, and now it's got to the point where we're hearing rape denials on the Today programme, or even worse, the tacit understanding that maybe he did and it doesn't matter.
And it could all have been so easily avoided. Acknowledging that Assange is problematic before stating that you still opposed his extradition would have been simplicity itself. It is possible for people you like to bad things, likewise it is possible for people you dislike to do good things. Not every Tory's a rapacious disaster capitalist, not every centrist MP is a careerist. People are multi-faceted, and I fear that the Labour Party leadership's inability to grasp this will inevitably cost them. Consensus and compromise aren't bad things chaps, shutting down discussion of rape allegations on the other hand, undoubtedly is.
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A pioneer for black women in parliament, for her to have risen as far as she has in the face of the twin obstacles of racism and misogyny speaks to a canny and formidable political operator, for her to have held her ground in the warm beer and curly sandwiches Labour party of the 1980's speaks to her tenacity, courage and intelligence. She has been much traduced, unfairly vilified and highlighted by a media which has carried at times an only thinly veiled racist subtext. Which is why it was all the more disappointing to hear her making an absolute arse of herself about everyone's favourite toxic truth-seeker, Julian Assange, on the radio this morning.
You see, I get entirely why the Labour line has been to oppose the extradition of Assange to the US, her equivalence to the case of Gary MacKinnon has some merit, his crime there is essentially to have embarrassed the military, something which is generally to be applauded. It would be extremely off-brand for a Corbyn led Labour to oppose any manifestation of US imperialism. But that they've chosen to take this line without once mentioning the outstanding rape allegations is at best problematic and tin-eared, and at worst speaks to a politically dogmatic line which has no room for compromise.
Or, in another way, kinder gentler politics my arse. Just because he's on your side on one issue doesn't stop him being a scumbag. It was disappointing, when the allegations first surfaced, to see so many Assange supporters rush to deny them out of hand. The usual excuses and apologies which have grown so dog-eared down the years, they wanted it, it's not rape, she consented, they're lying. It was amazing how certain so many Wikileaks Bros were; no one, surely, could believe anything like that of St Julian, and if that means perpetuating a centuries old misogynistic narrative about lying women, then so be it. Not listening to rape victims wasn't a good idea then, and is even less so now. As women are finally starting to be listened to, Labour's stance is perplexingly old fashioned. It is entirely possible for someone to be both a fearless seeker of truth and a revolting sex pest / potential rapist with a god complex.
But, when pressed, Abbot stated, on three separate occasions, that no charges were brought. No, Diane, no charges were, that's because he hid in a cupboard and shat on the walls rather than go back to Sweden. But it's okay, because he was potentially in danger from extradition to the US, and the US is, in the Abbot and Corbyn worldview, irredeemably evil. Which is where we hit the real problem that we currently have with Her Majesty's Opposition, which has become so hopelessly dogmatic that it's very hard to see a realistic way forward for them, four legs good, two legs bad. I've known eight year olds with a better grasp of moral relativism.
And I wish there was a way forward, I like an awful lot of Labour's policies under Corbyn, I like the idea of a redistribution of wealth, I like the idea of a party which is on the side of the many, to paraphrase. I like to hear politicians engaging with the inequalities inherent in our societal structures, all this is undoubtedly A Good Thing. But this blind adherence to a sixth-form worldview devoid of nuance is in danger of dragging the whole thing under.
It started with the anti-Semitism thing, where nice, well-meaning lefties refused to believe that fellow travellers could be anything other than good people, to be a socialist was to be a good person, and so the political equivalent of stuffing fingers in the ears and going lalala I can't see you has been allowed to grow into a canker which has poisoned the party for many, denial is not just a river in Egypt, honey. Then, in true Animal Farm style, the hatred for more moderate MPs began to rear its head with increasing stridency. Just take a look at the abuse Jess Phillips receives on a daily basis, and now it's got to the point where we're hearing rape denials on the Today programme, or even worse, the tacit understanding that maybe he did and it doesn't matter.
And it could all have been so easily avoided. Acknowledging that Assange is problematic before stating that you still opposed his extradition would have been simplicity itself. It is possible for people you like to bad things, likewise it is possible for people you dislike to do good things. Not every Tory's a rapacious disaster capitalist, not every centrist MP is a careerist. People are multi-faceted, and I fear that the Labour Party leadership's inability to grasp this will inevitably cost them. Consensus and compromise aren't bad things chaps, shutting down discussion of rape allegations on the other hand, undoubtedly is.
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