Scared of Corbyn? As a black Jewish woman I’m terrified of Johnson

Labour has traditionally been my political home, and I have voted Labour in every general election since I turned 18. That was why, back in 2017 when the antisemitism crisis began to escalate in Labour, I felt lost and betrayed – resulting in cancelling my Labour party membership. Matters came to a head after the BBC Panorama Is Labour Anti-Semitic? investigation, which became a watershed moment for the party.

Claiming the allegations were merely from those with “political axes to grind”, despite victims providing evidence and other witnesses, revealed that too many within Labour had begun seeing antisemitism as something they were attacked with, rather than something they should be fighting.

After this, I questioned whether the party would ever show any sincere contrition or humility, and whether it would enable Jews like myself to have faith in the party again. This was why I was relieved when Labour launched its No Place For Antisemitism initiative this summer. Clearly created in consultation with Jewish people, it laid out Labour’s position on fighting antisemitism – including how to talk about Israel and Zionism without being antisemitic. I rejoined the party, but I was not naive about the work there still was to do.

The leaks from the Equality and Human Rights Commission dossier demonstrate that Labour’s journey to rid the party of antisemites is far from over. Yet what is also true is that Labour is now the only party doing anything substantial on tackling the issue of antisemitism in British politics – which is rearing its ugly head across all sides of the political spectrum.

Indeed, a rabbi was left beaten and bloody in the street in Stamford Hill, north London, last week, and this week Nigel Farage came under fire for appearing on a US radio show with an antisemitic pastor.

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Unsurprisingly in this political environment, being both black and Jewish has been especially painful. When I’ve explained how important Labour is for black Jews – it’s the party that has done more than any other to protect black people – I’ve often been met with abuse or dismissal. I’ve been accused of being “deluded”, I’ve been called “kapo”, I’ve been accused of being a “self-hating Jew”. I’ve even been told I can be black or Jewish – but not both.

What has also been painful has been the way in which black suffering has frequently been co-opted to draw a false equivalence with antisemitism in Labour – often with the “black people would never be treated like this by a political party” trope. This is demonstrably untrue – we’ve had the hostile environment, the “Go Home” vans, and during the Windrush scandal black British people have been deported or denied lifesaving treatment.

I have also seen other false parallels manifest themselves – comparisons between Jeremy Corbyn and Enoch Powell being common. Powell was one of the most notorious racists in postwar Britain, who warned in his “rivers of blood speech” that “the black man will have the whip hand over the white man”: suggesting Corbyn is similar to this is not only absurd, but shows a gross misunderstanding of anti-black racism.

Unfortunately, however, this has been part of a trend. Some public figures speaking out against Labour have described the brass band playing Hava Nagila at the Durham Miners’ Gala this year being “as tasteful as showing Black Panther at a Klan rally”. Comparing Labour to the Klu Klux Klan – whose members lynched and burned black people alive – reveals a blatant devaluing of black lives for political gain.

Not only this, I feel a deep anguish at the Conservative party’s exploitation of Jewish fear of Labour to present itself as an ally to Jews. Never was this clearer than when Johnson visited a Jewish bakery in my neighbourhood last week, saying he would protect Jews from Corbyn. It is Johnson’s re-election that really frightens me to my core.

Not only has he written numerous racist articles, he’s published even more while editor of the Spectator. And now he proudly says he’ll ramp up stop and search if re-elected – thereby in all likelihood harassing thousands more innocent young black men. He panders to the far right. And the Tory party’s record on antisemitism is getting worse by the day; three Tory candidates were investigated this weekend alone over anti-Jewish words and actions. Scared of Corbyn? I’m terrified of Johnson.

During this election I have felt my Jewishness and my blackness frequently weaponised, sometimes pitted against each other. I have cried, I have been angry, and I have often found it impossible to articulate how horrific this has all been.

So that is why I am voting Labour. It has been based on the fact that Labour has admitted fault on the issue of antisemitism and begun to reform in a way that the Conservative party has not. And it is based on the fact that this government, at a time when fascism is rising across Europe, poses an existential threat to all ethnic minorities in this country.

• Nadine Batchelor-Hunt is a journalist and former president of the Cambridge University Black and Minority Ethnic Campaign