In defence of film-maker Ken Loach and anti-racism activist Peter Gregson – victims of Zionist terror

Ken Loach and Pete Gregson
Jon de Rennes writes:

As with all socialist anti-racists, I was dismayed, if not entirely surprised, by the recent news that film-maker Ken Loach has felt unable to go ahead with a role he was appointed to some time ago with the anti-racist charity Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC). Loach was meant to be a judge in the charity’s annual 2020 school competition along with Michael Rosen. As soon as these appointments were made there were objections from the usual racist Zionist suspects at the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD). With the usual lack of irony (maybe Jeremy Corbyn was right) or self-awareness, the BoD attacked Loach and Rosen as racists due to their opposition to the racist apartheid state of Israel. To the racist BoD such opposition is, well, racist. As others have observed, we are through the looking glass. 

Unsurprisingly, the BoD have been backed in their racist hate campaign against Rosen and Loach by the establishment mainstream media and, it would appear, their friends in the Tory government. It’s well known that the BoD’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis is a Tory and a close friend of Boris Johnson so the latter fact should come as no surprise. 

One of the final straws in Loach’s decision to step down was an apparent threat from the Tory government concerning SRtRC’s charitable status. Another factor was apparently the personal abuse and threats directed at Loach and members of his family. Again, these strong-arm tactics of the Zionist racist thugs are nothing new. We have seen it deployed against venues planning to host talks by Chris Williamson, a launch of a book which disproves the fake Labour “anti-Semitism” smear campaign and the way these thugs attacked our banner at the Labour Party conference.

By being hounded as racist by racists, Loach joins a long line of life-long campaigners for equality, anti-racism and social justice. These include Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone, Chris Williamson, Tony Greenstein, Jackie Walker and, unbeknownst to Loach apparently, Peter Gregson. 

I was very disappointed to see Loach’s baseless accusations that Peter Gregson is an “anti-Semite” and a “misogynist”. You would have thought that people who were themselves victims of baseless claims of “anti-Semitism” would think twice before throwing similar accusations at others. Sadly, this doesn’t always seem to be the case and once again it’s not the first time we have seen it. It immediately reminded me of Corbyn’s ludicrous accusation that the banner we displayed at conference was “anti-Semitic” and “racist”. (I think the adjective he used was vile and he might have thrown in a disgraceful for good measure.)

I think such incidents as these are indicative of a couple of factors. First, they underline the divisions within the left. We often seem to be too willing to attack each other when we should be attacking our opponents on the right, including those on the “soft left”. 

However, more importantly when it comes to this particular issue I think it’s a reflection of the insidious power of the witch-hunt which is apparently such that it often seems to have us witch-hunting each other.


*Jon de Rennes is Communications Manager for Labour Against Zionist Islamophobic Racism (LAZIR)

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