Corbyn defends his record on fighting racism

LONDON: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has defended his record on fighting racism after being confronted about anti-Semitism within his party.

The leadership and the party’s structures have been accused of failing to tackle complaints of anti-Semitism quickly enough since Corbyn took charge.

Labour said it has taken steps to improve its investigatory and disciplinary processes following recommendations made in reports by Baroness Royall, the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee and Baroness Chakrabarti.

However, in August, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission launched an investigation into Labour following “a number of complaints about allegations of antisemitism in the party”.At the CBI conference on Monday, responding to a questioner in the audience who adapted a party slogan to ask if Labour was “for the many, not the Jew”, Corbyn condemned racist attacks against Jewish people.

He said: “Racism is a scourge and an evil for all of us in our lives. It’s an evil within our society, be it anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or any form of racism.“I’ve spent my life opposing racism in any form. Be it done by the far-right or by the random attacks on individuals, or against a man that was murdered outside my house because he happened to be a Muslim and there happened to be a racist person driving a vehicle that thought it was OK to drive into a crowd of worshippers.

“Just as much as those people that attack synagogues, daub fascist graffiti over them, or attack Jews in this country, the USA or anywhere else, have no place whatsoever in a civilised society.

“We will support and continue to fund the protection of all places of worship, synagogues, mosques, or any other place of worship. And also support education within our schools and look at the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the Prevent strategy in stopping young people falling into the hands of the far-right extremists.

“The history of the Jewish people has been one of the most unbelievable and egregious — (with) attacks on them in central Europe throughout the early part of the 20th century, which of course ended with the Holocaust and all the horrors that went with that.

“That is where racism leads you to if you don’t challenge it in the first place. But it’s also about ensuring that every young person in our society is guaranteed a place of safety free from oppression and free from racism in any form. “So yes, we will audit the way in which people, public sector and private sector recruit, to ensure that everyone has a place and a chance within our society.

“I was brought up to be anti-racist and I’ve lived my whole life, and will live the whole of my life, as somebody that hates racism in any form whatsoever, because it weakens and demeans all of us. “And I’m determined to make sure that is what I carry into government if we’re elected into government in the General Election on December 12.”