Too toxic to lead Labour
The smear was meant to override the membership's wishes and make Corbyn too toxic to lead Labour.
It has also politicized the antisemitism allegation, weakening it for a section of the population, and irresponsibly inflaming fears among other sections. It has deflected attention from the very real threat of a rising tide of right-wing racism, both Islamophobia and the kind of antisemitism that relates to Jews, not Israel.
Then, there was the serving British general who was given a platform by the Sunday Times anonymously, of course to accuse Corbyn of being a threat to Britain's security. The general warned that the army's senior command would never allow Corbyn near Number 10. They would launch a coup first.
But no one in the corporate media or the political establishment thought the interview worthy of much attention, or demanded an investigation to find out which general had threatened to overturn the democratic will of the people. The story was quickly dropped down the memory hole. Those who sought to draw attention to it were told to move on, that there was nothing to see.
And now, this week, footage has emerged showing British soldiers apparently taking their commanders' expressed wishes more seriously than the media using a poster of Corbyn as target practice out in Afghanistan.
Questioning "security credentials"
Do the media and politicians really care about any of this? Are they concerned, let alone as outraged as they were at Soubry's earlier discomfort at the verbal abuse she faced? Do they understand the seriousness of this threat to British political life, to the safety of the leader of the opposition, they themselves have stoked?
The signs are still far from reassuring. Theresa May did not think it worth using prime minister's questions to condemn the video, to send an unequivocal message that Britain's political choices would never be decided by violence. No one else in the chamber apparently thought to raise the matter either.
Sky News even used the footage to question yet again Corbyn's "security credentials," as though the soldiers might thereby have grounds for treating him as a legitimate target.
The clues as to where all this is leading are not hard to fathom. The white nationalist who drove into a crowd outside Finsbury Park mosque in London in 2017, killing a worshipper, admitted at his trial that the real target had been Corbyn. An unexpected roadblock foiled his plans.
The fact is that no one in the political or media class cares much whether their constant trivializing of Corbyn's political program degrades British political life, or whether their smears could lead to political violence, or whether four years of their incitement might encourage someone to use more than an egg and a fist against Corbyn.
So let's stop indulging the media and politicians as they cite Jo Cox's murder and Anna Soubry's intimidation as evidence of their democratic sensibilities and their commitment to political principle.
The truth is they are charlatans. They will use anything from the murder of an MP to confections of antisemitism and smears about treason to incite against a democratic politician who threatens their domination of the political system.
It is their refusal to engage with a political argument they know they will lose, and to allow a democratic process to take place that they fear will produce the wrong result, that is setting the scene for greater polarization and frustration. And ultimately for more violence.
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