| Oh Jeremy Corbyn: the big lie | |
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| Directed by | Chris Reeves |
| Produced by | Norman Thomas |
Production company | Platform Films |
Release date |
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Oh Jeremy Corbyn: the big lie is a 2023 documentary film about the former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
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Backbencher Leader of the Opposition and Labour Party
Elections Cultural depictions
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According to Morning Star, the film documents Jeremy Corbyn's time as the leader of the Labour Party, internal struggles in the party, and accusations of anti-semitism. [1] The film presents events as a conspiracy against Corbyn and the anti-semitism allegations as inaccurate. [1] It accuses Keir Starmer of campaigning against Corbyn while serving in his shadow cabinet. [2]
The film was produced by Platform Films and released in February 2023. [2] It premiered in the UK on 9 February 2023. [3] It was directed by Chris Reeves and produced by Norman Thomas. [3] Alexei Sayle narrated, [4] whilst Graham Bash, Moshe Machover, [5] Chris Williamson, David Miller, [6] Andrew Murray and Jackie Walker contributed to the documentary. [7]
A planned screening of the film on 25 June [6] at Glastonbury Festival 2023 was cancelled by festival organisers, following a complaint from Marie van der Zyl of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Van der Zyl stated that the film promoted hatred and falsely accused the Board of Deputies of being involved in a conspiracy against Jeremy Corbyn. [7] The Jewish Chronicle reported that Norman Thomas rejected the antisemitics accusations. [6] After the cancellation a group known as the Activist Video Collective claimed to have shown the film at the Speakers Forum tent during the festival. [8]
Portsmouth Film Society scheduled two screenings of the film in August 2023. [5]
Author Rachel Shabi, noting that the film attributes all complaints of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party to Israeli interference in British politics, wrote that the "film does make central an argument based on antisemitic conspiracy layered upon conspiracy." [9] Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi of Jewish Voice for Labour has written that a film which has been widely vilified and even banned deserves to be seen, heard and discussed." [10]
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sat in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip. On 24 May 2024, Corbyn was expelled from the Labour Party.
Dame Louise Joyce Ellman is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Riverside from 1997 to 2019. She is a member of the Labour Party.
Jewdas is a Jewish diaspora group based in London. It describes itself as a "radical Jewish diaspora group" and is described by media as far-left and anti-Zionist. It has a satirical-communal website and stages events in London and elsewhere.
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. He was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/Meretz/Arzenu/Ameinu within the World Zionist Organization. Its sister parties are the Israeli Labor Party (Havodah) and Meretz.
Luciana Clare Berger is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree from 2010 to 2019. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was a founding member of The Independent Group, later Change UK, before joining the Liberal Democrats. Berger rejoined Labour in 2023.
Christopher Williamson is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby North from 2010 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2019. He was Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government from October 2010 to October 2013. Williamson was previously a local councillor in Derby, representing the Normanton ward from 1991 until 2011 and serving twice as leader of Derby City Council.
Ruth Lauren Smeeth, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 until 2019. Since 2022 she has been a member of the House of Lords.
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Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.
The Chakrabarti Inquiry was a 2016 investigation into allegations of antisemitism and other forms of racism in the United Kingdom's Labour Party. Chaired by barrister Shami Chakrabarti, the inquiry was launched following comments made by two high-profile Labour figures, Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone, that some asserted were antisemitic in nature; Shah, a Member of parliament, and Livingstone, the former mayor of London, were subsequently suspended from the party pending an investigation. The inquiry presented its findings on 30 June 2016, stating that although antisemitism and other types of racism were not endemic within Labour, there was an "occasionally toxic atmosphere".
Marc Wadsworth is a British black rights campaigner, broadcast and print journalist and BBC filmmaker and radio producer. He founded the Anti-Racist Alliance in 1991 and two years later, also helped set up the justice campaign for murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Wadsworth launched an early citizen-journalism news portal, The-Latest.com. In 2008, Wadsworth's reporting triggered the resignation of Mayor of London Boris Johnson's spokesman.
There have been instances of antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) since its establishment. Notable occurrences include canards about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War and antisemitic remarks from leading Labour politician Ernest Bevin. In the 2000s, controversies arose over comments made by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby", a comparison by London Labour politician Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.
Dave Rich is Head of Policy at the Community Security Trust and is a leading expert on left-wing antisemitism, according to The Jewish Chronicle. He is an associate research fellow at the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, where he completed his PhD.
Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a British organisation formed in 2017 for Jewish members of the Labour Party. Its aims include a commitment "to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism ... to uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities", and "to oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards, or discrimination against, Jews as Jews".
Jacqueline Walker is a British political activist and writer. She has been a teacher and anti-racism trainer. She is the author of a family memoir, Pilgrim State, and the co-writer and performer of a one-woman show, The Lynching. She held the roles of Vice-Chair of South Thanet Constituency Labour Party and Vice-Chair of Momentum before being suspended and ultimately expelled from the party for misconduct.
Peter Rupert William Willsman is a British political activist who was a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee and the secretary of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.
Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW) was a group formed in late 2017 to campaign against what it regards as politically motivated allegations of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party, which it calls a “witchhunt”. It also campaigns against what it regards as unfair disciplinary action taken by the Labour Party against its members, particularly in relation to such allegations of antisemitism. The group supports individual members facing disciplinary action and has called for changes to the party's disciplinary procedures and code of conduct.
The work of the Labour Party's Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism 2014–2019, is a report written by party staff in response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's investigation into the party's handling of antisemitism complaints and includes claims of other forms of racism. The report reveals emails of senior party management staff, aligned with the right of the party, and highlights obstruction of justice in dealing with clear evidence of racism and bullying. And, while it might not fully clear the party of accusations of being 'antisemitic', the report does indicate that anti-semitism is not a major problem with in the Labour Party, its main assertion is that rampant factionalism/right wing bullying within the party had ultimately led to claims of antisemitism and racism allegations not being dealt with properly.
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