Hate has no hierarchy: we dig deeper into trailblazer Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer
Editorial credit: Marc Ayres / Shutterstock.com
After making history as Britain's first Black female MP for Labour in 1987, on 23 April 2023 Diane Abbott has had the Labour whip suspended following a letter in The Observer in which she suggested Jewish people, Irish people and Travellers face prejudice, as opposed to racism, and aligned their experience with red haired people. Her comment was made in response to an opinion piece by Tomiwa Owolade, which focused on the results of the Evidence for Equality National Survey, the biggest and most comprehensive survey of race inequality in the UK for more than a quarter of a century.
In this article, we take a deeper look into how the creation of hierarchies of hate pits one community against another, while also exploring how the Diane Abbott row is intertwined with antisemitism in the Labour Party and misogynoir in the media.
Diane Abbott’s letter published in the Observer
The problem with the idea of hierarchies of hate
Our work to reduce stories of hate in the media demonstrates how much words matter. The problem with the idea that there is a hierarchy of hate or racism is that it divides people into those more or less deserving of our support.
We cannot measure how much pain, prejudice, and trauma different communities experience on a daily basis, but we know that experiences of discrimination vary across different groups.
Black communities today are still carrying the wounds and scars of the inhumane transatlantic slavery that lasted for over 500 years. South Africa today is a living reminder of the legacy of apartheid, with the black community facing unequal life outcomes when compared with the more affluent white population. This January, a UN working group of experts wrote to the UK government expressing “extreme concern” about the government's failure to address “structural, institutional and systemic racism” against people of African descent living in the UK.
Jewish people have faced systematic forms of oppression and persecution for centuries. In Nazi Germany, the racialisation of Jews as an inferior and dangerous race led to the Holocaust, which is considered one of the greatest crimes ever perpetrated against humanity. Yet, Jewish communities today not only continue to experience antisemitic abuses, but also have to face conspiracy narratives of Holocaust denial and distortion.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, antisemitic conspiracy theories proliferated online, especially within anti-vax groups. Our Antisemitism and Anti-vax Discourse in Europe report found that the wide circulation of the analogy between the persecution of Jews in Europe during WWII and the public health regulations during the pandemic heavily downplayed the historical tragedy of the Holocaust and the suffering of Jewish people. Many people spread antisemitic ideas without realising they are doing so.
Roma and Travellers are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Centuries of persecution culminated in the genocide of half a million Roma under the Nazi regime. Today, they continue suffering pervasive forms of discrimination and racism. A 2017 report by the Traveller Movement detailed the experience of discrimination and prejudice in education, employment, healthcare and access to services, showing how hate crime heavily impacts on the everyday life of community members.
Ultimately, it is unhelpful to compare people’s experience of hate, racism or discrimination, as no-one can truly walk in someone else’s shoes. Hateful narratives often thrive because people are too divided to challenge them. We think it is better to stand together against all forms of hate. A society is stronger when we are united.
Antisemitism in the Labour Party
Labour, which polls suggest is likely to form Britain’s next government, faced accusations of discrimination and harassment against Jews under its former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Distancing himself from Corbyn, the current Labour leader Keir Starmer said that under his leadership the Labour party will have “zero-tolerance of antisemitism”. However, writer and comedian David Baddiel, and author of the book and documentary Jews Don’t Count, feels there is a problem of unconscious bias within the left of the Labour Party. He suggests that people like Corbyn or Abbott are not choosing to be antisemitic, but just believe that it is less harmful than other forms of racism.
Unconscious bias happens when we associate positive or negative stereotypes with certain groups or react with bias when we encounter a person or group. Instead of remaining neutral, we can let these biases influence our behaviour towards them.
The minimising of antisemitism inflicts suffering on the Jewish community. Antisemitic conspiracy narratives calling Jews “globalists” and claiming that they “control the world” lead to online harassment and offline violence, such as the synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh (US) in 2018 and Halle (Germany) in 2019. The “ADL Global 100: An Index of Antisemitism”, published in 2019 by the US-based Anti-Defamation League, revealed that 20% of Britons think that Jews have too much power in the business world and in international financial markets.
So, despite Starmer stating this week that “the Labour Party will never accept” antisemitism, it may be more difficult than simply removing the whip from Diane Abbott. Transformational change in the treatment of Jewish communities is what is needed and is what our project works towards.
How media coverage of Diane Abbott can lead to hate
In the UK, Black women often face biased and unfair media coverage, as well as extra online harassment because of their race. Amnesty International’s 2018 Troll Patrol findings found that Black women were 84% more likely to receive abusive tweets than White women. It can be argued that Diane Abbott throughout her career has experienced misogynoir.
Misogynoir, which describes the specific hatred, dislike, and prejudice towards Black women, can be seen as the point where racism and sexism meet. It is a relatively new concept coined in 2010 by gay black feminist American academic Moya Bailey, who sees it as a way to describe "the particular brand of hatred” faced by Black women in American culture.
“Misogynoir provides a racialised nuance that mainstream feminism wasn’t catching. We are talking about misogyny, yes, but there is a specific misogyny that is aimed at Black women and is uniquely detrimental to Black women.”
Feminista Jones
It is unsurprising that Diane Abbott feels that hate towards the Black community is a big issue as throughout her career she has constantly been the target of hate.
Graphs from a 2017 study by Amnesty International
According to a 2017 study conducted by Amnesty International ahead of the 2017 General Election, Diane Abbot was the target of almost a third (31.61%) of all abusive tweets analysed. Threats focused on both Abbott’s gender and race. Strikingly, Abbott received the most abuse in the six weeks leading up to 2017’s snap general election, when almost half (45.14%) of all abusive tweets towards MP’s were aimed at her.
Since she was elected in 1987, Abbott hasn’t gone a single day without experiencing hate.
While we don’t think this is an excuse for her comments, we do feel that it can be argued that media outlets coverage of Diane Abbott as a Black woman, is an example of misogynoir.
We need to make space for forgiveness if we want to see change
Diane Abbott posted an apology statement on Twitter and explained that The Observer letter was sent by accident, stating what was published was a draft.
Although we feel she was wrong to share this idea of a hierarchy of hate and to compare the experiences of different communities, this is most likely due to unconscious bias, as David Baddiel states.
We hope that people are able to learn and grow from situations like this
Should there be a way back for Diane Abbott into the Labour party? Should people be able to talk about such ideas and learn why they are problematic? Don’t we all want to live in a society that forgives people, allows them to learn and change, so together we can make a better tomorrow?
As Aditya Chakrabortty wrote in The Guardian, anti-racist politics should not “end up resembling the strategies and practices of the racist societies it seeks to change”. Instead, solidarity among marginalised groups, and the wider society, is what is needed to fight racism.
“I hope all those now sitting in judgment of her have the generosity of spirit to acknowledge that for decades she has been at the forefront of campaigning against racism and has endured so much herself. Hopefully we can all learn from this.”
John McDonnell
By talking with friends and family we can start to discuss how certain beliefs and language can impact others, and what our own unconscious bias might be and how we can overcome it. No-one wants to cause pain to others if they can help it.
Learn more:
An Introduction to Antisemitic Tropes
Gypsies, Travellers and the Media: Press regulation and racism in the UK
No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish: a short history of discrimination against Irish migrants
