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Jeremy Corbyn, cultural appropriator

As all should know, cultural appropriation is Not OK. It is particularly offensive when white westerners imitate the religious practices of others despite having no belief in that religion.

So I was shocked to see pictures of Mr Corbyn assuming the characteristic posture of Islamic prayer on this solemn occasion:

Jeremy Corbyn is seen posing with a wreath under a distinctive red canopy as other politicians look on. This canopy runs alongside the graves of Salah Khalaf, Hayel Abdel-Hamid, Fakhri al-Omari and Atef Bseiso, three of whom have been linked to Black September, the group behind the 1972 atrocity at the Munich Olympic Games

hands held in the characteristic posture of Islamic prayer

That picture comes from this Daily Mail story, third picture down. The caption reads:

Jeremy Corbyn raises his hands in what appears to be an Islamic prayer position as he stands beside other politicians. A source said he was not praying but ‘copying the others out of respect’

One must also question the culturally insensitive way in which Corbyn referred to a convicted Hamas terrorist as a “brother”. From the Evening Standard:

In August 2012, Corbyn (right) appeared on Iran’s Press TV with a convicted Hamas terrorist named Dr Abdul Aziz Umar. “He got seven life sentences for helping to organise a Hamas suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003 that killed seven people,” Rich points out. The bombing at the Café Hillel took place during the second intifada. Among the victims were Dr David Applebaum, head of the emergency room at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and his daughter Nava, who was due to be married the next day.

Umar was charged with providing a safe house for the terrorists and guarding the property as they fitted the bomber with a suicide belt. He was released a year before his Press TV appearance as part of the prisoner swap arranged to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

“You have to ask the question why they are in prison in the first place,” said the now Labour leader. “I’m glad that those who were released were released.”

Umar was appearing on the show by video link but Corbyn pointed out the pair had met before.

“I met many of the brothers, including the brother who’s been speaking here when they came out of prison, when I was in Doha earlier this year,” he said.Rich also notes that this appearance on Press TV took place seven months after the channel lost its Ofcom licence. This followed a £100,000 fine for broadcasting the forced interrogation of a Newsweek journalist held prisoner in Iran.

You can hear Mr Corbyn saying those words at 15:55 – 16:05 in this video clip from The Muslim TV.net: [12 Aug 2012] Israeli prisons increase repression during Ramadan – English

As everyone ought to know, the use of the terms “brother” and “sister” among Muslims implies that the speaker and the person being addressed or described are both Muslims. Surah 49:10 “Al-Hujarat” says, “The believers are nothing else than brothers. So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy.” How shocking that Mr Corbyn would crassly insert himself, a non-Muslim, into this expression of shared Muslim faith.

18 comments to Jeremy Corbyn, cultural appropriator

  • Brian Swisher

    Meh. The Muslims appropriated the palm-up prayer gesture from the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean littoral, such as the Italic tribes and the Iberians, for two. Latecomers.

  • Nicholas (Unlicensed Joker) Gray

    Labour must be saying “Mazel Tov!” that the Tories are lead by such a vote-loser as Theresa May! Why aren’t they making hay over these photos?
    I wonder if Corbvn is an actual Communist? Marx never had anything good to say about the Jews, so Corbyn might be going back to his ideological roots.

  • Slartibartfarst

    Rant ON:
    Though I have no affiliation with Corbyn or his politics, I really am getting fed up to the back teeth with all this – what seems to me to be – constant barrage/harassment of Corbyn on so-called or self-described “intellectual” blogs like this and in the “MSM”. It’s becoming a pattern – like a sort of CDS (Corbyn Derangement Syndrome) – where the bloke can’t be perceived or allowed to be doing anything right, regardless of his well-intentioned motives. #Give.It.A.Rest.
    .
    It seems to me that some people will do almost anything to try and make Corbyn look “bad” in every possible regard, whatever helpful or useful thing he does or has done. He can’t even sit on the floor of a train to vacate his seat for other passengers without some media sh#thead trying to turn it into a manufactured joke about his competence.
    .
    If that’s not true, then why the heck did they photofit the first picture above to remove the tray of tea/drinks and make it look like he was praying? The original – kindly posted by @Perry de Havilland (London) with the tray clearly shows that Corbyn was doing no such thing as pretending to pray, or whatever, though his hands may indeed have been palm up in that state, underneath the tray.
    What is that? “Concealed praying”? Yeah, right. And even if it were, since when is that “an offence” anyway? It’s not like the guy was concealed carrying (a gun), is it? Sheesh.
    .
    Furthermore, Jeremy’s use of the symbolism of the tray should not be lost on us. It’s a symbol of service to the people, something that he has apparently dedicated his life to. In fact that tray looks to me distinctly like the very same tray that John Major used to carry when on state/government business and occasions, before and after he became British PM.
    Give the guy a break.
    /Rant OFF

  • Mr Ed

    Let no one suggest that it it is time for Mr Corbyn to show his lack of faith by aping his predecesor in eating a bacon sandwich, an echo of the Portuguese test of eating a clam and pork stew, and the counter-ruse of the alheira sausage.

    Recently the noted chef Mr Jaime Oliver was accused of cultural appropriation by a Labour MP for having a jerk recipe. I am afraid that the Left will attack anyone for anything, if they are not, of course, the correct combination of attitudes.

  • JadedLibertarian

    You can judge a person by the standard of their opponents. A worthy adversary compels you to up your own game.

    Theresa May has this complete plonker so she doesn’t even try. She’s easily snatched the trophy for worst prime minister in living memory from Gordon Brown, a man so stupid he announced in advance when he was dumping the UK’s gold reserve. And yet May makes Brown look positively statesman like. Indeed, if Labour were lead by Brown I suspect we’d have a Labour government.

    Conversely if we had Call-Me-Dave as prime minister, Corbyn wouldn’t even be getting a look in. May has the unique talent of making truly awful politicians look better by comparison.

  • bobby b

    That’s not an Islamic prayer gesture.

    Corbyn was teaching them the traditional two-hands-out supplication of the True Socialist. Combined with the ancient chant of “gim-me, gim-me, gim-me”, this ritual has been used to great success over the centuries to extract wealth from The People.

  • bobby b

    “Furthermore, Jeremy’s use of the symbolism of the tray should not be lost on us.”

    I had to read it all twice. Masterful.

  • NickM

    So in Portugal stew have to pork the clam?

    Slarti,
    I get your point but… The Corbynites are very nasty pieces of work with no such compunction and would appear to be engaged in a witch hunt against anyone within Labour who is either sane, Jewish or both so fuck ’em. Beyond that it is very important to do everything possible to puncture the “genial uncle, slightly eccentric but means well” persona he has cultivated. Why? Because beneath that mask he is an honest to Allah commie and he could become PM which would be catastrophic.

  • Jacob

    You need to repent, dump Brexit and appeal to Jean Claude Junker to rein in the Corbyn menace.

  • Eric

    Is there some secret contest going on wherein Labour and the Tories try to pick the most unappealing candidate for PM?

  • Jacob

    Communism is terrorism. Extermination of the “enemies of the people” is a basic principle of Communism. Communism means violent revolution.

    So, why is anyone surprised that comrade Corbyn chums up with terrorists?

  • jim jones

    East Germans risk their lives to escape from Communism:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7CWajaOx4E&feature=youtu.be

  • I’m shocked – shocked! – at Jeremy, who is English, culturally appropriating two such essentially Germanic traditions as admiring Jew-killers and wanting the state to run everything. It’s all very well for Hamas – they can justly claim to have an independent Arab tradition for the first and a lot of the second – but Jeremy has no cultural claim to these things. If he copies Hamas’ gestures, in what further acts of appalling cultural appropriation will he imitate them and/or their Germanic similitudes?

    I also think he’s a bit too keen on selfies. I’ve known about this stuff for a long time, and thought he at least had the sense to omit photos from his protectively-dull references to it. Give the man another E-grade pass for how well he learned his mentors’ instructions on how to keep his dark side dark.

  • Rich Rostrom

    What about all the other “cultural appropriation” in that picture? To wit, four Arabs wearing European shirts and jackets, two of them even wearing neckties.

    If it is offensive for an American girl to wear a cheongsam to her senior prom, surely it is far more offensive for non-Europeans to don Western formal dress for their ceremony.

  • Paul Marks

    Good post and good comments – Slartibartfast “had me going” till I realised he was joking (poor Paul is not very quick on the uptake these days).

    However, let us remember that this utterly vile man, Jeremy Corbyn, is only a few points behind in the opinion polls – and may well become Prime Minister. As others have pointed out – far from keeping Mr Corbyn from power, Mrs May is actually (unintentionally) HELPING him become Prime Minister. The Conservative Party desperately needs a change of leader.

  • Eric Tavenner

    “You have to ask the question why they are in prison in the first place,” said the now Labour leader.
    Something I actually agree with Comrade Commissar Corbyn on. They should have been drowned in pigs blood and viscera.

  • Runcie Balspune

    Recently the noted chef Mr Jaime Oliver was accused of cultural appropriation by a Labour MP for having a jerk recipe.

    I notice the Labour MP in question had culturally appropriated the British tradition of parliamentary democracy by using the suffix MP on their name, I would suggest they should henceforth decline from continuing to do this, hopefully by resigning immediately.