Labor Party folds the Corbin era .. Will British Muslims lose their strong "friend"?

Al Jazeera Net - London

The British elections held at the end of last year ended the controversy over the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and resolved this file in favor of withdrawal, as well as ended the journey of Labor leader Jeremy Corbin, who is spending his final days at the head of the opposition party, after the historic loss suffered in the recent elections that The Conservative party was awarded an overwhelming majority in Parliament.

Jeremy Corbyn was known for his distinguished political path while leading one of the oldest parties in the world, and Arab and Muslim communities residing in Britain will remember him many positions in support of their issues, both inside and outside the United Kingdom, which were not expressed by any British politician, which is what Jeremy Corbyn gained massive popularity among Muslims and Arabs.

Corbin is considered to be the first political leader in Britain to raise the Palestinian flag at the annual general conference of his party, which constituted the highest representation of the Palestinian issue in the history of the United Kingdom, and he is considered a guest of habit for many mosques in the capital London to participate in activities organized and celebrate with Muslims on their religious occasions .

The Finsbury Park mosque will continue to bear witness to the strong support that Corbin has provided to Muslims throughout his leadership of the Workers' Party. The man was keen to participate in the "Breakfast in the Street" initiative that was organized by the mosque in Ramadan and brought together Muslims and others for breakfast on the street across from the mosque.

Years ago, many Arabs would not accept that the British Labor Party was a friend of the Muslim communities in the country, due to the involvement of its former leader Tony Blair in the invasion of Iraq, and the great psychological barrier this created between the party and the Arab communities, before Jeremy Corbyn succeeded in "reparations". "And restore the confidence of the Arab and Muslim minority in his party, to the point that in the last elections, more than 65% of Muslims in Britain voted in favor of the Labor Party.

There was not much left for the party with left-leaning tendencies to choose its new leaders, after five candidates managed to reach the final stage of the competition for the presidency of the workers, and it appeared that the determining factor in choosing the candidates (one candidate and four women candidates) is the position of the Brexit and how to deal with the post Britain's exit from the European Union.

As for the relationship with Arabs and Muslims, the British Islamic Council expressed its welcome for the candidates ’approval of a document that is the commitments undertaken by those who might become head of the Labor Party, and among these obligations is to give more importance to the issue of Islamophobia and fight it.

However, many do not expect a candidate to fill the void Jeremy Corbyn will leave, especially in defending the Palestinian cause.

The price of supporting Muslims
Mona Isaac, a member of the Labor Party and his candidate in the "Kensington" area of ​​the capital, London, declares that "Jeremy Corbyn is the one who lived in the Arab and Muslim community the desire to defend her issues and express her voice and not to leave to others the right to speak in our name," stressing that Corbin and that he left from the leadership The party, "His legacy will not go away, especially for us as a Muslim minority. We learned from him how we can have a voice to express our demands."

Through her close engagement with Corbin, Mona asserts in her statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the British politician has "created a state of awareness among the Muslim minority," and now the responsibility has fallen on the Arab group in the party to translate what Corbin has achieved in her favor, and this is why the latter was quick to demand a contract A meeting with the five candidates to find out their position on issues of concern to the Muslim minority, "Accordingly, we will determine our position on the candidate for whom we will vote on the basis of a win-win agreement."

One of the steps that Arab and Muslim workers in the Labor Party have taken is that they called for their participation in the party's general policy-making conference, “In the past we were not involved in approving these policies, but during Corbin’s era we learned not to let anyone decide away from us or on our behalf.” .

Mona does not hide her fear of changing some of the party’s policies regarding Arabs and Muslims, as she revealed that there is a new document that has been developed by senior parties that the candidates will have to approve, “Among what it stipulates is the fight against anti-Semitism, but in the details of this clause the matter appears. As if it is a gag to reduce criticism of Israel. "

The charge of anti-Semitism was one of the accusations that followed Corbin during the last election campaign, charges that some have interpreted as critical of the Israeli occupation policies.

The Labor Party member agrees with the analyzes that Corbin paid the price of his support for many Arab and Muslim issues, giving the example of the results of the recent elections, "because the northern belt of Britain - known to be mostly pro-Tony Blair - voted in these elections for the Conservatives as a punishment for Jeremy Corbin" .

However, the same spokeswoman confirms that Corbin succeeded in a difficult task, which is to attract young Muslims to political work, after he was reluctant to any political action and did not see any benefit from it.

Friend of Palestine
The head of the Arab group in the Labor Party, Omar Ismail, asserts that the support the Palestinian cause was receiving from Jeremy Corbin "was very important, and this attracted a lot of criticism and brought him into wars with some groups," adding that Corbin also had critical positions for what is happening in Egypt was opposed to selling arms to Saudi Arabia because of its war in Yemen.

Omar Ismail distinguishes between two teams: "The first will breathe a sigh of relief after Corbin's departure because he was critical of them, but the second party sees that he has lost a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and many Arab issues, before he links Corbin's support to the Palestinians and the campaign he was exposed to in the elections to try to establish the accusation of anti-Semitism." with it".

A Labor Party constituency secretary recalls how Jeremy Corbyn was one of the most vocal opponents of Britain’s participation in the invasion of Iraq, “and we participated together in many of the demonstrations rejecting this war, and he was warning that Tony Blair was preparing for a deception and no basis for the information that Iraq possessed chemical weapons”, He pointed out that history "showed that everything Corbin expected that this war would wipe out on Iraq and the region had been achieved, and the days proved that he was right."

Omar Ismail, who spent 45 years in the Labor Party, is not afraid of the party changing its policies toward Arabs and Muslims insofar as it stresses the need to preserve its identity defending social justice and the fair distribution of wealth, "because the entrance to justice will amount to standing with all the oppressed, whether in Britain or abroad." ".