The politics of victimhood has been with us for some time now. And like wokery, rather than showing signs of dying out, it looks like it’s here to stay. Indeed, when it comes to a stance that combines self-pity, mawkishness, grievance and a thirst for vengeance, victimhood politics appears in ruder health than ever.
This is clear from events taking place on the fringes of British politics. Namely, the attempts of the unnamed party headed by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn – already an unlikely coalition of antediluvian far-leftists, young ultra-progressives, pro-Palestine activists and elder Muslims with deeply conservative views – to forge an alliance with Zack Polanski’s Green Party, an organisation that finds its traditional core support among wealthy, painfully ‘caring’ middle-class types.
On the face of it, there’s not much to bring together these factions. Yet they are united in their passion for one thing: waving the Palestinian flag.
We’ve heard much talk of flags this year, but the emergence and proliferation of this particular icon is perhaps the most significant. This was brought home by its over-abundance at Glastonbury festival this summer, where the meaning of the Palestinian flag became palpable: it now serves to demonstrate that you support victims against oppressors, the weak against the strong, good against evil. That’s why the assembled multitudes saw nothing wrong with chanting Jew-killing slogans, such as ‘Death, death to the IDF’. They were on the side of the angels against the perpetrators of ‘genocide’. The Palestinian flag is now the global symbol of the victim.
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