As for the author, please refer to my previous postings (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/itunalily2/archive?word=Douglas+Murray).(Lily)
UnHerd（https://unherd.com/2018/09/frank-field-john-mccain-common/）
What Frank Field and John McCain have in common
Douglas Murray
3 September 2018
It is an extraordinary thing to watch specific moral values being celebrated at the same moment that they are being defiled. Often by the same people.
The world’s media has, in recent days, been filled with tributes to the life of John McCain. Aside from his exceptional bravery as a captive in Vietnam, the main quality that these tributes focused on was McCain’s willingness, later in his life, to transcend political boundaries. It was not simply that McCain was willing to work with, befriend and advise Democrats as well as Republicans in the Oval office. Nor was it just the fact that on issues including campaign-finance reform, he was willing to push bipartisan legislation. Or that in 2008 he even suggested that Joe Lieberman (still a registered Democrat at the time) might be his running mate in his Republican campaign for the Presidency.
It was not the specifics that commentators and politicians noted, so much as the remarkable general attitude. It’s a frame of mind that is diminishing in American political life, just as it is retreating from political life in Britain and other major democracies.
Hyperventilating attacks on McCain’s erstwhile friends were at least equal to those attacks currently being made against some of Field’s friends
When he was a Senator, McCain always held the view that reaching across the political aisle was a natural thing to do; he believed that what unites people elected to political life is greater than anything that can divide them. He saw political differences as just that – differences of politics but not differences in allegiance to the wellbeing of the nation.
Of course, it is easy to speak well of the dead. Any challenge they once posed is diminished, if not completely erased. And so it is interesting to observe such celebration of bipartisanship in the dead, when it’s the last thing to be lauded among the living.
During the week in which the world honoured John McCain, one of the very few figures in British politics who could be said to embody remotely similar ideals to those of the late Senator resigned from his party. In Britain, barely anyone has a career-long reputation for reaching across the political divide between Labour and Conservative. As in America, most people bemoan the lack of cross-party cooperation – but do little in practice to alter the reality. Not so the former Labour MP Frank Field. During his decades in Parliament, Field has been unusually morally consistent.
He has been a constant foe of the excesses of capitalism and from the Maxwells to Phillip Green he has challenged those guilty of such excesses assiduously, forensically and to their faces. He has been a consistent critic of elements of the European Union and has campaigned and voted accordingly, whether the government of the day was Labour or Conservative led. In the process, he has gained Conservative admirers and left-wing detractors. But he has been a crucial embodiment of the views of millions of people: not Conservatives who want a token Labour party MP to love, but as a representative of the millions of Labour voters who voted ‘Leave’ and who see few people in their own party willing to respect their wishes.
There are other issues on which Field has also stood out. Ten years ago he set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on ‘Balanced migration’. He set this APPG up with the Conservative MP Nicholas Soames. This was seen, in Westminster and the press, as evidence of an ‘odd couple’ political friendship which gave hope that other such bipartisan friendships and cooperation might be possible. In reality such a thing has remained all-too uncommon.
But now Frank Field has resigned the Labour whip. Among the reasons given is the anti-Semitism which has become endemic in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party.
Naturally, this has led to attacks on Field from hardline supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and others. Various claims have been made against him, but perhaps the most striking has been their weaponisation of Field’s friendships across the political divide. In particular, his friendships with Margaret Thatcher and with Enoch Powell.
Both of these people are long-dead. But both of them, in death as in life, are still turned from living, breathing human beings with oddities and failings of their own, into fire-breathing monsters in the Left’s hall of infamy. There is even more ire for them in death than there was in life. Consider this programme, broadcast in 1978, in which the veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner sits with Enoch Powell in a television studio discussing a range of policy areas. Skinner does not ‘no-platform’ Powell, or spend the programme railing against him. He recognises him as a fellow Parliamentarian, who represents his constituents and with whom he has points of political similarity as well as points of political difference.
To have been on friendly terms with Powell or Thatcher is not an indictment of Field’s personality, but a demonstration of his strength of character
Frank Field, now almost 80, has lived through plenty of the tos and fros of political life, and watched the rise and fall of many men and women of power. To have been on friendly terms with Powell or Thatcher is not an indictment of his personality, but a demonstration of his strength of character. Nor were these friendships kept darkly secret, as Jeremy Corbyn’s semi-professional outriders now wish to pretend. Six years ago Field contributed a moving, honest, warm and critical essay to the volume ‘Enoch at 100: a re-evaluation of the life, politics and philosophy of Enoch Powell’, edited by Lord Howard of Rising (Biteback, 2012). It is worth re-reading. Field was just as open about his relationship with, and opinions about, Margaret Thatcher.
Nor is the fact that Field was able to sustain a friendship with Thatcher up to her last days evidence that he is some kind of closet Thatcherite. Such claims are akin to the claims by some Republicans that John McCain’s friendships with Lieberman and other Democrats demonstrated that he was a secret Democrat.
After Margaret Thatcher’s death the House of Commons paid tribute to her. With the exception of a splenetic and deranged act of grave-spitting by Glenda Jackson, these tributes were appropriately respectful and thoughtful. But the most thoughtful and significant – from either side of the House – came in the tribute paid to Thatcher by Frank Field. As his local newspaper recorded, Field paid the most significant possible tribute to Thatcher: by analysing what she had wished to achieve in power but failed to accomplish. The speech was one of the most generous, critical and illuminating contributions the Commons had seen in many years.
Those who defend Corbyn and this special line of hyper-partisan, intra-party vituperation, might bear the tributes to McCain in mind as they determinedly roast Field. They will claim that being on even moderately friendly terms with Thatcher or Powell is nothing like being friends with Barack Obama or George W Bush. But they could not be more wrong. Hyperventilating attacks on both McCain’s erstwhile friends were at least equal to those attacks currently being made against some of Field’s friends.
Last week, the hysteria-whippers paused for a moment before the body of John McCain. If they are going to honour those tributes, they and their ilk should consider whether it might be a good idea not to save their kinder reflections for the dead, but occasionally share them about the living as well.
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PS: (https://www.memri.org/reports/memri-mourns-passing-senator-john-mccain)
Special Dispatch | 7644 | August 28, 2018
MEMRI Mourns The Passing Of Senator John McCain
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) mourns the passing of Sen. John McCain. Sen. McCain was a featured speaker at MEMRI's sixth annual commemoration of the establishment of the Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial, which took place April 14, 2015 on Capitol Hill. These archives, the world's largest resource on this subject, include materials from Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, Turkish, and Dari media (visit the Archives here).
In his address, Sen. McCain spoke of the importance of Rep. Lantos' "tireless efforts in defending human rights across the world" and of the significance of the Lantos Archives, saying: "This vividly important institution stands as a fitting memorial to a great patriot who knew the dangers and cruelty of despotism and dedicated his life to fighting tyranny and promoting the enduring values that we hold dear."
This report presents Sen. McCain's remarks at the event.
Sen. John McCain At MEMRI's Sixth Annual Capitol Hill Event Of The Lantos Archives On Antisemitism And Holocaust Denial'
"It's a privilege to be with you today to speak at the annual commemoration of the Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. This vividly important institution stands as a fitting memorial to a great patriot who knew the dangers and cruelty of despotism and dedicated his life to fighting tyranny and promoting the enduring values that we hold dear.
"I had the honor of serving in Congress with Congressman Lantos, and his tireless efforts in defending human rights across the world I think had an incredible and indelible impact on me. I will always be thankful for Tom Lantos' leadership and example.
"My friends, this is a momentous time to be speaking on antisemitism. As we look around the world, we encounter upheaval and conflict like never before. I have often said that the United States and our allies in the international community are facing a more diverse and complex array of crises than we have experienced or faced since the end of World War II.
"Many of the threats emerging from these crises are new and unprecedented. Some we know all too well. From Paris to Brussels and back to the very heartland of Germany, we see the specter of antisemitism re-emerging throughout Europe. The kosher grocery store massacre in Paris; the murder of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse; attackers throwing Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany; and the terrorist attack that killed four at the Jewish Museum in Brussels are just a few of the most prominent attacks in a long list of growing violence directed towards the Jewish community.
"While the horror of these attacks have rightly shocked the world's conscience and drawn the condemnation of many world leaders, there have also been smaller, less-noticed incidents that suggest that perhaps antisemitism never really left us: small protests in Germany where marchers yelled 'Gas the Jews'; a shop owner in Belgium who posted a sign saying he would serve dogs but not Jews; and a conductor on a Brussels commuter train who announced a stop at Auschwitz and jokingly ordered all Jews to disembark.
"In France, for example, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front party and a popular politician, has frequently used antisemitic language and puns in his speeches. In Germany, Lutz Bachmann of the anti-immigration Pegida party was photographed posing as Hitler. In Hungary the rise of the Jobbik party under the charismatic leadership of Gabor Vona, who has called on the government to draw up a list of Jews in the country who pose a national security risk, has made antisemitic rhetoric in vogue. And in Greece, a recent survey found that nearly 70 percent of adults hold antisemitic views which are openly expressed by the country's Golden Dawn party. Such rhetoric and behavior from many of Europe's far right parties reveal just how deeply ingrained antisemitism remains.
"While it would be wrong to compare 1933 to today, there is indeed a sense of familiarity there. After so many years of expressing regrets and pledging never again, could it be that we are witnessing a resurgence of antisemitism in our political and economic discourse and that such remarks and actions are becoming increasingly acceptable?
"I Fear That Perhaps Our Historical Memory Is Fading, That 'Never Again' Has Become Another Empty Phrase"
"For a millennium, a poisonous hatred of Jews, including persecution, expulsions, and massacres, were common practice in Europe and elsewhere around the world. Only after the shame of the Holocaust did antisemitism become intolerable. But I fear that perhaps our historical memory is fading, that 'never again' has become another empty phrase.
"This is all too evident in Syria, where the world has watched the brutal massacre of over 300,000 people, but increasingly we see it elsewhere too. And the fact that many within the Jewish community are openly questioning whether it is time for them to leave Europe suggests how deeply we've forgotten our sense of 'never again.'
"Expressions of outrage and promises to fight against antisemitism with all means at our disposal, while necessary, bring little comfort. We all know that we cannot be silent, but we cannot allow words to replace action either. Moral outrage means nothing without the force of action to back it up. This means that all governments, including our own, must be bold in our outrage when we see antisemitism and categorically condemn its expression even when doing so is inconvenient or unpleasant.
"We must, moreover, fully investigate and prosecute incidents of antisemitic violence, publish accurate data on attacks, and work with Jewish communities to assess their security needs and provide protection against violence, including training police and prosecutors and forging productive relationships between law enforcement and affected communities.
"Such measures will help address antisemitism, racist, and violent ideologies, but it's only a start. The need for a broad engagement strategy is urgent and we must do more to challenge those purveyors of hate.
"Make no mistake, there are powerful reasons for America and Europe to prevent the spread of virulent antisemitism in the name of our collective national security interest and the preservation of our democratic values.
"We are deluding ourselves if we believe we can be complacent about rising antisemitism and its propagators without witnessing a weakening of democracy and security around the world. Put simply, these attacks should not just be a source of heartbreak and sympathy to us. They should be a source of moral outrage and a call to action.
"History Has Taught Us That Antisemitism Is Not Just A Threat To The Jewish Community"
"History has taught us that antisemitism is not just a threat to the Jewish community; it is a threat to who we are and who we aspire to be as a people and as nations. Failure to meet the threat posed by rising antisemitism risks unraveling the incredible progress we have made in the wake of World War II toward building a just and peaceful world order based on respect for inalienable rights and dignity.
"Education is the first step. This is where the Tom Lantos Archives on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial play such an invaluable role in disseminating vital and accurate information to create an informed public. But as we recall the horrors of the past, we must recognize that remembrance and awareness are only the start, not the end of our responsibility to confront evil, defend truth, and unite in the face of threats to our peace and security.
"There is a real and present danger posed by the growing strength of antisemitic forces in Europe and other parts of the world. When we saw the horrors of the Holocaust, we said never again and promised that it would finally be the end to the saddest chapter in world history. Shame on all of us if we let facile pledges of 'never again' replace moral outrage and real action.
"With the assistance of this institution and the continuing memory of Tom Lantos, I remain hopeful that we will not let history repeat itself. Thank you very much."
[1] MEMRI Special Announcement No. 384, MEMRI Hosts Sixth Annual Capitol Hill Event Of The Lantos Archives On Antisemitism And Holocaust Denial, May 27, 2018.
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＊This PS was added by Lily on 17 April 2019.
