January 30, 2011

Aaron Porter a "tory too": statement of fact or rhyming slang?

The bogus allegation of antisemitism turns up in the unlikeliest of places.  The latest case is that of student protests against, among other things, the National Union of Students' president, Aaron Porter.  The Daily Mail is reporting that
 The national president of the NUS pulled out of speaking at a student fees rally after being surrounded by demonstrators calling for his resignation and shouting anti-Semitic insults at him. 

They went on:
One photographer reported chants of ‘Tory Jew scum’ directed at Mr Porter, who is facing calls to step down as NUS president by members of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, who claim he has ‘lost the confidence of the movement’.
Unfortunately, whilst I am sure the unnamed photographer will have wished they had a movie camera, they could only could only snap stills. They don't prove anything so it's pointless pasting them here.

Sky news ran the "antisemitic abuse" story too. They did produce a film clip of the event but there is no antisemitic abuse in the film nor does the reporter on film mention any antisemitism.


The allegation is in the write up only:
But Aaron Porter, the president of the National Union of Students, had to be given a police escort after he too became a target.
Demonstrators had surrounded him, chanting anti-Semitic insults and calling for him to resign as he attended the rally.
Still, we have a youtube video of the event. Let's have a see and a listen:

From what I can hear the guy is being accused of being a "Tory too" and at one point someone says "I want to hit you with my shoe". The Guardian report appears to tally with what I heard on the video clip:
Some of the protestors in Manchester turned on Porter – who had been due to speak at a rally in the city – calling him a "Tory too". Porter had previously been calling for unity in the student movement, which has fractured as opinions differ over how best to conduct the demos and sit-ins being organised around the country against the cuts and fee increases.
So does anyone have any evidence for these allegations of antisemitism or has the meaning of antisemitism morphed (yet again) from anti-Jewish to anti-racist to anti-establishment?

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