It’s a Witch-Hunt…

I’ve heard this phrase a lot recently. The alleged ‘Purge’ of voters during the Labour Leadership Campaign, the suspension of Jackie walker and the threats of deselection hanging over the PLP have inspired many to liken them to a witch-hunt.

It’s a phrase in common usage, symbolic of persecution without cause but to me it has a different, more profound meaning.

I rarely speak of it, but I am a Pagan. No, I don’t worship the devil or sacrifice animals. In fact, I don’t even practice ritual or ‘magic’. I follow my own unique path, as many Neopagans do. I’m not part of a Coven or any organisation, but my faith is part of my everyday life. I live by the Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, do what thou wilt” and the concept of threefold return, that everything you do, including the energy you project will be returned to you multiplied by three. (A concept that has been proven time and again during recent twitter debates with Corbyn supporters!) I live as in harmony with nature as modern life and my disability, Fibromyalgia, will allow. I believe in taking personal responsibility for your actions in the here and now because it’s the right thing to do, not because of some imagined reward in an afterlife. My everyday brand of paganism makes me more likely to acknowledge a solstice, phase of the moon or a Sabbat with quiet reflection than dancing naked around standing stones (It plays havoc with one’s sciatica!)

The recent debate surrounding Jackie Walker and her crass comments regarding Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) has reminded me of something. I have always been moved by the Shoah, it is something that must never be forgotten, lest we wander unknowingly down that dark path again. I first heard of HMD many years ago, and ever since I have spent some time on that day in quiet prayer (yes, I do pray, to the Moon embodied by the Triple Goddess, Maiden, Mother and Crone and sometimes a male energy I think of as The Green Man, a protector of nature.) I think of the souls who suffered in the Holocaust and other genocides, that they may be at peace in spite of the violence and horror they experienced in life. As my path is a solitary one and my prayers unofficial I also honour anyone who has been a victim of persecution, tortured or killed simply because of their ethnicity, or their beliefs. Unsurprisingly I also spare a thought for another, older holocaust.

Neopagans call it the Burning Times and it may surprise people to learn that those who follow a pagan path revere those lost in the Witch Trials as their own holocaust, despite the fact many victims probably weren’t pagan. No one was safe, the old, the young, the rich, the poor. The men, women and children (yes, children) accused were tortured, often sexually humiliated and deprived of sleep until they would admit to anything and name others, sending panic through communities. Anyone could be arrested next and tortured before being burned at the stake, hanged or beheaded depending on which continent and the current trend in dispatching witches.

The trials spanned four centuries, continuing sporadically into the nineteenth century. But it’s worth noting that according to a report by the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LRHC) 3000 people were lynched for witchcraft in Tanzania between 2005 and 2011. The Burning Times are far from over.

The estimated numbers of those executed for witchcraft vary widely. It’s unknown how many unofficial, unrecorded lynchings took place and those who died during the torture were never included in the records. Early estimates were hugely exaggerated but according to Wikipedia (not my favourite source I’ll admit but websites on the topic can be biased) in the 1970’s they concluded the number was under 100,000 but it should be borne in mind world population was estimated to be only 350 to 400 million in the 15th century when the trials started and 1560 to 1710 million by the time they trailed off in the 19th century in comparison to 7.4 billion today. My calculator is far too crappy to work it out but it should be viewed as a proportion of the population and frankly, one person is too many.

Part of me, the part that feels anger and fury over the Burning Times reacts every time someone draws a comparison and uses the phrase ‘it’s a witch hunt’. It makes me want to scream:

“Fuck off, fuck right off. How DARE you compare calling for the expulsion of Jackie Walker based on her bigoted words from her own mouth to a witch hunt!! Has she been stripped and inspected for witch’s marks? Tortured with hot pincers? Forced to walk for days without sleep? NO, SHE FUCKING HASN’T! She’s lost the position of Vice Chair of Momentum, big whoop. She’s still a member, still on the steering committee deciding policy! How dare you belittle another holocaust defending her Anti-Semitic remarks, because that’s exactly what they are no matter what Momentum claims!”

But the pragmatic, sensible, every day pagan in me prevails and I never make that comment in reply. She tells herself its common parlance. They don’t mean it as an insult. Then angry!pagan calls her an apologist and goes off in a sulk.

And that’s the root of it. I don’t think Jackie Walker means to be Anti-Semitic. She genuinely doesn’t realise or understand how much her words offend and hurt those in the Jewish community. But ignorance isn’t a valid defence. There is no place for Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and therefore she must be expelled.