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Board of Deputies rebuke Conservative MP Suella Braverman for using 'antisemitic trope'
The MP for Fareham said the Conservatives were 'engaged in a battle against Cultural Marxism'
March 26, 2019 16:52
The MP for Fareham said the Conservatives were 'engaged in a battle against Cultural Marxism'
March 26, 2019 16:52Conservative MP Suella Braverman has been rebuked for warning of "cultural Marxism" - a phrase often used by the far-right to allege a Jewish conspiracy - and urged “not to use it in future” by the Board of Deputies.
Mrs Braverman, a staunch Brexiteer, was speaking on Tuesday at an event in Westminster organised by the Bruges Group, a pro-Brexit think tank, when she said: "“As Conservatives, we are engaged in a battle against cultural Marxism...
"I'm very worried about this ongoing creep of cultural Marxism which has come from Jeremy Corbyn".
The phrase, which has become more popular among alt-right and far-right activists in recent years, originated with the Nazis, who described “Kulturbolschewismus” when they sought to accuse Jewish intellectuals of orchestrating the spread of Communism, as well as sexual permissiveness.
A Board of Deputies spokesperson told the JC: “Suella Braverman may not have been aware of it, but the term ‘cultural Marxist’ has a history as an antisemitic trope.
"We would ask for her to clarify the remarks and undertake not to use the phrase in future.”
The phrase is also associated with a conspiracy theory that posits that the Frankfurt School, a group of Jewish philosophers and sociologists, were conspiring to attack Western society by undermining traditionalist conservatism and subverting “traditional family values”.
Far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in two attacks in Norway in 2011, included references to Cultural Marxism in his manifesto.
Mrs Braverman, the MP for Fareham, was alerted to this connection by journalist Dawn Foster but defended using the term, saying: "No one can get offended anymore.
"We are living in a culture where we are putting everybody in cotton wool. Our risk-averse mentalities are taking over.
"And that instinct for freedom, for risk-taking, for making a mistake, for innovation, for creativity is being killed. And it's absolutely damaging for our spirit as British people and our genius — that British genius."