Why Does the Western Left Support Palestine? Secular Solidarity, the Crisis of Representation, and the Orientalist Paradox in the Case of the British Labour Party

Year 2026, Issue: 9 , 259 - 286 , 31.03.2026

Muhammed Babacan

https://izlik.org/JA54EU65RF

Abstract

From the perspective of the sociology of religion, this article problematises the complex and contradictory relationship between the Western left, whose political reason is largely built upon secular codes, and the Palestinian cause, which is centred on religious identity and references. The study adopts the British Labour Party as a case study. Its methodological framework is grounded in a critical historical analysis informed by the Foucauldian tradition of genealogy. This methodology aims to deconstruct the established narrative that presents the Western left's relationship with Palestine as an inevitable solidarity. By doing so, it exposes the secular-religious tensions, power relations, and ideological paradoxes beneath this account. The findings of the research reveal how the left evolved from its initial support for Zionism to a radical pro-Palestinian stance in the post-1967 period and the internal tensions it experienced throughout this process. In the context of internal divisions that deepened particularly after 7 October 2023 and the quests for geopolitical repositioning, the September 2025 decision to recognise Palestine as a state is thus interpreted not as a simple act of solidarity but as a multi-layered political manoeuvre aimed at both managing internal legitimacy and assuming a new role in global politics. The article concludes that the fundamental contradiction between the Western left's anti-imperialist discourse and its colonial legacy leads to a profound crisis of representation, fueled by the secular mind’s incapacity to understand public religion. When speaking on behalf of Palestinians, the left often disregards the right to self-determination of the very subject it supports; within a “Protestant secular” logical framework, it either subjects religious references to economic reductionism or perceives them as a threat. This paternalistic attitude demonstrates that the left's practice of solidarity remains trapped in a paradox, whereby it reproduces the very Orientalist power dynamics it claims to critique. By revealing the structural impasses of a secular political reason in its endeavour to understand and represent a struggle imbued with religious references, this analysis offers an original contribution to the sociology of religion literature. Consequently, this study argues that a principled and consistent solidarity will only be possible if the left confronts its colonial legacy, reconfigures its relations of representation, and assesses the legitimacy of religio-political expressions within a rights-based framework.

Keywords

Sociology of Religion , Palestine Solidarity , Western Left , Labour Party , Secularism , Anti-imperialism , Orientalism , Postcolonialism , Crisis of Representation

Batı Solu Filistin'i Niçin Destekliyor? İngiliz İşçi Partisi Örneğinde Seküler Dayanışma, Temsil Krizi ve Oryantalist Paradoks

https://izlik.org/JA54EU65RF

Abstract

Bu makale, politik aklını büyük ölçüde seküler kodlar üzerine inşa eden Batı solunun, merkezinde dinî kimlik ve referansların yer aldığı Filistin davasıyla kurduğu karmaşık ve çelişkili ilişkiyi din sosyolojisi perspektifinden sorunsallaştırmaktadır. Çalışma, vaka analizi olarak İngiliz İşçi Partisi’ni (Labour Party) ele almakta ve metodolojik çerçevesini Foucaultcu soykütük geleneğine dayalı eleştirel bir tarihsel analiz yaklaşımı üzerine kurmaktadır. Bu metodoloji, Batı solunun Filistin’le ilişkisini kaçınılmaz bir dayanışma olarak sunan yerleşik anlatıyı yapıbozuma uğratarak bu anlatının ardındaki seküler-dini gerilimleri, iktidar ilişkilerini ve ideolojik paradoksları ortaya çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır. Araştırmanın bulguları, solun Siyonizm’e ilk desteğinden 1967 sonrası radikal bir Filistin yanlısı tutuma nasıl evrildiğini ve bu süreçte ne gibi iç gerilimler yaşadığını gözler önüne sermektedir. Özellikle 7 Ekim 2023 sonrası derinleşen iç bölünmeler ve jeopolitik yeniden konumlanma arayışları bağlamında, Eylül 2025'te Filistin'i devlet olarak tanıma kararı da basit bir dayanışma eyleminden ziyade, hem iç meşruiyeti yönetmeyi hem de küresel siyasette yeni bir rol üstlenmeyi hedefleyen çok katmanlı bir siyasî hamle olarak okunmaktadır. Makale, Batı solunun anti-emperyalist söylemiyle sömürgeci mirası arasındaki temel çelişkinin, seküler aklın kamusal dini anlama kapasitesindeki yetersizlikten beslenen derin bir temsil krizine yol açtığı sonucuna varmaktadır. Batı solu, Filistinliler adına konuşurken, desteklediği öznenin kendi kaderini tayin hakkını sıklıkla göz ardı etmekte; "Protestan seküler" bir mantık çerçevesinde, dinî referansları ya ekonomik indirgemeciliğe tabi tutmakta ya da bir tehdit olarak algılamaktadır. Bu vesayetçi tavır, solun dayanışma pratiğinin, eleştirdiğini iddia ettiği Oryantalist güç dinamiklerini yeniden üreten bir paradoks içinde sıkışıp kaldığını göstermektedir. Bu analiz, seküler bir siyasî aklın, dinî referanslarla yüklü bir mücadeleyi anlama ve temsil etme çabasındaki yapısal açmazları ortaya koyarak din sosyolojisi literatürüne özgün bir katkı sunmaktadır. Sonuç olarak bu çalışma, ilkesel ve tutarlı bir dayanışmanın ancak solun sömürgecilik mirasıyla hesaplaşması, temsil ilişkilerini yeniden kurgulaması ve dinî‑politik ifadelerin meşruiyetini hak temelli bir çerçevede değerlendirmesiyle mümkün olacağını savunmaktadır.

Keywords

Din Sosyolojisi , Filistin Dayanışması , Batı Solu , İşçi Partisi , Sekülerizm , Anti-emperyalizm , Oryantalizm , Postkolonyalizm , Temsil Krizi

References

• Ackerman, Gary A. - Bale, Jeffrey M. “The Potential for Collaboration between Islamists and Western Left-Wing Extremists: A Theoretical and Empirical Introduction”. Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 5/3 (2012), 151-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/17467586.2012.745197
• Adu, Aletha. “British Muslims Losing Trust in Labour over Its Handling of Israel-Gaza War”. The Guardian (2024). https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/05/british-muslims-losing-trust-in-labour-over-its-handling-of-israel-gaza-war
• Adu, Aletha - Stacey, Kiran. “Dozens of Labour MPs Defy Keir Starmer to Vote for Ceasefire in Gaza”. The Guardian (2023). https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/15/commons-gaza-vote-labour-defy-starmer-ceasefire-israel
• Ağçoban, Sıddık. “Avrupa Sosyolojisi ile İslâm Teolojisi Arasında: Avrupa’da İslâm”. Erciyes Akademi 35/3 (2021), 1075-1094. https://doi.org/10.48070/erciyesakademi.969293
• Ajl, Max. “Palestine and the Ends of Theory”. Middle East Critique 33/4 (Ekim 2024), 611-634. https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2024.2404338
• Albayrak, H. Şule. “ABD’de Hıristiyan Siyonizmi: Kökeni, İnanç Esasları ve Günümüz Amerikan Siyasetine Etkisi”. Darulfunun İlahiyat 30/1 (2019), 141-169. https://doi.org/10.26650/di.2019.30.1.0011
• Amnesty International UK. “UK: Disappointing High Court Arms to Israel Judgment ‘does Not Change the Facts’ of Gaza Genocide”. 2025. Erişim 10 Ağustos 2025. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-disappointing-high-court-arms-israel-judgment-does-not-change-facts-gaza-genocide
• Anidjar, Gil. The Jew, the Arab: A History of the Enemy. Stanford University Press, 2003.
• Asad, Talal. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stanford University Press, 2003.
• Asad, Talal. “Free Speech, Blasphemy, and Secular Criticism”. Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech. ed. Talal Asad vd. 20-63. UC Berkeley: Townsend Center for the Humanities, 2009.
• Aydınalp, Halil. “İslam Dünyasında Siyasi Şiddetin Sosyolojik Unsurları”. Din ve Şiddet: Tarihi, Dini, Siyasi, Kültürel, Sosyo-Psikolojik Boyutlarıyla. ed. Faruk Sancar. 195-226. Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2016.
• Babacan, Muhammed. “Emperyalizmin Gölgesinde: Siyonizm, Yerleşimci Sömürgecilik ve Filistin Soykırımı”. İslam ve Yorum VIII II. Cilt: Dini, Siyasi ve Kültürel Boyutlarıyla Kudüs. ed. Yusuf Batar vd. İstanbul: Ensar Neşriyat, 2024.
• Babacan, Muhammed. “‘Neither “Islam” nor “Muslim” is a Race’: Islamophobia, Racism and Freedom of Expression”. Bilimname 49/1 (2023), 595-625. https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.1228143
• Bastani, Aaron. “Labour’s obligation to peace between Israel and Palestine starts by rejecting the IHRA examples”. Novara Media. https://novaramedia.com/2018/08/17/labours-obligation-to-peace-between-israel-and-palestine-starts-by-rejecting-the-ihra-examples/
• Bellah, Robert N. “Civil religion in America”. Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 96/1 (1967), 1-21.
• Bodur, Hüsnü Ezber. “Türkiye-AB İlişkileri ve Din Eleştirel Bir Yaklaşım”. KSÜ İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 11 (2008), 1-30.
• Bolat, Gökhan - Kurt, Abdurrahman. “Hristiyan Teopolitiği Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme ve ‘Öteki’nin Teopolitik İnşası: ABD Örneği”. Uludağ İlahiyat Dergisi 33/2 (2024), 159-188. https://doi.org/10.51447/uluid.1521873
• Carroll, Rory - Jones, Sam. “Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise Palestinian state | Palestine | The Guardian”. The Guardian. 2024. Erişim 09 Ekim 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/22/palestinian-state-recognition-ireland-spain-recognise-palestine
• Casanova, Jose. Public Religions in the Modern World. University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• Chadwick, Vince. “Jeremy Corbyn Regrets Calling Hamas ‘Friends’”. POLITICO. 04 Temmuz 2016. Erişim 04 Mayıs 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/labour-party-leader-jeremy-corbyn-regrets-calling-hamas-friends-hezbollah-anti-semitism/
• Dabashi, Hamid. Brown Skin, White Masks. Pluto Books, 2011.
• Fanon, Frantz. Black skin, white masks. London: Pluto Press, 1986.
• Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. çev. Constance Farrington. New York: Grove Press, 1963.
• Foucault, Michel. History of Madness. London: Routledge, 2006.
• Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980.
• Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
• Francis, Sam - Zeffman, Henry. “Labour calls for immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza for first time”. 21 Şubat 2024. Erişim 10 Eylül 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68346129
• Glynn, Sarah. “Muslims and the Left: An English Case Study”. Ethnicities 12/5 (2012), 581-602. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796811435315
• Greene, Toby. Blair, Labour, and Palestine: Conflicting Views on Middle East Peace After 9/11. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
• Gutiérrez, Gustova. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation. çev. Sister Caridad Inda - John Eagleson. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2. Basım, 1988.
• Habermas, Jürgen. The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1: Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Boston: Beacon Press, 1984.
• Harman, Chris. Prophet and the Proletariat: Islamic Fundamentalism, Class and Revolution. Raws Collection, 1994.
• Harris, Scarlet. Islamophobia, Anti_racism and the British Left. Manchester University Press, 2025.
• Haugbolle, Sune - Olsen, Pelle Valentin. “Emergence of Palestine as a global cause”. Middle East Critique 32/1 (2023), 129-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2023.2168379
• Heppell, Timothy. “The British Labour Party and the Antisemitism Crisis: Jeremy Corbyn and Image Repair Theory”. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 23/4 (Kasım 2021), 645-662. https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211015920
• Hirsh, David. “Anti-zionism and antisemitism: Cosmopolitan reflections”. The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism Working Paper Series. ed. Charles Small. Lux Et Veritas, 2007.
• Hirsh, David. Contemporary Left Antisemitism. Routledge, 2018.
• Hirsh, David. “The Corbyn left: the politics of position and the politics of reason”. fathom, 1-25.
• Home Affairs Committee. “Oral evidence: Antisemitism, HC 136”. UK Parliament. 04 Temmuz 2016. Erişim 04 Eylül 2025. https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/5821/html/
• Hurd, Elizabeth Shakman. Beyond Religious Freedom: The New Global Politics of Religion. Princeton University Press, 2015.
• Hurd, Elizabeth Shakman. “‘The small space of Religion’s remainder’: On the precarities of the secular”. Critical Research on Religion (2025), 1-4.
• ICJ. “Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)”. International Court of Justice. 2024. Erişim 09 Ekim 2025. https://www.icj-cij.org/case/192
• Jamieson, Kathleen Hall - Cappella, Joseph N. Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Julius, Anthony. Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England. Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Kelemen, Paul. The British left and Zionism: History of a divorce. Manchester University Press, 2012.
• Kirman, M. Ali. “Sekülerleşme Perspektifinden Dini ve Seküler Fundamentalizmler”. Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi 1/2 (2008), 274-291.
• Klaff, Lesley. “Jeremy Corbyn: why the British Labour Party is no longer a safe place for Jews”. International Relations and Diplomacy 4/7 (2016), 427-433.
• Labour Party. New Labour: because Britain deserves better. London: Labour Party, 1997. http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1997/1997-labour-manifesto.shtml.
• Le Monde. “Left-Wing French Lawmaker Suspended for Waving Palestinian Flag” (2024). https://www.lemonde.fr/en/politics/article/2024/05/28/left-wing-french-lawmaker-suspended-for-waving-palestinian-flag_6672921_6.html
• Mahmood, Saba. Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report. Princeton University Press, 2015.
• Maitles, Henry. “The Left, anti-Semitism and Palestine”. Critical and Radical Social Work 6/2 (2018), 241-245. https://doi.org/10.1332/204986018X15321003809712
• Manning, Jonny. “MP Regains Labour Whip after Suspension for Using Pro-Palestinian Phrase”. BBC. 13 Mart 2024. Erişim 02 Mayıs 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv2y5x311njo
• Marx, Karl. Hegel’İn Hukuk Felsfesinin Eleştirisi. çev. Kenan Somer. Ankara: Sol Yayınları, 2. Basım, 1843.
• Massad, Joseph A. Islam in Liberalism. University of Chicago, 2015.
• McShane, Asher. “Israel ‘has the Right’ to Withhold Power and Water from Gaza, Says Sir Keir Starmer”. LBC. 11 Ekim 2023. Erişim 13 Temmuz 2025. https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/sir-keir-starmer-hamas-terrorism-israel-defend-itself-DWzhBf_2/
• Miller, David. “A’ State of Israel or ‘The’ State of Israel: The Politics of the IHRA Definition”. Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief. ed. Greg Philo vd. 166-173. Pluto Press, 2019.
• Patrick, Lydia. “Labour MP Andy McDonald suspended over ‘between the river and the sea’ speech | The Independent”. Independent. 30 Ekim 2023. Erişim 01 Mayıs 2025. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/andy-mcdonald-suspended-labour-israel-palestine-b2438609.html
• Perşembe, Erkan. “Avro-Islam Ya da?...Çok Kültürlü Avrupa’da Müslümanların Entegrasyonu”. Eskiyeni 1 (2006), 5-13. https://makale.isam.org.tr/handle/123456789/218956 Pfahl-Traughber, Armin. “Antisemitism and Hostility towards Israel in Left-Wing Extremism”. Antisemitism on the Rise: New Ideological Dynamics. ed. Florian Hartleb. 119-130. European Institute for Counter Terrorism and Conflict Prevention, 2024.
• Philo, Greg - Berry, Mike. “Divisions and Competing Accounts”. Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief. ed. Greg Philo vd. 23-44. Pluto Press, 2019a.
• Pliskin, Ruthie vd. “Are Leftists More Emotion-Driven Than Rightists? The Interactive Influence of Ideology and Emotions on Support for Policies”. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40/12 (2014), 1681-1697.https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214554589
• Rich, Dave. The Left’s Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism. Biteback Publishing, 2016.
• Rich, Dave. “Why is the British Left Anti-Israel, and Why Does it Matter?” Confronting Antisemitism in Modern Media, the Legal and Political Worlds. ed. Armin Lange vd. 323-330. De Gruyter, 2021.
• Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1978.
• Shabana, Ihab. “From an Understanding to a Securitizing Discourse: The British Left’s Encounter with the Emergence of Political Islam, 1978–2001”. Religions 13/206 (2022), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3390/%20rel13030206
• Shaw, Eric. “‘This Really Has the Potential to Destroy Us’: Jeremy Corbyn’s Management of the Problem of Anti‐semitism in the Labour Party”. The Political Quarterly 92/2 (2021), 211-219. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12994
• Shlaim, Avi. “Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in British politics”. Al Jazeera (2017). www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/01/170111143904887.html
• Skinner, Jordan. “Alain Badiou’s ‘Anti-Semitism’: Badiou, Segré, and Winter Respond to t”. Verso. 14 Ağustos 2014. Erişim 10 Haziran 2025. https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/1688-alain-badiou-s-anti-semitism-badiou-segre-and-winter-respond-to-the-current-accusations-in-france
• Spivak, Gayatri. “Can the subaltern speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. ed. Cary Nelson - Lawrence Grossberg. 271-313. London: Macmillan, 1988.
• Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007.
• Tekin, Mustafa. “Batı’da ve Türkiye’de Aydının Dini-Sosyolojik Portresi”. Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 17/17 (2004), 161-176. https://izlik.org/JA47GJ98GU
• Thorpe, Andrew. A History of the British Labour Party. Red Globe Press, 4. Basım, 2015.
• Vaughan, James R. “The media, antisemitism, and political warfare in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, 2015‒2019”. Research Handbook on Political Propaganda. ed. Gary D. Rawnsley vd. 224-242. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2021.
• Vickers, Rhiannon. The Labour Party and the World (Volume 1): The Evolution of Labour’s Foreign Policy 1900-51. Manchester University Press, 2003.
• Vickers, Rhiannon. The Labour Party and the World (Volume 2): Labour’s Foreign Policy Since 1951. Manchester University Press, 2011.
• Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. University of California Press, 1978.