2 min read
ByAlex Hearn, BY alex hearn
As EHRC reports into Labour antisemitism, one of the key activist groups looks at how we have arrived here
October 29, 2020 10:37The frightening experience that Jewish people and our allies suffered at the hands of the Labour Party over the last five years will be a matter of historical record for future generations.
It will serve as a warning of how quickly the poison spread, even among the people we used to think of as comrades. How quickly and brutally they turned on us.
This issue did not start with the Labour Party but it is indicative of a deeper, age-old problem bubbling away in society.
Antisemitism has increasingly gained acceptance on the left and in the Labour Party it found a willing host.
As it spread, the largest political party in Europe encouraged it, engaged in it, protected offenders and punished complainants.
People like Ken Livingstone used their influence to normalise distorted ideas about the Holocaust, to a degree that the far right could only dream of.
Activists against antisemitism were hissed at with gassing noises at the Labour conference (the same one where a Jewish MP required police protection).
The leader of the party supported and celebrated antisemitic terrorists who had killed family members and friends of our activists. Labour Against Antisemitism and others regularly recorded Nazi-strength antisemitism throughout the party and it became difficult to differentiate the left from the far right and the conspiracy theorists. The extremes had formed a perfect storm, with Jews at the centre.
Relatives who had lived through the worst of the 20th century warned us to keep our bags packed. We thought they were overreacting but this episode demonstrated how quickly the tide can turn.
Ideas we had thought were consigned to the dustbin of history became acceptable. In the blink of an eye we saw ancient, culturally ingrained prejudice reappear in real time, and it felt surreal and deeply upsetting.
Many of us were shaken to our core, creating a deeper connection to our Jewishness.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one wants to hear it, does it make a sound? Alomg with others, LAAS worked to make sure it was heard far and wide, and our disruption of networks meant that there was no hiding space for antisemites.
It felt a lonely task, particularly in the early days. We could see the wave of hate that was coming .
The natural instinct of this tiny minority community has always been to keep its head down, for obvious reasons.
But the message got out and when it mattered most, Jewish people and their friends stood up and said no. That message will live long in the memory of those who abused us.
We submitted a mountain of forensic evidence to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Given their high bar, just opening the investigation coupled with the election result means that battle is already over. But the next one is starting.
Right now, Jewish people are faced with attending their local Labour branches with people who supported antisemitism.
The EHRC report represents an opportunity for Keir Starmer to act and make the Labour party a safe space for Jews again.
EHRC or no EHRC, we have shown the pride and strength we have in our Jewishness, and it is not up for negotiation.
Alex Hearn is director of LAAS
