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I'm touched by friends & colleagues standing in solidarity w #NoSpaceForJewHate
The intention is brilliantly positive and supportive. I'm grateful to those standing up against antisemitism this way, but I've decided not to participate myself.
I've decided to speak up instead.
The intention is brilliantly positive and supportive. I'm grateful to those standing up against antisemitism this way, but I've decided not to participate myself.
I've decided to speak up instead.
At my school, "jew" was a common insult (along with a few other charming racist & homophobic slurs). It meant you were greedy, selfish, scheming, tricksy, stingey.
Teachers witnessed this all the time. Daily. Not even once did any of them do or say anything.
Teachers witnessed this all the time. Daily. Not even once did any of them do or say anything.
At my university, I learnt it was better to studiously avoid conversations about Israel than be held personally accountable for the actions of a government of a country I have never visited.
More recently, I have spoken openly about my heritage and how the impact of my family's persecution and murder lingers today. https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/news-and-blog/blog/international-holocaust-memorial-day-what-it-means-me
But I notice that I only do this when it feels safe to do so. And it doesn't always feel safe. And as a white person, I have the luxury of choice as to whether or not to talk about my Jewish heritage. This is a privilege that people of colour do not always have.
I'm even anxious about posting this thread to be honest. I've vacillated over whether it's a good idea. What exhausting, potentially antisemitic responses will I get below the line?
Even the discussion about anti-Jewish racism is itself all too often antisemitic. How often we hear that antisemitism doesn't exist, that it's a ploy used to defame one group or another. These are classic, centuries-old antisemitic tropes about the scheming, deceitful Jew.
And then there are the weird, unhelpful comparisons often made between the Holocaust and the tragedies inflicted on other minorities. These often seem to try to rank the worst examples of human suffering against each other.
In the process, this implies that we are competing for the title of "most persecuted / discriminated against" when, in fact, we are so much stronger when we collaborate and amplify each other's anti-racist actions and aspirations. Solidarity, not competition.
We also rarely listen to experiences of Jews who inhabit intersections of discrimination: people of colour, working-class, LGBTQ+. I'd much rather hear their voices than listen to endless, exhausting talking heads debate whether anti-Jewish racism even exists in the first place.
So if you are participating in #NoSpaceForJewHate thank you for standing in solidarity. THANK YOU 
If you're spending 48 keeping schtum on Twitter, why not use that time to learn even more about how to be a great ally to Jews and others affected by racism.
If you're spending 48 keeping schtum on Twitter, why not use that time to learn even more about how to be a great ally to Jews and others affected by racism.
