JSG Outlook

"Religious Hate" Laws - Who needs them?

Hurricane Katrina was a disaster for America and tragedy for thousands of people, but for some it was a sign of Divine power. An organisation named Repent America, based in Philadelphia, said Katrina was sent by God to punish the citizens of New Orleans because they had scheduled their 34th gay pride celebration in the city. Repent America charges "drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets", five abortion clinics and the Mardi Gras parades. It concluded with a quote from Matthew 5:45 - "[God} sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust".

The organisation says it believes in a literal Hell and a lake of fire for sinners. We're not sure whether sinners who had money, lighter skins, or lived in posher neighbourhoods, will stand more chances of being plucked out, as happened in Louisiana.

Another religious organisation named the Family Policy Network also blamed the people of New Orleans for the hurricanes. Joe Glover in his article says, "Scripture is replete with examples of calamity that God used to bring His people to repentance."

Zealous adherants of three major religions seemed agreed that the hurricane and floods "served you right", albeit with variations. Some commentators claiming to speak for "the entire Muslim world" were delighted that Allah had punished Americans for Bush's foreign policy, unfazed that as with the US armed forces, a disproportionate number of blacks and poor whites were suffering for a war they did not make. Some religious Zionist websites on the other hand spotted straightaway that oil installations were hit, and adduced this and other clues to say it was G_d's righteous wrath with George Dubya for pressing Sharon to remove the settlers from Gaza.

Religious extremists don't always rely on "acts of God" to punish people of course. We all known about the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and the yeshiva student convinced he was doing the Almighty's will by murdering Yitzhak Rabin. In the United States, evangelist Pat Robertson has called for somebody to assassinate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. "That's a bit un-Christian of him, surely?", quipped rail union leader Bob Crowe at a London meeting. But Chavez has sinned by standing up to the Almighty United States, and only compounded this by offering cheap oil to help America's poor.

Of course the preachers of violence, intolerance and hate do not speak for all those decent, often poor, people for whom genuine religious belief and tradition goes with a wish to live in peace and do right by their fellow human beings. But it is the less pleasant, more aggressive and reactionary forces who seek and use privileged relationships with government to repress other voices, impose their rules, indoctrinate the young, and give their blessing to wars.

We've seen the way Israel's religious establishment and parties, though in a minority, used their clout to obtain privileges, co-erce people, even decide "who is a Jew". The long occupation and settlement expansion fostered an ugly blend of chauvinism and religious fanaticism, contemptuous of democracy for Palestinians or Jews. We saw this mobilised behind the Gaza settlers, and there may be worse to come. Against these we can point to groups like Rabbis for Human Rights, Oz vShalom, and many ordinary believers who don't adhere to the political Right.

Here in Britain we work with religious people in the peace movement and the unions and are happy to count religious people among our own members, But we are concerned at the signs of a relationship between religious reaction, business, and government. Religion should be a private matter, but politicians privatising everything else are giving organised religion a bigger role, expanding faith schools, even letting creationists run city academies. In the media a charity ad on world poverty was banned as "too political", yet religious advertising is being allowed.

Ellen Ramsay, who sent us information on what US fundamentalists were saying about Katrina, wondered how it was that she might face prosecution if she criticised or offended religion, yet the cults and preachers are free to be as offensive or hateful as they like against gays, lesbians, poor or black people.

Britain already has oold-fashioned blasphemy laws, which privilege Chistianity. Now the government wants to bring in laws forbidding incitement of "religious hatred". Should we support this? It's a tricky issue because the BNP is focussing a lot of its poisonous hate progaganda against Muslims, (even though the racist thugs don't usually discriminate between religions when attacking Asians). Some anti-Jewish propaganda still plays on emotive stuff about shechita, attributes Israeli Zionist racism to passages in the Talmud, or even uses the modern Internet to resurrect medieval Blood Libel.

Some anti-racists and Muslims welcome the government's proposals, and argue that Jews and Sikhs are already covered to an extent by being classed as "ethnic groups" for purposes of anti-racist legislation, so what about doing something to protect Muslims?

Others say that while the problem is real enough(with Muslims far more likely to suffer race attacks and discrimination), the solution proposed is an illusion. At a recent Jewish Socialists' Group meeting, Cass Baldwin from Women Living under Muslim Law described how religious law introduced when Pakistan was under military rule had been used to oppress women, suppress dissidents, even settle family scores and property disputes. In Britain, right-wing elements linked to reaction in South Asia would like to suppress dissent and cultural life in their own communities.

Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society said discrimination in jobs or services was already illegal, and laws on race hatred could be strengthened. Government ministers had been unable to say what would be illegal under the new law that was not already dealt with. Many people suspect that the Blair government is throwing a sop to Muslim leaders to bring them on board its "anti-terrorism" bandwagon, and weaken opposition to its repressive new powers, and war policies.

In this context, we see that a motion from the Black Student Alliance before the National Assembly Against Racism conference welcomes the recruitment of Tariq Ramadan to the government's task force on "terrorism", along with the proposed legislation on "religious hatred". JSG members will submit an amendment.

Writers like Hanif Kureishi and Monica Ali have expressed concern that the law will be used to stifle free speech and increase self-censorship, even on criticism of abuses such as exorcism or female circumcision (which is not in fact part of Islam).

Some Muslim leaders are not taken in by the government's proposals. Dr.Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Leader of the Muslim Parliament, said:
"If this Bill becomes law we risk extending the blasphemy law by roundabout methods. This law will not protect Muslims..."

"The Muslim concern for protection, equality and social inclusion is real and genuine. However this piec eof legislation is driven by political motives....This law will be cosmetic and fail to prevent abuses hurled at Muslims"..

We don't want to pretend this is a simple question, still less that incitement against Muslims and other minorities is not a real issue. As Jews we know better! But we would urge anti-racists and comrades on the Left to remember their critical faculties when considering the claims of religious leaderships or this government!

Antisemitism -Don't Confuse Issues

ANTISEMITISM - prejudice, hatred and violence against Jews - is a serious problem, with reports of increasing attacks. In Manchester, London, Hampshire and St.Petersburg Jewish gravestones have been defaced and destroyed. (Our pic above shows West Ham demonstration over attack on Jewish graves. Socialists, anti-racists, Jews and Muslims united to express outrage). Elsewhere synagogues have been attacked and Jewish people have been killed. In Amsterdam, a crowd taking part in an ostensibly pro-Palestinian demonstration reportedly set upon a passer by because they recognised him as a Jew.

Unlike trivial or imaginary incidents which some journalists try to work up, these attacks require no exagerration. They are serious not just for Jews but for anyone concerned with fighting racialism.

It is not enough to "deplore" antisemitism, we need to combat it. For this we need to know the scale of the problem and where it is coming from. Twenty-five years ago, the Jewish Socialists' Group challenged the Board of Deputies of British Jews over its policy of witholding information while it conducted quiet diplomacy with government. Situations change, and we have been concerned more recently that, as some experts suggest, figures for incidents are being padded out to give an exagerrated and distorted picture for political ends. We need objective information. So we ought to welcome the establishment of a European Union Monitoring Commission on Antisemitism.

To measure anything you need to define properly what you are monitoring. Unfortunately, the "Working Definition of Antisemitism" we have seen from the EUMC leaves grave doubts of its ability. Moving from common sense reference to "hatred towards Jews" to "ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel", the commission instances:

"Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour". It goes on to "applying double standards" by requiring better behaviour of Israel, and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis". Perhaps the accusation of "double standards" would apply not only to anyone otherwise sympathetic to Jews who expresses shock at the Israeli state's behaviour, but to any Jew rash enough to quote repeated Old Testament commands to deal kindly with "the stranger", "for you were strangers in Egypt and know what it is to be a stranger". As for odious comparisons with Nazis, we would certainly condemn those cynical extremists who dressed in mock concentration camp garb to protest that Israeli soldiers removing them from Gaza were "Nazis"! Is that what the authors have in mind?

We are all too familiar with Zionist hacks trying to divert any critical discussion of Israel or its institutions by complaining (usually without truth) that we have not condemned other regimes; Or asking us "What is wrong with the right of self-determination for the Jewish people". The concept of "self-determination" is entirely inappropriate, since historically Jewish people had to struggle not against foreign rule, but for equality and freedom, alongside their neighbours, wherever they lived.

Antisemitism, wrapping the religious prejudices and superstition of the Dark Ages in the imperialist pseudo-science of "race", became a weapon against democracy and progress. The infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were produced by the Tsarist secret police. Had there been a sizeable Arab minority, this racism would have been applied to these other "Semites" too. In France, with its colonial history, it usually is!

Zionism, though drawing on religious tradition, was one Jewish response. But Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism believed that antisemitic governments would help. He tried to obtain support from the Tsarist Interior Minister von Plehve, by promising to rid Russia of its revolutionary Jews. Plehve stuck to using pogroms. Jewish people were scandalized when they heard about Herzl's attempts to deal with the devil, but these weren't the last.

British foreign secretary James Arthur Balfour, author of the 1917 declaration favouring a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, had brought in the 1905 Aliens Act aimed at closing Britain's door to Jewish immigrants and refugees. No wonder some prominent British Jews feared the "national home" scheme would undermine Jews' rights as citizens where they lived.

As for the Arab people of Palestine, as a British official later commented, "In Palestine we did not even go through the motions of consulting the people". So much for "self-determination" as a principle!

Today, more through the nightmare of Hitlerism than the dream of Herzl, there is a Jewish state in the Middle East, and what's more a large proportion of its people are drawn from other Arab lands. We are for the rights of the Israeli-Jewish people to live in peace and freedom alongside their neighbours in the Middle East.

But Israel cannot expect peace while it continues to rule over another people, denying the Palestinians their right to self-determination, denying its share of responsibility for the Palestinian refugees' plight, or denying the Palestinians their rightful share of the water and land which it continues to seize. Nor has the Israeli state, and Zionist movement, any right to treat Jews in other countries as lobby fodder for its policies or potential reinforcements, while pretending to protect our rights.

Israel and its supporters do us no favours by attributing genuine Palestinian grievances and unrest to "antisemitism", or using this tag to smear all critics, including Jews. It is sadly true that many Arabs, and Muslims, despairing of progress towards justice, are misled into bitter hatred of Jews. Some Muslim leaders misrepresent the Palestinian struggle as religious in order to rob it of democratic aspects and claim it as their own. European antisemites, though really enemies of Arab and Jew alike, are using the conflict as a cover to peddle their discredited second-hand ideology to unsuspecting new audiences and a pretext for attacks on Jews.

Our job, whether as Jewish socialists and democrats or Arab liberationists, is to educate our people and draw clear lines between real enemies and potential allies. But by confusing antisemitism, a racist doctrine, with anti-Zionism, a political critique, some would-be friends of Israel and the Jewish people, no matter how sincere their motives, are giving our enemies the antisemites just the cover they need.

Unfortunately, the kind of people the EUMC has consulted, from the American Jewish Committee to our Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, give little confidence that it will get it right.
(and these are just the authorities it has named). European Jews for Just Peace, to which the Jewish Socialists' Group is affiliated, has written to the EUMC, regretting that neither it nor other qualified Jewish people were consulted, and outlining its opposition to a "working definition" that would leave out many antisemites, while libelling many Jews!

We believe that an approach like that the EUMC has been saddled with will do more harm than good. We were heartened by the appearance together at the European Social Forum last year of Israeli peace activists and Refuseniks with Palestinian campaigners, and of the Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix(UJFP), French EJJP affiliates, sharing a platform with the Association des Traveilleurs Maghrebins en France, Jews and Arabs together against racism, and for peace.

We want the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to find a way of living alongside each other, in peace and equality, through whatever mutually acceptible arrangements they choose. We believe the fight against antisemitism is part of the struggle against all racism. Jews, Arabs and other minorities in Europe can unite in that struggle, together with the labour movement and democratic forces, to confront the common threat, and contribute towards Middle East peace. European politicians and institutions must learn to help, or at least not hinder us in this.

Charlie Pottins
-------------------

Majer Bogdanski, a Jewish Socialist Group member and veteran of the Jewish Workers Bund, died aged 93 in September. We will be remembering Majer and celebrating his life at a meeting on Sunday 27 November in London (see Upcoming Events).
Born near Lodz in Poland, Majer had a difficult childhood, having to leave school young to earn his living. He joined the Bund's youth movement, and remained a socialist all his life.
When Germany and the USSR invaded Poland, Majer was arrested by the Russian forces and sent to an Arctic labour camp, where he was told "you will die like a rat". After the Soviet Union was invaded he was released to join the Polish army, serving with them and with British forces in Italy.
His wife, also a Bundist, and other relatives perished at the hands of the Nazis.
After the war Majer settled in the East End of London, working as a tailor and joining the Labour Party. In his spare time, he trained as a singer, eventually recording Yiddish and Polish songs, some of which he had himself set to music. He helped found the the London Friends of Yiddish, helping to keep alive the language of the Jewish workers' movement and wartime partisans, which had otherwise fallen between the wheels of assimilation and Zionism. He wrote poems and stories, and each year the Friends of Yiddish commemorates the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto revolt.
Majer also joined the Jewish Socialists' Group, delighted to find that younger generations of militants were reviving the Bund's fighting tradition. He brought us a living connection with the pre-war Jewish labour movement and culture, as well as raising a frequently critical voice at our gatherings. You did not have to agree with Majer to respect where he was coming from.
Among my memories: Majer's surprisingly strong but melodious voice singing the Internationale in Yiddish at a JSG May Day event in Toynbee Hall;
Majer with violin, setting off to Scotland to play for a friend who was in hospital (he'd been unwell himself, but laughed when I asked about his health); and Majer in hospital a week or so before he died, weak and tired, but earnestly discussing Tolstoy and Shakespeare with some young visitors.
Hopefully, we won't have to go through some of the experiences Majer went through. But we can hope to learn from his fortitude, breadth of interest, and humour. We can try to carry on with pride the socialist tradition he continued, as our best asset for the future.

Charlie Pottins

__________________
For more information about the JSG and its activities, or to order our magazine JEWISH SOCIALIST, contact our membership secretary Dave Rosenberg, JSG, BM3725, London WC1N 3XX, or e-mail JSG@bardrose.dircon.co.uk




	JSG Outlook



	"Religious Hate" Laws - Who needs them? Hurricane Katrina was a disaster for America and tragedy for thousands of people, but for some it was a sign of Divine power. An organisation named Repent America, based in Philadelphia, said Katrina was sent by God to punish the citizens of New Orleans because they had scheduled their 34th gay pride celebration in the city. Repent America charges "drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets", five abortion clinics and the Mardi Gras parades. It concluded with a quote from Matthew 5:45 - "[God} sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust". The organisation says it believes in a literal Hell and a lake of fire for sinners. We're not sure whether sinners who had money, lighter skins, or lived in posher neighbourhoods, will stand more chances of being plucked out, as happened in Louisiana. Another religious organisation named the Family Policy Network also blamed the people of New Orleans for the hurricanes. Joe Glover in his article says, "Scripture is replete with examples of calamity that God used to bring His people to repentance." Zealous adherants of three major religions seemed agreed that the hurricane and floods "served you right", albeit with variations. Some commentators claiming to speak for "the entire Muslim world" were delighted that Allah had punished Americans for Bush's foreign policy, unfazed that as with the US armed forces, a disproportionate number of blacks and poor whites were suffering for a war they did not make. Some religious Zionist websites on the other hand spotted straightaway that oil installations were hit, and adduced this and other clues to say it was G_d's righteous wrath with George Dubya for pressing Sharon to remove the settlers from Gaza. Religious extremists don't always rely on "acts of God" to punish people of course. We all known about the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and the yeshiva student convinced he was doing the Almighty's will by murdering Yitzhak Rabin. In the United States, evangelist Pat Robertson has called for somebody to assassinate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. "That's a bit un-Christian of him, surely?", quipped rail union leader Bob Crowe at a London meeting. But Chavez has sinned by standing up to the Almighty United States, and only compounded this by offering cheap oil to help America's poor. Of course the preachers of violence, intolerance and hate do not speak for all those decent, often poor, people for whom genuine religious belief and tradition goes with a wish to live in peace and do right by their fellow human beings. But it is the less pleasant, more aggressive and reactionary forces who seek and use privileged relationships with government to repress other voices, impose their rules, indoctrinate the young, and give their blessing to wars. We've seen the way Israel's religious establishment and parties, though in a minority, used their clout to obtain privileges, co-erce people, even decide "who is a Jew". The long occupation and settlement expansion fostered an ugly blend of chauvinism and religious fanaticism, contemptuous of democracy for Palestinians or Jews. We saw this mobilised behind the Gaza settlers, and there may be worse to come. Against these we can point to groups like Rabbis for Human Rights, Oz vShalom, and many ordinary believers who don't adhere to the political Right. Here in Britain we work with religious people in the peace movement and the unions and are happy to count religious people among our own members, But we are concerned at the signs of a relationship between religious reaction, business, and government. Religion should be a private matter, but politicians privatising everything else are giving organised religion a bigger role, expanding faith schools, even letting creationists run city academies. In the media a charity ad on world poverty was banned as "too political", yet religious advertising is being allowed. Ellen Ramsay, who sent us information on what US fundamentalists were saying about Katrina, wondered how it was that she might face prosecution if she criticised or offended religion, yet the cults and preachers are free to be as offensive or hateful as they like against gays, lesbians, poor or black people. Britain already has oold-fashioned blasphemy laws, which privilege Chistianity. Now the government wants to bring in laws forbidding incitement of "religious hatred". Should we support this? It's a tricky issue because the BNP is focussing a lot of its poisonous hate progaganda against Muslims, (even though the racist thugs don't usually discriminate between religions when attacking Asians). Some anti-Jewish propaganda still plays on emotive stuff about shechita, attributes Israeli Zionist racism to passages in the Talmud, or even uses the modern Internet to resurrect medieval Blood Libel. Some anti-racists and Muslims welcome the government's proposals, and argue that Jews and Sikhs are already covered to an extent by being classed as "ethnic groups" for purposes of anti-racist legislation, so what about doing something to protect Muslims? Others say that while the problem is real enough(with Muslims far more likely to suffer race attacks and discrimination), the solution proposed is an illusion. At a recent Jewish Socialists' Group meeting, Cass Baldwin from Women Living under Muslim Law described how religious law introduced when Pakistan was under military rule had been used to oppress women, suppress dissidents, even settle family scores and property disputes. In Britain, right-wing elements linked to reaction in South Asia would like to suppress dissent and cultural life in their own communities. Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society said discrimination in jobs or services was already illegal, and laws on race hatred could be strengthened. Government ministers had been unable to say what would be illegal under the new law that was not already dealt with. Many people suspect that the Blair government is throwing a sop to Muslim leaders to bring them on board its "anti-terrorism" bandwagon, and weaken opposition to its repressive new powers, and war policies. In this context, we see that a motion from the Black Student Alliance before the National Assembly Against Racism conference welcomes the recruitment of Tariq Ramadan to the government's task force on "terrorism", along with the proposed legislation on "religious hatred". JSG members will submit an amendment. Writers like Hanif Kureishi and Monica Ali have expressed concern that the law will be used to stifle free speech and increase self-censorship, even on criticism of abuses such as exorcism or female circumcision (which is not in fact part of Islam). Some Muslim leaders are not taken in by the government's proposals. Dr.Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Leader of the Muslim Parliament, said: "If this Bill becomes law we risk extending the blasphemy law by roundabout methods. This law will not protect Muslims..." "The Muslim concern for protection, equality and social inclusion is real and genuine. However this piec eof legislation is driven by political motives....This law will be cosmetic and fail to prevent abuses hurled at Muslims".. We don't want to pretend this is a simple question, still less that incitement against Muslims and other minorities is not a real issue. As Jews we know better! But we would urge anti-racists and comrades on the Left to remember their critical faculties when considering the claims of religious leaderships or this government! Antisemitism -Don't Confuse Issues ANTISEMITISM - prejudice, hatred and violence against Jews - is a serious problem, with reports of increasing attacks. In Manchester, London, Hampshire and St.Petersburg Jewish gravestones have been defaced and destroyed. (Our pic above shows West Ham demonstration over attack on Jewish graves. Socialists, anti-racists, Jews and Muslims united to express outrage). Elsewhere synagogues have been attacked and Jewish people have been killed. In Amsterdam, a crowd taking part in an ostensibly pro-Palestinian demonstration reportedly set upon a passer by because they recognised him as a Jew. Unlike trivial or imaginary incidents which some journalists try to work up, these attacks require no exagerration. They are serious not just for Jews but for anyone concerned with fighting racialism. It is not enough to "deplore" antisemitism, we need to combat it. For this we need to know the scale of the problem and where it is coming from. Twenty-five years ago, the Jewish Socialists' Group challenged the Board of Deputies of British Jews over its policy of witholding information while it conducted quiet diplomacy with government. Situations change, and we have been concerned more recently that, as some experts suggest, figures for incidents are being padded out to give an exagerrated and distorted picture for political ends. We need objective information. So we ought to welcome the establishment of a European Union Monitoring Commission on Antisemitism. To measure anything you need to define properly what you are monitoring. Unfortunately, the "Working Definition of Antisemitism" we have seen from the EUMC leaves grave doubts of its ability. Moving from common sense reference to "hatred towards Jews" to "ways in which antisemitism manifests itself with regard to the State of Israel", the commission instances: "Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour". It goes on to "applying double standards" by requiring better behaviour of Israel, and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis". Perhaps the accusation of "double standards" would apply not only to anyone otherwise sympathetic to Jews who expresses shock at the Israeli state's behaviour, but to any Jew rash enough to quote repeated Old Testament commands to deal kindly with "the stranger", "for you were strangers in Egypt and know what it is to be a stranger". As for odious comparisons with Nazis, we would certainly condemn those cynical extremists who dressed in mock concentration camp garb to protest that Israeli soldiers removing them from Gaza were "Nazis"! Is that what the authors have in mind? We are all too familiar with Zionist hacks trying to divert any critical discussion of Israel or its institutions by complaining (usually without truth) that we have not condemned other regimes; Or asking us "What is wrong with the right of self-determination for the Jewish people". The concept of "self-determination" is entirely inappropriate, since historically Jewish people had to struggle not against foreign rule, but for equality and freedom, alongside their neighbours, wherever they lived. Antisemitism, wrapping the religious prejudices and superstition of the Dark Ages in the imperialist pseudo-science of "race", became a weapon against democracy and progress. The infamous "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" were produced by the Tsarist secret police. Had there been a sizeable Arab minority, this racism would have been applied to these other "Semites" too. In France, with its colonial history, it usually is! Zionism, though drawing on religious tradition, was one Jewish response. But Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism believed that antisemitic governments would help. He tried to obtain support from the Tsarist Interior Minister von Plehve, by promising to rid Russia of its revolutionary Jews. Plehve stuck to using pogroms. Jewish people were scandalized when they heard about Herzl's attempts to deal with the devil, but these weren't the last. British foreign secretary James Arthur Balfour, author of the 1917 declaration favouring a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, had brought in the 1905 Aliens Act aimed at closing Britain's door to Jewish immigrants and refugees. No wonder some prominent British Jews feared the "national home" scheme would undermine Jews' rights as citizens where they lived. As for the Arab people of Palestine, as a British official later commented, "In Palestine we did not even go through the motions of consulting the people". So much for "self-determination" as a principle! Today, more through the nightmare of Hitlerism than the dream of Herzl, there is a Jewish state in the Middle East, and what's more a large proportion of its people are drawn from other Arab lands. We are for the rights of the Israeli-Jewish people to live in peace and freedom alongside their neighbours in the Middle East. But Israel cannot expect peace while it continues to rule over another people, denying the Palestinians their right to self-determination, denying its share of responsibility for the Palestinian refugees' plight, or denying the Palestinians their rightful share of the water and land which it continues to seize. Nor has the Israeli state, and Zionist movement, any right to treat Jews in other countries as lobby fodder for its policies or potential reinforcements, while pretending to protect our rights. Israel and its supporters do us no favours by attributing genuine Palestinian grievances and unrest to "antisemitism", or using this tag to smear all critics, including Jews. It is sadly true that many Arabs, and Muslims, despairing of progress towards justice, are misled into bitter hatred of Jews. Some Muslim leaders misrepresent the Palestinian struggle as religious in order to rob it of democratic aspects and claim it as their own. European antisemites, though really enemies of Arab and Jew alike, are using the conflict as a cover to peddle their discredited second-hand ideology to unsuspecting new audiences and a pretext for attacks on Jews. Our job, whether as Jewish socialists and democrats or Arab liberationists, is to educate our people and draw clear lines between real enemies and potential allies. But by confusing antisemitism, a racist doctrine, with anti-Zionism, a political critique, some would-be friends of Israel and the Jewish people, no matter how sincere their motives, are giving our enemies the antisemites just the cover they need. Unfortunately, the kind of people the EUMC has consulted, from the American Jewish Committee to our Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, give little confidence that it will get it right. (and these are just the authorities it has named). European Jews for Just Peace, to which the Jewish Socialists' Group is affiliated, has written to the EUMC, regretting that neither it nor other qualified Jewish people were consulted, and outlining its opposition to a "working definition" that would leave out many antisemites, while libelling many Jews! We believe that an approach like that the EUMC has been saddled with will do more harm than good. We were heartened by the appearance together at the European Social Forum last year of Israeli peace activists and Refuseniks with Palestinian campaigners, and of the Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix(UJFP), French EJJP affiliates, sharing a platform with the Association des Traveilleurs Maghrebins en France, Jews and Arabs together against racism, and for peace. We want the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to find a way of living alongside each other, in peace and equality, through whatever mutually acceptible arrangements they choose. We believe the fight against antisemitism is part of the struggle against all racism. Jews, Arabs and other minorities in Europe can unite in that struggle, together with the labour movement and democratic forces, to confront the common threat, and contribute towards Middle East peace. European politicians and institutions must learn to help, or at least not hinder us in this. Charlie Pottins ------------------- Majer Bogdanski, a Jewish Socialist Group member and veteran of the Jewish Workers Bund, died aged 93 in September. We will be remembering Majer and celebrating his life at a meeting on Sunday 27 November in London (see Upcoming Events). Born near Lodz in Poland, Majer had a difficult childhood, having to leave school young to earn his living. He joined the Bund's youth movement, and remained a socialist all his life. When Germany and the USSR invaded Poland, Majer was arrested by the Russian forces and sent to an Arctic labour camp, where he was told "you will die like a rat". After the Soviet Union was invaded he was released to join the Polish army, serving with them and with British forces in Italy. His wife, also a Bundist, and other relatives perished at the hands of the Nazis. After the war Majer settled in the East End of London, working as a tailor and joining the Labour Party. In his spare time, he trained as a singer, eventually recording Yiddish and Polish songs, some of which he had himself set to music. He helped found the the London Friends of Yiddish, helping to keep alive the language of the Jewish workers' movement and wartime partisans, which had otherwise fallen between the wheels of assimilation and Zionism. He wrote poems and stories, and each year the Friends of Yiddish commemorates the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto revolt. Majer also joined the Jewish Socialists' Group, delighted to find that younger generations of militants were reviving the Bund's fighting tradition. He brought us a living connection with the pre-war Jewish labour movement and culture, as well as raising a frequently critical voice at our gatherings. You did not have to agree with Majer to respect where he was coming from. Among my memories: Majer's surprisingly strong but melodious voice singing the Internationale in Yiddish at a JSG May Day event in Toynbee Hall; Majer with violin, setting off to Scotland to play for a friend who was in hospital (he'd been unwell himself, but laughed when I asked about his health); and Majer in hospital a week or so before he died, weak and tired, but earnestly discussing Tolstoy and Shakespeare with some young visitors. Hopefully, we won't have to go through some of the experiences Majer went through. But we can hope to learn from his fortitude, breadth of interest, and humour. We can try to carry on with pride the socialist tradition he continued, as our best asset for the future. Charlie Pottins __________________ For more information about the JSG and its activities, or to order our magazine JEWISH SOCIALIST, contact our membership secretary Dave Rosenberg, JSG, BM3725, London WC1N 3XX, or e-mail JSG@bardrose.dircon.co.uk

	Upcoming Events Sunday, November 13 -Remembering Kristallnacht, and defending rights today. JSG meeting with Donald Kenrick (JSG and Gypsy rights campaigner), Bill McKeith(Barbed Wire Britain) and lawyer Daniel Machover. 7.30pm, Indian YMCA, Fitzroy Square (nr.Warren St or Gt.Portland St. tube) Saturday, November 19 - Stop Deporting Children and Students! Demos Manchester (12 noon MU Students Union, Oxford Rd.) and London (1pm, Horseguards Avenue, off Whitehall, rally 2,30pm Hyde Park). Saturday, November 26. Voices from Iraq. teach-in org. by Iraq Occupation Focus, ULU, Malet St., WC1, 10am to 5pm Sunday 27th November � 2.30-4.30, Manor Gardens Centre, 10 Manor Gardens, off Holloway Road.N7 A celebration of the life of Majer Bogdanski. Tailor, singer, socialist. People with personal memories of Majer are especially welcome. With 30-minute documentary about the Bund, which features Majer prominently. GET UP TO DATE! JSG Outlook has been superceded by the relaunched JSG website. To get up to date with current information and activiries visit us at http://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/index.html

	JSG Resolutions To see what JSG national conference this year said on Antisemitism, Religious "hate" Laws, etc.,see http://hometown.aol.co.uk/charlespottins/myhomepage/polparties.html

	Some links: Gush Shalom European Jews for Just Peace Labournet UK

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"Religious Hate" Laws - Who needs them?

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