Is this a good time to abuse Jews?
mainIn the new issue of Standpoint magazine, I have written a short essay on the aftermath and implications of the John Galliano imbroglio at Christian Dior.
Much ink has been spilled on the subject. I have tried to provide cultural context. It is my view, expressed elsewhere, that a floodgate has been opened. Anti-semitism has become once again socially admissible. The consequences are unforseeable.
You can read the new essay here.
The answer to your question has to be that it is never a good time to abuse Jews. I would join any march and sign any petition to assert this human right.
Equally it should never be a good time to abuse Roma, Palestinians, Libyans, Muslims in general, nor even to victimise underpaid workers in the UK public sector expected to cover the costs of a trillion pounds’ worth of financial crisis caused by bankers’ colossal mistakes, bail-outs and obscene bonuses, salaries and handshake deals. The list would and should to include people of skins of various colours and those of various ‘picked on’ ethnic origins and creeds.
Sadly we live in a world where it has become acceptable for all these prejudices not only to be voiced but enacted even at the highest government level – sometimes even by those in positions of power (viz. Sarkozy, Netanyahu) where their sense of history should equip them to know better. I find it hard to accept that Jews deserve any significantly greater or lesser protection from vile ignorant and brutal prejudices than those of other victimised groups.