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Letters to the Editor
 
Threat to democracy

• I'M no uncritical admirer of Mayor Ken Livingstone, but I agree with Murad Qureshi (Forum and Nic Careem, Letters March 2) that the Mayor’s suspension by an unelected panel was an affront to democracy.
We know the Board of Deputies of British Jews has fought a running battle with Ken Livingstone ever since his GLC days, because of his stand on Israel and the Palestinians during the Lebanon war.
It is disingenuous of the board to pretend this latest row only concerned remarks to a reporter and had nothing to do with the Israel conflict. Mayor Livingstone has made absolutely clear in a public statement that he had no intention of offending Jewish people or belittling the Nazi Holocaust.
But there has been an international campaign against the Mayor, organised by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which explicitly accused Ken Livingstone of “antisemitism.” This campaign made no mention of Ken Livingstone's anti-racist record. Jewish people from London who wrote to the Wiesenthal Centre trying to correct the wrong impression it gave were just ignored. Once again, America thinks it knows best. Brent Trades Union Council wrote an open letter expressing our concerns. The campaign has not stopped with Livingstone. Henry Guterman, a Holocaust survivor with a lifetime of service to the Jewish community and an OBE to show for it, has been told he is “unfit to hold office,” simply because he appeared with the Mayor at the Unite Against Fascism conference and said he did not think he was antisemitic.
We’ve seen nothing like this since the McCarthy witch-hunts. It is just as ugly, and more dangerous, because while people who oppose racism are being smeared, real antisemites are laughing. Any campaign against them now can be undermined by those who have been crying wolf. It’s time for those who value reason and democracy to stop the rot.
Charles Pottins
(member Brent TUC, and Jewish Socialists' Group)


Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.
 
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