Author: MARCUS OCALLAGHAN

Stand Up: An important message for today

February 17, 2020 / / 0 Comments

On Thursday evening (13/02/20), a guest speaker from the Stand Up organisation gave a talk on their work in schools across the country. In this case the organisation had just been into a local school in Sheffield to discuss discrimination after reports of anti-Muslim hate. The speaker, Zaynab, delivered a brilliant talk going over how she delivers the sessions in schools, as well as how we can begin to make a difference.

Stand Up itself is an inter-faith charity focused on tackling antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate. Please follow this link for more information on their work. Through their engagement with mainstream schools, they hope to educate young people on discrimination and the impact it can have on individuals’ lives. Zaynab highlighted a particular focus on targeting stereotypes, as if they can get young people to start questioning these stereotypes, it may lead to a decrease in hate crimes against these groups. Another key element of their work is to create a safe space during their talks, so that students can ask questions that they may feel are not appropriate in other settings. By answering these questions, Stand Up can help to disprove stereotypes held by those at the school.

Alongside discussing how she delivers sessions in schools, Zaynab also showed us examples of online antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate as well as examples of this hate taking place in public places. Although these examples showed the stark reality of hate, they also provided an opportunity of empowerment, as we were told how to report these incidents and how to support those affected.

Empowerment was the key message to come from this talk, as if we all feel empowered to make a difference, then one day we could see the end of discrimination. However, to see this change, we all need to work together as a global community and embrace our differences, rather than using our differences as justification for hate.

Should you ever experience or witness discrimination, here are some organisations you can contact to report it:

Antisemitism- cst.org.uk 0800 032 3263

Anti-Muslim hate- tellmamauk.org 0800 456 1226

LGBT+ hate- galop.org.uk 0800 999 5428

Hate in Football- kickitout.org

IN AN EMERGENCY CALL 999

Auschwitz 75 years’ on

January 28, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Yesterday (27th January 2020), marked the 75th anniversary of Soviet soldiers liberating the Auschwitz death camp in the final year of the Second World War. Survivors of the Holocaust and current world leaders attended the ceremony at Auschwitz, to remember those killed by the Nazi regime. However, alongside remembrance, a strong message was also made highlighting the importance of ensuring that this does not happen again.

The focus of this year’s ceremony was on the survivors themselves and their message was clear, world indifference to hatred must stop so that events like the Holocaust do not happen again (Connolly, 2020). This message was echoed by the French president Emmanuel Macron, who stated that Antisemitism is not just a problem for the Jewish community, rather it is a problem for us all (BBC, 2020). Statistics from the UK also demonstrate that Antisemitism is still very much a contemporary issue in society. The second most targeted group of religious hate crime were the Jewish community, with them being the victim of 18% of all reported hate crimes (Home Office, 2019). It is important to note that this figure could be higher, as it only includes reported hate crimes, many may go unreported for a variety of reasons.

With these statistics in mind, it is clear why the message of ending indifference from survivors of the Holocaust is so important. As a society, we need to ensure that we are tackling religious hatred, and other forms of discrimination, so that we can prevent the horrific events of the past happening again.

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