 | |
| Founded | 18 March 2006 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Political, cultural, and artistic activities; anti-Zionism |
| Location |
|
| Website | jewdas |
Jewdas is a Jewish diaspora group based in London. It describes itself as a "radical Jewish diaspora group" and is described by media as far-left [1] [2] [3] and anti-Zionist. [4] It has a satirical-communal website and stages events in London and elsewhere.
The group has been described by Benjamin Joffe-Walt of The Guardian as a Jewish hipster organisation engaged in political, cultural and artistic activities. [5]
The group initially came to attention in 2006 for organising an event called "The Protocols of the Elders of Hackney" (a reference to the antisemitic hoax The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ), with a flyer parodying traditional antisemitic images. Four members of the group were arrested. [4]
In October 2011, Jewdas hosted ¡No Pasarán! , a party commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. [6] [7]
In May 2015, the group brought over thirty people on its inaugural Birthwrong trip to Andalusia, Spain, parodying Birthright Israel's heritage trips for young adults from the Jewish diaspora. [8] Advertised as "a trip for anyone who's sick of Israel's stranglehold on Jewish culture and wants to get away on a raucous holiday", the itinerary included: "See Maimonides! Get pissed! Do some Jewish tourism! Spend Shabbat with Andalusian Jews! Shvitz in a hammam! Visit a communist village! Get pissed!" [8] [9] [10] Jewdas made a short film on the trip. [11]
During the summer of 2015, Jewdas took part in two counter-protests against neo-Nazi demonstrations in North London. [12] In January 2016, Jewdas took part in a counterprotest against a far-right rally against Syrian refugees arriving in Dover. [13]
Jewdas' description of Israel as "a steaming pile of sewage which needs to be properly disposed of" on its Twitter feed was criticised by Jon Lansman, founder of the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum, who said that the organisation's comments were "not helpful to Jeremy or the cause of opposing antisemitism in the Labour Party". [14] [15]
Representatives of the organisation use the collective pseudonym Geoffrey Cohen in speaking to the media. [16]
At the beginning of April 2018, Jeremy Corbyn, the United Kingdom's Leader of the Opposition, attended a third night Passover Seder held by the group in his constituency in a personal rather than official capacity. [15] Following controversy over alleged antisemitism in the UK Labour Party, the Seder was described as symbolising Corbyn's lack of touch with mainstream Jewish opinion on issues such as antisemitism and Zionism. [15] [14] This criticism was not uncontroversial; comedian David Baddiel said that making out "it's somehow anti-Semitic for [Corbyn] to spend Seder with [Jewdas] just because they're far left is balls", while writer and actor David Schneider said: "'Boo! Corbyn needs to get out and meets some Jews!' (Corbyn spends Passover with some Jews at Jewdas) 'Boo! Not those Jews!'" [17]
While discussing Corbyn's attendance at the Passover Seder, Jonathan Arkush, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews said that Jewdas is a "source of virulent anti-semitism" and claimed that its members are "not all Jews". [18] Jewdas replied in an editorial in The Guardian that "we love Judaism and Jewish culture, as every one of our events demonstrate ... To claim that we in Jewdas are somehow not real Jews is offensive, and frankly antisemitic". [19]
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sits in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip.
The Jewish Socialists' Group (JSG) is a Jewish socialist collective in Britain, formed in the 1970s.
The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/Meretz/Arzenu/Ameinu within the World Zionist Organization. Its sister parties are the Israeli Labor Party (Havodah) and Meretz.
Christopher Williamson is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby North from 2010 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2019. He was Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government from October 2010 to October 2013. Williamson was previously a local councillor in Derby, representing the Normanton ward from 1991 until 2011 and serving twice as leader of Derby City Council.
British Jews have experienced antisemitism - discrimination and persecution as Jews - since a Jewish community was first established in England in 1070. They experienced a series of massacres in the Medieval period, which culminated in their expulsion from England in 1290.
The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, but writes about other issues in the Middle East as well. MEMO is pro-Palestinian in orientation and supports Islamist causes. MEMO is regarded as an outlet for the Muslim Brotherhood and its website strongly promotes pro-Hamas related content.
Momentum is a British left-wing political organisation which has been described as a grassroots movement supportive of the Labour Party; since January 2017, all Momentum members must be members of the party. It was founded in 2015 by Jon Lansman, Adam Klug, Emma Rees and James Schneider after Jeremy Corbyn's successful campaign to become Labour Party leader and it was reported to have between 20,000 and 30,000 members in 2021.
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.
The Chakrabarti Inquiry was a 2016 investigation into allegations of antisemitism and other forms of racism in the United Kingdom's Labour Party. Chaired by barrister Shami Chakrabarti, the inquiry was launched following comments made by two high-profile Labour figures, Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone, that some asserted were antisemitic in nature; Shah, a Member of parliament, and Livingstone, the former mayor of London, were subsequently suspended from the party pending an investigation. The inquiry presented its findings on 30 June 2016, stating that although antisemitism and other types of racism were not endemic within Labour, there was an "occasionally toxic atmosphere".
Marc Wadsworth is a British black rights campaigner, broadcast and print journalist and BBC filmmaker and radio producer. He founded the Anti-Racist Alliance in 1991 and two years later, also helped set up the justice campaign for murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Wadsworth launched an early citizen-journalism news portal, The-Latest.com. In 2008, Wadsworth's reporting triggered the resignation of Mayor of London Boris Johnson's spokesman.
There have been instances of antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) since its establishment. Notable occurrences include canards about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War and antisemitic remarks from leading Labour politician Ernest Bevin. In the 2000s, controversies arose over comments made by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby", a comparison by London Labour politician Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.
Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a British organisation formed in 2017 for Jewish members of the Labour Party. Its aims include a commitment "to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism ... to uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities", and "to oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards, or discrimination against, Jews as Jews".
Jacqueline Walker is a British political activist and writer. She has been a teacher and anti-racism trainer. She is the author of a family memoir, Pilgrim State, and the co-writer and performer of a one-woman show, The Lynching. She held the roles of Vice-Chair of South Thanet Constituency Labour Party and Vice-Chair of Momentum before being suspended and ultimately expelled from the party for misconduct.
Jenny Rachel Manson is a British Jewish activist, author, former civil servant, former Labour Party councillor for Colindale on Barnet London Borough Council, and co-chair of Jewish Voice for Labour.
Freedom for Humanity was a temporary mural by the American artist Mear One, painted on a wall in Hanbury Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in mid-September 2012. It depicted men wearing business suits seated aside bent-over naked figures who formed a table while playing a Monopoly-like board game that rested on the naked figures' backs. Overseeing the scene is an Eye of Providence surrounded by images of industry and protest.
The London Forum is a loose organisation of far-right individuals based in London but with regional headquarters across the United Kingdom. Emerging in 2011 out of a split within the British far-right, meetings were regularly held by the organisation. These have been met with significant protests by anti-fascist activists and have been infiltrated by journalists, most notably a 2015 investigation of the group by The Mail on Sunday with the help of Searchlight, an anti-fascist magazine that focuses on the British far-right.
Since the foundation of the Conservative Party in 1834, there have been numerous instances of antisemitism in the party, from both Conservative party leaders and other party figures.
Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW) was a group formed in late 2017 to campaign against what it regards as politically motivated allegations of antisemitism in the UK Labour Party, which it calls a “witchhunt”. It also campaigns against what it regards as unfair disciplinary action taken by the Labour Party against its members, particularly in relation to such allegations of antisemitism. The group supports individual members facing disciplinary action and has called for changes to the party's disciplinary procedures and code of conduct.
Charlotte Louise Nichols is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Warrington North since the 2019 general election.
Jonathan Harry Samuel Arkush is a British barrister and Jewish community leader. Arkush served as the 47th President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 17 May 2015 to 13 May 2018.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
