Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has sent a message of support to the events marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Oswald Moseley’s Blackshirts at Cable St in East London, by anti-fascists led by the Jewish community.
In a statement issued yesterday Mr Livingstone said:
‘Seventy years ago Londoners, led by the Jewish community, stood together to stop Mosley’s Blackshirts from marching and defeated them.
‘Then the cutting edge of fascist ideology was anti-Semitism, fed by the drip, drip, drip of attacks on Jewish immigrants by newspapers like the Daily Mail which went on to support Moseley’s Blackshirts. To defeat the fascists it was essential to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community.
‘We should say bluntly today the same methods are being used against Muslims as have always been used against Jews. Today’s fascists feed on the daily drip of Islamophobia in the media given legitimacy by mainstream politicians pandering to prejudice.
‘To paraphrase the justly famous words of Pastor Martin Niemoller today we would have to say: ‘First they came for the Muslims and I did not speak out because I was not a Muslim. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.’
‘The same values which meant that in the 1930s every democrat had to stand with the Jewish people against anti-Semitism and Moseley’s Blackshirts, today require we all stand with the Muslim community against people using the methods that were used to demonise and attack the Jews in the 1930s.’
