{"id":17069,"date":"2019-01-25T14:50:26","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17069"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:46","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:46","slug":"always-challenge-always-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17069","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Always challenge, always speak out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On Sunday (January 27), Unite is joining the world in observing International Holocaust Memorial Day, when, on the day 74 years ago, the survivors of the most destructive Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz, were finally liberated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is estimated that 1.1m people were mercilessly murdered at Auschwitz, many in killing chambers where hundreds at a time were gassed to death. Others died from disease and starvation, after being kept in unspeakable conditions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they hardly slept, hardly ate and were routinely beaten and tortured for the smallest perceived infraction, or often for no reason at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Holocaust Memorial Day in 2015, Unite member Hannah Cropper, one degree removed from Auschwitz, told UniteLive about the pain and suffering she witnessed in her parents who survived the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSome survivors talk about it and some don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u201c our family never did,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Hannah, whose father survived Auschwitz and mother survived Bergen Belsen. All of her mother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s five brothers perished, while her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s youngest brother met the same fate.<\/p>\n

\"Holocaust-1\"<\/p>\n

Silence<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But the silence in which her family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history was shrouded didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that Hannah wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t haunted by the worst atrocity in human civilisation. Much the opposite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was something that always lingered in the background constantly when I was growing up, years and years after the war was over,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe anxiety, the fear, the desperate need for quiet. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen all the time, but my mother and father would sometimes go into a trance-like state, as if they were shutting the world out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy mother always had to know where we were at any given moment,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe siblings knew we had to be quiet. We never had friends around at the house. These were all unspoken rules, but we just thought they were normal. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just how we grew up.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The memory of the Holocaust has thus been transmitted to Hannah as a ghostly presence, always lurking beneath the surface \u00e2\u20ac\u201c an unsettling, unshakeable feeling that breaks through without warning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere has of course been hundreds of documentaries with footage of the Holocaust,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t watch more than a few minutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, Hannah believes that the silence of some survivors must be transmuted for others into debate and discussion.<\/p>\n

\"Holocaust-2\"<\/p>\n

Remember<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is absolutely vital that everyone remembers the Holocaust \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that we keep on talking about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYes, my parents were Jewish, but what many people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise is that it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just Jewish people who were annihilated by the millions. It was also the Roma, people with mental and physical disabilities, LGBT people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c anyone who didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fit the Nazis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 inhuman version of their ideal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOne thing my father ingrained in me since I was young is that every human has equal worth,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Hannah added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe always said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter who you are, where you come from, what you believe, God made everyone the same inside\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything to be learned from the horrors of the Holocaust, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that each human life is of unequivocal and illimitable value. Equality has become the ethos, the founding premise, on which I operate.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hannah, now a retired local government worker for Manchester council, said she was thrilled when Unite first set up an equalities section, in which she took an active role since its inception.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But no matter how far we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come in respecting the equal worth of all humanity, Hannah believes we still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t completely learned the lessons of the past.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat happened at Auschwitz and other concentration camps is unspeakably horrific, but even afterwards, history repeats itself \u00e2\u20ac\u201c what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening now in Syria, in Africa, what happened in Bosnia, in all parts of the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rise of the far-right<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hannah says she worries about far right parties such as Ukip, who play on people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fears \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a political tactic that enabled the Nazi party to win so much support.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMovements like Ukip, the BNP and other xenophobic parties throughout Europe don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simply worry me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they terrify me. These parties are the product of a very selfish and insular society. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as soon as we become a society of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098me, me, me\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that we have to worry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite is now actively fighting against these movements that Hannah, as a person so closely connected to the Holocaust, fears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The union is now delivering training to officers, reps and members to counter the arguments of the far right and to engage with people in communities whose concerns may lead them to groups like the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA),<\/a> whose leadership has fanned the flames of racism and xenophobia on football terraces in recent months.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner argues while we observe Holocaust Memorial Day, we must do so much more, everyday, in the fight against hatred and intolerance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“It is our duty as trade unionists to stand up against the the rise in racist, even fascist attitudes, hate speech and violence in our communities that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s laid the foundations for previous genocides, including the Holocaust,” he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf we really are to honestly say \u00e2\u20ac\u0098never again\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 when we remember those who perished in the Holocaust and other atrocities, we must remain forever vigilant, guarding against racist, fascist and xenophobic attitudes wherever they may appear \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in our workplaces or communities, on our football terraces or high streets.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why Unite has partnered with organisations such as Show Racism the Red Card and Kick it Out, that tackle racist attitudes in schools and workplaces; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also developed our own training, giving our representatives and activists the confidence and skills, as well as facts and evidence, in a toolbox of material aimed at engaging and taking on the hateful, divisive narrative of the far right in our workplaces and elsewhere,” Turner added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“We must be proactive in addressing the genuine fears and concerns of ordinary people, addressing feeling and emotions played upon by a populist, opportunistic narrative and confront head on those that spread it. We can, we have and we will continue to defeat racism and fascism \u00c2\u00a0wherever it raises its ugly head, and in doing so provide genuine hope and opportunity through unity and solidarity, across our nations.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Local events<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite in Aberdeen is taking a leading role on Holocaust Memorial Day as Unite members take part in local Holocaust Memorial Day events. A film, \u00e2\u20ac\u00981945\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, will be shown at the Belmont Film House for free thanks to funding from the Unite Aberdeen City Council branch. Unite regional officer Tommy Campbell will also be reading a poem by the late trade union and anti-fascist activist Hilda Meers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Campbell, like Steve Turner, highlighted the importance of fighting against the far right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The far right are organising to isolate people in our workplaces and communities through the process of hate,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he told UniteLive. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTherefore it is our role as trade unionists and community activists to organise within our workplaces and communities,\u00c2\u00a0 to educate and bring workers, their\u00c2\u00a0 families and friends\u00c2\u00a0 together in the\u00c2\u00a0 spirit of friendship by\u00c2\u00a0 promoting hope not hate.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also commenting today (January 25), Unite national officer for equalities Harish Patel said that Holocaust Memorial Day \u00e2\u20ac\u015bis an important date in our annual calendar, to remind us all, of the millions killed and persecuted during Hitler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rein.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis year, we are also marking the 25th anniversary of the Genocide in Rwanda and the 40th anniversary of the end of the Genocide in Cambodia,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese crimes are a reminder that we must always challenge and speak out against prejudice, discrimination, persecution and atrocities, and never let hatred win.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about Holocaust Memorial Day on the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Holocaust-4\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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