Councillors and staff from Camden marched at Pride ‘to send a strong message that we can never be complacent about LGBTQ+ rights’

• WE are writing to you as leader of Camden Council and the borough’s lead for social cohesion, and also as members of the Jewish and Muslim communities, to set out a message of unity at a time of growing division and hate.

In January we marked Holocaust Memorial Day and many of us were privileged to hear directly from Holocaust survivors and survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The message from those who have seen societies riven by hate was clear – that what they see today here, and in other parts of the world, are the same conditions that have led to terrible acts of violence in the past.

Hate crime is sharply rising. A Jewish bakery and branch of Barclays in Kentish Town were both vandalised with anti-Semitic graffiti. This is one of 60 reported anti-Semitic hate crimes in the last 12 months in Camden, 60 reported Islamophobic hate crimes, 147 homophobic hate crimes, and 33 disability-based hate crimes.

We have spoken to Muslim constituents who describe the direct impact representations in the media has on verbal and physical abuse they receive on the streets and on public transport.

At this moment it is critical that political parties are sending a strong message to minorities that their rights will be protected. Unfortunately we have seen the opposite.

In our party we have seen a failure to deal with anti-Semitism and the shame of whistleblowers attacked for speaking out about racism.

Our strong message to the Labour Party is that we need to see decisive and swift action on anti-Semitism, a new independent complaints system, as part of deep engagement with and listening to Jewish voices.

The Conservative party have failed to deal with Islamophobia despite the bravery of many Muslim members in speaking out. A recent “Hope, not Hate” poll gave a shocking picture of prejudice, with 60 per cent of Tory members believing that Islam “is generally a threat to western civilisation”.

In Camden we are clear that an attack on one minority is an attack on all of us. We stand united against prejudice wherever we see it and are determined to challenge ourselves and do the critical self-reflection required to create a truly inclusive community. We marched at Pride to send a strong message that we can never be complacent about LGBTQ+ rights.

Camden Council has unanimously recognised the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism and the All-Party Parliamentary Group definition of Islamophobia.

We recently worked with the Jewish Museum, one of Camden’s many cultural institutions, to take Camden councillors from all parties around their chilling and powerful exhibition Jews, Money, Myth, exposing some of the long-held anti-Semitic tropes that are once again rearing their head today.

We host the Camden’s Faith Leaders Forum which works across all faiths (and none) to support cohesion. Each year we bring together communities as part of 120 cultural events which reach almost 100,000 of our residents. We look forward to attending the annual Camden Mela this weekend, a joyful celebration of our beautiful, diverse, borough.

We choose compassion, togetherness and love in the face of a growing tide of hate.

CLLR GEORGIA GOULD
Leader of Camden Council

CLLR ABDUL HAI
Cabinet Member for Young People & Cohesion