Dana Nawzar Ali

The current divide in the world is not between East & West, Islam & Christianity, capitalism & communism, right & left, it is between those who want to build bridges & those who want to build walls. Bridge builders shall inherit the Earth.

The ability to tell the truth or speak outside the consensus does not mean denying the victimhood or rights of one’s own group or staying silent to oppression it faces. No! It is being able to see rights of others as valued as those of your own.

Each and everyone of us should go against dividing our groups into good and bad, patriots & traitors and each one of should speak against the McCarythism existing in our groups. Humanity defined as all living beings should be our highest belonging and moral compass.

Many people are just happy to have such Jewish allies to be able to say ‘I have Jewish friends who don’t think that way’ & use them as a shield against anti-Semitism accusations. But they should go beyond that. Such Jewish voices need to be replicated in other groups too.

These Jewish voices, many sons, daughters & grand children of Holocaust survivors, should teach us all a lesson in the audacity to go against the long held notions of one’s group and questioning them. Thei bravery to refuse imposed definitions of what patriotism & belonging means

It is these people who show me and many others who truly despicable anti-Semitism is! How can you hate a Jew for being a Jew? All forms of racism are evil but hating Jews for being Jewish is worse because you also hate the bravest voices for peace alive on our planet.

What makes me amazed by the audacity of these Jewish activists is their unapologetic bravery while telling the unpopular truth they believe. Unlike many other people, they don’t have a preface full of ifs and buts before saying what they want to say.

Just last week, a leftist Jewish activist, was called ‘a self hating Jew’ live on TV for simply saying Corbyn isn’t an anti-Semite! And you can imagine what is said to Jewish activists who dare to critisize Israel!

I love people who risk being outcasted by the majority of their groups for telling the truth or just simply audacity to be different but I have a special love for Jews who do this. Because nothing is worse than being called ‘a self hating Jew’

When a Turk questions long held Kemalist notions about Kurdish right to self determination or a Kurd questions PKK’s armed methods or an Israeli Jew questions Israeli attitude towards Palestinians or a Palestinian criticised armed resistance, all these people deserve respect.

I have learnt to respect people who are brave enough to go outside the consensus of their group not to stand out but to tell the truth. And most of the time, it involves individuals who question hatred and violence against another group.

When a Kurdish MP said ‘KDP & PUK have turned Peshmerga into a militia force’, which is a fact, the KDP and PUK leadership were able to brand him as a traitor. When another MP said some wives of Peshmerga are forced into prostitution, she was branded as traitor too.

As a Kurd, one of the few last ethnic groups without a nation state, and an ethnic group oppressed for decades by others, I can see how easy it is to declare anyone ‘traitor’ or as Kurds call ‘jash’. It doesn’t require treason, just a tweet is enough.

‘Traitor’ is usually the word used to describe people who go outside the consensus of the overwhelming majority. And just like the old times, being outcasted from the group is almost equal to a death sentence! It’s taking away someone’s identity, past and belonging.

Nothing is more difficult than going against the majority of your own ethnic/religious/sectarian group. It is even more difficult when your people have gone through tragic events and have a strong collective identity as ‘victims of others’.

No amount of name calling, media headlines, party disciplinary actions will give the satisfactory answers the Left needs. Sooner or later, the Left sad to ask these questions. The sooner the better.

Shutting down debate doesn’t serve the cause of fighting racism. In an age the far right is triumphant in the name of fighting political correctness, the Left cannot close doors of discussion and debate. NOW is the time to have those debates.