Dr. Edie Friedman, Executive Director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality gave a powerful speech at the Celebrate Diversity Convention last weekend – we reproduce it in full below:

I had the privilege of participating recently in some of the events which marked the 75th anniversary of the battle of Cable Street, when thousands of people, some estimated over 300,000, took to the streets  to make  sure that Mosley and his followers in the British Union of Fascists would not be able to march  through the East End. This was the time when Jewish people, Irish dockworkers, Somali seamen, communists, socialists and trade unionists came together to say no to the racism and fascism which Mosley represented.
For my contribution to today’s meeting, I have written a short letter to Oswald Mosley.
…………………………………
Dear Mr. Mosley
Though I suspect you are not in a position to hear this letter, there are alas still too many people today who hold equally destructive views, so I direct this letter to you and to them. You and your ilk created divisions and left a legacy that still haunts Britain today.  But unwittingly you have also created an another legacy so that
Cable Street is:
1)    A UNIVERSAL SYMBOL OF JUSTICE- though the events in Cable Street were not part of my national heritage (I was born in Chicago 15 years   after the event, it nevertheless still represents today, and I hope for future generations, a universal symbol of social justice.

2)     It is for me also a SYMBOL OF A PROUD TRADITION OF JEWISH SOCIAL ACTIVISM – a tradition which can at times be forgotten both within my community and within the wider community.   It is a tradition we must fight to preserve, to teach about and to celebrate.

3)    SYMBOL OF COURAGE – I honestly cannot say what I would have done if I was present at Cable Street in 1936, the courage of those women and men should always serve as an inspiration to us.
Thus we must always continue to remember the importance of heroes.  There is good reason that many people today  feel  cynical and overwhelmed by the many injustices both here in Britain and elsewhere in the world – but we should never  lose sight of those heroes such as  Max  Levitas and Hetty  Bower who recently celebrated her 106 birthday, both veterans who spoke at the Cable Street rally.

4)    Cable Street also left us with a legacy of the importance of different groups working and standing together.  Although different communities can rightly take pride for their involvement in Cable Street it doesn’t of course belong just to one community but to all who fought there.  Mr Mosley, 75 years ago your hatred was directed against Jews, today your inheritors  directs theirs  towards Muslims. And today your political descendants such as the EDL work to divide Muslims and Jews .  But in spite of differences within and between communities, we must never grant a victory to those who wish to divide us.  So one legacy we must make sure  to  develop is seeing Muslims and Jews work more closely together, to deal not only with issues which affect our communities but also to work together for the greater good of Britain as a whole.
Yours  sincerely
Edie Friedman