Afua Hirsch Instagram – The man in the center of this photograph is my grandfather Hans Hirsch
He survived a childhood lived under Nazi rule as a Jew in Berlin, fleeing in 1938. I never stopped (probably annoyingly) asking him about those experiences. I loved him and miss him deeply.
At times like this, when people try to confuse us as to right and wrong, who is oppressed and who is an oppressor, I think about him. He survived one of the most extreme periods of hatred and oppression in history. I ask myself what he would think
When I dig deep, I know that one of the reasons I am on this lifelong journey of struggle against unfair systems of power, is his legacy. I know that he stood for a world where the psychosis of genocide could not be repeated. This literally informs everything I do.
If you are passionate about fighting antisemitism, as I am, you cannot ignore prejudice and dehumanisation in any of its forms. You cannot be silent when it is weaponised against black people of African heritage. You cannot be complicit in Islamophobia. You cannot tolerate the murder of innocent civilians. You cannot watch Palestine be flattened in the name of security. This mission transcends any one community’s interests, that is the meaning of solidarity.
My grandfather’s trauma reminds me that a world in which we are comfortable with killing people in the name of order, security, prosperity, revenge, or any of the other reasons that are inevitably given, is a world in which none of us can ever be safe
I know there are Jewish people who have been told those of us who stand against the murder of Palestinians are driven by hatred for them. I hear that fear. I know it’s borne out of trauma. I urge you to engage with the Jewish organisations who are fighting alongside Palestinian brothers and sisters for peace, who are doing such powerful work to dismantle that narrative.
I salute them, and every single person who has had the courage to separate themselves from pressure within their own community to take a stand for peace. And for justice. It’s hard. History will judge us. If we stay silent against what is happening in Gaza, we – humanity – we all lose.
#knowyourhistory
#takeastand
#peace | Posted on 12/Nov/2023 00:00:37
