Lord John Mann, the United Kingdom’s independent advisor on antisemitism, recently spoke to community leaders and board members of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau | American Jewish Committee (JCRB|AJC) about his experiences advocating for the Jewish people of Britain.
Mann, a member of the House of Lords, was appointed as the government advisor on antisemitism by former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019 and has since served four prime ministers: Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and the outgoing Keir Starmer. He was a long-time member of the Labour Party and served as a member of Parliament from 2001 to 2019.
JCRB|AJC Executive Director Neta Meltzer interviewed Mann at the Jewish Community Campus in front of about two dozen people on July 3, while he was visiting Kansas City to attend a FIFA World Cup soccer match. Mann shared his perspective about advocating for the Jewish people as both a government official and someone who is not Jewish himself.
When asked about how he approaches combatting antisemitism, Mann said that it has to be dealt with first “in your own backyard, in your own family and in your own neighborhood.” He emphasized that efforts must first be directed at your own community, and then systems to eradicate antisemitism can go beyond it.
A Jewish teenager “exist[ing] with no hassle” is Mann’s “barometer” measuring whether government policies against antisemitism are successful. He emphasized the importance of speaking with Jewish student leaders and teaching all students about not just Holocaust education, but also “living Jews.”
Meltzer asked Mann about what he thinks the Jewish community should focus on. Mann said there are too many Jewish organizations that are not working together. There needs to be one Jewish voice meeting with government leadership, he said, not many.
Mann also recommended that positive stories and publicity should be emphasized — stories about Jewish pride, gatherings and celebrations — above bad publicity, and not to “embarrass people if they’ve sorted out anti-Jewish racists in their own organization.”
When Meltzer asked why Mann, who is not Jewish, is so dedicated to Jewish advocacy, he replied, “I was well brought up… I don’t give special privilege to Jewish people. I was just asked.”
Despite playing down his dedication, Mann told attendees that not only had Jewish employers hired his parents in a time of economic depression, but that his hometown of Leeds was the site of one of England’s most overt stands against antisemitism, the “Battle of Holbeck Moor.”
On Sept. 27, 1936, the British Union of Fascists, led by Sir Oswald Mosley, marched through the city center of Leeds to the area of Holbeck Moor. The intent was explicitly to intimidate the Jewish community – Leeds was the city with the third-most Jews in the U.K. at the time. In opposition, 30,000 anti-fascist demonstrators met Mosley’s march. He was struck by two cobblestones, and 40 of the fascists were injured.
“Normal people don’t accept this stuff,” Mann said, referring to fascism and antisemitism.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Mann told attendees not to underestimate the importance of what they are doing to combat antisemitism, because “the Jewish community doesn’t recognize how good it is.”
