The Scots who still

think it's acceptable to

mock the Jews

Paula Cowan

Last month, the social network site Facebook became a platform for racism amongst young people in Scotland. In contrast to the 'One Scotland. Many Cultures' campaign which celebrates the diversity of Scotland, this page was less welcoming and depicted a face of Scotland that is often ignored.
     The Facebook page, 'Welcome to Israel, only kidding you’re in Giffnock', encouraged young, like-minded people living in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire, to exchange banter about their local community, mock its (Jewish) ethnicity and ultimately criticise Jewish people. While Scotland's Jewish community is both ageing and shrinking, its majority live in East Renfrewshire.
      Giffnock is home to the largest synagogue in Scotland, Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue, two kosher delicatessens and a kosher restaurant. These amenities may go easily unnoticed as they are few and bear little resemblance to the thriving 1950s Jewish community in the Glasgow Gorbals; but to the page contributors this justified a comparison of Giffnock with the state of Israel.
     In response to the promotion of Gaelic signage, the creator wrote: 'They have a Gaelic translation in the train station, Hebrew would have been more appropriate'. Other posted comments included: 'All the Jews are f****** rich c**** they have gold plated Bentleys'; and the suburb of Newton Mearns (also in East Renfrewshire) was referred to as 'Jewton Mearns'.
     Some may dismiss this behaviour as ignorance but such an explanation requires caution. Facebook pages are usually accompanied with a picture, and this page was accompanied by a photograph of the late Rev Ernest Levy standing outside the Giffnock and Newlands Synagogue. Rev Levy was a Holocaust survivor who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen and the recipient of an OBE for his contribution to Holocaust education. He is one of the best known Scottish Jews.
     An excellent communicator, he spoke to community groups and schools across Scotland and particularly enjoyed visiting schools as young people gave him hope for the future. Yet he admitted that he found it progressively harder to speak about his experiences. The Holocaust teaching resource issued by the Scottish Executive to every primary school in Scotland in 2000, to accompany the introduction of a national Holocaust Memorial Day, was based on his testimony. This told of three non-Jews who helped him through his terrible ordeals.
     Rev Levy was a gentle man who was much loved by Jews and non-Jews alike. Using his photograph on this page was therefore thoroughly distasteful and also suggests that the creators of this site were informed individuals who specifically chose this high-profile figure to 'advertise' their page; and knew exactly what they were doing.

     A plethora of Holocaust educational research provides evidence that learning about the Holocaust can have a positive impact on a young person's outlook. However, even the best Holocaust education cannot change every person's attitudes towards ethnicity and religious diversity for the better; some attitudes are deep-rooted. Inserting Rev Levy's photograph on this page is twisted as the Holocaust is being used as a tool against Jewish people.
     It would also be easy to dismiss this page as an isolated case. The internet is a major source for the dissemination of antisemitism and hate as it allows people to propagate such views through online discussion forums, blogs and popular social networking sites. Indeed antisemitism on Facebook and racism on internet blogs are nothing new. Last year, comments such as 'Jews are not fit to breathe our air' appeared on the online forums of the Scotsman and the (Glasgow) Herald, and a man was successfully prosecuted for his offensive behaviour.
     Facebook has strict regulations. Its 'Safety' rules clearly state that hateful content and anything that is 'unlawful, misleading, malicious or discriminatory' is not allowed. Its members therefore need to be activists on the web and encouraged to take responsibility for reporting any discriminatory and offensive material they read. This may involve more than just a simple click on the respective 'Report Page' tab but a failure to report means reliance on others in the Facebook community to do so. This is another facet of responsible citizenship and schools can assist by encouraging their students to accept this responsibility and recognise that this is an essential part of social networking and the internet culture.
     The Giffnock Facebook page was removed within a week or so of its opening, and its contents are currently being investigated by Strathclyde Police. Somewhat bizarrely, a few weeks after this page was reported in the Jewish press,a (Glasgow) Herald columnist wrote an article entitled 'If Giffnock was Gaza' in which he eerily echoed the comparison made in the Facebook page. His article offended the Scottish Jewish community (and no doubt, others too) and the editor issued an apology to his readers. Was the link between this article and the Facebook page merely a coincidence? Or is it possible that the seeds of the Herald article came from the Giffnock Facebook page? If the latter is correct, then social networking is more influential than we think.
     The Scottish Government is currently drawing up a new anti-sectarianism bill to combat sectarianism, bigotry and religious offensive behaviour. It is unknown when this will be finalised or whether this legislation will meaningfully consider the needs of the Jewish community in Scotland. What is known is that hate crimes are increasing on the internet and that Jews in Scotland may be justified in feeling vulnerable in living among some of their neighbours.

Paula Cowan is a senior lecturer in education at the University of the
West of Scotland