There Is No Excuse
The Herald's take on an ugly side of Scottish nationalism which has come to the fore during the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council.
I do hope Nicola Sturgeon wades into the row because there is no excuse for this kind of loathsome behaviour - on Twitter or anywhere else.
Name, shame and kick 'Grouse Beater' into touch - that's what I would do.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17186639.sturgeon-urged-to-probe-snp-links-to-anti-semitic-blogpost/
Sturgeon urged to probe SNP links to 'anti-Semitic' blogpost
By Tom Gordon - The Herald
Rhea Wolfson
NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to launch an investigation after several SNPbranches promoted a Nationalist blog that cited Hitler to attack a prominent Jewish activist.
The Grouse Beater blog accused Labour candidate Rhea Wolfson was making the most of Hitler’s “fascist ideology” and referred to the GMB union as a “Cockney clique”.
A link to the article, which was denounced by Labour as "anti-Semitic", was shared by the SNP branches for Livingston East, Edinburgh Eastern and various councillors.
The Herald is aware of the blog owner's identity but has yet to speak to him for this article.
A diatribe against the GMB union and its role in the long-running equal pay dispute in Glasgow, the article focused on Ms Wolfson, using her picture as its sole illustration.
A frequent victim of anti-Semitic abuse, Ms Wolfson is a former member of Labour’s ruling National Executive, and the current Westminster candidate for Livingston.
In a section titled “Hitler’s view”, the blog said: “In Part 1 of Mein Kampf, Hitler attacks unions over and over again. Unions are fascism’s Public Enemy Number 1. He went further.
“He accused ‘The Jew’ of gradually assuming leadership of the trade union movement. Hitler wanted a blindly obedient fighting force loyal only to the national leader of government.
“Whether or not Wolfson is intellectually aware of Hitler’s outlook is unknown but she certainly knows how to make the most of it, however, Labour’s travails over its alleged anti-Semitism isn’t for this essay.”
The reference to Ms Wolfson making the most of it was later deleted.
The blog went on: “We do not ostracise unions in Scotland, we encourage their participation, but note I am talking about indigenous unions not English orientated unions carrying the flag of British nationalism and its agenda.”
Referring to last week’s two-day strike over equal pay, it ended: “Wolfson turned an honourable goal into a giant hen party.
“Without a conscience, she left many young and old vulnerable for the length of the strike.
“She lied when she and her colleagues said they had no choice, two months away from the first payments to the women involved.
“I am sad to say, in her contorted way, Wolfson’s voice is the stuff of fascist demagoguery.
In his letter to Ms Sturgeon, Lothians Labour MSP Neil Findlay asked her to start an “urgent investigation” into the sharing of the blog by “a number of SNP social media accounts”.
He said: “The blog attacks the trade union movement in Scotland generally, the GMB union and organiser Rhea Wolfson in particular.
“This vile blog has been shared by the Livingston East SNP and Edinburgh East SNP social media accounts. It was also shared by West Lothian SNP councillors Frank Anderson and Carl John from their joint Facebook Page.
“Our parties clearly have different views in the role of the trade union movement in Scotland, but regardless of that we should stand united against hatred and racism. It is simply unacceptable that this vile anti-Semitic blog has been promoted by various SNP accounts.”
Ina series of tweets, Livingston East SNP also apologised and deleted its link.
It said: “Earlier tonight a link was posted from this account to an article which has been accused of antisemitism.
"Although we are sure the individual who posted the link holds no such views, the link was a bad misjudgement on their part.
“The linked article does not express the views of Livingston East SNP and the offending posts have been deleted from our accounts. The individual will no longer be posting on behalf on Livingston East SNP.
"We apologise for any offence caused.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP is resolute in our unqualified condemnation of anti-Semitism in all its forms.
The blog should not have been shared by any SNP member and Rhea Wolfson deserves a full apology from the author for the clear offence that has been caused.
"We will assess any complaints of antisemitism using the IHRA definition and all examples."
Rhea Wolfson
NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to launch an investigation after several SNPbranches promoted a Nationalist blog that cited Hitler to attack a prominent Jewish activist.
The Grouse Beater blog accused Labour candidate Rhea Wolfson was making the most of Hitler’s “fascist ideology” and referred to the GMB union as a “Cockney clique”.
A link to the article, which was denounced by Labour as "anti-Semitic", was shared by the SNP branches for Livingston East, Edinburgh Eastern and various councillors.
The Herald is aware of the blog owner's identity but has yet to speak to him for this article.
A diatribe against the GMB union and its role in the long-running equal pay dispute in Glasgow, the article focused on Ms Wolfson, using her picture as its sole illustration.
A frequent victim of anti-Semitic abuse, Ms Wolfson is a former member of Labour’s ruling National Executive, and the current Westminster candidate for Livingston.
In a section titled “Hitler’s view”, the blog said: “In Part 1 of Mein Kampf, Hitler attacks unions over and over again. Unions are fascism’s Public Enemy Number 1. He went further.
“He accused ‘The Jew’ of gradually assuming leadership of the trade union movement. Hitler wanted a blindly obedient fighting force loyal only to the national leader of government.
“Whether or not Wolfson is intellectually aware of Hitler’s outlook is unknown but she certainly knows how to make the most of it, however, Labour’s travails over its alleged anti-Semitism isn’t for this essay.”
The reference to Ms Wolfson making the most of it was later deleted.
The blog went on: “We do not ostracise unions in Scotland, we encourage their participation, but note I am talking about indigenous unions not English orientated unions carrying the flag of British nationalism and its agenda.”
Referring to last week’s two-day strike over equal pay, it ended: “Wolfson turned an honourable goal into a giant hen party.
“Without a conscience, she left many young and old vulnerable for the length of the strike.
“She lied when she and her colleagues said they had no choice, two months away from the first payments to the women involved.
“I am sad to say, in her contorted way, Wolfson’s voice is the stuff of fascist demagoguery.
In his letter to Ms Sturgeon, Lothians Labour MSP Neil Findlay asked her to start an “urgent investigation” into the sharing of the blog by “a number of SNP social media accounts”.
He said: “The blog attacks the trade union movement in Scotland generally, the GMB union and organiser Rhea Wolfson in particular.
“This vile blog has been shared by the Livingston East SNP and Edinburgh East SNP social media accounts. It was also shared by West Lothian SNP councillors Frank Anderson and Carl John from their joint Facebook Page.
“Our parties clearly have different views in the role of the trade union movement in Scotland, but regardless of that we should stand united against hatred and racism. It is simply unacceptable that this vile anti-Semitic blog has been promoted by various SNP accounts.”
Ina series of tweets, Livingston East SNP also apologised and deleted its link.
It said: “Earlier tonight a link was posted from this account to an article which has been accused of antisemitism.
"Although we are sure the individual who posted the link holds no such views, the link was a bad misjudgement on their part.
“The linked article does not express the views of Livingston East SNP and the offending posts have been deleted from our accounts. The individual will no longer be posting on behalf on Livingston East SNP.
"We apologise for any offence caused.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP is resolute in our unqualified condemnation of anti-Semitism in all its forms.
The blog should not have been shared by any SNP member and Rhea Wolfson deserves a full apology from the author for the clear offence that has been caused.
"We will assess any complaints of antisemitism using the IHRA definition and all examples."
