Hate Crimes and silence

I think you're mistaken about silence allowing the rise of Nazi power - at least in Germany at the time. There was a massive amount of support for the Nationalist Socialists and a high level of anti-Semitism already in existence in the 1930s.

However, I do agree that it is important to speak out about so-called hate crime, whoever the perpetrators and whoever the targets.

Don't forget Moseley (not sure if that is how you spell it!) here in the UK - but the East End wouldn't put up with him would they? and I hope the same would happen again.

I agree penstemmon. Apathy can allow hatred to flourish. It's important that any statement or action that is designed to frighten, belittle or dehumanise a person or group of people should be challenged.

However, as absent said, the Nazis came to power because their doctrine was popular and once it gathered momentum those who thought differently were often too frightened to speak out. Though there were some brave souls who secretly helped Jewish people, it is horrible to think that the majority were whipped up into such a state of hatred that they colluded in genocide.

Any crime that is racially motivated, and dealt with in a court, is flagged and followed through the justice system. It's astonishing to see just how many anti-Muslim crimes get prosecuted. The perpetrators are usually white Brirish young men. Fewer crimes against Jewish people seem to get prosecuted, most likely because there have been fewer, not because they haven't been reported. Extremist groups are not common - the crimes are usually individual, or an affray where drunken youths have taunted someone recognisably different because of their skin colour or dress.

This new spate of violent protest about Israelis in Gaza is sickening, and I would be interested to know what information comes out during prosecutions. There are racists who will jump on any bandwagon and use riots or protests to enable them to express their hatred of other races. I have met convicted racists who have made both anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim comments indiscriminately. Challenging them can be an intimidating experience. They don't use logic or reason, don't necessarily know anything about the protest they join or the background to it. I hope the ones who are currently causing trouble are rounded up and dealt with at court - the public need to know they are bigoted and lacking in understanding, not people with inside knowledge.

So true Whenim, and one of the particularly nasty aspects of racially aggravated section 4 and 5 offences is that so many of them are directed against public servants in the transport networks, medical services and so on. Often fuelled by drink and / or drugs, which disinhibit and allow the underlying attitudes to surface.