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Revision as of 21:04, 30 July 2018 view sourceיניב הורון (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users7,309 edits Undid revision 852690217 by Bangalamania (talk) yes, because the people who support her are also mentioned in the article. Leave or remove BOTH. Regarding sources, reliability is always in context. Per WP:BIASED, partisan sources are reliable to describe the POV opinions of individuals, as long as they are attributed.Tag: Undo← Previous edit Revision as of 00:04, 1 August 2018 view source Tanbircdq (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users17,440 edits Further content & sources addedNext edit →
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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = | honorific_prefix =
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| birth_name = Jacqueline Walker | birth_name = Jacqueline Walker
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1954}} | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1954}}
| birth_place = United States | birth_place = ]
| death_date = | death_date =
| death_place = | death_place =
| death_cause = | death_cause =
| resting_place = | resting_place =
| residence = ], Kent, England | residence = ], ], ]
| nationality = British | nationality = ]
| other_names = | other_names =
| citizenship = | citizenship =
| education = | education =
| alma_mater = ] | alma_mater = ]
| occupation = Teacher, writer, ] activist, ] | occupation = ], ], ] ], ]
| years_active = 1981–present | years_active = 1981–present
| employer = | employer =
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| influences = | influences =
| influenced = | influenced =
| home_town = ], London, England | home_town = ], ], ]
| salary = | salary =
| net_worth = | net_worth =
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| awards = | awards =
| module = | module =
| website = {{URL|jackiewalker.org/}} | website = {{URL|https://www.jackiewalker.org/}}
| footnotes = | footnotes =
| box_width = | box_width =
}} }}


'''Jacqueline Walker''' (born 1954) is a ] ] activist, writer and the former Vice-Chair of ]. She is the author of her family memoir ''Pilgrim State'', and writer and performer of the one-woman show '']''. '''Jacqueline Walker''' (born 1954) is a ] ] ], ] and the former Vice-Chair of ]. She is the author of her family memoir '']'', and writer and performer of the one-woman show '']''.


==Background== ==Background==
Walker is of mixed ].<ref name="algemeiner">{{cite news |last=Kerstein|first=Benjamin|url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/08/06/far-left-activist-jackie-walker-gets-standing-ovation-for-antisemitic-play/|title=Far-Left Activist Jackie Walker Gets Standing Ovation for Antisemitic Play|work=]|date=6 August 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Her father was a ] and that she was born of a Jamaican mother of ]. Walker's late Jewish communist father,<ref name="thejc2">{{cite news |last=Levitt|first=Lee|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/jackie-walker-in-edinburgh-1.442461|title=Jackie Walker in Edinburgh: cheers and a standing ovation|work=]|date=6 August 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Jack Cohen,<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Hyland|first=Bernadette|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pointed-polemic-from-suspended-labour-activist|title=Theatre Review Pointed polemic from suspended Labour activist|publisher=]|date=25 January 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> was a jeweller<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last=Peled|first=Daniella|url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-london-play-framing-jews-as-the-revamped-kkk-1.5455655|title=Why I Found a London Play Framing Jews as a KKK-style Lynch Mob Strangely Touching |work=]|date=5 October 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and member of ]<ref name="thejc2"/> who arrived as a refugee in New York, around 1918<ref name="thejc2"/> after his family escaped from ].<ref name="islingtontribune">{{cite news |last=Gulliver|first=John|url=http://www.islingtontribune.com/article/jackie-we-must-be-free-to-speak|title=Jackie Walker, the ghost, says we must be free to speak|location=Derry|work=]|date=7 November 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Her late mother,<ref name="thejc2"/> Dorothy Brown,<ref name="morningstaronline"/> was born in Jamaica in 1915<ref name="guardian2">{{cite news |last=Arnold|first=Sue|url=https://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/pilgrim-state-jacqueline-walker-review|title=Pilgrim State|work=]|date=14 November 2008|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and a black civil rights activist, who, Walker said, the CIA had "in their sights" in the 1950s.<ref name="thejc2"/> Walker's mother had four children by four different men and suffered from recurring mental illness.<ref name="guardian2"/> Her mother is descended from ] who came to the West Indies during the days of ],<ref name="thejc2"/> one of whom married a slave<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last=Peled|first=Daniella|url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-london-play-framing-jews-as-the-revamped-kkk-1.5455655|title=Why I Found a London Play Framing Jews as a KKK-style Lynch Mob Strangely Touching |work=]|date=5 October 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> who converted after marriage to a Jewish man.<ref name="thejc2"/> In the United States, her parents were involved in the ] in the 1950s.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> Walker is of mixed ].<ref name="algemeiner">{{cite news |last=Kerstein|first=Benjamin|url=https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/08/06/far-left-activist-jackie-walker-gets-standing-ovation-for-antisemitic-play/|title=Far-Left Activist Jackie Walker Gets Standing Ovation for Antisemitic Play|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=6 August 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Her father was a ] and that she was born of a Jamaican mother of ]. Walker's late Jewish communist father,<ref name="thejc2">{{cite news |last=Levitt|first=Lee|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/jackie-walker-in-edinburgh-1.442461|title=Jackie Walker in Edinburgh: cheers and a standing ovation|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=6 August 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Jack Cohen,<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Hyland|first=Bernadette|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pointed-polemic-from-suspended-labour-activist|title=Theatre Review Pointed polemic from suspended Labour activist|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=25 January 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> was a jeweller<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last=Peled|first=Daniella|url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-london-play-framing-jews-as-the-revamped-kkk-1.5455655|title=Why I Found a London Play Framing Jews as a KKK-style Lynch Mob Strangely Touching |work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=5 October 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and member of ]<ref name="thejc2"/> who arrived as a refugee in New York, around 1918<ref name="thejc2"/> after his family escaped from ].<ref name="islingtontribune">{{cite news |last=Gulliver|first=John|url=http://www.islingtontribune.com/article/jackie-we-must-be-free-to-speak|title=Jackie Walker, the ghost, says we must be free to speak|work= |location=Derry|publisher='']''|date=7 November 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Her late mother,<ref name="thejc2"/> Dorothy Brown<ref name="morningstaronline"/> (1915<ref name="guardian2"/>–1965)<ref name="timeout">{{cite news |last=Harris|first=John|url=http://timeout-admin-node1.candrholdings.com/books/features/8937/interview-jacqueline-walker.html|title=Interview: Jacqueline Walker|work= |location=Hong Kong|publisher='']''|date=16 April 2016|accessdate=1 August 2018}}</ref> was born in Jamaica<ref name="guardian2">{{cite news |last=Arnold|first=Sue|url=https://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/nov/15/pilgrim-state-jacqueline-walker-review|title=Pilgrim State|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=14 November 2008|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and a black civil rights activist, who, Walker said, the CIA had "in their sights" in the 1950s.<ref name="thejc2"/> Walker's mother had four children by four different men and suffered from recurring mental illness.<ref name="guardian2"/> Her mother is descended from ] who came to the West Indies during the days of ],<ref name="thejc2"/> one of whom married a slave<ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |last=Peled|first=Daniella|url=https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-london-play-framing-jews-as-the-revamped-kkk-1.5455655|title=Why I Found a London Play Framing Jews as a KKK-style Lynch Mob Strangely Touching |work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=5 October 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> who converted after marriage to a Jewish man.<ref name="thejc2"/> In the ], her parents were involved in the ] in the 1950s.<ref name="morningstaronline"/>


Walker was born in the U.S. in 1954 and two years later ] led to her mother being deported back to Jamaica with her children. Her father was married to someone else by this time.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> After Walker's mother was committed and subjected to ],<ref name="guardian1">{{cite news |last=Carpenter|first=Louise|url=https://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/apr/13/women.mentalhealth|title=Who are you calling a bad mother?|work=]|date=13 April 2008|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> subsequently, in 1959, Walker and her family moved to<ref name="haaretz"/> post-] London. Walker's mother's depression returned, which resulted in squalid living conditions and her children periodically being taken into care.<ref name="guardian1"/> When Walker was 11 years old, her mother collapsed and died leaving Walker and her siblings in the state care system.<ref name="haaretz"/> Walker spent most of her adolescence in care, in homes and with a foster family.<ref name="guardian1"/> Walker was born in the U.S. in 1954 and two years later ] led to her mother being deported back to Jamaica with her children. Her father was married to someone else by this time.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> After Walker's mother was committed and subjected to ],<ref name="guardian1">{{cite news |last=Carpenter|first=Louise|url=https://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/apr/13/women.mentalhealth|title=Who are you calling a bad mother?|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=13 April 2008|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> subsequently, in 1959, Walker and her family moved to<ref name="haaretz"/> post-] ]. Walker's mother's depression returned, which resulted in squalid living conditions and her children periodically being taken into care.<ref name="guardian1"/> When Walker was 11 years old, her mother collapsed and died leaving Walker and her siblings in the state care system.<ref name="haaretz"/> Walker spent most of her adolescence in care, in homes and with a foster family.<ref name="guardian1"/>


==Other work== ==Other work==
Walker was in the ] but thought that as a black person she would get few roles so instead, she decided to train to be a teacher.<ref name="guardian1"/> Walker went to university and trained<ref name="haaretz"/> to become a teacher.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> In her first year, she married, had a baby, and returned to ] when her baby was six weeks old.<ref name="guardian1"/> She has also been and anti-racist trainer and charity worker<ref name="guardian1"/> with a long record of anti-racist activism and a long history as a political activist.<ref name="theguardian1">{{cite news |last=Harris|first=John|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/16/momentum-labour-party-jeremy-corbyn-politics-john-harris|title=Inside Momentum: ‘The idea that we’re all rulebook-thumping Trotskyites is silly’|work=]|date=16 April 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> Walker was in the ] but thought that as a black person she would get few roles so instead, she decided to train to be a teacher.<ref name="guardian1"/> Walker went to university and trained<ref name="haaretz"/> to become a teacher.<ref name="morningstaronline"/> In her first year, she married, had a baby, and returned to ] when her baby was six weeks old.<ref name="guardian1"/> She has also been and anti-racist trainer and charity worker<ref name="guardian1"/> with a long record of anti-racist activism and a long history as a political activist.<ref name="theguardian1">{{cite news |last=Harris|first=John|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/16/momentum-labour-party-jeremy-corbyn-politics-john-harris|title=Inside Momentum: ‘The idea that we’re all rulebook-thumping Trotskyites is silly’|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=16 April 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref>


In April 2008, Walker's family memoir ''Pilgrim State'' was published, which was placed on the reading list of the social worker training course at ]. Walker gave lectures at the university twice a week for the course. She was then on their committee for social work training.<ref name="guardian1"/><ref name="guardian1"/> Walker staged a one-woman show, '']'',<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Hyland|first=Bernadette|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pointed-polemic-from-suspended-labour-activist|title=Theatre Review Pointed polemic from suspended Labour activist|publisher=]|date=25 January 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="newstatesman">{{cite news |last=Rampen|first=Julia|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/07/former-momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-plans-one-woman-edinburgh-fringe|title=Former Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker plans one-woman Edinburgh Fringe show|work=]|date=17 July 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> which premiered at the ] in August 2017.<ref name="thejc2"/> Walker completed an ], which examined the development of identity in the work of Black British writers. She has contributed to educational materials and written training manuals. She has completed two Arvon Foundation writing courses, and was awarded an ] grant to complete her memoir.<ref name="timeout"/><ref name="blakefriedmann">{{cite web |url=http://www.blakefriedmann.co.uk/jacqueline-walker/|title=author Jacqueline Walker|publisher=Blake Friedmann|date= |accessdate=1 August 2018}}</ref> In April 2008, Walker's family memoir '']'' was published by Sceptre, which was placed on the reading list of the social worker training course at ]. Walker gave lectures at the university twice a week for the course. She was then on their committee for social work training.<ref name="guardian1"/><ref name="guardian1"/> Walker staged a one-woman show, '']'',<ref name="morningstaronline">{{cite news |last=Hyland|first=Bernadette|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pointed-polemic-from-suspended-labour-activist|title=Theatre Review Pointed polemic from suspended Labour activist|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=25 January 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="newstatesman">{{cite news |last=Rampen|first=Julia|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/07/former-momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-plans-one-woman-edinburgh-fringe|title=Former Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker plans one-woman Edinburgh Fringe show|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=17 July 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> which premiered at the ] in August 2017.<ref name="thejc2"/>


==Labour Party== ==Labour Party==
In 1981, Walker joined the ].<ref name="haaretz"/> Walker was Vice-Chair of ] ]. She was a leading member of a campaign in South Thanet, Kent, to defeat the UKIP leader ] in the ].<ref name="independent1">{{cite news |last=Mortimer|first=Caroline|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/anti-semitism-row-momentum-organiser-jackie-walker-readmitted-to-labour-party-following-racism-a7053966.html|title=Anti-Semitism row: Momentum organiser Jackie Walker readmitted to Labour party following racism allegations|work=]|date=28 May 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> In 1981, Walker joined the ].<ref name="haaretz"/> Walker was Vice-Chair of ] ]. She was a leading member of a campaign in South Thanet, Kent, to defeat the UKIP leader ] in the ].<ref name="independent1">{{cite news |last=Mortimer|first=Caroline|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/anti-semitism-row-momentum-organiser-jackie-walker-readmitted-to-labour-party-following-racism-a7053966.html|title=Anti-Semitism row: Momentum organiser Jackie Walker readmitted to Labour party following racism allegations|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=28 May 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref>


She was elected to ]'s Steering Committee and, in September 2015, became its vice-chair.<ref name="opendemocracy">{{cite news |last=Greenstein|first=Tony|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/tony-greenstein/lynching-of-jackie-walker|title=The lynching of Jackie Walker|publisher=]|date=3 January 2017|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> She is a founding member of ]. She was elected to ]'s Steering Committee and, in September 2015, became its vice-chair.<ref name="opendemocracy">{{cite news |last=Greenstein|first=Tony|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/tony-greenstein/lynching-of-jackie-walker|title=The lynching of Jackie Walker|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=3 January 2017|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> She is a founding member of ].


===Slave trade Facebook posts=== ===Atlantic slave trade Facebook comments===
In May 2016, the Israel Advocacy Movement accessed Walker's private Facebook account. There, they found a discussion in which a pro-Israel friend of Walker's had raised the question of 'the debt' owed to the Jews because of the Holocaust. Walker then said: In May 2016, the Israel Advocacy Movement accessed Walker's private Facebook account. There, they found a discussion in which a pro-Israel friend of Walker's had raised the question of 'the debt' owed to the Jews because of the Holocaust. Walker then said:


{{quotation|Oh yes – and I hope you feel the same towards the African holocaust? My ancestors were involved in both – on all sides as I'm sure you know, millions more Africans were killed in the African holocaust and their oppression continues today on a global scale in a way it doesn't for Jews… and many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade which is of course why there were so many early synagogues in the Caribbean. So who are victims and what does it mean? We are victims and perpetrators to some extent through choice. And having been a victim does not give you a right to be a perpetrator.<ref>Richard Kuper, , ''Jews for Justice for Palestine Blog'' (5 September 2016)</ref>}} {{quotation|Oh yes - and I hope you feel the same towards the African holocaust? My ancestors were involved in both - on all sides as I'm sure you know, millions more Africans were killed in the African holocaust and their oppression continues today on a global scale in a way it doesn't for Jews… and many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade which is of course why there were so many early synagogues in the Caribbean. So who are victims and what does it mean? We are victims and perpetrators to some extent through choice. And having been a victim does not give you a right to be a perpetrator.<ref>Richard Kuper, , ''Jews for Justice for Palestine Blog'' (5 September 2016)</ref>}}


The Israel Advocacy Movement judged this comment to be anti-Semitic. They then contacted the media and the Labour Party leadership who immediately suspended Walker. In an article entitled 'A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism', the chair of Momentum, ], described the media campaign against Walker as 'a "lynch mob" whose interest in combatting racism is highly selective'.<ref name="leftfutures">{{cite web |url=http://www.leftfutures.org/2016/05/a-frenzied-witch-hunt-is-not-the-way-to-combat-antisemitism-or-any-form-of-racism/|title=A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism|publisher=Left Futures|date=9 May 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> After an internal investigation, Walker's membership of the Labour Party was reinstated.<ref>Dave Rich, ''The Left's Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism'' (Biteback Publishing, 2016)</ref> The Israel Advocacy Movement judged this comment to be anti-Semitic. They then contacted the media and the Labour Party leadership who immediately suspended Walker. The chair of Momentum, ], criticised the media campaign against Walker in an article entitled: 'A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism'.<ref name="leftfutures">{{cite web |url=http://www.leftfutures.org/2016/05/a-frenzied-witch-hunt-is-not-the-way-to-combat-antisemitism-or-any-form-of-racism/|title=A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism|publisher=Left Futures|date=9 May 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> After an internal investigation, Walker's membership of the Labour Party was reinstated.<ref>Dave Rich, ''The Left's Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism'' (Biteback Publishing, 2016)</ref>


In response to her critics, Walker said: In response to her critics, Walker said:
{{quotation|Yes, I wrote 'many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade'. These words, taken out of context in the way the media did, of course do not reflect my position. I was writing to someone who knew the context of my comments. Had he felt the need to pick me up on what I had written I would have rephrased – perhaps to 'Jews (my ancestors too) were among those who financed the sugar and slave trade and at the particular time/in the particular area I'm talking about they played an important part.' … has never been that Jews played a disproportionate role in the Atlantic Slave Trade, merely that, as historians such as Arnold Wiznitzer noted, at a certain economic point, in specific regions where my ancestors lived, Jews played a dominant role 'as financiers of the sugar industry, as brokers and exporters of sugar, and as suppliers of Negro slaves on credit.'<ref> citing: Arnold Wiznitzer in ''Jews in Colonial Brazil'', quoted in Jane Gerber, ed., ''The Jews in the Caribbean'' (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2014), p51.</ref>}} {{quotation|Yes, I wrote 'many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade'. These words, taken out of context in the way the media did, of course do not reflect my position. I was writing to someone who knew the context of my comments. Had he felt the need to pick me up on what I had written I would have rephrased - perhaps to 'Jews (my ancestors too) were among those who financed the sugar and slave trade and at the particular time/in the particular area I'm talking about they played an important part.' … has never been that Jews played a disproportionate role in the Atlantic Slave Trade, merely that, as historians such as Arnold Wiznitzer noted, at a certain economic point, in specific regions where my ancestors lived, Jews played a dominant role 'as financiers of the sugar industry, as brokers and exporters of sugar, and as suppliers of Negro slaves on credit.'<ref> citing: Arnold Wiznitzer in ''Jews in Colonial Brazil'', quoted in Jane Gerber, ed., ''The Jews in the Caribbean'' (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2014), p51.</ref>}}


Dave Rich of the ] has argued that Walker's comments are reminiscent of the anti-Semitic views of the ]. Walker's response to this argument has been to say that 'the Nation of Islam is an antisemitic group which seeks to set Jewish and Black people against each other. Any examination of my work, my writing, my life, would make clear my opposition to this ideology.'<ref>Rich, ''The Left's Jewish Problem'' (2016), Conclusion</ref><ref name="jfjfp">{{cite web |last=Kuper|first=Richard|url=http://www.jfjfp.com/jackie-walker-responds-to-accusations-of-antisemitism/|title=Jackie Walker Responds to Accusations of Antisemitism|publisher=Labour against the witch-hunt|date=5 September 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> Dave Rich of the ] has argued that Walker's comments are reminiscent of the anti-Semitic views of the ]. Walker's response to this argument has been to say that 'the Nation of Islam is an antisemitic group which seeks to set Jewish and Black people against each other. Any examination of my work, my writing, my life, would make clear my opposition to this ideology.'<ref>Rich, ''The Left's Jewish Problem'' (2016), Conclusion</ref><ref name="jfjfp">{{cite web |last=Kuper|first=Richard|url=http://www.jfjfp.com/jackie-walker-responds-to-accusations-of-antisemitism/|title=Jackie Walker Responds to Accusations of Antisemitism|publisher=Labour against the witch-hunt|date=5 September 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref>
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===Holocaust Memorial Day at Labour Conference=== ===Holocaust Memorial Day at Labour Conference===
During the September 2016 ], Walker attended a meeting held by the pro-Israel ] (JLM). During the meeting she questioned the JLM's definition of anti-Semitism and appeared to question the high level of security at Jewish schools. She also said: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if Holocaust Day was open to all peoples who've experienced holocaust.'<ref name="theguardian2">{{cite news |last=Elgot|first=Jessica|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/28/momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-pressure-resign-antisemitism-row-jewish-labour-movement|title=Momentum vice-chair under pressure to resign over antisemitism row|work=]|date=28 September 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> During the September 2016 ], Walker attended a meeting held by the pro-Israel ] (JLM). During the meeting she questioned the JLM's definition of anti-Semitism and appeared to question the high level of security at Jewish schools. She also said: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if Holocaust Day was open to all peoples who've experienced holocaust.'<ref name="theguardian2">{{cite news |last=Elgot|first=Jessica|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/28/momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-pressure-resign-antisemitism-row-jewish-labour-movement|title=Momentum vice-chair under pressure to resign over antisemitism row|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=28 September 2016|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref>


Later, during a ] interview, she asked why ] only concerns genocides committed since the 1940s, thereby excluding 'the African holocaust' during the slave trade.<ref>.</ref> Later, during a ] interview, she asked why ] only concerns genocides committed since the 1940s, thereby excluding 'the African holocaust' during the slave trade.<ref>.</ref>
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{{quotation|Having been a victim of racism, I would never play down the very real fears the Jewish community have, especially in light of recent attacks in France. In the session, a number of Jewish people, including me, asked for definitions of antisemitism. This is a subject of much debate in the Jewish community. I … utterly condemn antisemitism... I would never play down the significance of the Shoah. Working with many Jewish comrades, I continue to seek to bring greater awareness of other genocides, which are too often forgotten or minimised. If offence has been caused, it is the last thing I would want to do and I apologise.'<ref name="theguardian2"/>}} {{quotation|Having been a victim of racism, I would never play down the very real fears the Jewish community have, especially in light of recent attacks in France. In the session, a number of Jewish people, including me, asked for definitions of antisemitism. This is a subject of much debate in the Jewish community. I … utterly condemn antisemitism... I would never play down the significance of the Shoah. Working with many Jewish comrades, I continue to seek to bring greater awareness of other genocides, which are too often forgotten or minimised. If offence has been caused, it is the last thing I would want to do and I apologise.'<ref name="theguardian2"/>}}


In September 2016, Walker was removed as Vice-Chair of Momentum, although a committee said she was not deemed to have made anti-semitic comments.<ref name="opendemocracy"/> In October, the Momentum Steering Committee decided that although it "does not regard any of the comments she appears to have made, taken individually, to be antisemitic. However, the Committee does consider her remarks on Holocaust Memorial Day and on security of Jewish schools to be ill-informed, ill-judged and offensive. In such circumstances, the Committee feels that Jackie should have done more to explain herself to mitigate the upset caused." The committee then removed Walker from the post of vice-chair while stating that "Jackie should not be expelled from the Labour party."<ref name="independent2">{{cite news |last=Cowburn|first=Ashley|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-removed-after-holocaust-comments-a7343226.html|title=Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker removed from position over Holocaust comments|work=]|date=3 October 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref><ref>, (3 October 2016)</ref> In September 2016, Walker was removed as Vice-Chair of Momentum, although a committee said she was not deemed to have made anti-semitic comments.<ref name="opendemocracy"/> In October, the Momentum Steering Committee decided that although it "does not regard any of the comments she appears to have made, taken individually, to be antisemitic. However, the Committee does consider her remarks on Holocaust Memorial Day and on security of Jewish schools to be ill-informed, ill-judged and offensive. In such circumstances, the Committee feels that Jackie should have done more to explain herself to mitigate the upset caused." The committee then removed Walker from the post of vice-chair while stating that "Jackie should not be expelled from the Labour party."<ref name="independent2">{{cite news |last=Cowburn|first=Ashley|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/momentum-vice-chair-jackie-walker-removed-after-holocaust-comments-a7343226.html|title=Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker removed from position over Holocaust comments|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=3 October 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref><ref>, (3 October 2016)</ref>


In early October 2016, Walker was suspended from the Labour Party again with Labour's ] referring her case to the party's National Constitutional Committee in March 2017.<ref name="opendemocracy"/> In early October 2016, Walker was suspended from the Labour Party again with Labour's ] referring her case to the party's National Constitutional Committee in March 2017.<ref name="opendemocracy"/>


⚫ A number of prominent left-wing activists have defended Walker, including film director ].<ref name="thejc3">{{cite news |last=Harpin|first=Lee|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/ken-loach-says-jackie-walker-should-have-significant-role-in-labour-1.444431|title=Ken Loach says Jackie Walker should have ‘significant’ role in Labour|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=17 September 2017|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> Several of Walker's defender are themselves Jewish, such as filmmaker and academic Haim Bresheeth, Israeli-born Marxist ],<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news |last= |first= |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/04/jackie-walker-ruling-betrays-momentum-members|title= Jackie Walker ruling betrays Momentum members |work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=4 October 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and linguist and activist ]. Chomsky said: "I wholeheartedly support the right of anyone to criticise Israel without being branded antisemitic. That goes in particular for Jackie Walker."<ref name="thejc">{{cite news |last=Sugarman|first=Daniel|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/jackie-walker-compares-her-labour-suspension-for-alleged-antisemitism-to-a-lynching-1.439987|title=Jackie Walker compares her Labour suspension for alleged antisemitism to a 'lynching'|work= |location= |publisher='']''|date=14 June 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref>
Critics of Walker include: ] (ex-UKIP leader), Jonathan Arkush (ex-President of the Board of Deputies), Jeremy Newmark (ex-chair of the Jewish Labour Movement) and ] (''Daily Mail'' columnist).<ref> cited in 'Party of Lost Causes', ''Weekly Worker'', No.1106, 12 May 2016; Jonathan Arkush, 'Sadly we still cannot trust Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism', ''London Evening Standard'', 25 April 2018 ; 'Jewish Labour supporters considering legal action against party', ''The Jewish Chronicle'', 21 January 2018; Melanie Phillips, 'Autumn for Jew Bashing is beyond Satire', ''The Jerusalem Post'', 1 July 2018.</ref>

⚫ A number of prominent left-wing activists have defended Walker, including film director ].<ref name="thejc3">{{cite news |last=Harpin|first=Lee|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/ken-loach-says-jackie-walker-should-have-significant-role-in-labour-1.444431|title=Ken Loach says Jackie Walker should have ‘significant’ role in Labour|work=]|date=17 September 2017|accessdate=2 June 2018}}</ref> Several of Walker's defender are themselves Jewish, such as filmmaker and academic Haim Bresheeth, Israeli-born Marxist ],<ref name="theguardian">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/04/jackie-walker-ruling-betrays-momentum-members|title= Jackie Walker ruling betrays Momentum members |work=]|date=4 October 2016|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref> and linguist and activist ]. Chomsky said: "I wholeheartedly support the right of anyone to criticise Israel without being branded antisemitic. That goes in particular for Jackie Walker."<ref name="thejc">{{cite news |last=Sugarman|first=Daniel|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/jackie-walker-compares-her-labour-suspension-for-alleged-antisemitism-to-a-lynching-1.439987|title=Jackie Walker compares her Labour suspension for alleged antisemitism to a 'lynching'|work=]|date=14 June 2017|accessdate=1 July 2018}}</ref>


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
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*. '']''. 23 January 2018 *. '']''. 23 January 2018
*. ''Jews for Justice for Palestine Blog''. 5 September 2016) *. ''Jews for Justice for Palestine Blog''. 5 September 2016)
* – Video extract from 'Noam Chomsky – The Responsibility of Intellectuals' conference, UCL. February 2017 * - Video extract from 'Noam Chomsky - The Responsibility of Intellectuals' conference, UCL. February 2017


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Revision as of 00:04, 1 August 2018

Jackie Walker
File:JackieWalker.jpg
BornJacqueline Walker
1954 (age 69–70)
United States
NationalityBritish
Alma materGoldsmiths College
Occupation(s)Teacher, writer, anti-racist activist, charity worker
Years active1981–present
TitleFormer Vice-Chair of Momentum
Political partyLabour (1981–present; suspended 2016)
PartnerGraham Bash
Children3
Parent(s)Jack Cohen (father)
Dorothy Brown (mother)
Websitewww.jackiewalker.org

Jacqueline Walker (born 1954) is a black Jewish activist, writer and the former Vice-Chair of Momentum. She is the author of her family memoir Pilgrim State, and writer and performer of the one-woman show The Lynching.

Background

Walker is of mixed Jewish and African descent. Her father was a Russian Jew and that she was born of a Jamaican mother of Jewish heritage. Walker's late Jewish communist father, Jack Cohen, was a jeweller and member of Communist Party USA who arrived as a refugee in New York, around 1918 after his family escaped from pogroms in Russia. Her late mother, Dorothy Brown (1915–1965) was born in Jamaica and a black civil rights activist, who, Walker said, the CIA had "in their sights" in the 1950s. Walker's mother had four children by four different men and suffered from recurring mental illness. Her mother is descended from Portuguese Jews who came to the West Indies during the days of Christopher Columbus, one of whom married a slave who converted after marriage to a Jewish man. In the United States, her parents were involved in the civil rights movement in the 1950s.

Walker was born in the U.S. in 1954 and two years later McCarthyism led to her mother being deported back to Jamaica with her children. Her father was married to someone else by this time. After Walker's mother was committed and subjected to ECT treatment, subsequently, in 1959, Walker and her family moved to post-Windrush London. Walker's mother's depression returned, which resulted in squalid living conditions and her children periodically being taken into care. When Walker was 11 years old, her mother collapsed and died leaving Walker and her siblings in the state care system. Walker spent most of her adolescence in care, in homes and with a foster family.

Other work

Walker was in the National Youth Theatre but thought that as a black person she would get few roles so instead, she decided to train to be a teacher. Walker went to university and trained to become a teacher. In her first year, she married, had a baby, and returned to Goldsmiths College when her baby was six weeks old. She has also been and anti-racist trainer and charity worker with a long record of anti-racist activism and a long history as a political activist.

Walker completed an M. Phil, which examined the development of identity in the work of Black British writers. She has contributed to educational materials and written training manuals. She has completed two Arvon Foundation writing courses, and was awarded an Arts Council England grant to complete her memoir. In April 2008, Walker's family memoir Pilgrim State was published by Sceptre, which was placed on the reading list of the social worker training course at Brunel University London. Walker gave lectures at the university twice a week for the course. She was then on their committee for social work training. Walker staged a one-woman show, The Lynching, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2017.

Labour Party

In 1981, Walker joined the Labour Party. Walker was Vice-Chair of South Thanet Constituency Labour Party. She was a leading member of a campaign in South Thanet, Kent, to defeat the UKIP leader Nigel Farage in the 2015 general election.

She was elected to Momentum's Steering Committee and, in September 2015, became its vice-chair. She is a founding member of Jewish Voice for Labour.

Atlantic slave trade Facebook comments

In May 2016, the Israel Advocacy Movement accessed Walker's private Facebook account. There, they found a discussion in which a pro-Israel friend of Walker's had raised the question of 'the debt' owed to the Jews because of the Holocaust. Walker then said:

Oh yes - and I hope you feel the same towards the African holocaust? My ancestors were involved in both - on all sides as I'm sure you know, millions more Africans were killed in the African holocaust and their oppression continues today on a global scale in a way it doesn't for Jews… and many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade which is of course why there were so many early synagogues in the Caribbean. So who are victims and what does it mean? We are victims and perpetrators to some extent through choice. And having been a victim does not give you a right to be a perpetrator.

The Israel Advocacy Movement judged this comment to be anti-Semitic. They then contacted the media and the Labour Party leadership who immediately suspended Walker. The chair of Momentum, Jon Lansman, criticised the media campaign against Walker in an article entitled: 'A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism'. After an internal investigation, Walker's membership of the Labour Party was reinstated.

In response to her critics, Walker said:

Yes, I wrote 'many Jews (my ancestors too) were the chief financiers of the sugar and slave trade'. These words, taken out of context in the way the media did, of course do not reflect my position. I was writing to someone who knew the context of my comments. Had he felt the need to pick me up on what I had written I would have rephrased - perhaps to 'Jews (my ancestors too) were among those who financed the sugar and slave trade and at the particular time/in the particular area I'm talking about they played an important part.' … has never been that Jews played a disproportionate role in the Atlantic Slave Trade, merely that, as historians such as Arnold Wiznitzer noted, at a certain economic point, in specific regions where my ancestors lived, Jews played a dominant role 'as financiers of the sugar industry, as brokers and exporters of sugar, and as suppliers of Negro slaves on credit.'

Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust has argued that Walker's comments are reminiscent of the anti-Semitic views of the Nation of Islam. Walker's response to this argument has been to say that 'the Nation of Islam is an antisemitic group which seeks to set Jewish and Black people against each other. Any examination of my work, my writing, my life, would make clear my opposition to this ideology.'

In May 2016, Walker was suspended from the Labour Party and reinstated about three weeks later.

Holocaust Memorial Day at Labour Conference

During the September 2016 Labour Party Conference, Walker attended a meeting held by the pro-Israel Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). During the meeting she questioned the JLM's definition of anti-Semitism and appeared to question the high level of security at Jewish schools. She also said: 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if Holocaust Day was open to all peoples who've experienced holocaust.'

Later, during a Channel 4 interview, she asked why Holocaust Memorial Day only concerns genocides committed since the 1940s, thereby excluding 'the African holocaust' during the slave trade.

Walker responded:

Having been a victim of racism, I would never play down the very real fears the Jewish community have, especially in light of recent attacks in France. In the session, a number of Jewish people, including me, asked for definitions of antisemitism. This is a subject of much debate in the Jewish community. I … utterly condemn antisemitism... I would never play down the significance of the Shoah. Working with many Jewish comrades, I continue to seek to bring greater awareness of other genocides, which are too often forgotten or minimised. If offence has been caused, it is the last thing I would want to do and I apologise.'

In September 2016, Walker was removed as Vice-Chair of Momentum, although a committee said she was not deemed to have made anti-semitic comments. In October, the Momentum Steering Committee decided that although it "does not regard any of the comments she appears to have made, taken individually, to be antisemitic. However, the Committee does consider her remarks on Holocaust Memorial Day and on security of Jewish schools to be ill-informed, ill-judged and offensive. In such circumstances, the Committee feels that Jackie should have done more to explain herself to mitigate the upset caused." The committee then removed Walker from the post of vice-chair while stating that "Jackie should not be expelled from the Labour party."

In early October 2016, Walker was suspended from the Labour Party again with Labour's National Executive Committee referring her case to the party's National Constitutional Committee in March 2017.

A number of prominent left-wing activists have defended Walker, including film director Ken Loach. Several of Walker's defender are themselves Jewish, such as filmmaker and academic Haim Bresheeth, Israeli-born Marxist Moshe Machover, and linguist and activist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky said: "I wholeheartedly support the right of anyone to criticise Israel without being branded antisemitic. That goes in particular for Jackie Walker."

Personal life

In 1997, she moved from Dorset back to Greenwich, London where she had lived with her mother to raise her three children on her own. In 2010, Walker moved from London to Broadstairs, Kent where she lives in with her partner, Graham Bash, who is editor of Labour Briefing and is also Jewish.

Walker has three children born in the 1980s. She has two sons from her first marriage and a daughter from her second marriage. Walker has an estranged elder sister, and elder brother and younger sister.

References

  1. Kerstein, Benjamin (6 August 2017). "Far-Left Activist Jackie Walker Gets Standing Ovation for Antisemitic Play". Algemeiner Journal. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ Levitt, Lee (6 August 2017). "Jackie Walker in Edinburgh: cheers and a standing ovation". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ Hyland, Bernadette (25 January 2017). "Theatre Review Pointed polemic from suspended Labour activist". Morning Star. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Peled, Daniella (5 October 2017). "Why I Found a London Play Framing Jews as a KKK-style Lynch Mob Strangely Touching". Haaretz. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. Gulliver, John (7 November 2017). "Jackie Walker, the ghost, says we must be free to speak". Derry: The Islington Tribune. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Arnold, Sue (14 November 2008). "Pilgrim State". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Harris, John (16 April 2016). "Interview: Jacqueline Walker". Hong Kong: Time Out. Retrieved 1 August 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Carpenter, Louise (13 April 2008). "Who are you calling a bad mother?". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Harris, John (16 April 2016). "Inside Momentum: 'The idea that we're all rulebook-thumping Trotskyites is silly'". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. "author Jacqueline Walker". Blake Friedmann. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  11. Rampen, Julia (17 July 2017). "Former Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker plans one-woman Edinburgh Fringe show". New Statesman. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. Mortimer, Caroline (28 May 2016). "Anti-Semitism row: Momentum organiser Jackie Walker readmitted to Labour party following racism allegations". The Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Greenstein, Tony (3 January 2017). "The lynching of Jackie Walker". openDemocracy. Retrieved 2 June 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. Richard Kuper, 'Jackie-Walker-Responds-To-Accusations-Of-Antisemitism', Jews for Justice for Palestine Blog (5 September 2016)
  15. "A frenzied witch-hunt is not the way to combat antisemitism or any form of racism". Left Futures. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  16. Dave Rich, The Left's Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism (Biteback Publishing, 2016)
  17. 'Jackie-Walker-Responds-To-Accusations-Of-Antisemitism' citing: Arnold Wiznitzer in Jews in Colonial Brazil, quoted in Jane Gerber, ed., The Jews in the Caribbean (The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2014), p51.
  18. Rich, The Left's Jewish Problem (2016), Conclusion
  19. Kuper, Richard (5 September 2016). "Jackie Walker Responds to Accusations of Antisemitism". Labour against the witch-hunt. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  20. ^ Elgot, Jessica (28 September 2016). "Momentum vice-chair under pressure to resign over antisemitism row". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. Channel 4 News (4 October 2016).
  22. Cowburn, Ashley (3 October 2016). "Momentum vice-chair Jackie Walker removed from position over Holocaust comments". The Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. A Statement from Momentum's Steering Committee, (3 October 2016)
  24. ^ Harpin, Lee (17 September 2017). "Ken Loach says Jackie Walker should have 'significant' role in Labour". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2 June 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. "Jackie Walker ruling betrays Momentum members". The Guardian. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. Sugarman, Daniel (14 June 2017). "Jackie Walker compares her Labour suspension for alleged antisemitism to a 'lynching'". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 1 July 2018. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

Party political offices
New title Vice-Chair of the Momentum
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
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