Jersey Hypocrisy Day?

Since 2001, Jersey has been marking Holocaust Day with a ceremony.

Twenty-two people from Jersey are known to have died in the various extermination camps during World War Two and it is perfectly proper that they should not be forgotten.

But, as referred to in our previous blog – this ceremony is part of our obsession with death in war and the manner in which this is so often presented as something glorious.

At the centre of Jersey’s Holocaust Day is the former navigation light, now turned into yet another obelisk to the memory of the fallen and every year it is the focal-point for a service of remembrance and laying of wreaths. Of course, that is all perfectly desirable - but what else does or should happen?

“It must never happen again” is the message on so many lips year after year - and the same annual speeches are presented by Jersey’s leaders about man’s inhumanity and the horrors of war. Yet, the people of Jersey fail to remove the discrimination and injustices within this little community that are the very breeding ground for discontent and hostility between groups and nations.

Here, in the following video we look very briefly at this year’s ceremony and speak with Constable Simon Crowcroft who laid a wreath for the people and Parish of St. Helier.

Last year, interviews with Senators Freddie Cohen and Ian Le Marquand were posted on You Tube by The Voice and these are re-presented here too so that the smug complacency of our government might be exposed.

With the passing of yet another year, there is even less chance of Jersey enacting anti-discriminations laws in the near future or signing-up for so many of the international human rights conventions and treaties that were written following the “Holocaust.”

Jersey was supposedly “liberated” in 1945 from occupation and should be leading the world in upholding human rights standards. In fact, this Island is so far behind most places that it is becoming an insult to the memory of the many millions who have died in wars.

This Island claims not to have the funds or resources to ratify the world’s most basic obligations with regard to children, women or disability yet has ample money to establish overseas offices in Brussels, the Middle East and China touting for tax haven business.

This is hypocritical and discredits Jersey’s Holocaust Memorial internationally.