Nowadays it feels as if we do little more than pay lip-service to the memory of the Holocaust. Perhaps worse, wars are now routinely described as a 'genocide', and some campaign groups are even urging that Holocaust Memorial Day events are boycotted, unless the commemorations include other atrocities from more recent times. Many are seeking to undermine the centrality of anti-Semitism to the Holocaust.

This symposium, organised by Our Fight, in partnership with British Friends of Israel, and Spiked, aims to redress that balance, and arm attendees with the arguments and the confidence to push back.

Join us to discuss how we can make this, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the year that we remake the promise of 'never again'.

Programme

12.30pm to 1.30pm
Tea and coffee (with special thanks to The Blair Partnership)
Refreshments and networking.

1.30pm to 3pm
Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust and Genocide
Opening lecture by journalist and commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti, with journalist and author Daniel Ben-Ami as discussant. Chaired by BFOI co-founder Dr. Jan Macvarish.

3pm to 3.45pm
Tea and coffee (with special thanks to The Blair Partnership)
Refreshments and networking.

3.45pm to 5.15pm
Have the Arts Failed the Holocaust?
Panel discussion with Marc Cave, director of the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, actor and playwright Jeremy Kareken, poet Jeremy Robson and sculptor Flor Kent.

5.15pm to 6pm
Bagels, tea and coffee
Refreshments and networking.
Bagels included for those attending the whole event.

6pm to 7.45pm
Remaking the Promise of Never Again
Plenary featuring Brendan O'Neill, Spiked's chief politics writer, and author of After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation, in conversation with Our Fight founder Mark Birbeck.

7.45pm to 9.30pm
Drinks Reception (with special thanks to The Blair Partnership)
All ticket holders are welcome to join us for the drinks reception.

Drinks Reception

With special thanks to The Blair Partnership.

All ticket holders are welcome to join for a drinks reception after the plenary, until 9.30pm.

Speakers

Brendan O'Neill

Brendan is Spiked's chief politics writer, author of After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation and known to many for being one of the first to point out the growing problem of anti-Semitism in the West amongst progressives. Brendan has also consistently argued for a bold defence of Israel as it battles for its survival against Islamism.

Jonathan Sacerdoti

Jonathan is a journalist, broadcaster, and television development producer with a career spanning various media roles. He regularly appears on international news networks such as BBC, Sky News, Fox News, CBS, ABC and i24News, where he serves as the UK and Europe correspondent. His reporting often focuses on significant global events, with particular emphasis on terrorist attacks and conflicts in Israel.

In addition to his broadcasting work, Jonathan has written for major publications, including the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Spectator, New Statesman, Jewish Chronicle and others. His articles cover a range of topics, from geopolitics to cultural matters, racism and antisemitism, religion, and opera, reflecting his broad expertise as a journalist.

Jonathan studied English at Balliol College, Oxford. Over the years, he has gained recognition for his in-depth understanding of the Middle East and Israel – central themes in much of his work. He has been invited to speak at conferences, debates and events worldwide, where he shares his insights on regional conflicts, media analysis and social cohesion. As a communications consultant, he has advised and written for politicians, peers, diplomats, ambassadors and C-suite executives.

His career reflects a broad engagement with some of the most pressing political and cultural issues of our time, combining both field reporting and in-depth written analysis across various platforms.

Daniel Ben-Ami

Daniel is an author and journalist. Last year, he launched the Radicalism of Fools website, on rethinking anti-Semitism, in the belief that the mainstream discussion is failing to grapple with this thorniest of subjects. He has contributed to numerous national, specialist and international publications, and his books include Ferraris For All (2010) and Cowardly Capitalism (2001).

Marc Cave

Marc is Director of the National Holocaust Centre & Museum, Britain's first Holocaust museum and the only one in the world founded by Christians. The museum has been an Arts Council ‘National Portfolio Organisation’ since 2017.

Having been a trustee, Marc took a 3-month sabbatical from his film business to step in and run the Museum. He now finds himself in Month 64. He raised £5 million to renovate the site and has introduced new exhibitions, films, technologies and learning programmes. These include The Forever Project, an AI platform that lets us talk to survivors even when they are no longer alive. And after October 7, a Racism Response Unit which debunks the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of today.

In his business career Marc built, ran and sold advertising agencies. He cut his teeth with the legendary adman Sir Frank Lowe. He founded the agency Drugstore which he sold in 2008. In 2011, he co-founded Green Cave People to focus on socially purposeful projects, and from
which he remains on sabbatical. His work has won over 200 advertising and film festival awards, including for Europe's longest running advertising campaign, "Every Little Helps" (for a well known supermarket) and the taboo-breaking Holocaust music video Edek.

Jeremy Kareken

Jeremy is a playwright and actor. Born and raised in Rochester, NY, he graduated from the University of Chicago and the Actors Studio Drama School. He served as the researcher, associate producer, and producer for Inside the Actors Studio. His plays have been produced on Broadway and throughout the US, and internationally. He is the co-author of The Lifespan of a Fact, which ran on Broadway starting in 2018 and starred Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones, and Bobby Cannavale. Starting February 11th, he will be appearing as Benny Silverman in The Value of Names by Jeffrey Sweet at the White Bear Pub theatre in Kennington.

Flor Kent

Flor is both a doctor and sculptor. Flor’s Für das Kind Project was pivotal in bringing the then relatively unknown historical subject of the Kindertransports into the public spotlight. It also contributed greatly in the gathering and documentation of information and materials for academic study and research, and it served as subject matter for graduate students' dissertations. The project’s many offshoots include the Für das Kind Kindertransport Objects Collection at the Imperial War Museum in London, the Für das Kind Museum in Vienna, traveling exhibitions, collaborations with other artists, and inevitably the eventual appearance of controversial derivative works.

Flor focuses in site-specific projects but enjoys creating a wide range of studio based work. In both, she oftentimes combines a diverse practice of installation, sculpture, painting, etching and drawing to challenge the subjects, and respond to spaces. She continues to explore the issues of science, behaviour, nature, history, culture and inextricably politics, translating her observations into visual form.

Flor's works are in private collections and public spaces worldwide.

Jeremy Robson

Jeremy's many poetry collections include his latest, Chagall's Moon. He has edited various landmark anthologies and been a key figure in the poetry reading scene for many years, initiating and participating in over 300 large-scale Poetry and Jazz in Concert events featuring many leading poets. He also went with Ted Hughes and Dannie Abse on a poetry reading of Israel. As a young editor he worked closely with David Ben-Gurion on a major history, before starting Robson Books with his wife Carole, publishing a very wide variety of authors who ranged from Elie Wiesel and Bud Schulberg, to Maureen Lipman, and Muhmmad Ali, from Spike Milligan, Jackie Mason and Wolf Mankowitz, to pianist Alfred Brendel. Biteback recently published his anecdotal memoir, Under Cover: A Poet's Life in Publishing.

Background

The Holocaust was civilisation's darkest moment.

All of the structures that humanity had taken centuries to create–from the law to industry, from medicine to bureaucracy, from transport to the military to publishing–all of these developments became mobilised and subsumed to the task of exterminating Jews.

As the reality of the Shoah emerged in the years following the Second World War, the world pledged 'never again'.

Institutions and frameworks and promises were made, and yet almost before the ink was dry, the Holocaust began to lose its meaning as the primary lesson about where civilisation will go, if anti-Semitism remained unchecked.

The Vehicle of Anti-Semitism

Nowadays we do little more than pay lip-service to its memory. Perhaps worse, wars are described as a 'genocide', and some campaign groups are even urging Holocaust Memorial Day events are boycotted, unless the commemorations include other atrocities in more recent times. Many are seeking to undermine the centrality of anti-Semitism to the Holocaust.

But the journey to a war that engulfed the world, and to the final solution itself, was clearly only possible by way of the vehicle of anti-Semitism.

2025 is the year that we must put this lesson back into the heart of our understanding of the Holocaust, and at the core of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

It's clear that institutions and declarations are not enough to guarantee 'never again'; each generation must understand the Holocaust for itself. Each generation must remake that promise.

Remake the Promise in 2025

In 2025, Our Fight will be promoting and initiating a number of activities to help to remake the promise of 'never again', and this event is the first.

If you are interested in sponsoring a session or some part of this day-school, or other activities through the year, then please contact events@OurFight.uk.

Together we must ensure that 2025 is the year that we remake the promise.

Never Again.