The CEO of the charity Show Racism the Red Card is revealed to have a troubling social media history of belittling antisemitism in the Labour Party, whose antisemitic leader, Jeremy Corbyn, he openly backs.
Ged Grebby’s Twitter history includes the following posts, demonstrating a pattern of downplaying anti-Jewish racism — precisely the opposite sentiment that one might expect from the head of a charity that describes itself as an anti-racism educational organisation.
- January 2015: Promoted an article by the journalist David Conn that criticised Campaign Against Antisemitism for sounding the “alarm” on rising antisemitism, claiming that raising these concerns would “risk seeming a little ungrateful” towards Britain. Mr Geddy described it as an “excellent article”.
- August 2016: Tweeted that he is “Considering stopping my @guardian subscription over their massively biased coverage of #Corbyn.” The tweet linked to an article in The Guardian about comments by Labour MP Angela Eagle, titled: “Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle bigotry has tarnished Labour”.
- March 2018: Shared an article titled “As a Jewish Labour member, I’m sick of antisemitism being used as a political weapon against Jeremy Corbyn”, which dismissed claims of “a rise in antisemitic incidents” in the Labour Party as “tiring”, “frustrating” and “dangerous”. The notions that Labour’s antisemitism scandal was being “weaponised” or functioned as a “smear” of the Party’s leadership have been common tropes among deniers of Labour’s institutional antisemitism.
- July 2018: Shared an article by the co-founder of the ultra-fringe Jews for Justice for Palestinians and the executive director of the highly controversial US-based group, Jewish Voice for Peace, which one leading Jewish organisation in the United States has said “gives cover to antisemites who couch their malice toward Jews as mere anti-Zionism”. The article was titled “As Jews, we reject the myth that it’s antisemitic to call Israel racist”. The article argued against the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism by the Labour Party and endorsed the movement to boycott Israel, the tactics of which an overwhelming majority of Jews find intimidating. Mr Grebby described the article as an “important read”.
- July 2018: A further tweet, captured by another user and, it seems, since deleted, also appears to have downplayed antisemitism in the Labour Party by agreeing with a series of tweets backing the infamous “code” that was floated by Labour Party insiders in 2018 as an alternative to the Definition in order to dilute it.
- August 2018: Shared an article that wrongly claimed that the “[Definition] at heart of Labour row ‘will silence public discussion’, say minority groups.”
- August 2018: Tweeted that “It is an absolute disgrace that #FrankField is using #Antisemitism in this way,” urging his followers to read an article criticising the backbench MP for observing in his resignation from the Labour Party that the Labour leadership was becoming a “force for antisemitism in British politics” and accusing Mr Corbyn of trying to “deny that past statements and actions by him were antisemitic”.
- February 2019: Shared a letter that appeared in The Guardian titled “Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour is a crucial ally in the fight against antisemitism”, adding in his tweet the word “#antisemitism”. The letter, which backed Mr Corbyn against the concerns of the mainstream Jewish community, was signed by 200 Jewish members and supporters of the Labour Party.
In addition to his social media pronouncements, in 2019 Mr Geddy also appeared on a platform alongside individuals with their own worrying records, including Labour’s Richard Burgon MP, who said that “Zionism is the enemy of peace” and then lied about having done so, and Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, who suggested that Israel may have “created” the antisemitism crisis engulfing the Labour Party, as well as Anas Altikriti of the Muslim Association of Britain and Mohammed Kozbar, the Chair of Finsbury Park Mosque.
He also signed a joint letter with Labour frontbenchers and close allies of Mr Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Labour’s Laura Pidcock MP and the Unite chief, Len McCluskey, and others.
Show Racism the Red Card has itself been involved in controversies over antisemitism as well, most recently when it invited the outspoken filmmaker, Ken Loach, to join a panel of judges for a school competition on creative anti-racism designs, despite Mr Loach’s own history of denying Labour antisemitism and his past refusal to denounce Holocaust denial. Mr Geddy described Mr Loach as a “valued supporter” of his organisation, which has included Mr Loach as a guest of honour in the past.
Some of Show Racism the Red Card’s sponsors are trades unions that have dismissed antisemitism in the Labour Party, and Show Racism the Red Card has also hosted Mr Corbyn at a panel at Arsenal. Mr Corbyn has also been featured as a promoter of Show Racism the Red Card’s campaigns, including by Mr Geddy directly.
It has been noted that Show Racism the Red Card receives a significant amount of funding from government departments and public bodies, as well as unions.
It is deeply disturbing that the Chief Executive of a prominent charity charged with educating against racism also downplays it and serves as a cheerleader for an antisemitic political leader who is unfit for public office.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is grateful for research from numerous activists and online monitors, which contributed to this report.
