- Target:
- Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
- Region:
- United Kingdom
March 22, 2006
Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, at his weekly press conference 21 March 2006 made a classic racist jibe - telling two Londoners (the Reuben brothers), who have lived in London since the 1950s when they immigrated as teenagers, "if they're not happy, perhaps they could always go back to Iran and see if they do better under the Ayatollahs."
Incidentally, they are Jewish but not of Iranian origin. The context was a disagreement over a property development in the east of London.
Ken Livingstone's defence, in assembly questions 22/3/6 was that he was not aware the Reubens are Jewish - he thought they were Shias from Iran; in which case - even if we believe this to be true - his comments are still racist. So please sign!
For more information see:
http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/03/21/go_back_to_iran.php
Or:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4830878.stm
Or:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_hirsh/2006/03/livingstone_employs_lowlevel_r.html
(To follow these links, please copy them and paste into your web browser)
We, the signatories of this petition, call upon Ken Livingstone to recognise the insensitivity of the comments he made at his 21 March press conference, when he suggested that two Jewish Londoners "go back to" a foreign country (that they do not come from) and apologise publicly and unreservedly for making them and for the offence caused by his use of such racist language.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Protest Mayor Livingstone's Racist Statement petition to Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London was written by jtrenner and is in the category Civil Rights at GoPetition.