Muslim Malmö Resident vs. Anti-Semitism

Derakti visits Malmö Schul

One young Muslim resident of has decided to speak out against the tide of anti-Semitism in the city. According to 21-year-old Siavosh Derakhti, his family fled Iran looking for a better life. The American Trial Attorneys Defending Israel Blog quotes Derakhti:

-“I found out Jews are fleeing Malmo, that they feel scared and unsafe on the streets,” says Derakhti, who is studying to be a youth worker at Malmo University and Folkhögskola Hvilan college, both in southern Sweden. “And then I thought that something needs to be done. We can’t keep on letting this happen — not in a country like Sweden, and not in my hometown of Malmo.”

While Derakhti acknowledges that his advocacy may prove dangerous, he is determined to act and educate:

-Derakhti decided to educate his fellow Swedes about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust after learning not only how little his high school classmates knew, but that his school, Malmös Latinskola, was not trying to change the situation.

“In 25 years, they hadn’t invited any Holocaust survivors, and then they wonder how there are so many people who deny the Holocaust or don’t know a lot,” Derakhti says. After a struggle against school opposition and indifference he managed to organize a class trip to Poland. 

Derakhti credits his immigrant background and especially his father for helping him investigate the Holocaust.

-“My parents fled from dictatorship so their children could grow up in a peaceful place and experience democracy, and then to come to a country where there is hate, discrimination and racism on our streets, this is not acceptable. Something must be done,” Derakhti says.

We couldn't agree more.

Article in full is worth a read...

Photo credit: Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism