HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID: ABDUL OSMAN, LORD MAYOR OF LEICESTER

This article appears in today's edition of More, weekend supplement of the Leicester Mercury. "Here's looking at you, kid" is a regular feature, where prominent Leicester people reflect on their childhoods and how those early years helped shape their later lives. It isn’t included on the paper's website, but I thought it well worth posting here.

Here's looking at you, kid: Abdul Osman, Lord Mayor of Leicester

Leicester taught me tolerance, that you grow up living next to people and you respect them

I came to Leicester when I was six. We came from Mombasa, Kenya. It was like landing on a different planet. It was January 31, 1970. There were seven of us: me, four siblings, my parents.

I remember vividly the sights and the sounds of this new place we would call home: the cold - oh, it was so cold - and the houses, all those red brick houses, with their smoking chimneys. It all seemed so grey, compared to the sunshine and blue skies of Mombasa.

We lived at first with my uncle in Highfields. His family and our family in a little Victorian terrace. It was tight.

What I remember most about that house was the fireplace - a big roaring fire, in the middle of the house. I couldn't believe it. I thought that maybe that's where they did the cooking. And the toilets were in the back yard. I didn't like that in the cold, especially at night. All these things were strange to me.

I started school at six. I couldn't speak a word of English. What I remember, though, is the school dinners. Mashed potato, over-boiled vegetables. I hated it. And because the meat was not Halal, I had no meat. Just vegetarian meals which, back then, was the same dinner, but without the meat.

But I would cheer up when the puddings came out. I loved stodgy English puddings with custard. And ice creams. And then, later, discovering all those English sweets. Wow. So many different types of sweets.

It took me a long time to feel settled in Leicester. I had to learn a new language, well, three new languages - as I was learning English I was also learning Gujarati and Arabic.

I had to walk to school, which was a mile-and-a-half away, the come home and go to the Mosque to learn Arabic.

There wasn't much time for play.

By the time I was in my teens, the National Front was  was marching in Leicester. There was a lot of fighting in St Matthew's. I had to walk through there to get to college.

I was chased by skinheads more than once. They never got me, but they tried. It was a scary walk to school, looking over your shoulder, listening for taunts, ready to run.

Leicester taught me tolerance, that you grow up next to people and you respect them. Look for the positives in that. Most people in Leicester feel like that, I think. It's why the far right have never prospered here.

I left school at 16 with only a few qualifications, so I went back to college. I studied politics and my politics was Roger Blackmore - who would become the leader of the Lib Dems in Leicester.

He was a good teacher, and he had a good sense of humour. We have had many disagreements in the council chamber, but always remained friends.

I did several jobs. I was a bricklayer. I can still lay bricks to this day.I worked nights at a factory. I looked at myself one day and said: come on, you can do more than this.

So I started an access course as a mature student, then a law degree, which I deferred after two years to get a degree in careers education. I became a careers advisor. I got involved in local politics in the 1980s, mainly because of Thatcher and the way her government was causing so much imbalance and inequality in our communities.

I was a county councillor before local government re-organisation, then I became a city councillor. I lost my seat in 2003, but came back in 2007.There have been achievements, proud moments, frustrations. I am proud that they named the sports hall after me in Highfields. That was such an honour.

It was notable, though, coming to the city council from the county council, that there are many more different factions here.

At the county, councillors would have a drink with each other afterwards. At the city, that rarely happened. Different groups, different cliques. Colleagues on the same side not speaking to each other. Not being able to be seen to speaking [sic] to some councillors. I don't like that.

I feel proud to be [Lord] Mayor of Leicester, the first Muslim mayor of the city. It's a prestigious position and I know my late father would have been very pleased.

My five-year-old goes round the school saying she's The Little Mayor. He likes it. My 16-year-old daughter is the opposite. She's so embarrassed.

Me? I just remember where I came from, from being taken to school on my father's bike in Mombasa, a small terraced house in Highfields - and now Lord Mayor. It's humbling.

BUILDING TOLERANCE

Photo of Leicester Orthodox Synagogue by Ben Ravilious (with permission)

A follow-up article in today's Leicester Mercury, after it reported the attack on the home of the Rabbi of Leicester Hebrew Congregation on its front page last Saturday (28 May)

Building Tolerance 

What happened to Rabbi Pink and his family was cowardly and creates fear. That is what we are working against

By Adam Wakelin

It was a throwback, the kind of headline you don't expect to see any more. Certainly not in Leicester. Yet there it was, on Saturday's front page: "Rabbi's home attacked by racist thugs".

We need to keep things in perspective, of course. Religious and cultural tolerance isn't coming off the rails just because a few brain-dead bigots took it upon themselves to break Rabbi Shmuli Pink's windows.

Even so, it doesn't sit easily with how we like to see ourselves.

Part of who we are, of what we've become, is that people in this city all rub along relatively happily.

Leicester has never knocked anyone flat with the force of its personality, but it has forged an identity from its respect of different cultures.

Once upon a time we made socks and shoes. Now we do diversity. Rather well, usually.

And the Jews, Leicester's oldest and perhaps least visible minority, have done more than most to build those bridges – and much else.

There are many notables from a community that has never numbered more than 700 to 800.

Children of all creeds and colours chase the pigeons around the fountain in Town Hall Square.

The fountain was bought for us by a Jew: Wealthy businessman, philanthropist and four-times mayor Israel Hart.

He also paid for the building of Leicester's first branch library and laid out Spinney Hill Park.

Goldsmiths Library, another landmark, was paid for by the industrialist Mac Goldsmith.

The illustrious Dr Dub, a deputy director of public health in Leicester, could have earned handsome sums from a private practice. Instead, he chose to pioneer the treatment of the city's children.

Dr Frank May, a Leicester businessman, was given the Freedom of the City for his charitable endeavours. Three city mayors have been Jewish.

"A lot has been achieved by a small community," says Aubrey Newman, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Leicester.

"It has always punched above its weight."

If confirmation is needed of how big a part the Jewish community has played in Leicester's public life you only need look at the names of donors who helped pay for the building, in 1897, of the synagogue in Highfields.

Jews and Gentiles sit side by side on that board in the synagogue's vestry – a statement of unity and an acknowledgement of the contribution made to the city's economic and civic prosperity by Jews.

It was a community that had come a long way in a short space of time.

Simon De Montfort may have infamously banished the Jews from Leicester in 1231, but a formal Jewish community didn't really establish itself in the city until the 1870s.

A lot has been made of De Montfort's edict and the indelible stain his actions left on a city that has founded its future on tolerance.

His greatest crime was being a man of his time, believes Prof Newman.

There have never been anti-Semitic riots in Leicester, says Prof Newman. Even De Montfort's medieval purge wasn't entirely successful.

He didn't have dominion over all of the city and there is evidence Jews did remain.

That's not to say life was without its bumps and bruises.

The book Jewish Voices: Memories of Leicester in the 1940s and 50s has first-hand accounts of how hard it could be.

"One of my earliest memories is being told by the twins who lived across the road that they weren't allowed to play with me. Why? Because I was a Jew," said Rifka Mayers.

"I learnt at an early age to deny who I was – it made being at school safe."

Bernard Besbrode told a similar story. "At school you lived with anti-Semitism," he said. "I know all the names. I've been called all the names."

Mathilda Applebaum was at Wyggeston Girls' School in the early 1950s. The rather fine hedge now in Regent Road is testament to those less enlightened times.

"We had to stay out of assembly and scripture lessons so we did gardening," she said.

Others had different experiences.

"I never experienced anti-Semitism," said Katherine May. "We had lots of non-Jewish friends who, when they entertained us, made sure they provided all the food we could eat."

The late 1970s and early 80s were another troubling time as Swastikas started appearing on walls and the National Front went on the march against Asians, blacks and Jews.

The idiots didn't get their way. That doesn't mean prejudice ever completely went away.

Leicester is a world in one city now, and it has a world's worth of problems to absorb. Not always successfully.

When tensions explode in Palestine and Israel, it has ramifications much closer to home.

"I have some wonderful friends in the Muslim community. We are working hard on community cohesion and mutual respect," says Tony Nelson, the Jewish vice-chairman of Leicester's Council of Faiths.

"Down at grassroots level it is perhaps a different story. There is an awful lot of vitriolic stuff on the internet – and young people are impressionable.

"No-one can condone what happened to Rabbi Pink and his family. It was cowardly and it creates fear. That is what we are working against."

A lot is being done to defuse tensions and tackle prejudice.

Three colleges in Leicester have a Jewish chaplain. The synagogue holds open days for schoolchildren.

A Family of Abraham dialogue group has been established to bring members of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities together.

The St Phillip's Centre, established to build bonds between faiths, takes roadshows into schools and colleges.

Laurels aren't being rested on. But that doesn't make the fear go away.

A couple of Jewish people who spoke to the Mercury for this story didn't want their names going in the newspaper.

Why? They feared repercussions. Putting your head above the parapet is something some in this community are still instinctively fearful of.

Last year's Mitzvah Day, which saw progressive and orthodox Jews standing outside supermarkets to collect cash to help victims of domestic violence, was momentous in its own modest way.

It was the first time the community had rattled a tin under the noses of the Leicester public and said, hey, we're Jewish, we're doing something good here, help us out.

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

What happened to Rabbi Shmuli is a setback.

"It's very depressing and quite concerning that a major religious leader has been attacked," says Riaz Ravat, an interfaith worker at the St Phillip's Centre. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to him.

"The Jewish community is doing a sterling amount of work to tackle prejudice and misunderstanding.

"These incidents illustrate that we are on a journey and we have to keep plugging away."

MEETING JON ASHWORTH AND HILARY BENN MP

A meeting at St Philip's Church this morning with Jon Ashworth, who is standing as Labour candidate in the Leicester South by election. He's asked for the chance to listen to members of different faith and cultural communities in the constituency. A dozen or so people are in attendance, with five faith communities represented. We're joined by Hilary Benn MP, shadow Leader of the House and former Secretary of State for International Development and former Secretary of State for the Environment. Jon Ashworth is in the front and centre of the photo above, Hilary Benn MP behind him.


We were hoping that Sir Peter Soulsby, who is standing for the post of Leicester's first elected Mayor (and who was Labour MP for this constituency until he gave it up to launch his Mayoral campaign), would be here too but he is unable to join us this morning.


After a few minutes of mixing and mingling in the church hall, we take our seats in a circle. Each of us is invited to introduce ourselves, the organisations we work for and communities we represent. Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, Councillor Manjula Sood, speaks first, introducing the Council of Faiths and St Philip's Centre, which is hosting this meeting. She makes particular reference to the challenge of right wing movements, organisations and parties, historical and contemporary (e.g. National Front, British National Party, English Defence League) and how the settled and new communities of Leicester have responded to these.


There are welcome, if unexpected, tributes to Leicester Council of Faiths, from a few people I haven't met before and whom I wouldn't have thought know much about us and our work. I have to say that the Council of Faiths is given credit for an initiative or two on which we didn't necessarily lead - and at least one that we didn't have anything to do with directly. Even so, the Council of Faiths plays as active a role as we can in creating and maintaining an environment in the city that encourages and sustains such activities.


Of course, we can't keep local and national politics out of the discussion and since there are people here who have personal of family roots in other countries (or who represent others who do), matters of international interest are also raised. At the end of the meeting, Mr Benn responds to some of the comments and concerns we've raised, clearly drawing on his experience as former Secretary of State for International Development and former Secretary of State for the Environment.


I should stress that this was not a political meeting and that the attendance of any of our members or employees should not be interpreted to mean that Leicester Council of Faiths supports any particular political party or any individual electoral candidate. If any of the other by election candidates organise a meeting at which they'd like to meet members of our faith communities, no doubt we will arrange similar attendance, interest and support.