SIR – You report today (T&A, November 23) about strong objections to the allegedly anti-semitic and Holocaust-denying saxophonist, Gilad Atzmon, performing in Bradford tonight, objections coming particularly from Paul Meszaros, of Bradford TUC, as well as from Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate.
The thought occurs to me that Atzmon’s association with the (Trotskyist) Socialist Workers’ Party might be the deeper reason for their objections. Left-wingers hate other left-wingers even more than they hate racists etc – a legacy of the conflict between Stalin and Trotsky, which is not, as many people think, a piece of ancient history, but still continues among Marxists of various hues (my friend Karl Dallas of Bradford is among the organisers).
That said, it strikes me, given his on-the-record views, that Atzmon is a very unsuitable person to be inviting to a festival of political song, or to Bradford itself.
A Michael Murphy, Wainman Street, Baildon
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