Bonhoeffer's legacy

Last Sunday, Giles Fraser came to Bradford to speak at the German Church on the 75th anniversary of the 'Bradford Declaration'. Signed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and other church leaders to denounce the Nazification of the German Church. Bonhoeffer struggled against Hitler, add stayed in Germany during the war when he could easily have fled. He was killed in a concentration camp in 1945.

How ironic that the reason that I didn't go, as much as I would have loved to hear Dr Fraser, was because one of the main organisers was a man who has intimidated and threatened so many people in this town, that Bonhoeffer would almost certainly have seen him as a modern fascist.

Bradford's anti-fascist and peace community, has gradually been alienated from important work because the man in charge of the campaign to oust the BNP is himself, an arrogant thug. This is not an isolated reflection, but is shared by hundreds of others who have been at the sharp end of his Machiavellian 'rough labour' campaigns. I learnt that he is set to become a Labour councillor, and has desires to become the leader of the Labour group in Bradford. God help us all. We need many new Bonhoeffers, and fewer Stalinists.