Alexander Goldberg

Alexander Goldberg was born in Guildford in 1974. Alex Goldberg is a barrister, chaplain and human rights activist. He founded and chaired the CCJO René Cassin human rights group and is the Chief Executive of the London Jewish Forum and the Chaplain to the University of Surrey.

Early career

He was called to the Bar in 2001 and was the first Executive Co-ordinator of the [http://www.barcouncil.org.uk Bar Council] 's think tank, the Bar and Policy Research Group before [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article849161.ece moving] onto the [http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/cre/ Commission for Racial Equality] . He was involved directly in negotiations over the Behzti affair in Birmingham between the police, Sikh community and Birmingham Rep Theatre following tensions over the controversial play [http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/cre/about/sci/casestudy6_behzti.html] .

Alex Goldberg supported the introduction of legislation that would widen the scope of the law that outlawed incitement to hatred. In 2004, the Hindu and Muslim communities were not included in existing legislation that combated racial hatred whilst Sikhs and Jews were covered by the exiting law. He advised a group of Parliamentarians to support the introduction of a new law [Shaun Woodward's website - previously on http://www.shaunwoodward.com/go/Page_214.html] .

He was instrumental in setting up an experimental mentoring project in the Tower Hamlets working with JP Morgan and five secondary comprehensive schools. The project was designed to help bridge different ethnic and faith communities in Tower Hamlets and contribute to future community relations by developing the community leadership skills of young people in the area [http://83.137.212.42/sitearchive/cre/about/sci/casestudy7_towerhamlets.html] . The project was later sited as an example of good practice by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion set up by the Government in 2006-07 [http://www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/Our_final_report.aspx] .

Following the 7 July 2005 London bombings he set up an Observatory at the CRE ['The Aftermath - Community Relations', The Interfaith Update: Issue 28, IFN, Summer 2005] to monitor community tensions. Within a few months of this he was seconded to the Metropolitan Police.

CCJO René Cassin

In his role as Chairperson of CCJO René Cassin [http://www.renecassin.org] he negotiated the first-ever reference to group / collective rights in a United Nations instrument (The Basic Principles on Rights to Victims) [http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/remedy/principles.htm] . The principles were adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 2005.

In June 2006, he was one of the first NGO representatives to address the inaugural session of the United Nations Human Rights Council [http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/conferences/hrc2006/hrc060623am-eng1.rm?start=02:45:48% (UN webcast)] .

He has spoken at the United Nations on religious and racial discrimination as well as calling for the UN to take action on the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alexander_goldberg/2007/03/there_is_a_new_fountain.html] .

In recent years, he has been involved in training young human rights activists from around Europe in international human rights advocacy both in their home countries and at the United Nations. Following his statement at the inaugural session of the UN Human Rights Council, CCJO.RenéCassin launched human rights training days open to all minority and disadvantaged groups [ [http://www.renecassin.org/?q=news News | ] ] , a European Human Rights think tank and has introduced future leaders to the United Nations Human Rights Council [ [http://www.ujs.org.uk/news/c-279/ujs-rene-cassin-send-students-to-speak-about-darfur-at-human-rights-council/ News – Union of Jewish Students ] ] .

Jewish Community Leader: London Jewish Forum and Board of Deputies

Alex Goldberg was appointed the Chief Executive of the London Jewish Forum in July 2008 [ [http://community.thejc.com/node/2053 Forum Gets Chief Exec, Jewish Chronicle, 6th June 2008] ] having been the Community Issues Director at the Board of Deputies of British Jews [http://www.pjcea.org.uk/newsletter/2006/0608/0608bod.htm]

In his Board role he campaigned publicly against amendments to the Education and Inspection Bill 2006 by Lord Baker and the Government that would have seen the state imposition of mandatory quotas on voluntary aided faith schools. The Government withdrew their amendment after strong opposition from the Catholic and Jewish communities [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Interfaith%20coalition%20works%20in%20U.K.&intcategoryid=2&SearchOptimize=Jewish%20News] . He served on a committee headed by the Secretary of States, Alan Johnson and Ed Balls that drafted the Government's "Faith in the System" publication which was seen as a major commitment by the Labour Government to the continuity of faith schools [http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2007/09/faith-in-our-sc.html] . He was critical of NUT proposals on faith schools in March 2008 [education.guardian.co.uk/faithschools/story/0,,2267916,00.html] [http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx?issue=13072008032800000000001001&page=8&article=de8ce234-0013-4ebe-889b-5dc2decdfafa&key=/FfwjThWeQbcCRaNLA8jlw=&feed=rss]

In June 2007, Alex Goldberg was involved in trying to find a solution to a crisis in the Orthodox community over marriage visas. The Home Office proposed to introduce measures that would up the age limit for international marriage visas from 18 to 21 which would impact on the strictly orthodox community. [Orthodox avert marriage crisis as Home Office makes new proposal, The Jewish Chronicle, 6th July 2007] . He was part of a delegation that met with the Immigration Minister in March 2008 to express their concerns over the proposal [ [http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=1737 Religious Intelligence - News - British Jews express concerns at marriage law changes ] ] .

In his role as Director, Alex Goldberg is also in charge of the community long-term strategic think tank, the Community Policy Research Group (CPRG).

In 2007 he set up a temporary office in Manchester which saw the first Board presence outside of London in the organisation's 250 year in history in order to develop regional representation to the Government. The project was supported by the Department of Communities and Local Government. [ [http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=54236&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=jonny%20wineberg&srchtxt=1&srchhead=1&srchauthor=1&srchsandp=1&scsrch=0 The Jewish Chronicle ] ]

Alex Goldberg takes the lead on equality and diversity issues at the Board of Deputies. According to the Jewish Chronicle, he has launched a schools linking project for minority faith schools called Shared Futures [The Jewish Chronicle, 14th December 2007 http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?AId=56968&ATypeId=1&search=true2&srchstr=Susan%20Moss&srchtxt=1&srchhead=1&srchauthor=1&srchsandp=1&scsrch=0] . The programme made headlines when it was announced that the Board of Deputies was recruiting a Muslim Schools Advisor [ Jewish board to appoint Muslim adviser, The Guardian, 8th January 2008 - http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2237105,00.html] [Jewish Group seeks Muslim adviser, BBC online, 8th January - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7177381.stm] .

International Council of Christian and Jews

Alex Goldberg first came onto the international scene as the YLS Chairman of the [http://www.iccj.org International Council of Christians and Jews] . He worked in bringing Jews, Christians and Muslims together from all over the Middle East and proposed the first-ever Erasmus-style scheme to the Government of Jordan in 1999. This concept was put on hold due to mounting tensions in the region. In South America, he arranged an interfaith commemoration which saw for the first-time in the continent's history the reciting from the Quran by an imam in a synagogue and was asked to make an address in the Uruguayan Parliament.

Chaplain

In recent years he has been appointed as Chaplain to the University of Surrey where he initiated the first Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in Surrey. He has been part of the team that is building a £5million [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alexander_goldberg/2007/08/room_of-our_own.html Multifaith Centre] at the University of Surrey ( [http://download.guardian.co.uk/sys-audio/Guardian/Islamophonic/2007/09/06/Islamophonic30082007.mp3 Guardian Webcast] ). This will be the first building in Britain to have a Synagogue, Mosque and Chapel built separately under one roof and will have facilities for the six major world faiths [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/surrey/7077826.stm] . The centre obtained planning permission in November 2007 [http://portal.surrey.ac.uk/portal/page?_pageid=799,1754677&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL] .

He has collaborated with other Chaplains on initiating the University's Auschwitz Study Visit and was part of the team who ensured the University had the country's first-ever Interfaith Officer in 2006. Surrey now has a permanent interfaith programme. He is also the Chaplain to the Guilford School of Acting - Consistoire.

Writer and Broadcaster

He regularly contributes to television and radio on social, religious and political issues and is a contributor to The Guardian's [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alexander_goldberg/ "commentisfree"] and is a support of the muslimcafé tv project [http://www.muslimcafe.tv] .

The BBC have him as a frequent panelist on BBC 1's "The Big Questions" [http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/thebigquestions/] and a number of faith and religion magazine shows on BBC Radio.

Other

He has widely written on human rights and interfaith issues and is a national advisor to the [http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/advisory-board.htm Center for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism] , a member of the Three Faiths Forum and a former member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Group Relations Committee. The Jewish Chronicle named him as one of the rising stars of the community in the JC100 Power List 2008.

External links

Websites

* [http://www.guildfordjewish.com/index_files/chaplain.htm University of Surrey Chaplaincy]
* [http://www.alexgoldberg.eu/ Alexander Goldberg - site]

References