Eric Moonman

Eric Moonman (born 29 April 1929, Liverpool) was a British Labour politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Billericay 1966-70 and Basildon 1974-9. Moonman was educated at Liverpool and Manchester Universities and became a senior research fellow in the Department of Management Science at Manchester University. He was a councillor on Stepney Borough Council, serving as Council Leader until 1965, and on the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from 1964. Moonman contested Chigwell in 1964 without success and was elected for Billericay in the 1966 general election, losing the seat four years later. He then was elected for Basildon at the February 1974 election, but again lost his seat at the 1979 general election. He later joined the Social Democratic Party. Since then, he has pursued an academic career, and has been associated with City University, London and the University of Liverpool.

'hooligans'

Youths imitated television film of violence in Northern Ireland when they rioted in more than 20 British cities last summer, according to a report out yesterday. But mass unemployment and racial discrimination were nonetheless the cause of the riots, the report said, contradicting Government assertions that they were mere acts of hooliganism.

The report by the Centre for Contemporary Studies, an independent body which reviews social and political trends, said the youths wore masks and threw gasoline bombs at police, copying scenes of youths attacking security forces in Belfast. Eric Moonman, the centre's director and author of the report entitled Copy Cat Hooligans, said the rioters knew what to do because they had seen it on television.

Learning from the Jews

The tactics employed by successive generations of Jews to seek advancement in spite of persistent anti-semitism suggested strategies for Britain's other ethnic minorities facing similar hostility, Professor Eric Moonman, senior vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said. He called for synagogues and churches to devote time to considering ways of overcoming prejudice and to start talking to the ethnic communities.

Many ethnic minority leaders had already turned to the Jewish community for advice and information on how best to organise a political and communication system for themselves, he added. Drawing on his own experience as a Jew, and as one involved in public and social life, he said: The fact is, Britain is falling short in the implementation of equal opportunity practices. In employment, levels of racial discrimination remain unacceptably high, and recent research shows that only a small proportion of employers have adopted and implemented the full range of measures required to prevent it.

Professor Moonman was addressing representatives of minority communities at the first annual Roots Lecture, organised by the Roots of Culture Foundation, which aims to strengthen a sense of cultural identity among ethnic communities. He is a former MP who served on the commons select committee on immigration, and has been responsible for research into racism and soccer violence in his role as director of the Centre for Contemporary Studies.

Israel lobbyist

Moonman is president of Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. He is of the view that all 'Jewish' publications should support Israel: 'Zionist Federation president Eric Moonman warned that all Jewish publications should "be robust in their support for Israel"'.

He was critical of Labour MP Tam Dalyell for his comments about the 'jewish' cabal of neoconservatives around Bush:

Tam Dalyell, the veteran Labour MP and opponent of countless wars, faces an investigation for inciting racial hatred after he accused Tony Blair of being unduly influenced by Jewish ministers and officials. As leading British Jews criticised Mr Dalyell for his "misguided" remarks, a former Labour MP said he would refer the father of the Commons to the commission for racial equality. Professor Eric Moonman, president of the Zionist Federation, who was a Labour MP from 1966 to 1979, said he was seeking advice on whether there was a case for referral. "I believe there is," he said. "I will be distressed to do it because of a relationship with a man I admire enormously," Prof Moonman said. "But he made the statements and he knew what he was doing."

Career

• circ 1964-6 London Councillor
• 1966-70 Member of Parliament (MP) for Billericay
• 1974-9 MP for Basildon

Affiliations

• Chair, Academic Response Against Racism and Anti-Semitism in Europe
• Association of Former Members of Parliament, executive committee
• On the International research council of the International Center for Terrorism Studies within the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
• Stag FM, director (owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust).

Publications

• MOONMAN, Eric. The Manager & the Organization, Tavistock, 1961.
• MOONMAN, Eric. Security of Employment. pp. 14. Industrial Welfare Society: London, [1963.]
• MOONMAN, Eric. The Manager and the Organization, pp. 220. Pan Books: London, 1965.
• MOONMAN, Eric. Science and technology in Europe; edited by Eric Moonman; associate editor Jane Moonman. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968.
• MOONMAN, Eric. The communication of objectives in an expanding company. London: Industrial Educational and Research Foundation, [1969].pp. 24. 21 cm. (Research paper. no. 1.)
• MOONMAN, Eric. Communication in an expanding organization: a case study in action research. Tavistock Publications, 1970.
• MOONMAN, Eric. Reluctant partnership. A critical study of the relationship between government and industry. London: Gollancz, 1971.
• MOONMAN, Eric. British computers and industrial innovation. The implications of the Parliamentary Select Committee. Edited by Eric Moonman. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1971. pp. xx, 126. 23 cm. Parliament. House of Commons. Committees. Select Committee on Science and Technology. Sub-Committee D. [Minutes of evidence.]
• Moonman, Eric. Business and the arts. Foundation for Business Responsibilities, 1974.
• Moonman, Eric. EEC policy in relation to the Middle East, Israel and matters concerning Jews : the twenty-firstSelig Brodetsky memorial lecture, 1980.
• Moonman, Eric. Copy-cat hooligans. 1981. Contemporary affairs briefing; Centre For Contemporary Studies, 1981.vol 1 no 9
• European Economic Community Policy in Relation to the Middle East, Israel and Matters Concerning Jews (Paperback) by Eric Moonman Paperback: 18 pages Publisher: Leeds University Press (Jan 1981) ISBN-10: 0853161259 ISBN-13: 978-0853161257
• Stars of today : talking, living, working and playing together / edited by Eric Moonman. London : Centre for Contemporary Studies, [1986] [48]p. : ill., col.ports. ; 30cm.
• The Violent Society (Paperback) by Eric Moonman, Paperback: 167 pages, Publisher: Frank Cass Publishers (20 Jan 1987) ISBN-10: 0714640557 ISBN-13: 978-0714640556