How quickly they forget. Holocaust Memorial Day was only two months ago and yet already far too many people seem to have lost sight of its key lesson.

The appointment of a self-avowed fascist as manager of Sunderland Football Club was not the most important thing that happened over the Easter weekend. At a time when the coalition’s moral and economic bankruptcy was on full show as they slashed taxes for millionaires while introducing sweeping benefit cuts on the poorest and most vulnerable in society, there were more significant things to talk about. But Paolo Di Canio’s appointment – and the response to it – cannot pass without comment.

It was difficult to follow the unfolding debate over the course of the weekend without feeling a bittersweet mix of emotions. There was pride at the decency of football fans up and down the country who stepped forward to speak out against far-right extremism and pride in the leadership the Labour movement showed in taking a dignified stand against Sunderland’s decision. But at the same time, that pride was tinged with sadness and concern. For the reaction of far too many, both in football and in wider public life, betrayed a worrying lack of understanding of the symbolism and significance of the appointment.

If their arguments had many permutations, the underlying logic was similar: Di Canio’s politics can be separated from his role on the football pitch: All we’re interested in is winning football games. He was a pillar of the community at his last club, Swindon. We don’t agree with him but he’s entitled to his views political views, just like anyone else. You wouldn’t talk about boycotting a football club just because they appointed a Lib Dem. It’s leftwing hypocrisy and storms in teacups. It’s PC gone mad.

This line of argument was depressing as it contains within it the seeds of dangerous complacency. This is not to condemn football fans who just want their team to do well. But it is insidious as it treats fascism as just another political belief, viewing it as at worst a quirky private conviction, like a belief in homeopathy or astrology. I may not believe that the stars can foretell the future, but I would not deem you unfit for a job just because you do.

The problem is that fascism is not just another political belief. The extreme nationalism, racism and violence that we associate with it are not just byproducts of its central tenets, they are its central tenets.  Fascism seeks to deny the very axioms of human dignity, equality treatment and the respect for the rights of others different to ourselves upon which all democratic discourse is based. It involves a fundamental rejection of the basic values that underpin the diversity and fairness of our society. It is an affront to decency.

I freely admit that some of my reaction is visceral. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I find it difficult to treat with equanimity people dismissing the dogma that sent many members of my family to the gas chambers as just another ideology. But this is not just an abstract philosophical argument. It has significant real world implications for social cohesion.  The financial crisis and the dislocation it brought with it has fuelled an upsurge of far right activity across Europe, from Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary to the Front National in France and the UK is no exception. As anyone who has campaigned against the BNP or EDL will tell you, rightwing extremism – especially in its current Islamophobic and anti-immigrant incarnation– is a continuing threat in many parts of the country.  This is true not least in Sunderland itself: on the day of Di Canio’s appointment, three were arrested at an EDL demonstration outside the site of a proposed mosque.

Fortunately, due in no small part to the work of excellent organisations like Hope Not Hate, such extremism remains confined to fringes – for the moment. But, aided by the drip-drip of shrill rhetoric from UKIP, it is constantly seeking ways to insinuate itself into mainstream political discourse. And what the hate-mongers crave more than anything else in their mission to spread their rancid views is respectability.

And that, in the eyes of many, is exactly what Sunderland’s appointment will provide them with. Set against this backdrop, the arguments of Di Canio’s defenders begin to look deeply irresponsible, legitimising extremist views and providing symbolic acceptance which will only increase their reach.  This is all the more the case as Di Canio himself, while reiterating that he is not a racist, has repeatedly refused to disown his support for fascism. In this context, the FA’s silence is deafening and Sunderland’s self-serving statements look wilfully misleading and frankly pathetic.

Enough already. Football can no longer turn a blind eye to the threat that far right extremism poses. In other countries, players have been banned for life from the national side for giving a fascist salute. If there’s one lesson from Holocaust Memorial Day, it is that complacency can breed disaster.  It’s time for football – and others – to get serious.

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David Pinto-Duschinsky was formerly a special adviser at the Home Office and the Treasury

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Photo: Martin Borjesson