Over 1,600 people packed into Friends Meeting House to hear Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott, Lord Alf Dubs and many more launch a new movement against racism in Britain.
Diane Abbott, President of Stand Up to Racism and shadow home secretary, said “There could be no more important time to hold this conference. We are going to continue to stand up to racism.”
Jeremy Corbyn said “Campaigning is very important. When we come together we can achieve a great deal. Think of the strength of communities together. Think of what they can achieve when we understand that diversity is not a problem, it’s a strength.”
Other speakers and participants included Malia Bouattia (NUS President), Sally Hunt (UCU general secretary), Shelly Asquith & Shakira Martin (NUS Vice Presidents), Azad Ali (MEND), Colette Levy, Claude Moraes (MEP), as well as representatives from Amnesty, Care4Calais, NUT, the Green Party, the Refugee Council and others.The conference debated issues including defence of refugees and migrants, supporting the rights of EU nationals, challenging Islamophobia and antisemitism, and Black Lives Matter.
We launched a series of important initiatives in the coming months to challenge the rise of racism including a day of action & protest to enact the Dubs amendment (14 & 15 October), a day of action in defence of EU nationals (19 October), a week of action against Islamophobia in November and a winter appeal and day of action for refugees on 10 December.
We also highlighted the call for a national Stand Up to Racism demonstration in March backed by the TUC.
We hope you were inspired by the conference to build activity in your town and city, in your workplace or on your campus. Stand Up to Racism is a broad organisation that aims to tackle racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism, as well as building a movement in support of refugees. Now more than ever we need you to get involved in the movement. Please join us, donate, get involved in your local group – let’s Stand Up to Racism together.
All videos from the conference are available here