On Saturday 2 June Stand Up To Racism hosted two regional summits. These were day events with workshops aimed at organising anti-racist resistance.
The Yorkshire regional summit was held in Sheffield.
Coun Magid Magid, who was recently sworn in as the The Lord of Mayor of Sheffield, former TUC president Mohammed Taj, Daniel Kebede from the teachers NEU union and Nadeem Murtuja from Just Yorkshirewere among the speakers at the event.
Maxine Bowler, Stand Up to Racism co-ordinator, said:
“I think there has been a really massive rise in racism and we need to raise awareness and get together to figure out how we tackle it. “The election of Trump and the Brexit vote have contributed and there has been a wave of Islamophobia where all Muslims are blamed for the actions of tiny minority. It’s not just here in the UK but across Europe.”
She said the conference, attended by 90 people, would have been bigger but many SUTR members were in Manchester to counter-protest the Democratic Football Lads Alliance rally calling for former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson to be freed.
She added:
“We think this is the politics of hate and we are not prepared to allow it maintain the agenda. “We are very well organised in Sheffield and quite well represented in all the communities, which leads to a diverse event.”
During his speech Coun Magid, who himself came to the UK as a Somalian refugee, said ‘racism really needed to be fought’ and added that ‘we must say at every opportunity that refugees are welcome’ in the UK.
He added:
“We all know what is happening around the world but even in our universities we have got a lot of students that have suffered racist abuse affecting mainly black and minority ethnic students. We have heard about Nottingham Trent, Bournemouth but also within our own universities we’ve had a lot of issues in Sheffield. In reality, I can’t be help but think we really shouldn’t be surprised by racism existing especially within and especially in 2018 as it lives in all honesty in every corner of our society. We must translate that into action by addressing and taking on the structures that have allowed this racism to exist.”
Labour Party member Paul Scarrot, speaking in a personal capacity said anti racists would not allow racism from the far right or the state to be the “new norm”
The event also included workshops, a film screening of Calais Children: A Case to Answer and an acoustic session hosted by Love Music Hate Racism.#
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The Midlands regional summit was held in Birmingham and was organised by B’ham SUTR & Midlands TUC.
140 activists from around the region met at the Midlands TUC headquarters for an inspiring conference aimed at building grassroots antiracist organisation in workplaces, colleges and the community. Clare Short addressed the opening plenary alongside Chris Williamson MP and Weyman Bennett of SUTR.
Seven workshops ran through the day covering many aspects of anti-racist work.
- In the Windrush session delegates described harrowing personal and family experiences of detention in Yarlswood, divided families, deportation and the plight of those trying to return from abroad.
- Two workshops on refugee issues discussed solidarity and practical support and the need for political campaigning.
- The uncertainty for EU nationals, the use of public service staff to check immigration status and the attempt to divide communities were discussed in a second session.
- Promoting the anti-racist message through cultural events was the focus of a workshop that drew on the substantial experience of the participants and produced practical outcomes that activists will be using to plan events across the region.
- David Rosenburg analysed the growth of the far right in some Eastern European states in a session on the far right in Europe and warned against any complacency by activists in the UK.
- This message was reinforced in the workshop discussing the Football Lads Alliance and the current reorganisation of the racist and fascist far right in the UK.
- Author John Holmwood described how the fabricated Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham is a serious miscarriage of justice and an Islamophobic campaign that has had a devastating effect on the teachers who have been victimised. The affair is central to the fight against the Prevent strategy.
Projects developing from the workshops will be taken forward by SUTR Birmingham in partnership with community groups and trade unions.
The conference was attended by members of the Muslim Association of Britain, Somali Association of Britain, Justice for Windrush Birmingham, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), Birmingham North and South Momentum and the trade unions Unison, UCU, UNITE, CWU, PCS NEU/NUT, GMB NUJ.