Glasgow Unity Demonstration. Source: Indymedia Scotland

By Mhairi McAlpine / @mhairi_mcalpine

One of the first things almost any English visitor to Scotland will notice almost the instant that they get off the train is how “white” our country is.  Partly this is because the sun is an infrequent visitor, but compared with England, where  almost 10% of the population is of minority ethnic origin, and London in particular with over 30%, Scotland is white, very white.

Growing up in small town 70s Scotland, my first experience of ever meeting anyone Black was around four years old, when my Granny  called me over excitedly one day when we were out shopping to “see the Black baby”.  I came over curiously, as my baby obsessed Granny cooed over a 9 month old Black infant in a pushchair, anxiously watched by her (white) Mother.  Once her baby lust was saited, and as we were walking away, she commented that she was glad I had seen this because I would never see another one.  Such was the exoticism of ethnic minority communities at that time in Scotland, and when in High School, a Chinese girl joined our class and our teacher walked over to her and asked her very loudly and very slowly “Do…you….speak…..English?“, only to meet with the reply of “Aye, how, dae you no?“, he looked visibly taken aback.

Scotland has changed considerably in the intervening 30 odd years, there are established minority communities in most of our towns and cities.  A major change in the ethnic composition of Glasgow in particular came at the start of the last decade with the dispersal programme, which bussed thousands of asylum seekers north and dumped them in decrepit tower blocks in Springburn.  In the intervening decade our new citizens have grown in confidence and stature, establishing UNITY – the Union of Asylum Seekers.

From an initial, somewhat chaotic, meeting with major language barriers, cultural differences and a despondency born of frequent dawn raids and poor housing conditions, a support network was born.  This network has now provided support for thousands of asylum seekers – from mustering defence comittees to prevent dawn raids, monitoring aslyum seekers signing at the Borders Agency to ensure that they are released after signing, providing practical items like clothing, food and kitchenware, a soup kitchen for destitute asylum seekers, a women’s support group and a list of locals who could take in homeless asylum seekers until accomodation could be arranged, guiding them through the tortuous and bureaucratic mechanisms which comprise the asylum system.

And it was through UNITY that I first met Senga [not her real name] and her daughter.  Leaving an unsafe situation in an English city and with precarious domicile, she fled with her daughter and what little she could carry to end up on the doorstep of UNITY as the roch wind of Hurricane Bawbag blaw as t’wad blaw its last.  Having heard of the support that UNITY offered she chanced her luck, again fleeing an dangerous environment for safer shores.  It was lovely having her company for a week or so until her accommodation was sorted out (even if she did have terrible taste in TV viewing).

Now Govan is a village and, as with many villages, everyone knows your business.  So it is perhaps unsurprising that the appearance of a guest at my home would raise local curiosity.  I was somewhat taken aback tho, to answer the door one evening to find one of the local young team on my doorstep.  “Are you shagging a Black man?” he asked me by way of introduction.   On being told rather forcefully that it was none of his business, in the conversation which followed, I let slip that the tall dark stranger was actually a woman.  “Whit?  Its a girl?  You a lesbo?” he said his eyes widening as he backed off three paces.  I smiled and shut the door.  A few nights later, as we waited in the local takeaway an elderly customer cooed over her daughter, reminding me for all the world of my Granny years before.  On realising we were together she turned to me and said “You working wae her, aye?  Ocht its nice tae see folks helping them that has nane“.  On being informed that she was just a pal who was staying with me for a few days, a puzzled look crossed her face as collected her order.

Racism and paternalism still exists in Scotland, but great strides have been made in recent years.  UNITY has been a remarkable project, bringing together all them at hame wi freedom to ensure that a the bairns o Adaim can find breid, barley bree and a paintit room.  Over 40 years before the first aslyum seekers were shoved onto a bus without knowing even where they would end up, Hamish Henderson penned “Freedom come a ye“.  How prescient the last verse proved to be.  As Scotland considers her future, it is worth remembering that our freedom is bound with the freedom of others.  Our independence an opportunity to end the centuries of imperialism which Scotland has both been a victim of and a party to.

When McLean meets wi freinds in Springburn
A’ the roses and gowdies turn tae bloom
An the Black lad frae yont Nyanga
Dings the fell gallows o the burger doon.

Approximate Translation

When the socialist spirit returns to Scotland
All the flowers will bloom once more
And the people of Black Africa
Will bring imperialism crashing down.

Marai Larasi, Jacqui Hunt, Anna Van Heeswijk and Heather Harvey gave evidence to the Leveson enquiry yesterday

By Koos Couvée

The press remained relatively quiet about the goings on at the Leveson enquiry yesterday, and the journalists I usually follow for updates were not offering their live tweet services. Perhaps it had something to do with the topics of the day – the representation of women and Muslims in the media.

Witnesses at the morning session were headed by Marai Larasi of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, who said:  “The media creates, reflects and enforces attitudes.  Those who work in the media should be conscious of this and should actively seek not to reproduce attitudes which condone violence against women and girls.  Too often this is done through inaccurate reporting — for example, on the law on rape – intrusive reporting on victims and their families and misrepresentation.”

The afternoon session saw Inayat Bunglawala from Engage, a Muslim advocacy organisation which seeks to encourage greater civic participation on the part of British Muslims, take to the witness stand. Bunglawa told the enquiry:

“At Engage we believe that as a society in recent years we’ve moved away from overt racism.  We recognise that racism is wrong, we recognise that stereotypes of people are generally wrong, you know, to propagate these. The one glaring exception, it seems to us, is that in recent years the coverage of Muslims has not improved. Sometimes we come across some very disturbing headlines which seem to us to be aimed at fermenting prejudice against Muslims. Rather than reporting facts, it’s aimed at stirring up prejudice towards the British Muslim community.”

On Monday, a letter was published in the Guardian calling for a proper enquiry into the anti-Muslim press. The letter was signed by a large number of lawyers, public figures and lawmakers including human rights solicitor Imran Khan, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ahmed Versi of The Muslim News, blogger Sanum Ghafoor, Labour activist Sunny Hundal and many others. The letter read:

“The Leveson inquiry has so far failed to adequately address unfair media coverage as it relates to less prominent cases, including those relating to Muslims and Islam, focusing as it does on the impact of phone hacking on celebrities and other high-profile individuals.

An alternative inquiry is necessary to investigate what many regard as widespread and systematic discriminatory practices in reporting on Muslims and Islam in the British media.”

Three months after its launch, the Leveson enquiry is thus devoting a single session to issues many find much more important than the phone hacking of Jude Law or Hugh Grant; people who have actively seek media attention and reap the benefits of this attention every day. What is more, large settlements for 37 prominent victims of phone hacking totalling £1m were agreed by News International last week.

I am sure the family of Mark Duggan, killed by police in September last year, would like to testify to the Leveson enquiry the fact that the press uncritically reported the police’s statement that Duggan had shot at police first, a claim that later proved to be a blatant lie. The press also engaged in a smear campaign portraying Duggan as a gangster, implying this compromised the father-of-four’s right to a fair trial. On the day of his father’s funeral, a tabloid journalist asked Duggan’s 10-year-old son if he was in the same gang as his father.

The fact that the Leveson enquiry is not addressing these questions, and not turning to these communities for evidence in its assessment of media ethics, speaks volumes about the state of the media in Britain today.

The full letter published in the Guardian on Monday calling for an enquiry into the anti-Muslim press can be read here.

By Koos Couvee / @kooscouvee

Over two hundred people gathered at the steps of St Pauls cathedral today to celebrate the birthday of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, commemorate his life’s work and share their views on how Dr King’s legacy is relevant today.

The event, a collaboration of community activists, church members, trade union representatives and OccupyLSX, was co-hosted by Lee Jasper.

Speakers included Bishop Wayne Malcolm, Zita Holbourne (Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts), Lee Jasper (Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts / Operation Hope and Recovery), Selma James, Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy (Black Lawyers Association) and Tanya Paton from Occupy LSX amongst others. And the spirits were raised by the energetic Lee Jasper, comedy from Ava Vidal, and a gospel choir.

Selma James, founder of the International Wages for Housework Campaign and author of The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community, met Dr King in the 1950’s. Her husband, the legendary marxist CLR James, had invited King to join him for lunch in London when the pair met in Ghana at the 1957 Independence celebrations. James drew a number of historical parallels between neoliberalism, riots and war in the present and what Dr King faced when he attempted to cool off the rioters in Watts, LA, 1965. King was jeered off and subsequently accepted the argument that perhaps riots were the only way black voices were going to be heard. A day later, he invited Stokely Carmichael to church and came out in opposition to the Vietnam War. James spoke of King’s further swing to the left, for instance when he supporting striking dustmen in Birmingham.

There was a contribution from Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer who spoke about his country’s legacy – the first independent black republic in the world in 1804. Joseph went on to speak of his country’s present struggle against cholera, and the ongoing occupation of Haiti by UN forces – there to impose and maintain neoliberal policies on the island.

The crowd heard from community activists Stafford Scott (Tottenham Defence Campaign), Merlin Emmanuel (Campaign for Justice for Smiley Culture)  and Marcia Riggs (United Families and Friends Campaign).

Merlin Emmanuel, who lost his uncle Smiley Culture, aka David Emmanuel, at the hands of police last year, spoke about the issue of deaths in custody, double standards of the criminal justice system and the importance of giving young people hope for their futures. On the Lawrence verdict, he said:

“Although I was happy with the Stephen Lawrence verdict, I maintain that the full measure of justice is yet to be served. There will be some closure for his family of course, but the conviction of two murderers when there were at least five involved shows that justice still has to be procured. Further to that, the individuals involved were expendable in my opinion, a gang of rogue racist thugs that the system decided to sacrifice to give the false impression that everything is ok and well here in Britain.”

We also heard from Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died in Brixton police station four years ago.

The Rigg family is still waiting for a proper enquiry and crucial evidence from the IPCC. The  United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) will be launching an e-petition on the 20th of January to demand a public enquiry into deaths in custody. Please sign!

Despite a relatively low turn-out, the atmosphere at today’s event was great and it was clear from the variety of voices and the sense of unity at the event that increasingly, different groups and campaigns are talking to each other. Whilst prominent trade union campaigners like Zita Holbourne and Lee Jasper were present, the language used was very much that of the Occupy movement. Martin Luther King’s birthday thus provided the opportunity for a variety of campaigns to join forces, commemorate Dr King’s legacy and celebrate its continued relevance.

The presence of the OccupyLSX camp continues to provide the movement with a site of resistance in the heart of London. A large number of tourists stopped by to listen to today’s speeches.

Occupy London will be in the High Court at 2pm on Monday 16 January to hear judgement regarding the injunction requested by the London Stock Exchange. Eviction is expected within days of the court judgement if the injunction is served.

No Justice, No Peace.

By Koos Couvee

The media storm Hackney MP Diane Abbott caused last week as a result of her ‘divide and rule’ comment on Twitter is indicative of the ways in which Britain’s political elite is still able to turn issues of race and racism to its advantage and brush the lived reality of so many black Britons under the carpet.

When Diane Abbott tweeted: “White people love playing ‘divide & rule’ We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism”, she was not referring to 19^th century colonialism, which is what she later said to defend her comment. Firstly, if that were the case she would have put the sentence in the past tense. Secondly, the tweet came as part of a conversation about present day politics with Hackney based freelance journalist Bim Adewunmi, who had expressed concern to Abbott about what she perceived to be the red herring ‘black community’.

Conservative blogger Harry Cole, who at times also refers to himself as a journalist, eloquently summed up the deep pain and outrage felt by white people as a result of Abbott’s tweet in his debate with race and human rights activist Lee Jasper on Sky News. He told viewers that Abbott’s comments were derogatory to an entire ethnic group, based on the colour of their skin. Indeed, Cole pointed out, racism works both ways and should not have been used as a political tool by the opportunistic Hackney MP.

Whilst Lee Jasper did a good job of defending Diane Abbott’s record as anti-racist campaigner, he did not attack Cole’s positioning as a victim of a racist jibe, or the notion that white people can also be the victims of racism. He simply laughed, shook his head and said: “Dear, oh dear, oh dear”, which perhaps, in that setting, was the appropriate reaction to Cole’s phony outrage.

But the point needs to be made. In a society where whiteness is the norm and racial otherness – being black, Asian, or Muslim – is still seen as irreconcilable with mainstream Britishness, the notion of anti-white racism rings hollow.

Because its wording is so much more lucid than I could ever put it, I will quote a definition of racism as it appeared in an article in the Guardian last week.

“Racism is the systemic discrimination of whole groups of people cast as outsiders, deemed incapable of full incorporation into society, and treated with suspicion on this basis. It has a deep and lasting effect on individuals’ life chances and consequent wellbeing, and is damaging to the social fabric as a whole.”

The crucial bit follows:

“For all the equivalences drawn between clumsy and prejudicial references to skin colour, racism is inherently political; it requires the power to contribute to racial oppression.”

Do people of colour in Britain have the power to exercise racial oppression over whites? No. Can a black person generalise about white people? Obviously. Is the hurt caused by such a generalisation felt by a white person equivalent to that felt by a black person? Most definitely not.

Diane Abbott’s tweet must be read not as a generalisation about white people, but as coming from a place of honesty and anger over the present state of race politics in Britain. The choice of the term ‘white people’ was far from smart for an MP whose constituency is 61 per cent white, but surely the general idea behind the tweet was historically accurate?

It is unfortunate that those defending Abbott in the media did not make this point. And it is a shame that Abbott, in the media storm that ensued, was forced to backtrack and apologise. Because rather than using this opportunity to talk about racism, its history and its current manifestations, the political establishment posited themselves as victims of a crude generalisation without regard to the context and sentiment of Abbott’s comment. The underlying context of racism Abbott was referring to in her tweet was neatly brushed under the carpet.

The Abbott affair shows that people of colour are in a no-win situation when it comes to getting racism discussed as a lived reality in Britain today. In the case of Stephen Lawrence, there was an acknowledgement of racial injustice, but it was is partial and served after 18 years, largely because of the determination of a single woman, Doreen Lawrence. It is unknown to most Britons that there are countless black mothers like Doreen out there, like those seeking justice for the deaths of sons and daughters at the hands of police officers – singer Smiley Culture and Tottenham’s Mark Duggan being prominent examples of the last year.

The media hype dubbed ‘Abbottgate’ revealed that when a black MP, in her position as community leader, speaks from a place of anger and honesty to one of her constituents, she is hung out to dry and accused of exactly the thing she has been campaigning against all her life.

Diane Abbott merely pointed to the fact that Britain today is still a racist place. The question is – what would it mean to have an actual multiculturalism where the grievances of people of colour around racism are acknowledged and discussed in the same way as issues around education, housing and healthcare? It would certainly upset existing racial hierarchies in society. We are a long way off that scenario, but a good look into divide and rule strategies in British society today may be a good place to continue that process.

Twitter: @KoosCouvee

The  My Tram Experience video stirred lots of debate about multiculturalism in London, and if London really was as racist as this woman.

Though a wannabe mini-Nick Griffin applauded that troubled woman’s rants, at TMP Towers, this video has won our award of best response to the racism:

Though many regard this tragic experience as a rarity, unfortunately more videos of racist abuse on public transport have emerged including this one by a different woman who declares herself a BNP supporter.

Racism has a long history in Britain, and under the present economic environment these ideas may become more prevalent and gain more sympathy as it did in 2008.

Also if you are a South Londoner and want to organise against racism in your local community come to South London Anti-Fascist Group Meeting on Monday 12th December in Clapham Junction from 6 – 7pm. Full details here.

From Migrant Rights’ Network:

Mihir Bose speaking at TEDxEastEnd:

First the government threatened to cut off their water supply and then Amnesty waded in.

Now they are trying to evict the Dale Farm residents and the UN’s office for Human Rights have called on the UK government not to.

When I went there last Sunday, it was evident that it was wealthy neighbouring homes that were at the forefront of opposition to Dale Farm’s existence. The gated estates encasing silver 4x4s were in stark contrast to the humble but welcoming entrance to Dale Farm and Camp Constant.

From my experiences of Climate Camps, I was quite surprised by the small scale of the Camp. A few tents, one for the kitchen, three meeting tents and two compost toilets in a small compound. though it was hard not to be impressed by the scale of work achieved by a small band of activists to set this up plus the scaffolding, they needed much more support.

I arrived in time for an important meeting initiated by a representative of The Gypsy Council of UK and Ireland. She had been processing the emergency injunction in the high court, working with the police and liaising with Basildon Council. She claimed that the police admitted that crime in the local area was no different to neighbouring constabularies and didn’t want to get involved in the dispute because they couldn’t afford it. In her view it was the council who were being unreasonable, but thanks to negotiation and shaming them, the cutting off of water and electricity would not go ahead. She explained how the Council expected the eviction to take 3 – 5 weeks but they had closed the road Oak Lane and had permission to mount an entrance gate on it for a year. The council were prepared for a long battle.

Her strategy was to show that the travellers can accommodate alternatives by identifying the legal plots to move people and facilitate self-eviction from illegal ones. She asked for UN trained human rights observers from the crowd, there were few that had been trained but none by the UN. Strangely she seemed bitterly disappointed by this as her plan, hinged upon this and she claimed that human rights observers would have free access to the site but would not be allowed to intervene and could only document what they saw.

The travellers were distrustful of her optimism in the courts and were proved right. At multiple points in the meeting, they appealed to the activists that they needed them as the council don’t see them as human beings and more of activists that turn up, the better chance they have in keeping their homes. It was dominated by traveller women who offered to open their homes to activists so they wouldn’t have to stay in tents.

One female activist challenged the Gypsy Council rep with the question: “Are you asking us to help you facilitate a peaceful eviction?”

Concerns were raised with the road block and that the Gypsy Council strategy of human rights observers meant handing a list of activists’ names to the police.

After the meeting, I met members of the local Catholic church in Wickford, one woman, Anne-Marie had told me that the travellers were “well integrated, all their children go to the local schools and they are all active in the church especially charity drives for East Africa and the Tsunami”. She saw it as “racism” as these people in her eyes were an asset to the community.

Dale Farm residents outside the High Court

From Dale Farm Solidarity

A last ditch effort to stop the eviction at the High Courts has just been turned down.  This means that anytime after midnight tonight, Dale Farm could face the bulldozers. Dale Farm residents are defiant, refusing to leave their homes, and supporters from the UK and across Europe are standing with them.

An eviction attempt is expected anytime in September.  Please come to Camp Constant at Dale Farm to spend some nights here and sign up to the sms eviction alert system at https://smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm/ . Dale Farm is only 30 minutes by train from London Liverpool Street Station.  The atmosphere at Dale Farm is inspiring — for some video of residents and supporters celebrating and learning together, see http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/two-communites-celebrating-together/

This weekend at Dale Farm:

On Saturday, Sept 3rd, noon: Jewish Solidarity visit — it’s important that cultures with a shared history of oppression support each other when our fundamental human rights face being breached.  That is why this Saturday, Jewish rabbis, citizens and activists will be on a special blockade in support of residents at Dale Farm.

There is a workshop, on Sunday Sept. 4th, 2pm: Freedom of Movement and the Right to Stay!

This is the rallying cry for Roma, Gypsies and Travellers and of migrants throughout the world. A common thread of persecution, of forbidden lands, eviction and deportation connect the struggles for migrant rights and the rights of Gypsies and Travellers. These realities have met dramatically in the crack-down and deportations of Roma people from France and Italy. Come to the Workshop organised by No One Is Illegal and London No Borders including a speaker who is an activist in Amnesty International’s campaign against the persecution of Roma in Europe.

TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE DEMO: Sat, 10th Sept, 1pm, see here for more information and email: savedalefarm[AT]gmail.com to add your group’s support to the list…

http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

The events of last week has fuelled lots of discussion on the riots. From Parliament to the streets, we’ve seen blame being laid at the door of bankers to single parents. But if you sought insightful analysis, you’d do better to look at your local street and listen to the young people themselves rather than the usual commentariat or the institutions of power.

Last week’s Prime Ministers’ Questions was held at a record length of over 2 hours… yet it was abymsal as a meaningful discussion and totally barren in terms of containing any revelatory ideas.

With talks of banning social media, and cracking down on unemployment benefits, it was a shameful display of ineptitude by the government and a failure to grasp the issues that belie the social environment which the riots emanated from.

You can read our take on the PMQs translated into everyday language.

This video had much more interesting debate and discussion than the droning on by our elected representatives in parliament (H/T: Flip Life TV):

For my sins, I went twice to BBC Television Centre last week, to be a member of the audience of both Question Time and Young Voters Question Time Riots specials.

Whilst the Dimbleby chaired version was quite moribund in terms of debate, Young Voters’ Question Time, was very, very different. I added my two-pence worth through my question that was picked before the start of the programme. Until 8pm on Friday 19th, you can see the programme here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013yt6q (I’m in after 19 minutes but the whole programme was very interesting if a bit rowdy).

The YVQT audience was largely patronised by the panel. Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow did her best to talk about the positive things young people are doing but failed to denounce the riot evictions that are taking place in Wandsworth or the idea in principle. Shaun Bailey, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hammersmith in 2010 did answer my question but his performance was generally poor.

More street discussions and televised youth debates are necessary and welcome, as we all need to examine a society and culture in which these riots have taken place in.