Stand up to this tide of anti-Muslim hatred

It is now three years since the 7 July terrorist attacks on London that killed 52 people along with the four bombers. Those three years have witnessed a systematic ratcheting up of prejudice and hate propaganda against Muslims.

A new report by researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism shows that recent years have seen a series of stories that paint Muslims as terrorists and extremists, or claim that Islam is incompatible with “Western values”. Only 5 percent of stories involving Muslims focus on the problems faced by the community.

It is no surprise that this media assault has been accompanied by an increase in physical attacks on Muslims in Britain. These attacks typically go unreported by newspapers that are only too happy to devote endless space to elaborate descriptions of terrorist plots based on little more than a spook’s imagination.

Meanwhile crazy “clash of civilisations” rants that were previously confined to the fringes of the right are now considered respectable middle class opinion. The novelist Martin Amis fantasises about “strip-searching people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan”, while the Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh states that “Muslim men are entitled to beat their wives... such barbaric treatment of women has been imported and thrives here.”

The real “barbarism” going on here is one that is perfectly compatible with “Western values”. The current campaign against Muslims is all but identical to that waged against Jews in the first half of the 20th century. That antisemitism opened the door to the Holocaust. And today’s Islamophobia is potentially no less deadly.

Simultaneous No Borders Blockades to Prevent Dawn Raids on Asylum Seekers

PRESS RELEASE: 18.12.2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STARTS

“No Borders” Activists Prevent “Dawn Raids” on Children Protesters from the No Borders network are currently blockading the bases of Immigration Enforcement Officers in simultaneous actions across the country, stopping them from entering or leaving in vehicles. The protesters are currently blockading immigration reporting centres in Glasgow, Bristol and Portsmouth.

The protesters have been there since early this morning, and they have said that they will stay there until they can ensure that today, families throughout the country will be safe regardless of where they come from.

The protest coincides with the UN International Migrant's Day. In response to the growing number of attacks on family homes by the Borders and Immigration Agency, the No Borders network have taken action to expose and prevent the sinister tactic of “dawn raids” employed against families and young children.

In Bristol, the protesters were in place in time to obstrtuct bemused immigration officials, whose vehicles are now trapped in the car park. A frustrated police officer on the scene was heard to say, “how did you know a dawn raid was happening this morning?”

Dawn raids are used to gain custody of whole families in order to imprison them. Every day, doors are kicked in and families are snatched from their beds and taken to detention centres, where they are punished for seeking refuge in this country. They are taken away from their houses, jobs, schools and communities – their lives. Immigration Enforcement Officers come in the middle of the night as the children and their parents sleep in bed, and have not left to go to school or work. It also ensures no witnesses are present. There are no official statistics as to the number and regularity of these raids because the government will not release the figures. But the fleets of vehicles which have been blockaded this morning and the harrowing personal accounts of families indicate large-scale capacity.

Today No Borders have highlighted just a few of these bases, which are hidden around the country.

Simon Summerhill of the No Borders network said, “we are here to expose what the government is doing – breaking down doors and snatching children from their beds in the middle of the night. Some children go to school, others go to prison. Immigration officers regularly target the vulnerable- families, children and the ill or traumatised, in order to boost their official figures of deportations.”

Asylum seeking children are denied the human rights that all other children have. These rights include the right to go to school, the right to privacy, the right to family life (as established by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). Under UK laws, children seeking asylum can be sent to jail and are often denied the right to education.

No Borders maintains that a legal system which divides between children that have human rights and those that do not, is institutionally racist. To deny a child the right to education because of their background is racist, just as to deny an adult the right to work because of their background is racist.

Nikki Dickinson of No Borders: “This is institutionalised child abuse. They take kids who have already been traumatised and cause them even more distress. The effects of snatch raids, detention and deportation on children are unmeasurable. The families have often been settled in an area for years, and their removal affects the community around them- family members left behind, friends and teachers at school, neighbours.”
ENDS

Notes to editors

1.No Borders is a coalition of groups who argue against all immigration controls and that freedom of movement is a basic human right.
2.The Scottish Executive Cabinet has recently announced its total and fundamental opposition to dawn raids - to any kind of forcible removal of children - and to detention of children. They also called for an amnesty, but they were rejected by Westminster.
3.For updates on the blockades, or for an interview with a No Borders activist, call: 07527463767

Cardiff RESPECT believes that workers of different countries have more in common with each other than their rulers. We believe that racism is a tool used by our rulers to divide and rules us. We defend the rights of migrants to live and work in this country free from harrassment.

Immigrant Workers - More State Harrasment

Immigration officers in late-night raid on restaurant
Nov 29 2007 by David James, South Wales Echo

NINE people were arrested by immigration officers in a late-night raid on a city restaurant.
Several police officers and staff from the new Borders Agency cordoned off the Hawaiian Restaurant, City Road, Roath Cardiff, at around 9.30pm yesterday.
Two of the men arrested are believed to have been failed asylumseekers from Albania.
A spokesman from the Immigration and Borders Agency said that officers had been acting on intelligence. He said: The agency, supported by South Wales Police, carried out an enforcement operation acting on intelligence that a number of immigration offenders would be present at the premises in Cardiff.
As of 9.30pm, two men suspected Albanian failed asylum seekers “have been arrested and taken to a police station in Cardiff forquestioning.
The restaurant did not want to comment last night.The raid happened on the same night as Immigration Minister LiamByrne visited South Wales to attend one of a series of events aimedat hearing the publics reaction to the Government's proposed immigration shake-up.
The new Borders Agency has already been separated from the HomeOffice and has carried out a series of raids on takeaways andrestaurants in South Wales. But the Government is planning to go further and introduce an Australian-style points system to control migration better in thewake of a series of scandals that revealed the lack of informationheld by the authorities about the number of migrants in Britain. Inspector Paul McCarthy of South Wales Police confirmed fourofficers had attended the raid last night and that dog handlers had been requested.

The rich are free to move to whichever country will give them the biggest tax break, but when poor people migrate they face racism, demonisation and state harrassment. Cardiff RESPECT stands shoulder-to-shoulder with immigrant workers and utterly condemns the actions of the border agency, we say: "One Race - The Human Race!".

Big business asks no questions when it comes to the source of their profits. So we, in Cardiff RESPECT, make no distinction between native-born and other workers, living in Wales, when it comes to fighting for rights, or to winning support for a socialist future. We see ourselves as the representatives and organisers of that section of the international working class living and working in Wales. We only recognise ‘illegal’ worker status in order to combat it. The fight to unite our class internationally, and to oppose all attempts to divide us, is as important today, as past heroic struggles to free and abolish slavery, to liberate women and to enforce workers’ rights. Indeed, the fight, to prevent the imposition of outlaw status on millions of workers, shows us that all three of these great campaigns still need to be re-fought.

New Labour plays the race card in Wales - AGAIN!

Penny Matthews was recently elected Labour councillor for the Llansamlet ward of Swansea, unfortunately in her election literature rather than give real solutions to the problems her constituents face she whipped up racism.

Up to half a million Roma perished during the holocaust. Yet racism towards Roma and traveller people is still deemed acceptable. It is disheartening to read that New Labour in Wales has once again played the race card. In 2004, Labour issued racist leaflets in Llanederyn and Pentwyn areas of Cardiff attacking Roma people. In 2005, Labour issued racist leaflets in Cardiff Central attacking asylum seekers.

RESPECT aims to fight the racist poison and provide genuine solutions to the problems that working people face. We express full solidarity with the Roma and traveller people in Swansea and wish them well.

From the Western Mail:

"THE Labour Party has been told a poster campaign about Gypsy travellers during a council by-election campaign may have breached race relation laws.

The Commission for Racial Equality has made a formal complaint to Welsh Labour after the distribution of a leaflet in the Llansamlet area of Swansea, where a by-election takes place next Thursday.

The leaflet, which includes photographs of Swansea East MP Sian James and the constituency’s AM Val Lloyd, is headed,

“Council Bye [sic] Election referendum on gipsy site”.It goes on to say, “Many commentators see this current bye election as a referendum on the gypsy encampment on Swansea Vale.With the Labour Party commitment to getting the site removed and the Liberal Democrat, Independent alliance (kept in power by the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru) unwilling to take the necessary action to remove it [sic].

Every vote Labour gets in the bye election will add strength to the resolve to remove this site on council land.

“Vote Labour. Vote to remove the illegal travellers site.”

Immigrant Workers: Police Harrassment in Cardiff

RESPECT members in Cardiff have reacted with disgust and anger to the news that fellow workers are being harrased by the home office and demand the immediate release and right to work of 5 arrested immigrant workers described as "illegal".

Adam Johannes, a clerical worker and member of Roath RESPECT who saw the operation first hand commented:

"Why should it be classified as illegal to come to Cardiff from another country to find work and seek a better life?

The UK state and their media demonise asylum seekers and economic refugees, but surely the real enemy of working people is the top 10% of the population who own two-thirds of the wealth in this country and are making us work the longest hours for the worst pay in Western Europe?

The wealthy will move to whichever country gives them the biggest tax break, but working people face discrimination, imprisonment and deportation.

It is vital that trade unionists, anti-capitalists and the organised labour movement defend immigrant workers and challenge racism: No one is illegal".

On Friday, the police sealed off both ends of Caroline Street (popularly known as Chip Alley) shutting down the street for half an hour as immigration and border authorities raided local fast food outlets. They bullied and harrased workers in the late night kebab and chip shops demanding passports and proof of status. 5 workers were taken away.

40th Anniversary of Occupation of West Bank, Gaza & East Jerusalem

ENOUGH!
END THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE!
FREE PALESTINE!
MAKE A STAND - Say NO to occupation

Cardiff demonstration marking the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem calling for its' END

Tuesday 5 June at 5.30 pm
Aneurin Bevan Statue
Queens Street
Cardiff

With music, speakers and dance to raise awareness and call for the END of this brutal occupation.

PLEASE COME BRING YR FRIENDS, BANNERS, PLACARDS etc.
If you are able to lend a PA system for use outdoors please email me.
If you want to travel with us to the big ENOUGH! occupation demonstration in London on Saturday 9 June, email flas6eeny@hotmail.com or eisoj@care2.com

(www.enoughoccupation.org)

Ghaith Nassar
Palestinian Solidarity Society
Cardiff University
flas6eeny@hotmail.com

RESPECT is proud to be the only political party in the UK that has a commitment to opposing apartheid Israel and support for the people of Palestine in its' founding statement and constitution.

Lessons from the Past - The Asian Youth Movement

This election saw the biggest ever attempt by the fascists to gain a foothold in Wales. Fortunately, they failed to get a single candidate elected. We reproduce, to start a debate on how we fight racism and fascism in Wales, this thoughtful article by Tariq Mehmood, written when the media and politicians united to condemn all those involved in the disturbances in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, Tariq Mehmood asks us to learn from 1980s experiences of fighting racism and fascism -- and for black and white to defend their communities together.

Twenty years ago, on 11 July 1981, many British cities were ablaze with youthful rebellion. Then, as now, the fascists were out holding marches and meetings and creating mayhem in black areas. Unlike their present showing in general elections, then they were trounced.

The media -- joined by an assortment of odds and sods presented as "community leaders" -- then as now in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, condemned the Asian youth of the 1980s as the perpetrators of criminal activity and "mindless thugs", bent on wanton destruction. Some of the middle-aged "community leaders" today, including MPs such as Marsha Singh, were themselves youths at that time, and were engaged in activities not dissimilar to those they are condemning today. I went on many a demonstration with Marsha Singh, chanting "Labour-Tory both the same -- both play the racist game!"

Bradford city has always had a proud history of resistance to racist and fascist provocation. There are uncanny similarities between the present situation in northern England and the conditions 20 years ago, which led to myself and 11 other Asian youths being arrested and imprisoned on charges of conspiracy and possession of explosive substances. In the mid-1970s, the fascists threatened to march through Manningham. Thousands of people in Bradford demonstrated peacefully and ended up in a rally in the city centre. Unlike now, the police then tried to keep the youths in the city centre, so that the fascists could have their rally in the heart of Manningham. The youths broke through the police lines and rushed up Lumb Lane to defend Manningham from fascism. There then ensued terrible violence in which the police fought pitched battles against the youths.

The youth of that time was forced to learn there was no other course than self-organisation. But in order to organise, we had to learn about the nature of the enemy we were organising against. We were forced to try to understand what racism was.

We knew of its devastating effects in our own lives. Our parents worked in dirty run-down mills, we lived in ghettos and had few prospects in front of us. White gangs were attacking us, but why? At school we were embroiled in battles against racist youth and racism within the educational system. But what was racism and from where did it spring?

We came to understand racism was an ideology used in various ways to portray us -- that is, black people -- as sub-human. Sometimes it was used to divide us as workers in the factories and mills, sometimes racism meant we became a political football, kicked about by both Labour and the Tories. There were many expressions of racism in our day-to-day existence. We began to understand that it had a base in history and did not arise simply because we were now here in this country.

We began to ask why had we come into this country in the first place? This led us to our own histories. We learnt that contrary to what the history books had taught us, the British came to India and Africa not primarily on humanitarian missions, but to rob and pillage. This was the major cause of the poverty of our countries of origin. It is here we learnt of capitalism as a system, and racism as an ideology that had developed, changing with the changing times to the present era in which we came of youthful age in Bradford. And it was now being used by neo-fascist organisations.

Following the riots of 1976, Bradford's Asian youth formed themselves into the Asian Youth Movement (AYM). The AYM then spent many years in not only helping young people organise, but also building unity among wider sections of the population. It united with all manner of oppressed layers of British society. One of the alarming developments of the present situation in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham is that there has been a dearth of organised progressive voices.

In the 1970s and 1980s there was a broad abhorrence of fascism in the British populace.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of anti-fascists always met just a handful of fascists whenever they showed themselves. I was in my mid-twenties and had learnt through bitter street experience that the major problem was not the fascist gangs, but racism, the oxygen that fascism needed to feed on. I grew up in Bradford, and was quickly forced to learn, even at school -- especially in view of the terrible racist violence of the playground and the journeys to and from school -- that black minorities in this country had no choice but to organise to defend themselves, and then seek alliances with progressive white people.

We saw black and white as political colours. While trying to forge unity among Afro-Asian youth, at the same time we actively encouraged white youth to work with us, as we believed the necessity of uniting all people against common enemies. Racism, we believed, was a common enemy not only of black people, but of all people. But we also believed that our primary task was to organise ourselves, as we were the direct targets of racist and fascist gangs.

The youth of today need to look to their immediate histories, as we did in our time, and learn from the experiences of those who had organised before us. In the late 1970's, Asian youth formed organisations in almost all the cities in which they lived. I was involved in the formation and activities of a number of these organisations, in places such as the East End, Southall, Birmingham and Bradford. The objective of the youth then was not in fighting against white people, but against racism. The fight was born out of poverty and degradation, of being effectively imprisoned in the inner-city ghetto, with no apparent hope of escape. We too were faced with similar situations, and had no choice but to come together and organise. When we organised we became stronger. By uniting ourselves, we were gaining a public voice. We developed systems in which we could quickly mobilise to defend people under physical attack, while at the same time challenging publications in the media that tried to denigrate our communities or organisations.

When people begin to organise, the state agencies do not just sit by as idle observers. It is not in their interest to allow the independent development of militant organisations.

Following the rebellion of 1981, the state moved quickly to buy off the leadership of the emerging youth movements. We were offered youth workers. We argued that we did not want youth workers but work. The most active and effective time of these youth organisations was when we funded our activities from the money we raised ourselves. As soon as we applied for funding and received it, our organisations began to decay and eventually die. By getting money from state institutions, we became answerable to them. As soon as they controlled our purse strings they controlled us. The lesson from that time is that people's organisations must be responsible only to the people.

Even though the gangs that attacked us in the mid-1980s were coming from run-down white working-class neighbourhoods, we believed that without white workers and progressive white people coming out against racism, we stood no chance. Unlike now, 20 years earlier, especially in towns like Burnley, there were many popular organisations all fighting for their particular demands, such as trade unions, left organisations, tenants associations, women's organisations and even Labour Party members, who took part in anti-racist activities. Those who fight for their own rights learn the meaning of the suffering of others and can see the logic in forging unity.

Situations like this create the conditions for the building of effective anti-racist unity. Following racist violence, our areas became flooded with well-meaning white comrades from different white left organisations. They wanted to organise against racism and pick up a few members along the way. We pleaded with them to go and organise in white areas where the racists live and people are in need of education and organisation.

Progressive and anti-racist white people should look for the rise in racism not in black but white ghettos. It is in the deprived white areas where the far-right is gaining strength.

On 11 July 1981, police fought pitched battles with youth in numerous British cities. For nearly two weeks before this day, there were sporadic flare-ups with racist and fascist gangs and/or police officers raiding black communities. People of Bradford, especially young people, decided not to place their faith in the hands of the police and organise the defence of their different localities. We were confronted with the questions: what is defence? What is legitimate in one's self-defence?

In those days, just like today, racist and fascist gangs were attacking us with all manner of weapons, including petrol bombs. We decided that it was our right to defend our communities, and ourselves by arming ourselves with petrol bombs. We built some and kept them hidden for safekeeping.

However, the main focal point of our activities was in the mobilisation and organisation of the broadest possible numbers of people. We divided into groups, often of hundreds of people, and spent the day patrolling our streets. Echoing their actions of 7 July 2001, two decades earlier the police had advised people to stay indoors as well. In view of our history of the mid-1970s, and the actions of the police towards our communities, we did not trust them to defend us. We made a call for people to come out. And they did come out in their hundreds. Wherever we went, people came out and offered us drinks and sweetmeats. A few fascists did show up in the town centre but these were seen off by mostly white youth.

The evening came. We went to the city centre. There was no fascist invasion. A few bored police officers got involved in a skirmish with some white youths. I was arrested in the confusion that followed this. The petrol bombs were not used.

A few weeks later we were charged on terrorist charges and imprisoned. Our arrest was met by a massive sense of outrage by Bradford's community. The Bradford 12 Defence Campaign brought thousands of people, from right across the country, out on to the streets to defend the right to self-defence.

The police and the courts argued that petrol bombs could not be used as weapons of self-defence. We maintained that it was our right to arm ourselves as we were faced with attackers who were similarly armed. After a nine-week trial, we were all acquitted. The lesson from that trial is that people under attack have the right in law to defend themselves appropriately. The most important components of defence are community-based organisations, clear in their aims and objectives. These must be responsible to the people they are defending. And without organisations, we are defenceless.

The present situation in Bradford and other northern towns is not born out of something unique in these cities. The fundamental causes of violence are not the questions of the colour of skin, but poverty and a feeling of helplessness. Hope can only be found in organising and in uniting with principled anti-racist and anti-imperialist forces.