7 the Race Against Racism

7 The Race against Racism 'This was exemplified in the autumn of 1979 when the principal race advisor and the race advisor in management services were given a hostile reception at a shop stewards meeting in one of the large predominantly blue-collar directorates. Their instant view of the Race Relations Unit and the Equal Opportunities Policy was encapsulated in a statement made by one of the stewards: "We know what you're up to. If you think you're going to turn up with a truck load of niggers on a Monday morning and tell us we have to take them on, you've got another thing coming!"' (Ouseley, 1983, p. 170). This chapter and the following two examine the municipal Left's initiatives on equal opportunities for blacks, women and gays and lesbians. The roots of these initiatives lay very much outside the traditional Labour movement, stemming from the single issue campaigns and community action of the 1970s. Disenchanted with the limitations of this kind of pressure group politics, and growing weary of internal splits, many of the activists joined the Labour party and attempted to broaden its concerns away from traditional issues. Some became councillors themselves. So, gradually, these new concerns crept onto the political agenda. The interest in equal opportunities originated in and was always much greater in London than outside, where, with the main exception of Manchester, the influx of new councillors was still dominated in the early 1980s by the more traditional Left. Sheffield, for example, while by no means opposed to the import ance of this new thrust, continued to give higher priority to 119 S. Lansley et al., Councils in Conflict © Stewart Lansley, Sue Goss and Christian Wolmar 1989 120 Councils in Conflict traditional Labour concerns such as housing, social services and jobs, and the council never established separate race or women's committees. The Militant dominated Liverpool council was openly hostile. Militant has seen the pursuit of sex and race equality and gay rights as diversionary and subordinate to traditional class objectives, and was always scathing of what Derek Hatton had described as the 'yuppie' style of the London Left. 'They were more concerned with image than reality. The Labour boroughs in London, with their obsessions about anti-racist and anti-sexist issues were ... more concerned that we called the chairman the chairperson, or a manhole cover a personhole cover, than they ever were about the real issues' (Hatton, 1988). The Left's interest in equal opportunities, however, can be seen as extending the traditional pursuit of equality beyond that of reducing old class and economic divisions, to one of reducing wider social inequalities. It is about spreading opportunities to those who have been denied them in the past, who have been excluded from the mainstream of social and political life. It is therefore deeply rooted in Labour's primary concern with equality and justice. But as well as fitting basic socialist principles, these initiatives have also come to have a wider political imperative. Since the war, industrial change has led to a steady decline in the size of Labour's traditional constituency - the male, manual working class. In the process, the Labour party, as well as finding its natural support dwindle, began to lose touch with popular concerns. Most people no longer identify themselves primarily as workers, but according to their gender, their race or as consumers and individuals. The means of political expression for these new concerns came, not through the traditional Labour movement, but through what have become known as 'new social movements'- the peace movement, the women's movement, anti-racist groups and, more recently, the ecology and environmental lobby. Society is now more complex and differentiated with a diversity of interests and new historic needs beyond those which socialism attempted to tackle in its earliest days. Some have defended these new policies as not only consistent with Labour's traditional concern with the disadvantaged, but as a crucial element in rebuilding Labour's support. They have argued that it is possible to build a new coalition of interests out of these fragmented and heterogeneous groups, a 'Rainbow Alliance', The Race against Racism 121 among minority and other disadvantaged groups who may not have traditionally voted Labour. While the potential for winning power through such an alliance alone is slim, these changes have created a new political agenda, new constituencies and priorities, including a concern with equal opportunities. Racial equality The first of these new initiatives to emerge was the pursuit of racial equality. From the late 1960s, report after report had pinpointed the widespread social and economic disadvantages suffered by Britain's black, and especially Afro-Caribbean, population. Since the large wave of Caribbean immigration in the late 1950s, black people have suffered higher rates of unemployment and poorer housing and education than whites. This was the joint product of the relatively disadvantaged economic position of the black population and of discrimination. Although legislation in 1965, 1968 and 1976, which outlawed individual acts of discrimination, succeeded in eliminating the more blatant examples of racism such as the 'no blacks' accommodation and job advertising, it did little or nothing to remove the much more subtle, widespread and deep-rooted forms of discrimination. From the late 1960s, a variety of government measures sought to tackle urban decline, including the urban programme and educa tional priority areas. Only one of these was aimed specifically at the black population- section 11 of the 1966 Local Government Act under which local authorities could claim grants to employ extra staff to meet the special needs of 'Commonwealth immig rants'. In the case of the other programmes, it was assumed that the alleviation of urban deprivation would help black and white equally. Gradually, however, this 'colour blind' approach began to be questioned and pressure mounted for a more direct approach. Some inner city Labour parties with large black populations grew concerned at the lack of black involvement in the Labour party and their lack of representation on councils. During the 1970s, there were only a handful of black councillors and no black MPs. The second half of the 1970s also saw the growth of the National Front as an electoral force. They fielded 90 candidates at the 122 Councils in Conflict October 1974 general election. In 1976, Martin Webster polled 16 per cent for the National Front in a West Bromwich parliamentary by-election, and the party was getting similar votes in local elections. This led to the rise of organised opposition through the formation of the Anti-Nazi League and the 'Rock Against Racism' concerts and to violent clashes during National Front marches. While the initiative for this opposition came largely from outside the Labour party, and especially from the Socialist Workers Party, the effect was to push race firmly onto the local political agenda. During the 1970s several councils had paid lip service to the need to take account of black people's needs in the provision of services and jobs. In practice, this had rarely meant more than funding local community relations councils and 'worthy' black community groups, and the appointment of special social workers and teachers. In Lambeth in 1977, the local Community Relations Council challenged this 'colour blind' approach in a report which called for the establishment of a race relations unit at the town hall. Lambeth had one of the highest proportions of black people in London, around a quarter, yet there were no black councillors and relatively few black officers. Nevertheless, this proposal was rejected by the then Labour administration, though the council did appoint a race adviser in housing in February 1978 to investigate claims of discrimination in the housing department. In the 1978 borough elections, Labour's manifesto said, 'Labour will not tolerate any form of discrimination against black people. We will establish a procedure to review all aspects of Council policy, to prevent any possibility of discrimination, direct or indirect'. After the elections, a race relations unit was established, the first of its kind. The author of the Community Relations Council report, Herman Ouseley, was appointed the head of the unit, additional advisers were appointed in social services and personnel and a new Community Affairs Committee was estab lished with responsibility for tackling racial disadvantage. These steps set the pattern for race policies elsewhere. The race unit was given unprecedented political clout with direct access to the council leader and committee chairs, the chief executive and departmental directors. Advisers could submit reports direct to committees unaltered by senior officers. Previously, only directors had enjoyed such independence and access to power. The role of the unit was to develop policies to tackle discrimination The Race against Racism 123 and to improve access to jobs and services by reducing both individual and institutional racism. The first major change was the introduction of race record keeping. New application forms were introduced and a staff survey undertaken to determine the racial mix of all departments, to identify black under-representation and to monitor the impact of the policy changes. Committees began to draw up 'positive action programmes', a term coined from the USA where anti-discrimination policies had been pioneered over a decade before. The programmes were designed to redress past imbalances, promote equal opportunities and ensure that any special needs of the black community were met. To overcome the serious under-representation of black people in the allocation of housing, especially in the more popular properties, for example, a target of 30 per cent was adopted, a figure which mirrored the black population of the borough.

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