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N O to Scapegoating Immigrants. N O to Islamophobia. YES to Diversity

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N O to Scapegoating Immigrants. N O to Islamophobia. YES to Diversity INVASION? The tabloid media warn of an influx into the UK, on Bulgarian and Romanian workers being given the right to work. Few actually come after the 1 January start date. In the light of the rise of far right parties both in the UK and abroad, the trade union movement and other organisations come together to mark the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with a demonstration on 22 March. ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE IMPLODES During 71 “protests” marked by rampant Islamophobia and violence against Muslims, the EDL are met with consistent opposition by Unite Against Fascism – culminating in major defeats at Tower Hamlets and Walthamstow. In May, the UK Independence Party gain media attention through local election success. Former 2014 ON THE RECORD government minister Lord Heseltine describes it as “racist” in terms of its “language, the rhetoric, The leader of Hungary’s Jobbik – a racist, xenophobic party – is forced to cancel a London talk after anti-racists protest. One of the membership” while UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, proclaims Enoch Powell’s infamous rivers of blood few films dealing with the Atlantic slave trade, speech, “right for the wrong reasons”. www.standuptoukip.org British director Steve McQueen, wins awards including the Oscar Government-sponsored vans target multicultural areas, bearing slogans reminiscent of 1970s racism 2013 for best picture. telling “illegal” immigrants to “Go home”. Thousands of texts are sent out with the same message and United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial people stopped at stations across London. Vigorously opposed these measures are soon dropped. Discrimination celebrated around the world in March. FALSE DAWN OLYMPIC CELEBRATION Greek fascists Golden Dawn achieve electoral growth before the leadership are The London Olympics opening ceremony celebrates multiculturalism. But in football, England captain 2012 arrested following the murder of an anti-fascist activist. In December, Nelson John Terry gets a four match ban for using racially abusive language. Following Luis Suárez’s similar ban, Mandela’s death leads to millions paying homage to a life dedicated12 Years to ending a Slave many fear a reappearance of overt racism in football. racial oppression. 2014 TRAYVON MARTIN SHOOTING by CULTURE AND RECRIMINATIONS 2011 In Florida, a neighbourhood patrol organiser shoots Trayvon Martin, a black In February, Prime Minister David Cameron declares multiculturalism dead in Munich. In August police teenager returning home after buying sweets. The killer is only put on trial after a shoot a black man, Mark Duggan, in north London. Riots erupt and 3,000 people are arrested with mass campaign gains 1.5 million signatures. prison sentences totaling 1,800 years. Academic David Starkey registers agreement with the views of 2013 Enoch Powell blaming “black culture” for the riots. 2008 MURDEROUS EXTREMIST Anders Breivik, a fellow traveller and sympathiser of Nazis/extreme right groups across Europe, kills 77 people in Norway on a killing spree. BNP DEFEATED AGAIN After an impressive mass leafleting campaign led by organisations like Unite Against Fascism in Barking, 2005 the BNP is defeated. OBAMA ELECTED UN anti-racism day Barack Obama becomes the United States’ first black president. He wins the 2012 election too. Standing up to racism and fascism through history LOVE MUSIC CARNIVAL HURRICANE KATRINA Some 30 years after Rock Against Racism, Love Music Hate Racism hold a carnival in Victoria Park. 2002 The black urban poor are seen to get little US government assistance as deadly floods in New Orleans expose issues It attracts 100,000 people. The BNP win a London Assembly seat and two MEPs in the Euro elections. of race, class andwww.algebradesign.com the legacy of slavery. In November, rioting spreads across France after the death of two youths of AcknowledgementsCreator/author: andGaverne references Bennettuaf.org.uk The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually Anti-fascists protest outside the BBC when Nick Griffin appears on Question Time. 2012 North African origin atescaping bit.ly/blackhistory21 the police. on 21 March. On that day in 1960, police opened fire and killed 69 people in Sharpeville, understandingslavery.com FARDesigner: RIGHT Jon Wedderburn BREAKTHROUGH 2001 David Dabydeen, John Gilmore, Cecily Jones (Eds.) Eric Hobsbawn ANTI EAST EUROPEAN RACISM Front National’s Jean Marie Le Pen, a man who denied the significance of the Holocaust, comes second in the South Africa, at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid “pass laws”. guardian.co.uk/blackhistory Brian Richardson (Ed.) Attacks on “Poles, Lithuanians, and other immigrants from the new E.U. member states [have become] presidentialun.org/en/events/racialdiscriminationday/background election in France – shocking the world. a major new component of hate crime violence” in the UK. Say it Loud! This wallchart gives a very brief history of racism and fascism, and the struggle against 2011 The Age of Empire Black History – forward into the 21st century these twin foes. 1994 SEPTEMBERirr.org.uk/news/eastern-european-workers-under-attack/ 11 ATTACKS A day of action against racism has been called for across Europe to coincide with 7/7 BOMBINGS Almost theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/anti-semitism/medieval-anti-judaism3,000 people are killed as al-Qaeda supporters crash passenger planes into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and other targets. A multinational force is sent into Afghanistan to capture the attack’s masterminds. Four explosions across London kill 56 people including the four bombers. There are reports of an The Oxford Companion to Black British History increase in Islamophobia ranging from attacks to verbal abuse on anyone who “looks” Muslim. UCU Holocaust wallchart at ucu.org.uk/equality#wall%20charts the marking of UN anti-racism day in 2014.In the UK we will demonstrating in SOUTH AFRICA ELECTION Salma Yaqoob, Zuhairali [CC-BY-SA-3.0] via Wikimedia Commons 2010 1968 Nelson Mandela, released from prison in 1990, is elected president of a multi-racial South Africa. In Rwanda, half a million London on 22 March. We urge everyone to join the demonstration to roll back Tutsis are massacred by the Hutu-dominated army in one of the biggest genocides since the Holocaust. BIGGEST DEMONSTRATION IN BRITISH HISTORY Pics: Claudia Jones, Museum of London; 1962 Immigration Bill demo, Museum of London; xenophobia. Some two million people march against the war in Iraq in London. Salma Yaqoob takes a leading role in Mandela, Paul Weinberg [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons; Carnival, Worth/LMHR; the anti-war movement. Later that year Unite Against Fascism is formed to stop the resurgence of the BNP. 1965 OPPOSING RACISM AT THE OLYMPICS 2008 Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black power salute as symbol of defiance against racism at the Mexico Olympics. INSTITUTIONAL RACISM Stephen Lawrence is murdered at a bus stop in London. After a tenacious campaign by his family, the 1964 EQUALITY ACTIVISTS MURDERED Macpherson report identifies institutional racism for the first time. Meanwhile “openly Nazi” British National Malcolm X is assassinated, to be followed by Martin Luther King 3 years later. Party wins its first council seat, in east London. Over 60,000 anti-fascists march on their HQ with2007 another 40,000 marching in a demonstration organised by the TUC. The BNP lose their seat the following year. 1960 ANTI-APARTHEID PRISONERS In South Africa, ANC activists are imprisoned – including Nelson Mandela sentenced to life. FIRE AND RIOTS 2005 The largely ignored deaths of 13 African-Caribbeans in a fire at New Cross leads to deepening anger 1955 SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE amongst black people. Years of marginalisation and heavy-handed policing explode in nationwide riots. While peacefully demonstrating against apartheid, 69 unarmed black people are shot dead by police with 180 injured. The Scarman report recommends challenging racial disadvantage and the notorious “sus laws” are repealed. The United Nations declares 21 March an anti-racism day in remembrance. Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria are among 17 African states to gain independence. 2003 1947 CIVIL RIGHTS LEWISHAM The movement to end racial segregation in the United States begins. When it tries to march through Lewisham, the Nazi National Front is crushed by thousands of anti-fascists. Activists, mainly organised around the Anti Nazi League, expose the fascism of the National Front and oppose Stand up to racism and fascism 1993 INDIAN INDEPENDENCE their marches. Hundreds of thousands attend two successful carnivals organised by Rock Against Racism. SaturdayAssemble 11am 22 MarchIndia gains independence with2014 Pakistan being formed soon after. A year later, the strict segregation of races or Parade from Parliament Square to “apartheid” is instituted in South Africa with non-white groups being denied basic rights. RACIST SPEECH Enoch Powell is sacked from the Tory government for a speech that stokes up racism across the UK. He states: rally at Trafalgar Square THE HOLOCAUST history: the state-sponsored, systematic persecution” of Jews “by Nazi Germany “... in 15 or 20 years’ time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man”. Meanwhile, the Race www.standuptoracism.org.uk and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945”. Six million Jews were murdered, Relations Act makes it illegal to refuse housing, public services and 1981employment on the grounds of ethnicity. #M22 1939 with millions of “undesirables” also killed by the Nazis. ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL HITS THE STREETS was a “specific genocidal event in twentieth-century (c1400–1888) was “the After a spate of racist attacks, Claudia Jones conceives of an event to bring people together. 1922 enforced transportation This later becomes the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe’s largest street carnival. WORLD WAR TWO BEGINS of humanity between 1977 More than 2,500,000 soldiers from the colonies would serve in the 1939-45 war to stop fascism.
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