WORLD AGAINST RACISM - Brent Civic Centre, Wembley 1pm Saturday - followed by On-line Rally

 

FROM BRENT TRADES COUNCIL

Join Brent Trades Council, Stand Up to Racism, local trade unions, and other organisations to protest racism at Brent’s Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley Park, HA9 0FJ (nearest tube Wembley Park) at 1pm

Bring your union or your organisation’s banner, physically distance, wear a mask, stay safe – limit numbers to a max of 3 per banner to ensure we remain within the law.

1pm- Take the knee at Brent’s Civic Centre

5pm – online rally: https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/world-against-racism-online-rally-un-anti-racism-day

What is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination?

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws” in 1960. In 1979, the UN General Assembly decided that a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination, beginning on 21 March, would be organized annually in all states across the world. Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled. Racist laws have been abolished in many countries, and we have built an international framework for fighting racism, guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The Convention is now nearing universal ratification, yet still, in all regions, too many individuals, communities and societies continue to suffer from the injustice and stigma that racism brings.

This Saturday 20 March is UN anti-racism day. It’s 60 years since the apartheid government in South Africa gunned down people struggling for freedom but in Europe, the ugly head of racism rears its head again.

Hungary’s racist leader Viktor Orbán blames migration and ‘foreigners’ for the economic crisis. He is not the only one.

Across the world the racist right is reacting in similar ways which has led to a spike in racist attacks and which spreads fear.

Already in Britain planned draconian legislation is set to target B&ME communities. Johnson’s Tory government has failed miserably to address racism in this crisis. This new legislation must be opposed.

The report into the Windrush scandal shows the racism at the heart of the Tory government and its Hostile Environment Act. Refugees seeking asylum from war zones are being left to drown in the Mediterranean and turned back from British shores.A majority of black people are stopped and searched by the British police. The enquiry into Grenfell has still not reached any conclusion. A disproportionate of B&ME workers have suffered deaths from COVID.