State Racism, Collusion and Resistance Conference, 13-14 October 2018
JVL Introduction
An important conference on State Racism, Collusion and Resistance will take place in London on 13-14 October.
Its aims: to identify and discuss the motivating factors of the pervasive nature of racism, injustice and austerity and their impact on working class communities; and to bring different campaigns and communities together so that we can begin to collectively address the challenges ahead.
Britain is at a cross road, its citizens are tormented by an uncertain future.
The current state of racism in the UK is alarming. There is no sphere where racism does not prevail: at the workplace, in schools and universities, on the streets, in the playgrounds and within public & private institutions.
The Government-led strategy of creating a ‘hostile environment’ towards vulnerable new arrivals has also been applied against settled Black communities with devastating dehumanising consequences.
The treatment of Black & Asian individuals in the Criminal Justice system adds another depressing layer to the current discriminatory experiences of stop and search and deaths in custody. In his review, David Lammy warned, “the disproportionate number of BAME young people in the justice system is a social time bomb. It is beyond time to stop talking about the problem and to act”. The use of the discriminatory ‘Gangs Matrix’ by police coupled with moral panic around violent crimes has reinforced negative stereotypes against black working class youth. but done little to halt brutal and senseless deaths on the streets.
The spike in ‘hate’ crimes (over 70% of these are racially motivated) witnessed during and after the BREXIT campaign has not receded. In some parts of Europe, extreme-right and anti-immigration parties have become partners in government. This poses a new challenge for us in the UK where forces of nativism and fascism are also beginning to gain strength.
Just like the Irish before, Muslim communities today are collectively viewed as ‘suspect’. So too are thousands of women and men involved in peaceful protests, trade union activities, and Black & Asian justice campaigns – the revelations they have been spied upon by ‘undercover’ police officers, some of whom were specifically targeted and lured into sexual relationships, are deeply ‘shocking’.
And what of the hard fought human and social rights for workers, women, minorities and poorer sections of our society? Will they be preserved in Post-Brexit Britain? Community support in UK’s diverse working-class areas has been decimated by austerity, making it even harder to hold the State to account. The ominous signs are there to be read. Do we need a weather presenter to tell us which way the wind is blowing?
It is time to build and act on a new vision for the future.
As a first step, we need to learn the lessons of past and current struggles. The event will be addressed by a representative mix of campaigners and experts: It promises to be unique, we hope an inspiring, event, bringing together families, lawyers and activists involved in seminal campaigns that changed Britain – such as those closely associated with Public Inquiries on Bloody Sunday, Stephen Lawrence, Hillsborough, Broadwater Farm, Undercover Policing and Grenfell.
The aims of the 2-day conference are twofold: firstly to identify and discuss the motivating factors of the pervasive nature of racism, injustice and austerity and their impact on working class communities. Secondly, we aim to bring different campaigns and communities together so that we can begin to collectively address the challenges ahead.
Invited speakers include:
Alistair Morgan (Brother of Daniel Morgan and justice campaigner), Abrar Javid (Rotherham 12 Campaign), Becky Shah (Hillsborough Justice Campaign), David Lammy (Member of Parliament), Deborah Coles (Co-Director INQUEST), Dr AKALA (author and musician), Dorothea Jones (The Monitoring group), Eamonn McCann (Journalist and Bloody Sunday March organisation), Imran Khan QC (Human rights lawyer representing Doreen Lawrence and core, participants in the Grenfell Inquiry), Gary Younge, (Guardian journalist), John Burke-Monerville (father of Trevor and Joseph Monerville, and core participant at the Undercover Police Inquiry), Jagdish Patel (The MonitoringGroup), Janet Alder (Sister of Christopher Alder and justice campaigner), Jenny Jones (Spied upon Green Party member and member of House of Lords), Liam Wray (Bloody Sunday Families), Katrina Ffrench (Stopwatch), Lee Bridges (Institute of Race Relations), Michael Mansfield QC (Eminent lawyer involved in Bloody Sunday, Lawrence, Hillsborough and Grenfell Inquiries), Neil Woods (ex police officer and whistle- blower), Oliver Sprague (Amnesty International), Omar Khan (Runnymede Trust), Patrick Williams (Manchester Metropolitan University), Peter Francis (ex SDS officer turned whistle-blower), Phillipa Kaufmann QC (Lawyer representing core participants in the Undercover Policing Inquiry), Professor Gus John (Author, activist and trainer), Proffesor Kehinde Andrews (Birmingham City University), Salma Yaqoob (Activist and ex Respect member), Sukhdev Reel (Mother of Ricky Reel and core participant at the Undercover Police Inquiry), Sheila Coleman (Hillsborough Justice Campaign), Stafford Scott (Tottenham Rights and The Monitoring Group, core participant at the Undercover Police Inquiry), Suresh Grover (The Monitoring Group and core participant at the Undercover Police Inquiry), Tim Gee (Amnesty International), Zubida Haque (Runnymede Trust)
For further information, please contact the Monitoring Group at 020 7582 7438 or email office@tmg-uk.org
Click for details of the sessions and bookings.
The conference is an initiative of The Monitoring Group, co-organised with the Centre for Crime & Justice Studies and supported by Imran Khan & Partners and South Bank University.