On Saturday, around 150 people came to the National Education Union (NEU) to hear speeches from:
Diane Abbott MP, Kevin Courtney (NEU General Secretary, NUT Section), Smokey Joe Roadshow (Notting Hill carnival organisers), Kristina Hedges (Show Racism the Red Card), Eleanor (victimised by the hostile environment), Louise Regan (Ex-President of NEU) and Weyman Bennett (Joint Secretary of Stand Up To Racism). The event was organised by the NEU and SUTR, chaired by Daniel Kebede (NEU exec.)
There was also a message of support from Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn while visiting a refugee camp in Jordan.
The speakers told of the lessons we need to learn from history and how to apply our resistance today. Eleanor spoke of her personal struggle for justice and that there are many more like her who won’t have access to the right paperwork or the right support.
Kristina Hedges
We need to recognise the “contribution the Windrush generation has made to our culture and daily lives. Young people need to know that their culture also…is part of that diversity that we all enjoy.”
Smokey Joe
“The current struggle we have is to make sure that carnival stays in the grass roots, is run by grass roots people, at the moment there’s a disintegration of that”. The carnival is a “training ground for artists and a focus for the youth”. “Notting Hill carnival is a piece of our culture and heritage that has suffered due to the hostile environment”.
Eleanor
“I couldn’t believe the support I was given by Stand Up To Racism…it wasn’t until it was being spoke about on the agenda that the reality of it, the whole effect, emotion…I broke down in that meeting”, “I was an emotional wreck but I was really supported in that group”.
After also meeting with Jeremy Corbyn and exchanging letters Eleanor was sent her “biometric, with no time limit”.
This is brilliant news for anyone resisting the hostile environment however, she emphasised that there are others like her and we can’t let them slip through the cracks.
Daniel Kebede listed the five demands for the government:
1) All those deported should be entitled to return to Britain immediately.
2) An immediate end to deportations and detention of Commonwealth Citizens.
3) Guarantee protection of all Commonwealth Citizens.
4) All those affected in any way be given compensation for deportation, threats of deportation, detention, loss of housing, jobs, benefits and denial of NHS treatment.
5) No hostile environment
Louise Regan
Supported the demands Daniel set forward by saying they “needed to be acted upon as soon as possible.” She added
“We need to be on the streets against the DFLA, we all need to be out there raising our voices and standing up for what is right and standing against intolerance and hatred”.
Weyman Bennett
Talking about the immigration acts which have been criticised by Diane Abbott and others he said “Theresa May put that act together”, even after the government said “it’s going to U-turn over the treatment of Windrush” generation “the Prime Minister put out a statement saying we are not…ending the hostile atmosphere”
“Our tradition comes from struggle…Claudia Jones fought for black and white unity against the fascists and the racists and it’s our tradition which means we have that kind of strength.” We need solidarity, “Trump has been normalised so we need everyone out on the 13th July because as soon as you accept one oppression is spreads. And do you know what? I’m sick and tired of the FLA and all of them threatening Diane; they have burned mosques and intimidated/ attacked people. We must stand together.”
“We must come together to prevent what happened in the 30’s & 40’s – we have to be out against Trump but also the next day against the Tommy Robinson supporters.”
Diane Abbott
“With the Windrush generation the important thing is not to give way to undue sentimentality, but we do have to remind ourselves that nobody faced a more hostile environment than that generation of West Indians who came here after the war.”
“The thing to say about the Windrush generation and the way they were treated is: it was not a mistake, it was not an over-zealous official, it was not a misinterpretation of the rules, it was deliberate.” “It turned teachers…hospital doctors…landlords…into border guards.”
“Unfair and racist immigration legislation is an attack on us all”. “If you tolerate inequality, in the end you’re caught tolerating the notion that some people are worth less than other people.”
“Across the Atlantic we have seen the rise of a really toxic anti-immigrant culture led by Trump”. Diane added that we have to join the demonstrations against him and force “Theresa May to condemn” what Trump is doing.
Kevin Courtney
“We have to get out against the Tommy Robinson supporters on the 14th July, they are a threat to our society. We have to resist that growth.”
“We know how to do it; we’ve done this stuff before. We have to get more people, masses of people on the streets”.
Click here for the national demonstration against Trump
Click here for the demonstration against the Tommy Robinson supporters.
Click here to sign the statement to unite against the far right.
Click here for the model motion to unite against the far right.
