29 April 2020
Last night, 28 April 2020, thousands joined a live online rally organised by Stand Up To Racism, marking International Workers’ Memorial Day.
As the nation held a minute silence to honour health and key workers that died after contracting Covid-19, many held up signs of protest demanding PPE and to “Remember the Dead and Fight for the Living.”
The evening’s major rally highlighted the disproportionate deaths of BAME people amid the Covid-19 crisis, and called for a transparent public inquiry, not a “white wash” over the issue. MPs, campaigners, key workers and activists all referenced their outrage at the involvement of Trevor Phillips in a Public Health England investigation, a man who boasted of being named “Islamophobe of the year” at a Conservative Party fringe meeting.
President of Stand Up To Racism & former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott MP began her remarks by saying: “I want to stress my support for an independent public inquiry on the subject of COVID-19, Black and Minority Ethnic persons, and the completely disproportionate level of deaths. It should be an independent public inquiry on the lines of the Macpherson Inquiry, and hopefully as significant and transformational.”
A recent study found the proportion of BAME deaths in the health service to be 94% among Doctors and Dentists, 71% among nurses and midwives, and 56% among healthcare support workers, despite BAME workers forming the minority of all these categories. A Survey by the British Medical Association found the lack of PPE has hit doctors from BAME backgrounds the hardest, with almost double the proportion of BAME doctors feeling pressured to work in situations with inadequate PPE, and only four out of ten white doctors reporting as having adequate protection, a disparity also reflected among nurses.
Recent figures also show BAME people make up one third of Covid-19 patients in intensive care and double the average of households who have lost jobs and/or income. People from BAME backgrounds make up around 13 percent of the UK population. Yet the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre reported that 35 percent of the first 2000, or so cases of critically ill Covid-19 patients in hospitals in England and Wales came from BAME backgrounds.
Institutional racism was raised at the meeting as one reason behind disparities in the overall population, with Bell Ribeiro Addy, MP for Streatham, saying : “Even if this disease doesn’t discriminate, it definitely exacerbates the existing discrimination and inequalities in our society. “If we had valued this type of information before, we would have accepted the institutional racism that already exists and put things in place to prevent the disproportionate deaths in the BAME communities. “It seems like a lot of the time we rehash information about inequalities that we already know. This review has to be different – people are losing their lives at an alarming rate.” Practising GP
Dr Siema Iqbal said: “You can’t talk about underlying health issues without talking about structural health inequalities, and health inequalities are not a new phenomena in this country. We have got to understand the social and economic factors which drive these inequalities, and the role racism plays in these inequalities.”
Many speakers raised the importance of improving the conditions of key workers and combating the discrimination faced by those born abroad. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP said: “The legacy of all this has to be that we recognise the value of those who do work within our caring and healthcare professions, and we don’t allow the hostile environment to take over and treat them so badly in the future.”
The meeting ended by resolving to pursue the demand of an independent public inquiry, and continue shining a spotlight on the need to urgently address the inequalities which play a role in the disproportionate impact on African, Asian and Caribbean communities.
Further quotes from speakers at the online rally:
Patrick Vernon, social commentator & Windrush campaigner
“What we need is a proper independent review… looking at the impact of Covid on BME community… there are big issues affecting that community, issues around food, access social care, impact of social distancing… Covid has hit everyone, all households up and down the country, but we all know the deaths in the BME community”.
Esme, a London Paramedic
“We have to remember the special contributions of migrant workers in our NHS. People who have come to Britain and face scapegoating and racism and the disgraceful surcharge that affects their ability to seek healthcare in the country that they are working. They face all those obstacles and so many have contributed so much, and with their lives. We have to stop being silent now. Those deaths were not inevitable. We need a public inquiry, we need action, like today saying we need PPE and proper action on tracing and testing. And we want and end t the surcharge, to the hostile environment right to remain and full citizen ship. We want action and not just words from the government.“
Tabetha Bhatti, Muslim Council of Britain
“Workers historically looked down upon for working low paid jobs are now deemed essential workers. These very same workers will continue to struggle to come to the UK under a new points based immigration system. We need this inquiry and we need it urgently, however we don’t need an inquiry that whitewashes the issues, doesn’t tell us the true story and risks further loss of life. We need an inquiry that holds the confidence of the very communities it is supposed to protect. In its current form it may well not do this. The fact that public health England has appointed someone who is under investigation for islamophobia and has been suspended forma party in view of said investigation… to support this inquiry shows the matter is not being taken as seriously as it should.“
Fayrouz Kraish, medical scientist & Unite Scotland BAEM Committee
“I want to celebrate the amazing solidarity today for all workers who stood together to remember the dead and who are willing to fight for the living… This pandemic has highlighted many issues particularly in failures of the government, stigmatisation of certain communities and social problems, and a climate where the NHS has been under invested for decades, with many hospital closures, lack of beds, and privatisation and this all led the problem we see in the NHS. We need an open transparent and thoroughly vetted participant’s investigation into disproportionate baem deaths.”.
Cameron Matthews, FBU Eastern Region
“If you are from a working class background like many of us are, it is much more likely that you won’t be able to work from home. Furthermore, many of these roles are classed as key work so you are probably still being asked to use public transport, your risk of exposure is much higher and risk of higher viral loading is also increased. If you are a city banker or a CEO working from home, or you are able to get a Fortlam and Masons delivery and access to travel by car and private testing you are probably at a considerable lower risk of contraction. So although much of it is around class, I think what it highlights is the higher ratio of BAEM workers in working class roles.“
Glen Hart, Glen Hart, tube worker & RMT sceretary London Transport Region/ chair RMT National Black & Etbloc Advisory Committee/ TUC Race Relations Committee
“Today’s news from TFL is that 34 transport workers have lost their lives. The assumption is most of them are BME. This government has blood on their hands. A major disappointment for these workers, the chair of TFL, a London Mayor, a black man. Recently we made demand for cleaners on the tube that they should be given free travel, TFL flatly rejected this and now the multinational private contractors who made the annual pre tax profit of £3 million last year are seeking to furlough the majority of these workers. We need to end this exploitation of these workers because they are black ethnic minority or migrant. We need to mount the campaign to defend these workers. “
David Rosenberg, Jewish Socialist Group
“the Jewish community I grew up in, relatives of people I know have died in the 50s and 60s. More recent immigrant communities are directly affected by the hostile environment. Undocumented workers are scared to approach health services. Migrants who are deterred from seeking medical help through racist policies are a risk, both to themselves and to others if they contract the virus. When the crisis eventually subsides, there will be an economic crisis. The racists will try to exploit these circumstances and shift the blame – they are already rehearsing. Fascists in America attack the lockdown. ”
Notes to editors:
1) Stand Up To Racism is a broad based organisation made up of anti-racists, students, trade unionists and faith groups. We organise various activities and events aimed at challenging the rise of racism.
2) Speakers at the rally included: • Diane Abbott MP • Jeremy Corbyn MP • Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP • Kate Osamor MP • Dr Siema Iqbal • Kevin Courtney, National Education Union General Secretary • Tabetha Bhatti, Muslim Council of Britain • Patrick Vernon, social commentator, Windrush campaigner & initiator of Mary Seacole petition • Cameron Matthews, FBU Eastern Region • Glen Hart, tube worker & RMT sceretary London Transport Region/ chair RMT National Black & Etbloc Advisory Committee/ TUC Race Relations Committee • Fayrouz Kraish, bup medical scientist & Unite Scotland BAEM Committee • London paramedic
3). The full video can be found on facebook here and Youtube here
For further quotes and information email info@standuptoracism.org.uk