Statement HERE
Crowdfund HERE
On Saturday 28 March, Stand Up To Racism held its first national organising meeting since the Coronovirus crisis took hold. Over 120 delegates joined the meeting via a Zoom Webinar, with delegates from local groups all over the country, alongside representatives from unions, faith organisations and politicians active in the anti racist movement.
The meeting was introduced by Claudia Webbe MP, Kevin Courtney, National Education Union (NEU) joint General Secretary, Unmesh Desai, Greater London Assembly (GLA) member, and Weyman Bennett, co convenor Stand Up To Racism, who tackled the issue of Combating Scapegoating and Racism in the Coronocrisis: How Anti Racists Organise Under Lockdown.
The discussion heard from delegates and representatives, sharing issues such as raising anti racism within COVID19 local mutual aid groups, how important it is to fight for refugees stuck in camps or detention centres, raising the campaign #MigrantsMakeOurNHS within the #ClapForOurCarers actions and campaigning for an amnesty for all refugees and migrants to enable people to seek care when needed, and to have the support to be able to socially isolate.
Key outcomes for the meeting included:
- Using the Stand Up To Racism statement (sign and share here: bit.ly/racismisavirus), launched during the Coronovirus crisis to raise anti racism at the heart of the response in every community and in the wider debate. Every local group should seek support for the statement from across their community – from MPs and councillors, from trade unions and campaigns, from local Mosques, Sinagogues, Gurdwaras, Temples, churches and all faith organisations and seek to get it published in local press.
- Organising monthly local Stand Up To Racism meetings via Zoom
- Monthly National Organising Meetings for Stand Up To Racism – the date for the next one, organised via Zoom, will be announced to groups and representatives from organisations and unions
- An international rally with speakers from across the #WorldAgainstRacism international network that organised the UN Anti Racism Day demonstrations. This will be an opportunity to hear from anti racist activists from the movements across the US, Europe and wider. This will be in the coming weeks and the date will be announced shortly. All local groups and organisations should encourage supporters to take part
- Stand Up To Racism will make key focusses for campaigning: a) the demand for amnesty now for all refugees and migrants, and b) raising the slogan #MigrantsMakeOurNHS to highlight the dangers of the Tories’ ‘hostile environment’ – get materials to take part HERE
- Stand Up To Racism national office will be organising further online events – stay posted!
- Support the anti racist movement! Please give generously to our crowdfund HERE
Please follow our social media:
Twitter: @AntiRacismDay and our hashtags: #RacismIsAVirus #WorldAgainstRacism #MigrantsMakeOurNHS #Unions4Unity
Facebook: Stand Up To Racism
Email us to get involved in a local group, or hear more about how we are organising to keep anti racism at the heart of the response to the Coronocrisis, and to follow and participate in our online campaigns in the coming weeks and months: info@standuptoracism.org.uk
