Politics

Children of the Windrush Rally Support in Birmingham

/ Jermaine Lebert / Leave a comment

Crowds gathered in Birmingham City Centre in protest of the treatment of those known as the ‘Windrush generation’.

Campaign group ‘Children of the Windrush Movement’ organised the rally in High Street on Saturday with guest speakers such as Birmingham City University Professor Dr. Kehinde Andrews, anti-racism campaigner Maxie Hayles and community activist Desmond Jaddoo.

People waved Jamaican flags and placards that read: ‘Windrush generation here to stay’.

Rev. Desmond Jaddoo led prayers calling on people to ‘rejoice for the contributions of our elders’ while remembering those who had been ‘stripped of their jobs’ and whose ‘families had been ripped apart’.

Mr Jaddoo said: “Nobody wants to talk about our contribution. There are those who want to belittle our contributions to this country. We are here today to say enough is enough.

“Unless we unite and start looking out for one another, who’s going to look out for us. We have seen for many years that people are not looking out for us. Until we get proper black representation we will never get the justice we deserve.”

The Home Office has recently come under fire after it was revealed that Commonwealth citizens who have lived in the UK for the last 50 years have been detained, made homeless, sacked or denied health care because they have struggled to prove they are British.

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The Prime Minister earlier this week issued a statement that she was “genuinely sorry” for the pain caused to victims while Home Secretary, Amber Rudd apologised for the ‘appalling actions of her own department’.

Dr. Kehinde Andrews, founder of the Organisation of Black Unity (OBU) and co-chair of the Black Studies Association, said: “We need to send a message to Theresa May, a message of amnesty and reparation. There are plenty of people that can’t come back to this country because of what this government has done.

“When we were invited here, we were invited not as citizens but as subjects. They only let us in because they were desperate. The country was gone. It was run-down. They had no people to build it. So, they asked our parents and grandparents to come from the colony and to rebuild the NHS, the housing, the drains – the whole country.

“For the last 50 years they’ve been trying to get rid of us and this is just the latest example of that.”

He added: “I was born and raised in Birmingham and I’m still a subject – subject to police brutality, subject to poverty, subject to racial discrimination but it’s not going anywhere.”

“Racism is as British as a cup of tea. It is what this country is built on.”

Maxi Hayles, said: “We must put pressure on this government. Who is next to be deported and denied rights? Are they going to turn on my daughter who was born in Worcester? Are they going to turn on my son who was born in Birmingham?”

“This government has endeavoured to murder and humiliate our people. We cannot allow this atrocity to continue.”

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Birmingham Residents Patrol Streets to Tackle Rise in Crime

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Residents in Handsworth Wood will start patrolling the streets in an attempt to help tackle crime in the area.

Street Watch, a joint partnership between police and local communities, has been introduced after 215 crimes were recorded there throughout February.

Though they have no powers to make arrests, volunteers receive special training from the police and are expected to commit to a minimum of two hours per month.

West Midlands Police said: “Patrols are non-confrontational and aimed at improving neighbourhoods by identifying issues such as graffiti and criminal damage.

“We have seen a huge improvement in community confidence and information sharing with the local policing teams.”

A risk assessment is also undertaken to ensure all parties are protected as much as possible.

Narinder Kaur Kooner, councillor for the Handsworth Wood ward, said: “None of us are professionals in this field but residents want to be able to look after our families and neighbourhood.”

Inspector Iftekhar Ahmed of West Midlands Police, who co-ordinates Street Watch, said: “Street Watch has operated well across the country.

“In the space of three months, we have set up schemes across the whole of the West Midlands and currently have 125 members, with interest growing on a daily basis. We are hoping to have 500 new members in 2018.”

Sukhvinder Kaur, a street watch warden, said: “Residents are usually happy to see us and there is a sense of reassurance that we are watching the streets. We have had people stop and speak to us and even come out of their homes.”

Community activist Desmond Jaddoo also welcomed the Street Watch initiative and said: “There is a greater need for partnership between the police and local communities.

“Communities have a proactive role to play in crime prevention.”

He spoke of the need for Street Watch to be able to tackle the differing issues in each neighbourhood and the fractured relationship between police and some communities.

He said: “More often than not, communities feel that the police pick and choose the crimes they respond to. It’s all about building bridges because people need to regain trust and confidence in the police.

“For areas like Handsworth Wood, there is the issue with the high rise in burglaries and fly tipping where as in places like Newtown, the issues are drug abuse and the high percentage of gun and knife crimes.

“You have to make sure the mechanism works for each individual area and that it’s sustainable.”

Talk of An Anti-War Government in Birmingham

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People from all over the country packed into a meeting in Birmingham to hear ‘Why We Need an Anti-War Government’.

Stop the War Coalition (StWC) hosted the event, which took place at The Priory Rooms in Bull Street on Thursday, to mark 15 years since what was the largest demonstration in British history.

Guest speakers on the night included Stop the War Patron Salma Yaqoob, Moazzam Begg, Director for CAGE, an organisation aiming to empower those affected by the War on Terror, Stop the War Officer John Rees and rapper and activist Lowkey.

The meeting was chaired by anti-racism campaigner Maz Saleem and focused around Jeremy Corbyn, the former chair of Stop the War Coalition, with each speaker highlighting the significance of his 2017 election campaign that saw him win 40 per cent of the votes.

John Rees said: “For the first time in British history, there is a possibility of seeing a prime minister in this country who not only was chair for the Stop the War Coalition, vice chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament but one of the most longstanding and most principled opponents of imperialism and advocates of international solidarity that the Labour party has ever produced.”

Salma, previously a councillor for the Respect Party, spoke of people in the election being given ‘a real choice of anti-war government’ and a ‘vision of welfare, not warfare’.

This year, meetings have been held nationwide in places such as Newcastle, Bristol and Manchester.

The meeting in Birmingham took place to remember February 15, 2003 when two million people took to the streets of London in protest over the Iraq War.

The largest demonstration in British history was jointly organised by StWC, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the Muslim Association of Britain.

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Recalling the march, Salma said: “People marched in solidarity and humanity for people who did not share their religion, ethnicity or nationality and to simply say ‘we are with you’ and our government is not speaking for us.

“As I walked and marched with pensioners, some of them couldn’t even afford to heat their own homes and yet made a choice between food and warmth.

“It gave me hope and I know it gave hope to millions of people around the globe.”

She also spoke of Birmingham’s role in helping to mobilise people during the London demonstration.

“It was Birmingham that sent off 200 coaches to London and we had huge contingents,” she added.

Lowkey, a musician who combines intellectual clarity with passion and integrity, said: “When the march took place and around two million people mobilised in London, you had a global mobilisation of around 30 million people. That is unprecedented in human history.

“Anti-war organising strikes fear into the hearts of those in the highest echelons.”

He added: “Britain is currently involved in 7 covert wars, though it would be hard to discern these facts from mainstream media. Its army is the fifth strongest in the world and it is the second biggest arms manufacturer.

“You have £3.8 billion of British made weapons being given to the Saudi government. They now have more British made fighter jets than the British Army have.

“Over the last three and a half years, the UK has dropped 3,400 bombs on Iraq and Syria at the cost of £133m.

That’s £133m not being used in the NHS and not being used to house people.”

Stop the War Coalition, which was founded in 2001 in the wake of 9/11 attacks, seeks to campaign against unjust wars.

Moazzam Begg, who during the 2003 march was held at Camp Echo in Guantanamo Bay, said: “You may disagree with Jeremy Corbyn on some issues but, one thing I know, he stood with us at a time when very few would, when people were terrified of siding with those accused of terrorism held in Guantanamo Bay.”

He added: “He stood many times with me on a platform campaigning for Shaker Aamer, who was held for 14 years without charge or trial in Guantanamo, tortured, coming back to the UK to meet children, some of whom he had never seen in his life.

“This was a 40-year-old living in Battersea in London.

“This wasn’t a story from Guatemala and somewhere in Africa. This was a story from Britain and nobody had the guts at that level to do anything. It wasn’t popular to do so, but he stood firm.”

John Rees concluded the meeting by addressing Donald Trump’s forthcoming visit to the UK, saying: “Donald Trump is going to come and when he comes, he has got to be met with the most enormous demonstration.

“In February 2003, we had the biggest demonstration in Britain’s political history, but the record has stood for too long.

“I want to be able to say I was part of the second largest demonstration in British political history. That’s what we need when Donald Trump lands on our shores.”

 

 

 

 

African Lives Matter Protest in Birmingham

/ Jermaine Lebert / 4 Comments

A national anti-slavery march has taken place through Birmingham City Centre to protest slavery in Libya.

The peaceful protest, organised by the Communist Party of Great Britain Marxist-Leninist (CPGB-ML), sought to raise awareness of the enslavement and torture of black Africans.

People from all over the country assembled at 12pm in Pigeon Park carrying placards that read ‘Death to Imperialism. African Lives Matter!’

Reuben Lawrence, a member of the CPGB-ML, said: “My concern is this country’s government and their involvement with Libya. This is imperialism. Slavery in the 21st century is disgusting.”

The political organisation, which was founded in 2004, seeks to ‘bring an end to NATO and British government support for Libya’s slave trading’.

Reuben, 26, who spent four years in the army, spoke of the ‘lack of power’ in Libya after the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime and said: “Under Gaddafi, Libya was a really progressive government and the standards of living at that time were one of the best on the African continent.

“Now because of British and NATO intervention, unfortunately we have this situation in Libya which is a complete mess.

“People are dying. People are being sold in the streets by mercenaries that are being funded and backed by NATO.”

The protesters gathered around Pigeon Park before marching through the snow-covered streets as they chanted “Black and white unite. African slavery is wrong.”

Reuben added: “What I hope for is to send the message to the government ‘no more interventionism in other countries’ affairs.

“This is what our government have caused.

They are complicit in what’s happening in Libya right now. The slavery, the tragedy, the humanitarian crisis”.

Information about The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) can be found on their website www.cpgb-ml.org

The Nigger in the Woodpile

/ Jermaine Lebert / Leave a comment

To think that politics had moved on from the days of Enoch Powell and his ‘Rivers of Blood’ address in 1968 would be to, at least on the surface, appear oblivious to the Conservative party and their long history of racist outbursts. In 2008, David Cameron faced surmounting pressure to suspend Lord Dixon-Smith, a Tory peer who described the government housing legislation at the time as “the nigger in the woodpile”. The fact that he was the Tory minister for communities and local government only brought with it more condemnation of his remarks. Now we fast-forward nine years and we are again made privy to how at ease members of the government are with rehearsing this racist rhetoric as Anne Marie Morris, MP for Newton Abbot in addressing concerns over whether the inability to reach a finalised trade agreement with the EU spelled out the UK’s downfall, stated “Now I’m sure there will be many people who’ll challenge that, but my response and my request is look at the detail, it isn’t all doom and gloom. Now we get to the real nigger in the woodpile which is, in two years, what if there is no deal?”

Miss Morris has since been suspended, amounting to nothing more than a poor attempt at damage control and has profusely apologised. This is merely a last ditch attempt to close the proverbial stable door after the horse has bolted. Or should we see her statement instead as a ‘gift horse’ – a chance to address Britain’s sordid involvement with the Atlantic slave trade, imperialism and colonialism? The response from the press and politicians alike, all in a bewildered state of shock at even a hint that the Tory party might house racist politicians is ironic considering the badly run EU referendum campaign which hinged itself on immigration as the remedy to Britain’s social ills as well as Adolf Hitler suddenly trending on the tongues of politicians like Boris Johnson, as if Hitler is a great reference point for how to run a campaign without racist undertones.

The term “nigger in the woodpile” as with most divisive terms that carry negative connotations, over time lend themselves to revision and as such, has come to describe something that is concealed and hidden from plain sight, and yet this by definition attempts to gloss over and conceal its true meaning. As unintentional as Morris suggests her remarks were, there were other colloquialisms that would have undoubtedly driven home her message while avoiding unnecessary controversy. The term refers to the smuggling and concealment of runaway slaves via the Underground Railroad throughout the 1800s at the height of slavery. The desperate struggle for freedom from the bondage imposed by slave-owners resulted in slaves hiding in stacks of pulpwood on board carriages as their only viable escape route.

Will the government impose the same standard in rooting out hate speech when it exists within the confines of their own party. With so much of the recent Grenfell Tower tragedy casting an overshadow on the wide chasm that exists between the ruling elite and ethnic minorities, it is difficult to imagine the mere suspension of Anne Marie Morris as an adequate bridge to build trust when our history and culture becomes a platform for political puns and public ridicule.

Donald Trump, the 45th President

/ Jermaine Lebert / 1 Comment

The crowd that descended on Capitol Hill to witness the swearing in of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump seemed sparse in comparison to the turnout in 2009 for the outgoing president, Barack Obama. But for Trump and his sea of supporters, this was a victory nonetheless. On the inaugural platform, in the spirit of democracy, Obama and Trump seemingly put aside their party politics and greeted each other with pleasantries and for that moment at least, the whole of Capitol Hill remained calm and oblivious to the acts of vandalism and revolt from anti-Trump protesters that engulfed much of Washington. In that sense the various choirs that participated in the inaugural ceremony such as the Missouri State University Chorale with their beatific voices helped to drown out the deafening sounds of dissension that has beome the defining anthem for much of Donald Trump’s political campaign. Unlike the voices that commanded a sense of stillness and tranquility to the proceedings, Trump and his administration will now take on a fractured and divisive country in the most turbulent period of America’s history.

The inaugural address, lasting the duration of twenty minutes recaptured earlier themes of nationalism, protectionism and the patriotism of the American people while delivering a verbal assault on the Establishment that has dominated Washington, reminding us that “Today we are not merely transferring power from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington DC and giving it back to you, the people”. Does this transferring of power include the segments of society like women and the disabled that were often denigrated and made to feel powerless, or should we now cast all of Trump’s previous statements in to a box and file it away under “locker room talk?”

The tone and delivery of his inaugural address appeared intentionally devoid of all the ambiguous language that is commonplace amongst previous presidents. Trump seemed to dispose of the political prose in favour of straight talking in a dialect aimed at reaching all America. Though his lack of prowess on the podium of politics has become an indictment of being unqualified for the newly assumed position, in time it may prove an aid in pointing out the dissimilarities between his government and the Establishment he hopes to topple. The address was very heavy on promises, without the slightest indication on how he was to deliver on them, and on numerous occasions, the new president resorted to his default campaign catchphrases such as putting “America First”. I suppose just how he plans to implement his policies will become much clearer in the days and weeks that follow. Hopefully, statements referencing “the crime, and the gangs, and the drugs that have stolen so many lives” will not just be reduced to clever soundbites, but instead we will begin to see the ways he seeks to combat these issues. Often the address took a more socialist slant with an eloquence similar to that of his predecessor suggesting that “whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky and they are infused with the same breath of life by the Almighty creator. At this juncture it is difficult to discern whether this reimagined utopia Trump speaks of is just mere hyper-patriotism keeping with the traditions of the inaugural address dating as far back as 1789 in Washington’s own address.

There is undoubtedly an air of uncertainty when considering what shape a presidency under Trump will take. Perhaps this was communicated early in the inaugural ceremony when the Missouri senator Roy Blunt recited a letter from Major Sullivan Ballou addressed to his wife, Sarah. Written in 1861, the letter speaks of Sullivan’s resolve in the heart of battle. Certainly Blunt referenced this letter, hoping to stoke the fires of patriotism and nationalism lying dormant in the citizens of America but the line that unintentionally seems to capture the shared sentiments for those in America and elsewhere with a heartfelt poignancy is: “Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure – and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me”…