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NORTHERN IRELAND |
One of UNISON’s main focuses earlier this summer was our campaign against racist politics. Gary Flood looks back at action around the country
Stop the racists' advance
“It's the unions wot won it,” TUC deputy general secretary
Frances O’Grady declared at this summer’s UNISON conference
in recognition of the work which made sure racists failed in their bid
to get European parliamentary seats in June.
No BNP candidate won a seat in the European elections and “UNISON
played a great role in keeping the BNP at bay,” said general secretary
Dave Prentis after the results came in. “Our regions, our activists
and our members pulled out all the stops to make sure that the politics
of hate peddled by the BNP were contained.”
Mr Prentis had issued a stark warning before the polls, saying: “If
we don’t act together now we run the risk of allowing racists to
hijack the election process and get a seat in Europe.”
And act together is precisely what union members and community activists
did up and down the length and breadth of the UK.
North East
This region was specifically targeted by the BNP, which attempted to contest
every seat both in Sunderland and Newcastle. UNISON members and branches
were at the forefront of the campaign against far right parties, with
activities such as a hugely successful Respect festival in Sunderland
attended by about 14,000 people – the largest anti-racist event
ever held in the area.
The day was organised primarily by UNISON under the auspices of the regional
TUC and had the approval of Sunderland City Council.
The union was also active in organising a demonstration against a National
Front march held in Newcastle earlier in the spring. The Northern regional
TUC voted unanimously to suspend its annual conference and join more than
250 protesters making their opposition to racism and xenophobia clearly
felt.
This protest was followed by an anti-fascist rally addressed by both UNISON
then-president Dave Anderson and regional convenor Clare Williams.
There was also success expanding the regional campaign body North East
Unites against the BNP, set up to fight the threat from the far right
in the 2003 local elections.
Local coalitions were set up in Durham, Darlington, Teesside, Newcastle,
Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland, bringing together trade unions,
faith organisations, community groups and anti-fascist organisations.
And last but not least, 100,000 leaflets exposing BNP policies were distributed
across the region in workplaces, pubs, clubs and communities.
Midlands
All existing, retired and young members in the East Midlands region will
remember receiving a special guide to using the postal vote information
leaflet, as well as literature
on the real nature of the BNP prepared at the national level. Thousands
of leaflets were sent out to help spread the message.
This was supplemented by an election special edition of the regional stewards’
magazine and a day of action in Leicester city centre at the end of May.
Members in neighbouring West Midlands also got out on their feet, with
two demos against French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen when he visited
Salop and Birmingham.
The area also alerted employers of one of the BNP local candidates, a
pub landlord, to the dubious nature of one of their staff’s off-duty
activities, and helped build public awareness of the real issues behind
the BNP’s propaganda by working with the local press, especially
large-circulation local paper the Birmingham Evening Mail.
Greater London
Members once more teamed up successfully with anti-facist magazine Searchlight.
The region donated £10,000 to help fund a research worker and ordered
70,000 copies of the magazine with a specially sponsored centre spread
produced by the region. That added up to a copy for every other member,
with every steward also receiving a copy of Searchlight in a
separate mailing.
The region also got out no less than 20,000 copies of the UNISON leaflet
which was distributed during the election campaign, while heavily promoting
postal votes on the regional website and turning the whole front page
of the regional stewards' newsletter to the elections. Last but not least,
the team got out 5,000 postal vote application forms for London voters,
recognising that the far right could benefit from a low turn-out.
Scotland
In Scotland, there were seven BNP candidates on Euro election
ballot papers – but they only managed a derisory 1.7% of the vote.
“UNISON members and leadership spectacularly delivered the UNISON
objective to keep Scotland far-right and BNP free”, commented Scottish
black members' committee member Hamid Rasheed.
The union distributed a briefing about the far-right party’s candidates
to its branches as well as producing materials opposing the BNP in Scotland,
including adverts in newspapers and Scotland-specific posters and leaflets.
Mr Rasheed was proud UNISON Scotland, along with others, mounted a major
campaign against the BNP and won the battle, but he warned the war is
ongoing and “we need to keep up the fight”.
Though the party did score some success in a few local elections, the
good news is that it failed to win any European seats.
Still, it got far too many votes and the experience of members across
the country will be invaluable as UNISON sets about implementing the race
equality strategy agreed at annual conference in June.
Everyone can be proud of the union's anti-racist work and commitment –
and the union will be redoubling its efforts to make sure the politics
of hate are defeated wherever they rear their head.
Photo: Jess Hurd / reportdigital.co.uk |
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