Tackling Racism, Promoting Equality

Back to all Motions

Conference
2003 National Delegate Conference
Date
25 February 2003
Decision
Carried as Amended

Conference believes that the politics of the fascists pose a serious threat to our democratic values. The incitement to racism and racial violence by the British National Party (BNP) has alarmed the vast majority of people who are not racist. It is essential to continue to oppose all attempts to use the politics of racial hatred for electoral advantage.

Conference notes that the BNP won three council seats in Burnley in May 2002 and subsequently seats in Blackburn and Halifax. The party also gained 18 per cent, 8,213 votes, in the first round of the mayoral elections in Stoke in October 2002 and 20 per cent, 519 votes, in the Downham ward council election in Lewisham, South London, in November 2002. In 2003 and 2004 the BNP are proposing to contest a further round of elections.

The main focus of the BNP’s campaigns has been to exploit fears over asylum seekers and they have been able to benefit from the mood of national hostility whipped up by the tabloid media.

Conference notes with concern the onslaught of the Tory Party on immigration and asylum seekers. The Government and the Labour Party have been following the footpaths of these right-wingers. While condemning the overt racism of Tory politicians, the Labour Government has passed legislation and regulations, which have linked asylum seekers to terrorism and thrown them into further poverty.

Conference welcomes the initiatives taken by the National Executive Council in:

1)working with the North West TUC and the Campaign Against Racism in the North West;

2)working with the Northern TUC and through the Trade Union Liaison Group in that region to campaign against the BNP in Sunderland;

3)encouraging other regions to develop strategies with other trade unions and community groups in their regions;

4)working with the TUC in their efforts to work with grassroots organisations and community organisations in an effort to create broad-based anti-racist, anti-fascist campaigns in local areas;

5)working with Searchlight to publicise and dispel the myths and lies that the BNP are spreading and to publicise information on new areas where the BNP are campaigning;

6)making anti-racism the focus of UNISON’s tenth anniversary year.

Conference recognises that the BNP strategy has focussed on areas where the Labour and Liberal Parties are in direct competition and where local public services are not being delivered to local communities. The BNP have used issues such as the closures of old peoples’ homes and attempts to transfer public housing stock to housing associations as part of their campaigns. These are areas where, through the Positively Public campaign, UNISON must campaign to ensure that the lies and the illusions that the BNP spread are dispelled.

Conference recognises that the initiatives that the National Executive Council have taken so far must form part of a longer and bigger campaign which must be sustained through the 2004 local elections and the European parliamentary elections and pledges to step up the campaign against racism and fascism at all levels of the union.

Conference therefore calls upon the National Executive Council to:

a)continue to work with and support the TUC in its initiatives to create local broad-based campaigns and encourage UNISON members to take an active part in these local initiatives;

b)urge Labour Link to work to persuade the Labour Party to abandon its current policies and stance on asylum seekers and campaign with the trade unions on an anti-racist platform during these election campaigns;

c)highlight and challenge reports by the media which, directly and indirectly, incorporate and encourage racist attitudes;

d)highlight the underlying social causes of racism as part of UNISON’s campaign to dispel racist lies and illusions.