- Conference
- 2004 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 30 October 2003
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes:
1) the failure of the Nazi BNP to win a single seat in the North East of England in the last round of elections, despite devoting massive resources to the area;
2) the BNP stood a candidate in all 25 wards in Sunderland and failed to win a single seat;
3) in subsequent by-elections in Newcastle, Chester-le-Street and Stanley the BNP again failed to win any seats despite running a high profile anti-asylum campaign;
4) there have been splits in the BNP in Sunderland, which has seen one of their more “respectable” candidates publicity denounce the BNP.
Conference believes:
a) the failure of the BNP in the North East is largely due to the work done by the UNISON Northern Region which in conjunction with the regional TUC, TWAFA, ANL set up a broad based community led campaign against the BNP;
b) the North East Unites Against the BNP can become a model for how to combat the Nazis throughout the rest of the country;
c) the campaign by being based in the local community led by local people regardless of political affiliation involving a wide range of groups including faith groups, trade unions, community groups etc is able to cut across the lies and misinformation put out by the BNP;
d) the convening of a regional TUC day school Tackling Racism which attracted over 90 local trade union activists, who met to discuss campaigning against the BNP as well as tackling the myths around asylum and the more general issues of racism is an initiative that should be repeated in every region.
conference calls on the national union to seek means to extend the experience of combating the BNP in the North East to every region in UNISON where we bring together the broadest based coalition in the run up to the European elections to ensure the BNP do not make a national breakthrough.