Call out for black (BME) artists to participate in the Roots Culture Identity touring art exhibition

The Roots Culture Identity art exhibition is hosted by the TUC Race Relations Committee and is the concept of activist, poet, artist and curator of the exhibition Zita Holbourne, who is elected to the TUC Race Relations Committee & a national executive member of Artists Union England.

This is a call out for black artists (we use black in the political sense to include black and minority ethnic people) and particularly young black artists to submit art to exhibit in the Roots Culture Identity art exhibition at Trades Union Congress HQ, Congress House, in London in April from 7th to 29th April . This kick starts our year and the aim is to get other opportunities for you during the year. We will also be exhibiting at the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham from May to June and the General Federation of Trade Unions have agreed to host us at their hotel near Leicester,

The theme of the TUC conference is 50 years on from the Race Relations Act 1968 looking back but also at how far we have come or not, where we are today in terms of racism and race equality in relations to employment and the labour market. You are free to interpret the theme in which ever way you wish.


You are invited to submit 3 pieces of art (which don't have to be on the theme if you don't have any yet, but to show examples of your art) as JPEGs attached to an email itogether with a couple of paras about you and your work as an artist and why you would like to participate by 10th of March sent to Zita; zitabaracuk@gmail.com.

Facebook event:    https://www.facebook.com/events/120529532106219/

Background:

The exhibition, hosted by the TUC Race Relations Committee, celebrates its seventh anniversary this year and was established to meet one of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Group objectives, to use the Marble Hall at the TUC to showcase the artistic talents of young black creatives. The exhibition aims to provide an opportunity for black and minority ethnic and migrant artists who are marginalised and face discrimination in the arts and culture sector as well as the disproportionate and multiple impact of austerity. 

The exhibition in full is available for hire or a smaller pop-up exhibition can be arranged for short term events. In addition to the TUC the exhibition has been hosted by a wide range of organisations and events including unions such as PCS, GMB, CWU, NEU and NASUWT as well as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a range of events including a major conference on Climate Displacement. It will also be hosted in 2018 by GFTU, Slater and Gordon Solicitors offices  and the Bernie Grant Centre with more opportunities to be confirmed.


Venue in April

Address: The Marble Hall, TUC HQ, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3LS

Contact Zita Holbourne zitabaracuk@gmail.com or Wilf Sullivan wsullivan@tuc.org.uk

Letter to EHRC from Race Equality Orgs : sacking of black staff

                     

David Isaacs CBE
Chair
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Fleetbank House
2-6 Salisbury Square
London EC4Y 8JX 3 March 2017

Dear David Isaac,

It is with sincere regret that we feel obliged to write to you about the decline in the number of BAME staff at the Commission.

It has come to our attention that the number of BAME staff - especially visible minorities - has been declining for several years without any serious attempt to halt or reverse it.

We understand that twelve members of staff were selected for compulsory redundancy. Only two of the twelve staff are White British. Eight are from a BAME background, four are Muslim, six are disabled.  Apparently, seven of the twelve members of staff were unceremoniously ‘sacked’ by email on 9 February and told their last day would be 10 February.

We further understand there are no visible minorities amongst the senior management team. The only one Black director, who was on the team, was among the twelve workers who were made redundant.  We also understand that all but two of your remaining BAME workers are in the lowest three grades.

We consider this a matter of grave concern.

The legacy commission, the Commission for Racial Equality, possessed a unique racial justice acumen shaped by its diverse workforce at every level and in all departments. We believe if the Commission is not similarly diverse, it will lose credibility, authority and legitimacy with the public.

In our opinion, it is not satisfactory or acceptable simply to say the percentage of BAME workers reflects the percentage in the national population and especially not with main offices in London and Manchester. But this is not just about numbers: the personal experiences and viewpoints, which a diverse workforce brings, are essential if the Commission is to challenge the majority or mainstream beliefs. In a climate of rising levels of racist and Islamophobic attacks and where the majority opinion in GB seems to be anti-immigrant, anti-Black and anti-Muslim, then it is even more important that the Commission’s staff can stand firm against prevailing views. We believe this means recruiting a larger percentage than that in the national population - or even the local population where that is higher than the national figure.

Also worrying is the assessment of these workers as having no skills. Some of them were at the forefront of maintaining good relations in times of heightened racial tensions during periods of riots, the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, and the 7/7 terror attacks. Such an assessment disregards the value of this work and their commitment to the protection and promotion of equality and human rights. (Presumably, it is a specification for working at the Commission that employees have a demonstrable understanding of discrimination and good relations?).

On a personal front, BAME workers are only too painfully aware of discrimination, racism and social injustice. You are unlikely to know the individuals, but each one will have a personal history of struggle, obstacles and racism. Yet, the Commission has effectively told them they have no skills to hold a job with it and their experiences have been dismissed with the cold despatch of an email.

We realise the Commission’s website says it plans to address any under-representation with positive action measures. This has been the Commission’s answer to the decline in the number of BAME staff since 2011/12 when the numbers started to fall dramatically. Yet, as far as we are aware, the Commission has never used positive action measures, despite its assurances to do so.

But, more importantly, we do not consider that BAME staff or job applicants lack the skills for a position at the Commission or that positive action is necessary to equip them with the necessary skills. Given the nature of the work, we think it is, quite frankly, an insult to suggest that they lack the skills. The Commission had BAME senior professionals, lawyers and directors but almost all have gone. And we believe it will be difficult to recruit BAME staff with this poor history as it doesn’t inspire confidence or respect.

Whilst we’ve welcomed your recent statements on race hate crime, we do not believe you can or should speak for our communities. And whilst you might consult us as stakeholders, we also want to see our communities represented amongst your workforce - and not just in lower grades. Until we see progress in this area, you risk losing our trust and confidence.

We take this opportunity to remind you that the Paris Principles on the status and functions of national human rights bodies require such bodies to be ‘established in accordance with a procedure which affords all necessary guarantees to ensure the pluralist representation of the social forces (of civilian society) involved in the protection and promotion of human rights.’ The Principles also require them to work with others ‘to combat racism, to protect particularly vulnerable groups (especially children, migrant workers, refugees, physically and mentally disabled persons)...’

Unfortunately, we doubt whether the Commission can meet these obligations.

We were also appalled by the brutal manner by which the Commission terminated the contracts of those made redundant on 9 February. We understand they were served with redundancy notices by email while they were on strike - a strike called by the trades unions - and told the next day would be their last day. Trade union rights are protected human rights. And the requirement for ‘pluralist representation’ includes trades union representation.

This behaviour must be unprecedented for any employer. But, we rightly expect more from the Commission than other employer. But, even if the Commission followed a lawful process, we still expect a fair and compassionate process - to do what’s morally right, not just what is lawful.

We would like to conclude by affirming our support for a strong and effective national equality and human rights body which is diverse at all levels - and not just in terms of race but other characteristics. (We are also worried by a similar decline in the number of disabled and older staff).

Sadly, we now have serious doubts about the Commission’s credibility, authority and legitimacy with our communities.

We would welcome an opportunity to discuss our concerns with you in a meeting.

Finally, please kindly note other organisations share our concerns but they were unable to sign at this time.

Yours sincerely,

Lord Herman Ouseley
Hanef Bhamjee, OBE, Secretary, Action for Southern Africa –Wales
Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, University of East London, UCU Black Members' Standing Committee
Peter Herbert, Society of Black Lawyers
Michael McEachrane, PhD, co-founder of IDPAD Coalition UK
BARAC UK
Blacksox
GMB Regional Equality Forum
Momentum Black Caucus
Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council
Operation Black Vote
Race Equality Matters (REM)
Wellingborough Black Consortium




Please reply to:
REM
c/o Coral Rose
8-9 Frith St
London W1D 3JB
email: raceequalitymatters@hotmail.com

Brixton Moves Against Trump - community feeder march to the Lobby of Parliament - 20th February 4.30pm

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK has organised a feeder march from Kennington Park to Parliament  on 20th February, where we will join the main lobby of Parliament to demonstrate our complete opposition to Trump being granted a State visit to the UK. 

We will be assembling in Kennington Park at 4.30pm with speeches from grassroots community campaigns, departing at 5.30pm and marching to Parliament.
We have called this march to bring together Black (BME) and migrant communities and grassroots orgs campaigning against racism and xenophobia, to oppose Trump and to mark an One Day Without Us. 

1 Day Without Us is a National Day of Action on 20th Feb 2017 to celebrate the contribution of migrants to the UK, to coincide with UN World Day of Social Justice.For 24 hours, we are inviting migrants from inside and outside the European Union, and everyone who supports them, to celebrate the contribution that migrants make.

We will have a sound system leading the march and we are grateful to Lush for sponsoring this.

We invite you to join us. Please bring your home made placards, vuvuzelas and whistles to make some noise.

https://www.facebook.com/events/269899020099334/

http://www.1daywithoutus.org/

https://www.facebook.com/events/1799412480383866/

 

“CRYING OUT FOR A LEADER AND PM WHO STANDS WITH US NOT AGAINST US”- ZITA HOLBOURNE, BARAC

“CRYING OUT FOR A LEADER AND PM WHO STANDS WITH US NOT AGAINST US”- ZITA HOLBOURNE, BARAC

AUGUST 8, 2016Tagged AUSTERITY, BARAC, BME, ECONOMY, EQUALITY, ETHNIC, GOVERNMENT,JEREMY CORBYN, LABOUR LEADERSHIP, LABOUR PARTY, LEADERSHIP, POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE,UK, ZITA HOLBOURNE

UK High Court

A High Court judge has ruled 130,000 new Labour members who signed up between 12th January and 12th July this year should be allowed to vote in the leadership election.

The ruling comes after 5 Labour members crowdfunded a legal case to challenge the Labour NEC’s decision to block new members from voting.

A Labour party spokesman has suggested the party may appeal.

It is widely believed the NEC voted last month to limit who could vote in order to curb the chances of Corbyn winning another resounding victory following the 59% secured last year- the largest mandate ever won a by a political party leader.

Today’s ruling raises important questions about how Labour uses members’ money.

John McDonnell is angry about his party’s consideration of appealing the High Court ruling.

If the NEC appeals, then, as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said: …”the Party will be using members money to try to stop members from voting”.

Another not so obvious question is what happens to those members who had to pay a fee of £25 to escape the 12th July freeze date?

Many of them are on benefits and/or low incomes. For them £25 is a lot of money.

Zita Holbourne, Black Activist Rising Against Cuts

Zita Holbourne of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) has started a petition calling for the fee to be reimbursed.

Wrath & Rye asked her a few questions about the petition, the High Court ruling and austerity…

W&R: Why is reimbursement so important?

ZH: Because that money is stolen money, taken as part of the attempted coup against Jeremy Corbyn, deliberately set so high so as to deter or bar people who can least afford it signing up. I know people who are forced to go to food banks, families having to choose between paying a utility bill or putting food on the table.

£25 is more than some people have to feed their entire family for the week; it’s a shame and stain on the Labour NEC, a party started for working class people. Last year supporters paid £3. Imagine if inflation went up at this rate.

If there is no reimbursement for members it makes a mockery of democracy and the judicial system because we never should have had to pay £25 in the first place. We already pay our membership fee to Labour, we have a contract of agreement with them that includes our democratic right to vote. They have stolen from the poor.

W&R: Is it a success for those who are anti-austerity that the High Court has ruled the way it has today?

Austerity protestors, London

ZH: It is a success for all those who believe in democracy & many Labour Party members who joined Labour as members after the January cut off point who support Jeremy Corbyn will be against austerity and cuts.

I believe a substantive number of those people will be disproportionately impacted by austerity because of race, age, gender, disability.

One of the 5 in the court case was a young person who was also barred from signing up as a supporter because of age.

However this success in the court case does not address the £25 paid by members & non-members as the only way they could vote.

If the Labour NEC do not do the right, decent and democratic thing and refund the £25 paid by new members then there will still be a further legal challenge required. The actions of the Labour NEC fly in the face of democracy.

W&R: What will it say about the PLP if they push ahead for an appeal on the ruling?

Jeremy Corbyn

ZH: That they have no shame, that they are corrupt, that their real intent is to support the coup against Jeremy Corbyn because they do not want a party run by the people for the people but an elitist political party out of touch with ordinary people which is why the numbers are growing in their thousands in support of Jeremy Corbyn. We are crying out for a leader and future PM who stands with us not against us.

W&R: We don’t hear much about austerity at the moment as the news is taken up by Brexit. How is it still impacting BME communities specifically, and how will that impact continue?

Protesting austerity

There is a clear disproportionate impact of austerity on BME communities – austerity is amplifying racism and is closely linked with BREXIT. This was a toxic xenophobic racist campaign to demonise, label and scapegoat migrants as the cause of no jobs, lack of affordable housing, reduced services etc. In reality all these issues are caused by Tory cuts, not by migrants who contribute to the economy and aid economic recovery.

It will continue to impact because the government programme of cuts is continuing. If Brexit causes another recession then it will get dramatically worse. They’re impacting on us now- a whole generation is barred from jobs and housing, living in deprived conditions. The UK has one of the highest BME child poverty rates across Europe. The knock-on impact of cuts, racism, Islamophobia, injustice etc is on mental health and physical health. It creates a vicious circle.

W&R: What do you think people should do to stop austerity and create a more economically equal society?

ZH: Vote vote vote for Jeremy Corbyn. Get involved, campaign, join protests, challenge cuts and discrimination, be politically active, do, don’t just say; be part of the solution not part of the problem. Unite with like minded people.

We also need to create our own opportunities, we can’t rely on institutionally racist public bodies but we also need to hold them to account. Defend our hard gained equality rights and protections. Do not be complacent, strive for better.

First published here,   

A WHOLE GENERATION OF YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE REJECTED & FAILED

A WHOLE GENERATION OF YOUNG BLACK PEOPLE REJECTED IN THE LABOUR MARKET  & FAILED BY GOVERNMENT. 

By Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair BARAC UK 

When Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK was formed in 2010 a primary focus for our campaign was the expected impact on young black and minority ethnic (BME) workers of austerity and cuts amplifying the discrimination towards them in the labour market that already existed.

Over the past five years the disproportionate impact of cuts on this group has been largely ignored or disregarded by government, politicians and media alongside the double impact on black and minority ethnic women and black workers generally.

When young black people are featured it is to demonise them and blame them rather than to look seriously at the crisis they face, which has included the scrapping of EMA, tripling of university fees, lack of work opportunities,  discrimination in the labour market and the increase in zero hour contracts and casual work as the only option when they do get a foot in the door, as well as the knock on impact of their families being  hit by poverty because of job cuts, increased pension contributions for public sector workers, pay freezes, low pay and discrimination at work.  There are over a million young people unemployed but one in two young BME people are without work.  But in addition to this, the failure to adhere to the McPherson recommendations arising out of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, means that institutional racism in the police forces still impacts on young black people.  They are racially profiled and targeted disproportionately in stop and searches, up to 33 times more likely to be stopped than their white counterparts.  They face racial and religious stereotyping and harassment in education, the workplace and wider society. 

Today the Labour Party has released a report based on official figures from the House of Commons, revealing that there are now 41000 16 to 24 year olds from black and minority ethnic communities long term unemployed – a 49% rise since 2010, with the number unemployed for more than a year having risen by 50% since the con-dem coalition.  A Labour Party spokesperson has declared his astonishment at the figures but the question is what is Labour doing and what commitment are they giving to address this horrendous situation? 

Equality Impact Assessments are treated largely as a tick box exercise.  When a  Judicial Review was taken by a union because redundancies impacted disproportionately on black (and disabled) staff a  judge ruled that a made up retrospective diversity impact assessment was suffice to demonstrate due  regard indicating that the courts have no real understanding or training on EIAs and the equality duties. When black workers or applicants do wish to pursue legal action the fees for Employment Tribunal prohibit austerity stricken would be claimants from lodging cases.

In 2010 BARAC served a Freedom of Information request on the Treasury asking them for an Equality Impact Assessment to demonstrate what consideration they had given to the impact on race of their proposed cuts.  Their response was to cite public interest immunity as a reason for not making the EIA public.

The cuts to the EHRC have meant that work on enforcement has reduced despite a damning report produced by the CRE just before they ceased to exist which demonstrated that the majority of public sector organisations were failing to comply with the equality duty.

In a speech to the CBI in November 2012 David Cameron said he was ‘calling time’ on equality impact assessments describing them as ‘bureaucratic nonsense’ and ‘tick box stuff’. He said they were unnecessary because there were enough ‘smart people in Whitehall’ who would think about equality when developing policy.

As a mother of a young black man I have witnessed first-hand the soul destroying attitude of employers towards young black people in the labour market and had to advise, campaign and represent some of those young black people in cases against educational institutions and workplaces / industries.

My son is in his final year of university but when he approaches employers in the industry he wants a career in and has studied for the past three years to work in he is largely ignored. Letters seeking not just paid work but internships, work experience, shadowing etc. are ignored and he does not even receive a response the vast majority of the time.  When he does it is to inform him that he must have experience in order to be successful in securing opportunities to gain experience. The whole point is that he needs the opportunities to gain experience to apply for jobs. One employer for a part time job he applied for working in a coffee shop told him that he wasn’t suitable even though he had recent experience in the catering industry, because he wasn’t experienced in making coffee. What happened to training people to do a job? How long would it take to train someone to make coffee?  The truth is that it has nothing to do with experience but an excuse to reject young black people by employers, many of whom have no regard for equality legislation or policies. 

 

 The experience of many young BME people trying to enter the labour market is that employers are not interested in giving them opportunities or investing in them for the future. Many public and voluntary sector employers are still cutting jobs as part of the con-dem coalition’s austerity measures and when young black people do get jobs they often experience a climate where institutional racism and harassment and bullying are allowed to thrive. Every day is a battle for survival; job satisfaction and security are alien concepts.  The jobs available are minimum wage, casual and temporary posts and mostly zero hour contracts.  This means that they can’t plan for the future, save, rent a home – let along think about buying one - and they don’t know if they will earn enough to survive from one week to the next. 

Cuts to the public and voluntary sector mean that the opportunities are no longer there for a new generation of black workers. There were over 37,000 less BME public sector workers in 2012 than 2010 with the biggest losses in the South East with 12,702 less BME workers. Of the 17,000 voluntary and community organizations working with minority ethnic communities in the UK, 53% had received funding from statutory sources and many of these organisations have been forced to close their doors because of funding cuts.  Forcing public sector workers to work longer in order to receive their pensions mean that young people will be practically middle aged before they event get a foot on the career ladder in the public sector.

 

Instead of blaming each other for this crisis political parties ought to be seriously looking at an urgent and robust action plan to address this horrendous discrimination and not just talking about it but putting their words into action.  Young black people don’t have a whole lifetime to waste in poverty and misery waiting for government to address this and should not have to live like third class citizens in the meantime – a whole generation being failed and rejected.

 

In the wake of a general election, black communities don’t need to hear from political candidates how terrible it all is – we know this – we are living and breathing it and as a parent it fills you with anger, dread and pain in equal measures to know that a worse future is being passed to your children than was passed to you by your parents who faced horrific racism.  What we need to hear and see is real and urgent commitment, effort and action to address this gross discrimination.  In the meantime we should consider boycotting those employers who discriminate against young BME people.