BARAC UK at Glastonbury 2025

A report from BARAC UK Team Member Natalia Levene, about their second year volunteering for us at Glastonbury Festival for Workers Beer Company. We are grateful to Natalia, team leader Leroy and the entire team for all their hard work raising funds for us while enjoying Glasto.

This was my second year attending Glastonbury as part of the BARAC UK team, volunteering with Workers Beer Company and it felt so good to be back.  One of the things I was most looking forward to, was being reunited with my teammates from last year. We were an inter-generational team aged between 20-60, and we travelled from Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, and Newcastle. 

A gorgeous blend of accents, from all walks of life united in our love for music and our commitment to fundraising. It was also great to see some of the volunteers from other organisations returning to the festival.  As volunteers we had a dedicated campsite, and the feeling of being surrounded by new and familiar faces, excited about what the week will bring is quite hard to put into words. There is a real sense of pride and purpose in the small roles we all play in contributing to the Glastonbury experience for over 200,000 festival attendees.

 This year the BARAC team worked at the Solstice Bar, which was next to the Other Stage. Positioned perfectly to listen to the live performances and catch a glimpse of the stage on our breaks. Although being so close to a main stage meant that we were put through our paces in between acts with lots of thirsty customers queuing at the bar. You don’t find out your shifts until you arrive at the farm, so we prayed to the festival gods that our rota would align with the acts we wanted to see. There was some heartbreak for our team missing out on Charlie XCX, but I was so grateful to be able to see Busta Rhymes, Fabio & Grooverider’s history of drum & bass set with a live orchestra and the performance I waited all weekend for, The Prodigy. I still get goosebumps when I think about the atmosphere during their performance of Firestarter. 

This year it was also great to see the Black at Glasto presence in Silver Hayes, a hub of connection for festival attendees of black heritage. I had the honour of facilitating an African-centred healing circle in the space and another teammate Jodie, led a yoga session. It was such a gift to share our skills and offer a moment of solace and connection to our community. 

Glastonbury really is the festival of all festivals, and to be able to enjoy it with a great group of people whilst fundraising for an incredible organisation like BARAC UK made it even more special. Thank you, BARAC UK, for the opportunity and thank you to Amos, Ettie India, Issy, Jodie and our team leader Leroy for being the team of dreams.

Help BARAC UK to reverse Bruce's unjust deportation to Zimbabwe

 We started a fundraiser  on Friday 3rd of  September with Crowdfunder UK to raise funds for legal fees for Bruce Mpofu who was unjustly deported to Zimbabwe.  Bruce has no family or friends in Zimbabwe and came to the UK with his mother aged 9.  From today, Sunday 5th of September, following a period of quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic the 7 people deported on 25th of August, on a Privilege Style airways plane will be destitute. So any money left over after paying legal fees will go towards living costs for Bruce. 

DONATE NOW TO SUPPORT BRUCE'S LEGAL CHALLENGE

Despite living in the UK since he was 9 years old, Bruce was sadly deported to Zimbabwe on 25th August.

Bruce  who is aged 29 now,  was born in Zimbabwe but came to live in  the UK with his mother when he was just  9 years old. He went to school in the UK and his mother works for the NHS. 

 He was sentenced to 11 months in prison aged 18 for a burglary and has not reoffended since. But this mistake has  impacted on his immigration status in the UK despite being here since he was a young child.  This was over ten years ago and since then he has surrounded himself with good friends, has volunteered coaching young people with an aim of keeping them on a positive track and in education  and has been a member of Wibsey Rugby Club for many years.

During a routine and regular signing in visit to the Home Office, Bruce was detained on 8th of July  and held in detention  until  he was deported to Zimbabwe on the 25th of August. This was despite efforts to legally challenge this unjust and inhumane action by the Home Office. Previously the  UK government had agreed not to deport people who came to the UK as children. 

Help us seek new legal representation for Bruce so his deportation can be overturned.

Bruce has spent the majority of his life in the UK, he went to school here, all his family and friends are here. Everything he knows and his familiar with is here in the UK. He has no family or friends in Zimbabwe. 

He made a mistake while he was still a teenager and was punished for his crime. People who are born in the UK , who commit a crime, can be punished, serve their time, be rehabilitated and turn their lives around. But for Bruce and people like him, who were not born in the UK, they face a lifetime of punishment,  impacting on their ability to study and work in the UK, made to sign in weekly / fortnightly with the Home Office, held in detention which is like being in prison again and then deported and left destitute and in danger in a country they do not know, thousands of miles away from loved ones.

Despite having legitimate grounds to remain in the UK including coming to live in the UK as a child, all his family being here and his right to family life, Bruce was wrongly deported. 

Thank you for your support from all of us at BARAC UK

As an organisation that campaigns against deportations and for justice for the Windrush Generation as well as carrying out regular humanitarian aid missions to support people who are refugees, we have started this fundraiser to help with the costs of legal representation in order for Bruce to challenge his deportation so he can be reunited in the UK with his family and to assist him with living costs such as food and shelter while he is stuck in Zimbabwe.

 Please help us to assist Bruce to get new legal representation so that he can be reunited with his family and friends in the UK. 

Thanks to everyone who has supported Bruce  thus far  and thank you for your support for our campaigns against injustice and discrimination and for human rights for all. 

DONATE NOW HERE 

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-us-reverse-bruces-deportation-to-zimbabwe

An open letter to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities on its report of 31 March 2021, signed by victims of the Windrush scandal and their lawyers, campaigners, advocates, activists and allies

Open letter regarding the Race Report from  those directly impacted by the Windrush Scandal and individuals and organisations who have campaigned for justice with them. 

Co-signed by BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice representatives including National Chair of BARAC UK Zita Holbourne and National Women's Officer of BARAC UK Donna Guthrie

Art by Zita Holbourne,  Poet~Artist~Activist 

Read original here

Letter in the Independent newspaper here

 From the Centre for Migration Advice and Research on behalf of the assigned signatories

                             c/o McKenzie Beute and Pope

       The Woodlawns Centre 16 Leigham Court Road Streatham London SW16 2PJ

                       jacqueline@mckenziebeuteandpope.com

Dr Tony Sewell

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

10 Victoria Street

London

SW1A 0NN                                                                      9 April 2021

Dear Dr Tony Sewell,

Re: The 31 March 2021 Report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

We have read the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, published on 31

March 2021, for which you wrote the foreword as chair of the Commission. We are made up

of, and represent, the victims of the Windrush scandal, as the lead organisations, lawyers,

campaigners, researchers and others supporting those affected by the scandal in a myriad of

ways. We are concerned to find that your report appears to have ignored the Windrush

scandal, exposed in late 2017/early 2018 as one of the most significant instances of group

discrimination of our time. The systematic discrimination of the Black community known as

the Windrush generation demonstrates not only how the acts of institutions and the state

negatively affects the lives of Black people in the UK, but how this has gone onto impact

upon future generations.

The injustices meted out to the Windrush generation are therefore well-known. Why then is

the only reference to the scandal in your report a suggestion that those affected feel let

down? Let down? This is not how we would describe it. Lives have been destroyed. For

example, several claimants to the Windrush compensation scheme, whose stories were

published in the press forcing the government to apologise and take action, died due to

health complications caused in part by the stress of their situation, long before they ever

received any compensation.

In your introduction, you refer to your team having spoken to communities as part of your

engagement. Why then did you not speak to those of us who are directly affected by the

Windrush scandal or who are part of over thirty organisations working to support the

thousands of people directly affected?

There does not appear to be much support for your report and generally we agree with the

criticisms levelled against it. We are at a loss to understand how you arrived at the

conclusions you did with the vast amount of independent data available to you. Intrigue on

your method of scholarship aside, we are stunned and heartbroken at your attempt to defile

the memory of those who were subjected to the brutality of the transatlantic slave trade

and the systematic oppressions that followed it, by recasting their experience, and your

1.

 ignorance  of the impact on subsequent generations. There is no experience of that Maafa1

other than an honest admission of how people were dehumanised and subjugated purely

because of their race.

From the report, we were looking for an appraisal of how the racism that dehumanised

during the slave trade, continues to blight the lives of its descendants, and what you

planned to do to tackle the intergenerational consequences. Instead, your report is a

dreadful attempt to rewrite history and denigrate it to a footnote. You are effectively

denying the true experiences and existences of Black people, so that the annals of history

will once again favour the oppressors.

You say in your report that historic experiences haunt the present and that there is a

reluctance to acknowledge that the UK has become open and fairer. Are you not aware that

despite the aggravating features of the hostile environment, the current injustices are

historic in nature? The origins of these more contemporary injustices are steeped in historic

legislation fuelled by people like Enoch Powell, Oswald Mosely and Margaret Thatcher, the

latter of whom referred to this country as becoming swamped by migrants. Do you think

that these injustices are imagined? Do you think the lived experience of the victims of these

injustices should be ignored?

Some of us and people we know have been denied lifesaving medical treatment, lost jobs

and houses, have been detained, removed and deported from the UK. People we know

have died and large numbers are affected by ongoing trauma – an intergenerational trauma.

Have you noticed that the victims of the Windrush scandal are mostly people of African and

Caribbean descent?

You find that an unexplained approach to closing disparity gaps is the extent to which

individuals and their communities ought to help themselves through their own agency,

rather than waiting for “invisible external forces” to assemble to do the job. Are you saying

then that those affected by the Windrush scandal brought the problems upon themselves?

Do you think that there is something that could have been done to have stopped the state

from destroying landing cards and records of those who arrived from Commonwealth

countries in the Caribbean? Or from demanding that people pay thousands of pounds that

they did not have to obtain a status that they already held?

Do you know how hard this community has worked to support itself? Though you allude to

knowledge of the role of supplementary schools as a positive force, you appear to have

failed to understand that the need to establish these schools was because of structural,

systemic and institutional racism in the mainstream education sector.

You ascribe a new era to the presence of the Windrush generation in the UK. The historical

one has gone apparently, and you define an era of rebellion which you say has also passed.

According to you, we are now in an era of participation. We are having to second guess

what you might mean by this, but in terms of the Windrush scandal, the one initiative set up

by the Home Office which was meant to involve the meaningful participation of those

affected – a stakeholder group - was dismantled by the Secretary of State just last month,

1Maafa is a term derived from Kiswahili meaning ‘a great disaster or tragedy’ or ‘terrible occurrence’. It is

used to describe the Transatlantic slave trade and its lingering effects.

                                                                                                                2

on the basis that a new Cross-Government Working Group chosen by her would assume the

role.

You say further that you want the children of the Windrush generation to discover their

British heritage. What do you mean precisely? That they are ill informed about their

history? Why do you think that might be? Which child in the UK, of any background, knows

less about the true and complex British history and heritage than any other? Have you read

Wendy William’s Windrush Lessons Learned Review? As you do not appear to have referred

to it in your report. She found that the history of the Windrush generation was

institutionally forgotten and specifically recommended that:

 “6 a) The Home Office should devise, implement and review a comprehensive learning and

 development programme which makes sure all its existing and new staff learn about the

 history of the UK and its relationship with the rest of the world, including Britain’s colonial

 history, the history of inward and outward migration and the history of black Britons. This

 programme should be developed in partnership with academic experts in historical

 migration and should include the findings of this review, and its ethnographic research, to

 understand the impact of the department’s decisions.”

The mistreatment of the Windrush generation started on 22 June 1948, when HMT

Windrush anchored off Tilbury Docks, and several MPs at the time sought to turn away free

women and men who had been invited to the UK, sending them to work on a peanut

plantation in Africa instead. Though people thereafter could stay in the UK to work

predominantly in the public sector, they were also subject to everyday racism and

discrimination. Can you not see that their experiences and subsequently those of their

descendants, have been plagued with inequalities and subsequent disparities of

achievement? Despite all the hard work of the Windrush generation to better themselves,

their families and support British society, the evidence shows that the systemic inequality

that plagued the first generation and their descendants continue to suffer worsening

outcomes in almost every area of life including education, health, mental wellbeing,

housing, business ownership, employment and criminal justice.

And how dare you start pitting different nationalities of Black people against another

without doing the necessary work to understand how different histories – histories of

enslavement, for example, and complex migration patterns across different eras – have

impacted on outcomes? Had you spoken to us, or to any academics working in these fields,

we might have been able to tell you this.

You find that Britain is no longer a country with a system rigged against ethnic minorities.

Several reports before yours have concluded that it is. How did you arrive at such a vastly

different conclusion? What do you think accounts for the conclusions you have reached,

when the same data has elsewhere produced vastly different outcomes? What of the

findings of universities, the civil service, the NHS and the FTSE 100 corporations which

confound yours?

We do not think that the UK is a beacon for any other country. It is steeped in a systemic

and structural racism that extends far beyond the Windrush generation. As direct and

indirect victims of the Windrush scandal and supporters of their cause, we stand in solidarity

with those seeking asylum; those whose families are being torn apart by draconian polices

                                                                                               3

and extortionate fees; those women and men who are held in immigration detention

centres deemed unfit for human inhabitation; those who have made the UK their home and

face deportation to countries they do not know; those foreign students falsely accused and

disbelieved, like many of our number; and the holiday makers from many non-visa

Caribbean countries who end up in immigration detention centres because an immigration

officer has decided that their reasons for visiting the UK are not legitimate, to name just a

few. We are astonished that your report is silent on these matters, which form part of the

complex combination of factors that affect how and which communities advance in society.

Who is it that creates the policies, rules and legislation that disproportionately impacts upon

Black people? Who created a right-to-rent scheme, which was found to influence landlords

on whether they choose to rent to people of different backgrounds? Who came up with a

system that required employers, schools, nurseries and doctors to start checking

immigration statuses, and which caused so many to wrongly lose their jobs, livelihoods and

in some cases their will to live?

You state that those from the Black Caribbean ethnic group, which includes the first

generation of Windrush victims, makes up one of the longer-standing migrant groups in the

UK. You then conclude that minorities who have long been established in the country, in a

context of persistent racial and socio-economic disadvantage, may be the least likely to be

optimistic about the potential for social mobility and education to transform their lives.

Again, not only do you ignore your own evidence, especially in relation to the historical and

current role of supplementary schools as one example, but you ignorantly neglect to

consider the aspirations of that first generation. That generation hoped that their children

would have opportunities that they did not, only to discover that the system sent their

children to approved schools, or told their children that they could not aspire to certain

exams, universities or career choices. This broke their hearts.

We were also puzzled by this statement:

   “The Commission further recognises the wisdom and lived experience of the Windrush

   generation that has seen the changing shape of race relations in the UK, from which

   the young can learn. This knowledge needs to be framed into a message that speaks

   more about responsibilities, conflict resolution, and the building of bridges.”

Do you think that members of the Windrush generation have burnt bridges, inspired conflict

and/or are being irresponsible?

Though Wendy Williams did not make a definitive finding of institutional racism in the Home

Office, following her review into the Windrush scandal, she did express serious concern that

the department’s failings demonstrated an institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness

towards race and history, which were consistent with some elements of the definition of

institutional racism.

If you have some of the elements of racism, there is racism. If it comes from an institution,

it is institutional. If there is evidence that a racial group is disproportionately disadvantaged

in and by bodies such as courts and tribunals, schools and universities, hospitals and the

police and in private and social organisations across sectors, then that racism might well be

structural.

                                                                                                4

We ask that you listen to the many experts in race, culture and society who have spoken out

this past week and for many years on these issues. We have listened to them too. You

should look particularly closely at the work of Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur

on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,

who found in June 2019 that the UK Government’s policies exacerbate discrimination, stoke

xenophobic sentiment and further entrench racial inequality. She cited persistent racial

disparities in, among others, education, employment, housing, health, surveillance,

interactions with police, prosecutions, and incarceration. She found:

  “Notwithstanding the existence of a legal framework devoted to combating racial

  discrimination, the harsh reality is that race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability status

  and related categories all continue to determine the life chances and well-being of people

  in Britain in ways that are unacceptable and, in many cases, unlawful;” and

 "Undoubtedly, the UK’s attempts to collect disaggregated data, review discriminatory

 outcomes, and draft action plans are vital to the realization of the human right to racial

 equality. "However, the Government must not confuse data collection and piecemeal

 reviews for the action it obliged to take under international human rights law. The

 Government has a duty to undertake comprehensive reviews and implement without

 delay concrete steps targeted to ending racial discrimination and ensuring racial equality."

We believe that you must now revisit your work and examine the data more closely, seek

evidence from a wider variety of sources, consult experts in a credible way and start to draw

conclusions based on the facts. If you cannot do that, then you should stand down from a

commission that is meant to be investigating race and disparity to understand the current

issues and how government and society can work together to address them. We look

forward to hearing from you and in the interim, we would be grateful if you could use your

position to ensure that the 30 recommendations of Wendy Williams are implemented in a

timely manner because the issues raised by the Windrush scandal, are ongoing.

Yours sincerely,

[See overleaf for signatories]

CC:

The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP Prime Minister

The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP Secretary of State for the Home Department

                                                                                               5

The people signing this letter all have a connection with Windrush injustice. Some are direct

victims and some are from organisations working with those directly affected. We have split

the list into organisational representatives and individuals signing in their own right.

Organisations:

Jacqueline McKenzie: McKenzie Beute and Pope & Centre for Migration Advice and

Research’s Windrush Justice Project

Michele Beute: McKenzie Beute and Pope

Anthony Hillary: McKenzie Beute and Pope

Jerome Bond: McKenzie Beute and Pope

Arthur Torrington CBE: Windrush Foundation

Professor Gus John: Communities Empowerment Network.

Windrush Lives: advocacy and support group for Windrush victims

Windrush Compensation Project: University of Leicester

Dawn Hill: Windrush National Organisation and Black Cultural Archives

Cllr Sonia Winifred: Cabinet Member Equalities and Culture London Borough of Lambeth

Councillor Patsy Cummings: Race Equality Champion London Borough of Croydon

Councillor Carole Williams: Cabinet member for employment and skills and HR London

Borough of Hackney

Councillor Callton Young OBE, Chair of Croydon African Caribbean Family Organisation, and

Cabinet Member and Windrush Champion London Borough of Croydon

Dr Suzella Palmer: Applied Social Studies University of Bedfordshire

Judge D Peter Herbert O.B.E: Chair BAME Lawyers for Justice & retired Chair of the Society

of Black Lawyers)

Lee Jasper: Vice Chair BAME Lawyers for Justice

Miranda Grell: BAME Lawyers for Justice

Zita Holbourne: National Chair and Founder of BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice

Donna Guthrie: BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice

Bishop Dr Desmond Jaddoo: Chair Windrush National Organisation and Windrush

Birmingham

Reverend Clive Foster: Vice Chair Windrush National Organisation and Windrush

Nottingham

Councillor Jacqueline Burnett: Windrush National Organisation and Windrush Luton

Anthony Brown: Windrush National Organisation and WD Legal Manchester

Claude Hendrickson: Windrush National Organisation and Race Card Leeds Project

Glenda Caesar: Windrush National Organisation and Windrush Lives

Jean Prescod: Windrush National Organisation and Septimus Severus Coventry

Glenda Andrew: Windrush National Organisation and Preston Windrush Generation

Descendants

Charlie Williams Windrush National Organisation and Windrush Birmingham

Neil Mukherjee: Windrush National Organisation and Windrush Legacy Oxon

Sibon Phiri: United Legal Access

Melanie Clarke: United Legal Access

Samantha Young: Windrush Legal Angels

Tarjee Clarke: Windrush Legal Angels

Dr Gifty Edila: Windrush Justice Clinic

Anna Steiner: University of Westminster and Windrush Justice Clinic

                                                                                             6

Sally Causer: Southwark Law Centre and Windrush Justice Clinic

Holly Stow: Windrush Justice Clinic

Bella Sankey: Detention Action

Dianne Greyson: Equilibrium Mediation Consulting and Ethnicity Pay Gap Campaign

Carol Cooper: Global Talent Compass

Luke Daniels: Caribbean Labour Solidarity

Kingsley Abrams: Momentum Black Caucus (MBC)

Yvette Williams: Justice 4 Grenfell

Clive Phillip: Mangrove Community Association

Ngoma Silver: Leopold School (Harlesden) Renaming Group

Bob Foster: Windrush Nurses and Beyond Foundation

Nana Asante: IPAD Coalition UK

Nana Haja Salifu: European Network of People of African Descent

Olalekan Odedeyi: Save the Woman

Naglaa Sadik Mustafa: Abdul Mageed Educational Trust

Mojisola Sorunke: The African Sang

Ishmahil Blagrove JR: Rice and Peas

Joan Hall: Just Education Matters

Shaun Pascal: Black Wall Street Media

Esther Armah: The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice

Glen Watson: RMTs Black Solidarity Committee

Individuals:

Anna Rothery: Lord Mayor of Liverpool

Lord Simon Woolley

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE CD

Professor Leslie Thomas QC: Barrister

Martin Forde QC: Barrister

Marcia Willis Stewart QC (hon): Solicitor

Professor Sara Chandler QC (hon)

Leroy Logan MBE

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu

Dr Sandra Richards

Charles Crichlow: former president of the National Black Police Association

Lewitt Nurse: Barrister

Grace Brown: Barrister

David Neita: Barrister

Akima Paul Lambert: Solicitor Advocate

Evelyn Ofori-Koree: Solicitor Advocate

Frances Swaine: Solicitor

Pamela Robotham: Solicitor

Catherine Evans: Solicitor

Sally Gill: Solicitor

Paul McFarlane: Solicitor

Donna Samuels: Solicitor

Pamela Dosu: Solicitor

Darlene Waithe: Solicitor

Tinu Adeshile: Solicitor

                                                                                  7

Sharon Thomas: Solicitor

Ama Ocansey: Solicitor

Joy Van-Cooten: Solicitor

Geraldine Cumberbatch: Solicitor

Sally- Ann Meade: Solicitor

Alex Pascall OBE

Patrick Vernon OBE

Rev Fujo Malaika

Alexandra Ankrah

Yvonne Witter

Natasha Dyer-Williams

Dennot Nyack

David Weaver

Kadi Wilson

Tonika Stephenson

Kimberly McIntosh

Sentina Bristol

Gertrude Ngozi Chinegwundoh

Roy Lee

Adebowale Adelodun

Lebert McLeod

Teresa W. Joseph-Loewenthal

Lorna Downer

Sara Louise-Burke

Bobby Holder

Louis Smart

Vonfil Johnson

Joycelyn John

Ros Griffiths

Barbara Lindsay

Elizabeth Madden

Annemarie Madden

Luigi Madden

Andrew Madden

Shaa Madden

Sherry Ann Desmangles

Danny Hippolyte

Dexter Hippolyte

Christopher Oliver

Veronique Belinga

Vernon Vanriel

Louis Smart

Yvonne Mark

Annie Campbell Viswanathan

Sulekha Hassan

Sophia Mangera

Margaret Greer

                                   8

Alexandra Braithwaite

Angie Le Mar

Chardine Taylor-Stone

Marlene Clarke

                        9

Statement on the Government report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Race Report)

 Statement on the Government report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Race Report)

BARAC UK is deeply concerned by the tone and content of this report, published on 31st March.  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

It seeks to reduce the very real and devastating lived experience of racism by racialised groups of people living in the UK.

It also seeks to divide Black and ethnic minority communities into 'good' and 'bad' migrants and suggests that those of us who campaign against racism are stuck in the past or that we are imagining it.  Effectively gaslighting people who experience racism. 

To suggest that racism is in the past, ignores the impacts of over a decade of austerity with disproportionate impacts on employment and service provision, the Grenfell Tower fire, the Windrush scandal, the treatment of people who are displaced and are refugees, the disproportionate rate of contracting and dying of coronavirus, to name but a few recent and current events, still impacting now. 

The report barely mentions the Windrush Scandal or the Grenfell fire.

Astonishingly the report also disregards institutional racism and seems to lack an understanding of what institutional racism is, but goes on to suggest that we are all confused about the difference between institutional, systemic and structural racism.

An extract of the report states: 

"However, we have argued for the use of the term ‘institutional racism’ to be applied only when deep-seated racism can be proven on a systemic level and not be used as a general catch-all phrase for any micro aggression, witting or unwitting."

Following the inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the McPherson report in 1999 defined institutional racism as:

"The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin." 

A number of review reports ten and twenty years on, found that the original 70 recommendations had not been implemented and institutional racism still exists. The race report suggests that the McPherson report was limited to policing only but it raised concerns about a range of public bodies. 

Since then, several government investigations and reports into racism have found that institutional racism does exist. For the race report to suggest that people and organisations are confusing micro aggressions with institutional racism is insulting and disgraceful.

The report attempts to reduce racist hate crime as 'individual instances' as though they don’t count and don’t have an impact and to state that our success as racialised people should be "regarded as a model for other White-majority countries", playing down racist hate crime and suggesting that if people succeed in 'education' and 'the economy' this makes the UK a shining example of positive race relations irrespective of the lived experiences of racism and their devastating impacts. 

The race report refers to some previous reports on racism but does not mention the Windrush Lessons Learned report or the Joint Committee on Human Rights report which last Autumn stated as we have been saying, that all the recommendations from the previous reports needed to be implemented.  

We did not need yet another report, but for action to be taken to address racism in all its forms without arguments put forward to reduce and disregard some forms of racism over others. All racism is wrong and all racism has devastating impacts on lives, life chances and future generations. 

The race report makes 24 new recommendations. 

Recommendation one includes investing in the EHRC. The EHRC was subjected to funding cuts by the government, which not only impacted on its ability to carry out enforcement work but also led to disproportionate numbers of Black and Asian staff losing their jobs at the EHRC. 

In 2017 Lord Herman Ouseley, Lord Simon Woolley and I were part of a delegation that met with the EHRC about this, read more here;

http://blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com/2017/04/follow-up-letter-to-ehrc-from-race.html?m=1

Recommendations call for partnerships with the police and for improved training for police to interact with communities but nothing about addressing institutional racism in policing and  police brutality. Just look at the recent case of missing student Richard Okorogheye, at the time of writing this, I am so devastated for his family that a body which matches his description has been found (but not formally identified yet). Richard's mother Evidence Joel told the press that the police told her when she reported him missing: 

"If you can't find your son, how do you expect police officers to find your son for you?" 

At the start of this year Mohammud Mohammed Hassan was taken into police custody overnight in Wales. By the next day he was dead. 

Black, Asian and minority ethnic people face discrimination in the labour market, in recruitment, appraisal, promotion, progression and pay but the report recommends:

"the use of sponsorship to ensure wider exposure of ethnic minority individuals to their peers, managers and other decision makers".

It speaks of fairness needed at work but not equality. 

On the race pay gap it recommends;

Investigate what causes existing ethnic pay disparities 

and

Investigate what causes existing ethnic pay disparities

But no recommendations on closing the race pay gap.

There is specific  law on the gender pay act so why not on the race pay gap.

The report suggests that Black Lives Matter protests in the UK in 2020, which is what led to the Commission's establishment, were solely concerned with the horrific murder of George Floyd and racism in the USA. This is not true at all. The protests were calling for justice for George Floyd but also about the racism which exists in the UK including the legacies of enslavement of African people and colonialism which exist today not just in statues and symbols but also policies and practices. 

The report is condescending towards young people and insults their intelligence, gaslighting them also.  In fact, the report seeks to make light of the 'transatlantic slave trade’ or worse still glorifying it as they say:

"There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain"

They also describe calls to decolonise the curriculum as negative.  They say they want children to 'reclaim their British heritage' but don’t seem to understand the importance of history being taught truthfully and the experiences and achievements of black and brown people in history being included in the curriculum. 

As somebody who has campaigned for black history to be on the curriculum including as part of the Mary Seacole Curriculum Campaign, I do not agree, Black, Asian and minority ethnic children have the right to learn about the histories  and heritage of their parents and ancestors too:

https://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/we-ve-won-mary-seacole-olaudah-equiano

Also, in my role as part of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa, I promote the 8 volumes of the history of Africa in my work in the arts, the UN recognises the benefits of decolonisation and promoting African history as a way of countering the racism faced by young black people of the African diaspora. 

“The Coalition aims to mobilize and raise awareness of the African youth and diaspora around a number of central themes related to the General History of Africa (valuing African contributions to contemporary societies, promoting a pan-African identity, “decolonizing” minds, celebrating African diasporas.”

https://en.unesco.org/general-history-africa/coalition

  I reject these ideas in the report about history and heritage. It’s crucial for  children to learn about all their roots and heritage , it helps to break down barriers and to instil value and worth.  

The report negatively labels young people, families and negatively targets Caribbean communities specifically. 

Bizarrely the report references the ceremony for the opening of the Olympic games in London as demonstrating progress on race because there were black people featured but fails to  mention that the Olympic games were held in one of the UK's most deprived boroughs and one with the highest ethnic minority population, that many black and minority ethnic communities were displaced because of the Olympics , losing homes and businesses and that the promises of the games benefitting the local community  never materialised. The London borough of Newham is the local authority with   the highest rate of covid deaths which is caused by poverty, overcrowded housing, precarious work and disadvantage.

In fact, as the Olympic games opened in Stratford, BARAC UK was also in Stratford, launching an initiative to address race discrimination at a meeting entitled; Jobs and Justice, Olympics Fair Play for Who?

http://blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com/2012/07/barac-public-meeting-jobs-justice.html?m=1

In addition, I led a successful campaign against racism by the British Olympics Association, when Britain's biggest black newspaper The Voice was denied 1 single media pass whilst the BBC had over 100. Whilst we won the campaign,  it should not have been necessary. It ought to have been obvious to even the all white BOA committee that black press would have an interest in the Olympic games, I cannot believe they had missed the significant presence of black athletes at the Olympics. 

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/boa-overturns-decision-grant-voice-olympic-stadium-accreditation/1141794?src_site=mediaweek

The report states that instead of focusing on race and ethnicity we need to look at underlying socio-economic issues, but fails to acknowledge that it is due to institutional and structural racism, that those disproportionate impacts linked to socio economic factors, exist. 

The report suggests strangely that if we refer to institutional, structural or systemic racism we are trivialising racism. In the same way we may describe, direct and indirect racism and racist harassment and bullying, it is correct that we refer to the other types of racism which exist. It is wrong to say that we are the ones creating a 'problem' by doing so. 

In addition, the report has misrepresented the meanings of white privilege and white fragility all together. It seems to suggest that success cancels out discrimination and that they are mutually exclusive.

BARAC UK rejects this report, it seeks to divide communities, trivialise and disregard some forms of racism,  gaslights those who experience racism and plays into the hands of those who hold racist views, setting us back not taking us forward.

This statement was published in the Morning Star newspaper on Thursday 8th of April.  Read Here 

Zita Holbourne 

National Chair & Co-Founder BARAC UK

On behalf of BARAC UK 

 

Support the work of BARAC UK by affiliating to us, making a donation to us or donating to our humanitarian aid crowdfunding platform

 

https://uk.gofundme.com/f/BARACHumanitarian

BARAC AFFILIATION FORM

 

To affiliate to Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK please complete and return this form together with a cheque or alternatively pay directly into our account bank account.

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 Thank you for your support

crowdfunder for BARAC Humanitarian aid supporting refugees

Press Announcement: Zita Holbourne, Chair of BARAC UK to give the Slavery Remembrance Dorothy Kuya Memorial Lecture 2020

Zita Holbourne, Chair of BARAC to give the  Dorothy Kuya Memorial Lecture as part of the International Slavery Museum; Slavery Memorial Weekend of online events. 

BARAC UK is delighted that our National Chair; Zita Holbourne has been asked to give a lecture for Slavery Memorial Day 2020 . The lecture has previously been delivered by Diane Nash, Selma Voting Rights Campaign, Ndaba Mandela, son of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King. 

Zita Holbourne said:

"It is an honour and privilege to be asked to deliver this important lecture to mark Slavery Remembrance Day and in memory of the phenomenal campaigner for race equality and justice, Dorothy Kuya. At this time where there is a growing black lives matter movement globally, after over a decade of austerity impacting adversely and disproportionately on black communities  and in the midst of the coronavirus crisis which is also impacting disproportionately it is crucial that the legacies of enslavement and colonialism which contribute to systemic racism today are addressed as a matter of urgency. The themes for this year's UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day are healing and remembrance. We remember the plight of our ancestors and the brutality they faced but we live with racism every day - for healing to happen there must be reparations and there must be race equality in our lifetime."

"Striving for Race Equality, Justice and Freedom. Zita Holbourne is a lifelong community and human rights campaigner and activist, as well as an artist, curator, poet and writer. She avidly campaigns for equality, freedom, justice and human rights and will delve into these topics as part of her keynote speech, discussing reparations for past atrocities, healing our collective trauma and equal rights for the future generations. From Windrush to the disproportionate impacts of Covid-19, systemic discrimination and State brutality to everyday racism and micro aggressions, we are living with the legacies of enslavement and colonialism. Zita will explore this difficult but much needed narrative."  International Slavery Museum

"Zita Holbourne is a tireless national campaigner fighting for equality, freedom and racial justice. A lifelong trade union and community activist she has lead the campaign against racism and austerity for over ten years as co-founder and National Chair of Black Activist Rising Against Cuts ( BARAC UK).

Zita is a beacon of resistance amongst the black community both in the UK and internationally. 

It has been inspiring to work alongside her in BARAC UK and I am so pleased that she has received this recognition. 

Her grassroots work in fighting for the rights of others and to demand social justice are to be commended. It is a fitting achievement that Zita is to give the International Slavery Museum Slavery Remembrance Lecture 2020."

Donna Guthrie BARAC UK Women's Officer

"Zita Holbourne is a long standing campaigner, trade unionist and internationalist who has inspired me and many others over many years. She is a firm believer in the principle of self-organisation and the empowerment of oppressed people.

It's been a privilege to have worked alongside her within our trade union (PCS) as well as BARAC UK. I have always admired her tenacity, particularly in difficult situations.

I am so pleased that Zita has been invited to give the Dorothy Kuya Slavery Remembrance Memorial Lecture this year. Noting the eminence of previous recipients of this honour it is well deserved recognition of her efforts."

Hector Wesley

BARAC UK Officer at Large

The lecture will be available online via the International Slavery Museum website and social media platforms. There will be two lectures on the weekend of 21st to 23rd of August by Race Equality, Human Rights Campaigner, author and artist Zita Holbourne and by Professor Stephen Small of the University of California together with a libations ceremony and other events.

More information can be accessed here

For press enquiries contact: BARAC.info@gmail.com or  info@zitaholbourne.com 

Zita Holbourne is an award winning human rights campaigner, community and trade union activist, a poet, writer, visual artist, curator and vocalist. She  campaigns for equality, freedom, justice and rights through activism and arts. She is the co-founder and National Chair of BARAC UK,  the National Vice President of the PCS Union and the Joint National Chair of Artists' Union England, part of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa, author of the book Striving for Equality Freedom and Justice. She is the winner of the National Diversity Awards Positive Role Model for Race and the Legacy Awards Life Time Achievement Award for Equality Champion. 

Covid-19 and vaccines: Concrete actions needed for global pledges to result in access for all

BARAC UK have signed this statement on equal access to vaccines for Covid-19

Concrete actions needed for global pledges to result in access for all

4th May 2020

We welcome the efforts of the global health actors and other stakeholders to rally financial support to the research and development (R&D), manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics through the May 4th global pledging conference.

We are also pleased that the EU joined WHO and global health organisations’ call for action to accelerate the development, availability, and equitable access to safe, quality, effective and affordable diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines against coronavirus.

As organisations and individuals in the health sector defending  the public interest, we would like to underline the vital importance of the commitments in the call for action. We would also like to share recommendations to increase the accountability and public ownership of this pledging initiative and subsequent activities.

A global pandemic needs an accountable global coordination mechanism

Pandemics have no borders and only a coordinated global response can mitigate the consequences of the current crisis.

Without global coordination and agreement, including on the areas of investments and practices for R&D, useful and needed resources and time will be wasted. It is also important that all initiatives supported with public funding in the context of COVID-19 have a global mandate.

We invite the EU and all the other donors and  partners to the pledging conference to set up a transparent and inclusive governance structure to decide on priorities, monitor progress, evaluate and report on the results of the pledges and further investments. A robust accountability mechanism should also be put in place to ensure that commitments are translated into actions. The meaningful involvement of civil society organisations should be ensured in all governance structures.

An ambitious goal requires a detailed plan and strong access and affordability clauses

As world leaders expressed their support for the WHO ACT accelerator and heightened expectations of global equitable access, many barriers remain to be addressed: safe and effective tools need to be developed and tested; manufacturing need to be transformed to meet global demand; supply and distribution need to be organized accordingly; and pricing arrangements need to be negotiated to ensure the tools are indeed affordable to all. Pre-COVID-19 experience has shown that each of these barriers can hinder access to life saving medical tools and It is essential to address them early on.

The pledging conference can provide the financial means to overcome some barriers. A plan detailing how each of these barriers will be addressed is needed. This plan should comprise a shared definition of what global equitable access, affordability and availability mean and detailed conditions under which partners are expected to contribute to fulfilling these ambitions in return for funding. As the pledging conference aims to raise funding from across the world to address the needs of all, this information should be publicly available.

Funding pledged to support COVID-19 R&D should include coherent legally binding arrangements with private and public partners to ensure that health technologies are priced fairly and affordably to healthcare payers and are free to the public at the point of care in all countries.

To complement those efforts, any COVID-19 treatment, diagnostic and vaccine developed with public funding through the 4th May pledges and afterwards should be conditional on mandatory inclusion to a global technology pool. A proposal for the creation of a voluntary pool has been submitted to the WHO by the government of Costa Rica. This proposal should be further developed, expanded and implemented in an effort to “pool rights to technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

We hope our suggestions will be taken onboard and we are at your disposal for further exchanges on those issues.

This statement was coordinated by the European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines.

Download the full statement

Contact – Viviana Galli – viviana@medicinesalliance.eu

Supporting organisations

1. AAJM – Association for Fair Access to Medicine, Spain
2. Access to Medicines Ireland
3. AJF – Africa Japan Forum
4. ARAS – Romanian Association Against AIDS
5. Association “Novi put”, Bosnia and Herzegovina
6. Association des Femmes de l’Europe Méridionale – AFEM
7. Aurora Universities Network, The Netherlands
8. Austrian Institute for Health Technology Assessment (AIHTA), Austria
9. BEUC – The European Consumer Organisation
10. Black Activists Rising Against Cuts – BARAC, UK
11. Chronic Illness Advocacy & Awareness Group, USA/Global
12. Commons Network, The Netherlands
13. Corporate Europe Observatory – CEO
14. Ecologistas en Acción, Spain
15. EKPIZO, Greece
16. European Alliance for Responsible R&D and Affordable Medicines
17. European Public Health Alliance – EPHA
18. European Public Services Union – EPSU
19. Fondation Eboko, France
20. Fondation Joseph The Worker/Structure Lazarienne, Bénin
21. Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research – FIAR, USA
22. France Assos Santé, France
23. Fundación IFARMA, Colombia
24. Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar, Mexico
25. Global Health Advocates
26. Global Justice Now, UK
27. Health Global Access Project
28. Health Poverty Action
29. Heart to Heart Foundation, Thailand
30. Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences, India
31. Instituto para el Desarrollo Humano, Bolivia
32. IT for Change, India
33. ITPC-LATCA
34. KEI Europe
35. La Ligue contre le Cancer, France
36. Mecanismo social de de control y apoyo en VIH – MSCAV, Colombia
37. Médecins du Monde France
38. Medicines, Information and Power, Colombia
39. MSF Access Campaign
40. OCU – Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios, Spain
41. People’s Health Movement, Kenya
42. Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation, the Netherlands
43. Prescrire, France
44. Public Eye, Switzerland
45. Society of Development and Care – SODECA
46. SOMO Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
47. STOPAIDS, UK
48. Students for Global Health (SfGH-UK), UK
49. Sukaar welfare organization, Pakistan
50. T1 International
51. Test Aankoop/Test Achats, Belgium
52. Transnational Institute, The Netherlands
53. Transparency International Health Initiative
54. Treatment Action Group, USA
55. Tunisian association of Positive Prevention – ATP+
56. UFC-Que Choisir, France
57. Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, UAEM
58. Wemos Foundation, The Netherlands
59. Yolse, Santé Publique et Innovation, Switzerland

Supporting individuals

Ellen ‘t Hoen, LLM, PhD, Medicines Law & Policy and Global Health Unit, University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands

Brook K. Baker, Professor, Northeastern U. School of Law, Boston, USA

Dr. Claudia Marcela Vargas, Fundación IFARMA, Colombia

Graham Dutfield, Professor of International Governance, University of Leeds, UK

Oswaldo Adolfo Rada – Senderos A.M., Colombia

Dr J Kay Richmond FFPH, FRCGP, Cardiff, UK

Professor Yousuf Vawda, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa