Activist, Campaigner, Artist and Writer, Zita Holbourne wins prestigious lifetime achievement award in recognition of her work as an Equality Champion.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

BARAC UK PRESS RELEASE

Activist, Campaigner, Artist and Writer, Zita Holbourne wins prestigious lifetime achievement award in recognition of her work as an Equality Champion.

BARAC UK urges voters to vote Labour in the general election in order to advance equality and tackle discrimination.

Zita Holbourne, Co-founder and National Chair of BARAC UK received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her role as Equality Champion. 

The Award was made by the Legacy Gala and Awards, at a ceremony held at the Royal Lancaster London Hotel in Bayswater on Saturday 7th December.

Now in their fourth year, The Life Time Legacy Awards are made to individuals nominated by their peers, because they have used their career not just for personal progression, but have also sacrificed much, in order to prepare the ground for others to follow.

Zita was given the award for Equality Champion in recognition of her work over decades as a trade union representative,  community activist and human rights campaigner, working tirelessly  not just in the UK but globally to challenge discrimination and advance equality. 

Other winners on the night included footballer Andy Cole, Lord Simon Woolley and actor Rudolph Walker. 

On winning the award Zita said:

"Equality is at the heart of all I do, be it as a trade union or community  activist, human rights campaigner, visual artist, author or poet, I strive to achieve, improve and advance equality. 

Receiving this award is a great honour for me and very special in that it recognises the importance of equality in our lifetime as well as for future generations. At a time when equality gains have been stripped away, over ten years of austerity, impacting adversely on equality grounds and bringing deepening discrimination and injustice, we all need to challenge discrimination when we witness it, as our silence empowers those who hold discriminatory views.  Equality cannot just be about defending any gains we have made, but working together, to achieve true equality so everyone can live with dignity, respect and peace and pursue their dreams and aspirations free from the barriers created by discrimination.

Over the past decade we have witnessed deepening discrimination towards black and minority ethnic people, women, disabled people, LGBT plus people, younger and older people as well as migrant communities. It is essential that we reverse this discrimination but also that we keep  advancing  equality and tackle discrimination robustly. It's incumbent on all of us to call it out and take action.

The horrific treatment, still impacting to this very day, of the Windrush generation and their multi-generational families is a stain on the history of UK politics, full justice must be served.

Likewise the scapegoating of migrant communities, cuts to essential services, discrimination  in the labour market and discriminatory barriers to progression must all be challenged.

We can and must all work together in order to make equality a reality."  

Hector Wesley, PCS National Executive Committee member and BARAC UK National Officer said;

"I'm delighted that Zita has received this award which is well deserved recognition for her decades long commitment to promoting equality and fighting injustice.

That this award has been made by leaders within the black community gives it added value.

Recipients of lifetime achievement awards are often nearing the end of their careers.  That's definitely not the case here. I know that Zita will continue her contribution nationally and internationally."

Zita is community and trade union activist, human rights campaigner, performance poet, author, writer, visual artist, curator, designer and  vocalist.

She campaigns for equality, freedom, justice and human rights through arts and activism.

Zita is the Co-founder and National Chair  of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts which campaigns against the adverse disproportionate impact of cuts on black /BAME workers, service users and communities and deepening related injustice and racism.

 She is a founding member of BAME Lawyers for Justice and BME Lawyers for Grenfell. She has campaigned against Windrush and related deportations for decades  and for refugee and migrant rights on a global level. She coordinates regular humanitarian aid distributions to refugees.

Zita is National Vice President of the Public and Commercial Services Union where she chairs the union's National Equality Committee. She is Joint National Chair of Artists Union England. 

She is elected to the Trades Union Congress Race Relations and  the Women's Committees and is also active in the trade union movement on a European and international level.

Zita's work in the arts and on equality has Bern recognised by the United Nations and she is a member of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa.

Zita is the author of Striving for Equality Freedom and Justice and featured in  the award winning book, Here We Stand; Women Changing the World. She is a  contributor to numerous books, as a writer and illustrator including New Daughters of Africa, an International anthology launched in 2019.

She is the winner of the UK National Diversity Awards Postive Role Model for Race amongst other awards.

Zita is an award winning performance  and published poet. She has performed internationally, including at Glastonbury, in the UK Parliament and at Nelson Mandela's official UK memorial service.

She is the founder and curator of the Roots Culture Identity art exhibition/collective providing a platform for predominantly young , black (BAME)  and migrant artists.

She has led and won many campaigns for justice and equality and built equality structures and initiatives in the UK and globally. She has advised the European Commission on  tackling discrimination and improving equality and for decades  she has successfully represented on and challenged discrimination at work and in wider society.

BARAC UK, urges voters in this week's  general election to vote for the Labour Party, as the party that has historically  and that will if elected, implement, progressive equality policies and  a focused strategy and stand alone department  for equality.

ENDS

Solidarity with refugees: please support our humanitarian aid efforts in 2018

We are returning to France this month to take solidarity, essential supplies and food.

When we visited at the end of 2017 it was bitterly cold, people raised with us concerns about police brutality, lack of shelter and insufficient food.

As you will know one of the organisations we work with in France is the Refugee Community Kitchen, bringing them food supplies. They do brilliant work in supplying two hot meals per day to people but ongoing support is needed to provide adequate meals for people, it is especially important for people to get hot meals during the colder weather and because people are living and sleeping outside in the open air without shelter.

We would be grateful if you were to share this message with your networks and any donations you can give are gratefully received. With £1 we can purchase thermal gloves or a warm scarf or hat. The supply we took last time were well received and much needed.

Other ways you can support us this month or through the year are for your organisation to sponsor our transport and travel to go to France or you can drop off supplies for us to take at our base at PCS union HQ in Clapham Junction, London. Things that are needed are hats, scarves, gloves, small to medium mens warm clothing, catering size supplies of food (check with us first as we usually have a list of what's needed most urgently), sleeping bags and foil blankets, mobile phones and sim cards, wind up torches, size 7 and 8 sturdy walking shoes, coats and toiletries including black hair products and skin care.

Thanks for your support and solidarity. Below are more details of how you can help.

Best Wishes

Zita

Zita Holbourne
National Chair, BARAC UK

DONATION APPEAL  

SUPPORT BARAC UK HUMANITARIAN AID AND  

SOLIDARITY WORK WITH REFUGEES IN FRANCE   

"To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity." - Nelson Mandela   

 

BARAC has been coordinating regular monthly aid convoys to Calais since summer 2015 to support people who are refugees stuck in limbo in horrific conditions in Calais and in Dunkerque. In addition to the regular distribution of food, toiletries, clothes, camping equipment and other essential items including addressing cultural and religious needs, we have carried out solidarity and fact-finding visits.  

There are four key ways to help support our humanitarian aid and solidarity work with refugees in France:  

1. Donate to the BARAC UK Humanitarian Appeal by visiting the GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/nvbvy8qc. Alternatively send a cheque made payable to ‘BARAC UK’ with the form below to: Zita Holbourne, BARAC National Chair, PCS National Vice President,  PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, London, SW112LN.   
2. Drop off essential items to our distribution point at PCS HQ. Please address items (see list of items needed below) to: Zita Holbourne, PCS NEC, C/O Harvey Jacob (for Calais), PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, London, SW11 2LN.   
3. Sponsor transport & travel. For details on how you can sponsor a future humanitarian visit please contact Zita Holbourne, BARAC Co Chair by email:Barac.info@gmail.com  
4. Join the BARAC convoy by bringing a vehicle.  To coordinate efforts and include your own vehicle on a future humanitarian visit please contact Zita Holbourne, BARAC Co-Chair by email: Barac.info@gmail.com  

Items needed include:   

Clothes: Mainly men’s but also women’s and children’s.  Small and medium size boxer shorts/ underwear, gloves, scarves, hats, waterproof coats, socks  and shoes (waterproof and size 7 or 8 men’s),  hoodies, jogging bottoms, fleeces.

Camping equipment:  Warm blankets, emergency blankets, sleeping bags, tarpaulin, ground mats, tent pegs, tents, camping stoves and gas cylinders, cooking pots, utensils, torches.

Toiletries: Sanitary towels, wipes, tooth brushes, toothpaste, anti-bacterial hand gel, shower gel, shampoo (including for African hair), razors, skin cream,  coconut oil, body butters including cocoa and shea, African hair products, halal toiletries.

Food in bulk supply:  Extra virgin olive oil, basmati rice, sea salt, fresh chillies, black pepper, fresh and powdered spices, coconut milk, vinegars, mustard, tahini, harissa, sumac, honey, dried fruit and nuts, dates, golden syrup, sugar, fresh garlic and ginger, fresh vegetables and fruit, tinned fish, long life mil, filter coffee, pulses and beans.

Mobile phones and sim cards. Washing up sponges / liquid, cleaning products, catering kitchen towel and cling film, large bin bags.

DONATION FORM   

To donate please complete and return this form together with a cheque or alternatively pay directly into our account bank account.  

• I wish to give a donation towards BARAC’s humanitarian aid and solidarity work with refugees’ in  

France;  

    £250    £100      £50         £35         £25        £10       Other £ .….….….….….  

• I enclose a cheque for a total of        £ ..........                   Payable to BARAC UK Or  
• I have paid the following amount          £………..           into the BARAC Bank Account: BARAC UK Bank details:  Barclays Bank    Sort Code: 20 67 90     Account No:  53317803  

 

Signature:                                                                                     Date:   

Name of Organisation (if applicable)   

Contact Name:                                                                      Position:  

Address:   

 

Tel no.:                                                                                      Email:   

Please return this donation form (and cheque) to:  

BARAC UK  

C/O Zita Holbourne, National Co-Chair BARAC UK  

PCS HQ, 160 Falcon Road, London,   

SW11 2LN  

Alternatively email to: barac.info@gmail.com  Thank you for your support   Web:www.blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com   Twitter:  @baracuk       Facebook:  BARAC UK   

BARAC Protest Against Forced Mass Deportations

BARAC held a very lively demo outside the Home Office in central London on Wednesday 2nd of November. The demo was organised in response to the mass forced removal of 42 Jamaicans in October.

BARAC was joined by representatives from Movement for Justice and speakers included lawyer Shiraz Peer from Peer & Co, Guy Taylor from Global Justice Now, speakers from Movement for Justice, Vice President of the PCS Union John McInally and co-chairs of BARAC UK, Zita Holbourne & Lee Jasper. 

Joining the protest were unions, community organisations, migrant rights groups and concerned citizens.

Statements were read out from family members of those deported, from the UK Jamaican Diaspora and from Luke de Noronha, Doctoral Candidate at the University of Oxford reporting from Jamaican on conversations with those deported.

A meeting held on the same evening agreed to support 2 weeks of action planned in opposition to deportations and charter flights with actions taking place in the UK, Jamaica and Nigeria and organised by Movement for Justice.

Details of the two weeks of action can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1337459672940512/

Watch a video report of the demo with interviews here: https://www.newsflare.com/video/92936/politics-business/uk-home-office-crack-down

PRESS RELEASE: HUMAN ZOO BARBICAN CONTROVERSY COMES TO LIVERPOOL

BLACK ACTIVISTS RISING AGAINST CUTS (BARAC) UK PRESS RELEASE

 Human Zoo Barbican controversy comes to Liverpool

 

Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK has teamed up with the International Slavery Museum, PCS union and MCARF (Merseyside Coalition against Racism and Fascism) to reopen the debate that arose in London around the Barbican’s Human Zoo exhibition & institutional racism in the arts & culture sectors . The debate is taking place in the International Slavery Museum, Albert Dock on Monday 27 October at 5.30pm and is part of the museum's Black History Month programme.

The Barbican exhibition, in which white South African artist Brett Bailey, featured live black performers shackled and in cages charged visitors £20 to enter. Despite claiming to be a piece of art challenging prejudice and racism, the work created a huge controversy in the art world and black and anti-racist campaign groups including BARAC UK objected to the exhibition and their campaign forced the Barbican to cancel the show. The controversy generated debates around institutional racism, the role of art and the meaning of art censorship.

Zita Holbourne, national co-chair of BARAC and a member of the PCS National Executive Committee, will be one of the speakers as a leading campaigner against the exhibition. She says: “The protest that led to the cancellation of the Barbican’s Human Zoo exhibition was not anti-art – it was anti-racist. It is not black communities that censor art, rather arts institutions  that censor black artists. As an artist I am passionate about art, but I don't believe that the rights of a piece of art should be placed above the rights of people to equality, humanity & dignity ”.
The debate will be chaired by Dr Richard Benjamin, the Director of the International Slavery Museum, and will be joined by councillor Anna Rothery and Professor David Peimer, author and professor at Edge Hill University. Dr Benjamin says: “For me there is nothing more important than the culture sector being subject to such scrutiny. The International Slavery Museum has a very clear ethos, we are a campaigning museum and as such use the museum and its content to challenge views/actions/ideologies that persist today.”
PCS union has been at the forefront of highlighting how budget cuts are impacting on local communities and workplaces, including the museums themselves. Clara Paillard, President of the PCS Culture Sector and union rep at the Liverpool museums said:  “At a time when black communities are disproportionately impacted by job cuts and huge cuts are being made to arts funding it is becoming harder for black artists to find work and showcase their talents. Institutional racism means that black people are the first affected by local cuts in arts &culture budgets”.

Please call 0151 478 4062 to reserve your free place.

Contact: Zita Holbourne, Co-Chair BARAC

Email: barac.info@gmail.com

The Guardian Newspaper interviews Zita Holbourne, Co-founder of BARAC UK

Zita Holbourne, co-founder of BARAC speaks to Mary O'Hara for The Guardian newspaper about the impact on black workers, families and communities of the Coalition's cuts :

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/05/zita-holbourne-barac-austerity-minority-ethnic

 
 photo: Sarah Lee for The Guardian

There are two aspects of the government's austerity policies of which Zita Holbourne is absolutely certain – first, that people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds are disproportionately affected and, second, that as an issue it has been noticeably absent from the wider public discourse around cuts. "This needs to be understood and it needs to change," she says, pointing out that this sector of society is "already more likely to be poor or to live in deprived areas … and to face existing discrimination in the jobs market" on top of being overrepresented in low-paid, vulnerable work even before austerity was introduced.
Holbourne, 47, is co-founder of the anti-austerity group Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts (Barac). Since the summer of 2010 the organisation, which she set up with Lee Jasper (a former adviser to Ken Livingston when he was mayor of London), has been challenging austerity policies and attempting to shed light on the numerous negative effects on minority ethnic individuals, families and communities. Comprised of a mixture of trade unionists, grassroots activists and voluntary groups across the UK, Barac was born of a sense of urgency when it became apparent how severe and enduring the coalition's austerity project would be, Holbourne says, adding that she "just knew" that the ramifications would be "horrific".
Barac (as the name suggests it was inspired by the election of Barack Obama and chosen for memorability) evolved in much the same way as other equalities-based anti-austerity organisations such as Dpac (Disabled People Against Cuts) so that the people most affected had a voice, Holbourne says. "What we aim to do is bring the perspective of the black community, the migrant communities in the UK and the disproportionate impact of all of the cuts and attacks."
Calling austerity "economic vandalism", Holbourne says the cuts "represent the literal death of hope and opportunity" within impoverished communities. She speaks of the "interconnected" issues of austerity, cuts, poverty, racism, injustice and discrimination, before running through the litany of "multiple" disadvantages.
"We are particularly concerned about the double impact [of cuts] on black women and young black people because of the elimination of the education maintenance allowance [EMA], public sector job cuts and [cuts to] the voluntary sector, another area where there are a high number of black workers," she says. In addition, the fact that so many minority ethnic women tend to take on caring responsibilities adds even greater pressure to families as local statutory and voluntary services, such as advice centres or children's groups, face cuts, Holbourne says.
She believes the abolition of EMA to be one of the "most devastating" for minority ethnic families because it offered "a lifeline" that encouraged youngsters to go on to further education. "This was [already] a society where black boys are more likely to go to prison than to university," she says.
Pointing to government figures released last month showing that minority ethnic workers are twice as likely to be unemployed as their white counterparts, she says the "barriers" to stable employment are higher post-recession, as zero-hour contracts have proliferated and public sector opportunities have disappeared. "And, if you lose your job as a black person it's going to take a lot longer to get another because of the discrimination that already existed in the labour market," says Holbourne.
Holbourne has been involved in the trade union movement for more than two decades, working on "everything from wage disputes to discrimination". She says minority ethnic workers feature prominently in the public sector, due, in part, to "generally better equalities policies". For this reason, she says, the cull of public sector jobs, along with wage freezes is a major example of disproportionate impact.
A performance poet and artist, as well as campaigner, Holbourne speaks enthusiastically about her work in the community and in schools with children, including running poetry workshops on subjects such as black history. "It's just as important as all the other work," she says.
She has been an activist almost her whole life, against racism and wider social injustice. Her mother was a primary influence, inspiring her to speak out. As a child in London, she watched her mother face down "blatant" racism and believes this meant she absorbed messages about prejudice and discrimination early on. When she was six, she recalls, her mother challenged a local shopkeeper for stocking products from South Africa and told him she would organise a boycott of the shop. "At the time you don't think these things are influencing you, but of course they do."
As for Holbourne's father, a white Welshman, his work for the UN meant she visited a number of developing countries including Sri Lanka and Bangladesh while growing up and it cultivated a broad political perspective, she says. While on a trip to South Africa she couldn't eat in the same restaurant as her father. This had a profound effect on her, she recalls. Such experiences helped lay the ground for years of anti-apartheid campaigning while at art college in London in the 1980s, and for her later community activism and trade union work.
Other major influences were events such as the Brixton riots and, later, the death of Stephen Lawrence, as well as ongoing issues such as stop and search by the police, which adversely affects young black men. But if one thing galvanised her more than anything, she says, it was the birth of her son, who is now at college. "He's been the driving force throughout my time as an activist. I did not want him and his life path to be blocked because of racism."
Holbourne says she worries for the younger generation because of the far right's resurgence and the presence of more "overt racism" as the government ratchets up anti-immigrant rhetoric. But she says what people worry about most is that the economic landscape for young people and the poor remains difficult, with more cuts to come. Recovery, she insists, "is not being felt" by the poorest or most excluded.
Some people have questioned why Barac focuses on one group within society when so many are affected by cuts. Holbourne stresses that Barac and other rights groups form alliances and she says that links forged with other groups, such as the People's Assembly and the Justice Alliance to save legal aid, are crucial to nurturing an anti-austerity movement. "It's all part of the same attack [from government]. It's the same for disabled people and other groups. It's a multiple impact, multi-layered attack," says Holbourne.
Organisations such as Barac also remain necessary, she says, because so many of those affected disproportionately by austerity don't hold out hope that a Labour government will reverse cuts. "Where do you go if the mainstream political parties are not going to represent you," she asks. "It's about people power isn't it?"

STEPHEN LAWRENCE, RACISM IN THE UK, 19 YEARS ON WRITTEN BY ZITA HOLBOURNE

STEPHEN LAWRENCE, RACISM IN THE UK, 19 YEARS ON

WRITTEN BY ZITA HOLBOURNE

On Tuesday 3^rd of January we saw 2 of the killers guilty of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence sentenced to imprisonment for their crime. 

Stephen Lawrence in the words of his mother was a ‘bright, beautiful young man’ in his teens with his whole life ahead of him before he was killed by a racist gang in Eltham, South London in 1993.  

Doreen and Neville Lawrence fought an 18 year battle in their quest for justice for their son and whilst this was a positive outcome, it has come 18 years too late and the battle is still not over as at least 3 of those who were part of the gang that murdered Stephen are free.

The poem I wrote on the night of 3^rd January, entitled ‘Strange Kind of Justice’, sums up how I feel about it.

http://soundcloud.com/zita-holbourne/strange-kind-of-justice-in

In 1998 a public inquiry known as the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry took place as a result of the Lawrence family campaign. This was headed by Sir William MacPherson who concluded that the Metropolitan Police Service was institutionally racist. MacPherson’s report and recommendations led to the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 which placed a duty on public sector bodies to promote race equality through the Public Sector Race Equality Duty. This was followed in 2006 with a duty on Disability and in 2007 on Gender.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/feb/24/lawrence.ukcrime12

Through the public sector equality duties public sector bodies were required to publish race, disability and gender equality schemes and carry out equality impact assessments on any new or changed policies to assess any disproportionate impact of their proposals on race, disability or gender. Trade unions have drawn on the public sector equality duties to challenge the disproportionate impact of job cuts, relocation and discriminatory pay amongst other discriminatory policies. Whilst employers have not been proactive in ensuring they adhere to the duties their very existence has given us a route in which to challenge institutional racism and discriminatory practices and policies collectively.

I commend Doreen and Neville  Lawrence for the inspiration, strength, hope and determination they have brought to so many others facing racist attacks and race discrimination – whilst enduring their own prolonged battle, forced to set aside grieving the loss of their son in their quest for justice because they had no choice but to keep on fighting for that justice.

I am proud to have played a small part in supporting the Lawrence’s campaign over many years alongside many other trade union and community anti racist activists.  The TUC established the Stephen Lawrence Task Force which was a high profile campaign with the aim of eliminating institutional racism in the workplace.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/sltg/action_plan.htm

But I am saddened that it was necessary for the Lawrence family and so many more families to have to dedicate their lives to seeking justice for their loved ones and angry that legislation that came into force in order to prevent the type of institutional racism that was demonstrated by the Metropolitan Police Force following Stephen’s death is still in existence today within not only the police forces but other public sector organisations and institutions.

10 years after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and MacPherson Report, Dr Richard Stone who was a panel member of the Inquiry produced a review report which exposed the failure of government to implement the vast majority of the original recommendations and other reports evidencing the same were produced by other independent bodies. That the recommendations have not been followed through is a disgrace in itself but once the evidence was produced demonstrating quite clearly that this was the case the government should have put in place an emergency action plan to address the situation. The issues that  the recommendations sought to address have not gone away, if anything many of them have got worse and this is why Dr Stone made some new recommendations in his report.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/04/where-are-black-police-officers

In October 2010 a new Equality Act came into force and in April 2011 the public sector equality duty replaced the race, disability and gender duties. Whilst the duty covers other protected characteristics which is welcomed we have seen a significant weakening of the previous duties. There is no longer a requirement for Equality Schemes to be published or for Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) to be carried out. Effectively the new law makes it easier for employers to disregard their duty to promote good race relations and take steps to prevent race discrimination occurring in employment or the services they provide. It seems to be that the onus is on lessening the burden on business and increasing the burden and distress racism brings for those on the receiving end. 

The promised code of practice of the Public Sector Equality Duty which is even more important because of the watering down of the Duty has yet to be introduced and I am concerned that any delay in introducing this will lead to more public sector organisations failing to take race equality seriously. 

Whilst we must fight to defend the equality protection in law that exists and use it to challenge discrimination, not least in respect of the disproportionate impact of cuts on gender, race and disability grounds we must also strive for improvements because we are seeing an increase not a decrease in discrimination in all aspects of our lives including;

·         at work in respect of  job cuts, pay, pensions, promotion and progression, 1.2 million people are unemployed with 1 in 2 young black people out of work

·          in education where the scrapping of EMA means that those from deprived backgrounds cannot afford further education let alone afford the tripled tuition fees of £9000 per annum from the start of the forthcoming academic year, making degree level education a privilege for the wealthy when it should be available equally to all

But the racism we face goes beyond education and the workplace, in the criminal justice system, policing, stop and search, DNA database, service provision with many essential services disappearing due to funding cuts in particular in the voluntary sector, attacks on migrant workers, the Far Right blaming black communities for cuts being made by the Con-Dem coalition, racist hate crime, in sports – not least in football, on our TV screens and disgracefully we saw efforts to detract from the verdict in Stephen Lawrence’s murder trial in the days following. In effect there is no aspect of our lives where racism doesn’t raise its ugly head.

If ever there was a need for robust race equality law, backed up and enforced by the government through the powers held by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which is also facing huge cuts reducing its capacity to deliver on race equality it is now. Access the campaign leaflet  ‘What Price Equality’ and the Save the EHRC petition here.

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/equality-and-human-rights-commission/index.cfm

The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust was set up in Stephen’s memory supports young people from deprived backgrounds through bursaries to pursue careers in architecture – which was Stephen’s chosen career and wishes to broaden this approach to include law, finance and media studies.

You can find out more about the Trust and make donations via the Trust’s website: http://stephenlawrence.org.uk/ and call upon you all to initiate any fundraising initiatives you can to further the work of the Trust and to continue Stephen’s legacy. 

Doreen Lawrence launched a £2 text campaign this month. You can donate £2 by texting: DLAW02 £2 to 70070.

Progress to me is not measured by what we’ve achieved but what we’ve retained maintained and improved upon and the legacy we are able to create for those who will go after us. A temporary fix does not bring change it simply delays the problem and the time when we have to face it head on. 

There’s never been a more important time for workers, service users, communities and families to come together to challenge the discrimination we face in all aspects of our lives. When we divide we fall when we stay together we have strength and unity, two essential ingredients in the struggle for justice, equality and freedom.

Zita Holbourne is co-founder and co-chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, a member of the PCS Union National Executive Committee and of the TUC Race Relations Committee and a performance poet and artist.

PCS NEC statement on Stephen Lawrence

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/pcs_comment/pcs_comment_archive.cfm/id/EC9D083F-806E-4702-95532257ABBE528C

Information about BARAC including how to join our campaign.

http://blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com/

Information about Zita’s work as a poet and artist.

www.myspace.com/zitaholbourne