The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) staged a true Race Conference on 16 September attended by some 250 people and 67 organisations representing civil liberties, refugee support, Muslim groups, Black & Asian community associations, academia, the legal profession and other services.  It was a heart warming occasion because it addressed issues that really matter to vulnerable and powerless minorities - racism, injustice, assaults on multiculturism & asylum seekers, impacts of globalisation and anti-terror laws.  

 

In contrast, the Home Office backed Race Convention was an elitist, state-led affair with invited speakers from the mainstream - state, corporate and media. They are the ones invited to offer their weighty opinions and prescriptions to promote the integration-cohesion agenda.

There is a startling omission. IRR had not been invited - the one organisation that understands racism on the ground and has researched and commented fearlessly on race issues for 30 years. It is as if the organisers were afraid to hear the grim truth about racism and the voices of the oppressed. 

Black response to Ruth Kelly's Convention
BLINK 29/11/2006

The 30 year old Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), set up in 1976, is being dismantled and replaced by a Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR). In response to the government Race Convention, 180 minority anti-racist and faith leaders gathered to debate the future for race and faith equality on the same day, 27 Nov 06. It was a historic demonstration of solidarity. 

 

Delegates remarked on a new energy transforming pessimism about the axing of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to optimism about different communities working together. Several speakers at the Race and Faith Summit at London’s City Hall said a new consensus was emerging amongst grassroots activists to take control of the race and faith discourse.

Speakers, including Dr Daud Abdullah from the Muslim Council of Britain, Massoud Shahjareh from the Islamic Human Rights Commission and Soumaya Ghannoushi from IslamExpo, and were particularly concerned with Islamophobia and the racism faced by Muslims in the UK at the current time.

In 2007, Britain will be without a premier race body for the first time in almost half a century since the Race Relations Board was created in 1965.

With no CRE and an absence of a statutory race or faith committee in the new super-equalities body, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), Black and religious leaders agreed the ball was in their court to take the struggle forward.

Prominent figures from the Muslim, African, Caribbean, Asian, Chinese and Jewish communities have pledged to work together as never before to take the race and faith agenda forward.

Lee Jasper listened to the debate, sitting next to a mock coffin made by The 1990 Trust to mourn the passing of the CRE. (See pic, left)
 

Keith Vaz said: 'If you wait, the agenda is going to be set by others. We have got to get together, including us in parliament. We will support you all the way.'

Salma Yaqoob, a Birmingham Respect Party councillor, summed up the mood. Pointing towards a mock coffin with wreaths spelling out “CRE” that had been part of a protest earlier in the day, she said: ‘We are not in mourning. We are at a birth.  We are at the birth of a new unity between Black communities.’

Peter Herbert, from the Society of Black Lawyers, added: ‘This has been a wake-up call to our people of the need to get together.’

Lobbying for a race and faith committee and black representation in the CEHR looks set to continue, but there are increasing calls to build a wider coalition to campaign on for economic and social change for Black and Minority ethnic communities.

Lord Herman Ouseley, who is out of the country, sent his best wishes for the meeting. He called it an "important meeting", and added: “I offer my support to the summit.”

Lee Jasper provided a rousing and inspiring finale speech calling for the movement to go forward. He stressed it was critical to stand shoulder to shoulder with Muslims and Muslim organisations. He said: 'It is also important that we all commemorate the abolition of slavery and get a full apology though no amount of money could make up for the loss of language, family and history'.

It is also important that we all commemorate the abolition of slavery and get a full apology though no amount of money could will make up for the loss of language, family and history.

 

Some of the 20 protesters outside the CRE's Race Convention in Westminster. The 1990 Trust had staged a protest outside the Queen Elizabeth II centre in Westminster, and later outside a CRE dinner held at the Sheraton hotel in Piccadilly.

Many grassroots race groups are concerned that Trevor Phillips and the government are following an agenda seeking to blame Black communities instead of tackling institutional racism. It is proposed now to take the coalition forward with a follow up two day summit in the New Year and a UK wide tour of the key speakers. The final line up of speakers and list of sponsors of the Race and Faith Leadership Summit are as follows:

Speakers:
Chairs opening: Karen Chouhan JRCT(Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust); David Weaver: 1990 Trust. Keith Vaz MP; Dr Daud Abdullah, Deputy General Secretary - Muslim Council of Britain; Simon Woolley, Operation Black Vote; Salma Yaqoob, Respect Party; Patrick Yu, Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities;
Massoud Shadjareh, Islamic Human Rights Commission; Maxie Hayles, Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit; Harmander Singh, Sikhs In England; Soumaya Gannoushi, Director of Research, IslamExpo and British Muslim Initiative; Tariq Ramadan, Lokahi Foundation Oxford University; Peter Herbert, Society of Black Lawyers; David MacFarlane National Black Police Association; Rabbi Cohen, Neturi Karta; Ruqayyah Collector, National Black Students Association; Dipen Rajyaguru, Hindu Council; Lee Jasper, National Assembly Against Racism.

 

Speakers from the floor
Christine Meleady, Black Women’s Rape Action project (BWRAP) All African Womens Group (AAWG); Dr Robert Ferdinand, Brazil AND MANY OTHERS.

Apologies and messages of support:
Lord Herman Ouseley, Rita Patel: Peepul Centre, Leicester; Rami Ousta: Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure in Scotland; Anas Altikriti - British Muslim Initiative; Kapil Dudakia – Hindu Forum; Adrian Cohen, Chair London Jewish Forum; Naz Malik - AWEMA – All Wales Ethnic Minority Association.

 

Other Supporters:
Muslim Council of Britain; Operation Black Vote; Muslim Association of Britain; Kurdish Information & Monitoring Centre; Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust Visionary Programme; National Assembly Against Racism; Black Londoner's Forum; Peepul Centre; Islamic Human Rights Commission; Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities; Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit; Black and Ethnic Minorities Infrastructure in Scotland; Camden Chinese Community Centre; Diversity Centre; Lewisham anti-racist action group; UNISON; Respect - Prison Officers Association BME network; Bangla 2000; Islamic Forum Europe; Young Muslim Organisation UK; Mayor of London; Muslim Voices; Brighton and Hove Muslim Forums; The Hindu Council UK; All Wales Ethnic Minority Association; National Union of Students Black Students' Campaign; National Black Police Association; Society of Black Lawyers; Leicester City Council Adult & Community Services, Black Workers Group