From: letters@independent.co.uk
As migrant and BAME
groups in Britain, we reaffirm our fundamental right to the freedom of
expression, and publicly to express our anxieties about the suppression of
information on the history and lived experience of our communities.
Many of us arrived in the UK as migrants and
as refugees, seeking safety from war and repression, and the effects of racism,
persecution and colonialism both past and present. As a result, we know their
oppressive impact on our communities, and can identify where many of the
current experiences of injustices we face in Britain today are also based on
racism and colonialism.
These problems are having a destructive impact
on public discussions about race and immigration. It is therefore our
responsibility – and also our right- to relay our direct experiences of
human rights abuses suffered here and abroad, as well as their structural and
historical causes, to address them. This democratic obligation is recognised in
Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, to “receive and impart information”, and
provides the basis for a democracy to function. As the Institute for Race
Relations recently confirmed, our communities: “have a right to be heard, to
make…information public, while others have the right to hear them, and the
arguments based on these facts”.
We are deeply worried about current attempts
to silence a public discussion of what happened in Palestine and to the
Palestinians in 1948, when the majority of its people were forcibly expelled.
These facts are well established and accessible, are part of the British
historical record, as well as the direct experience of the Palestinian people
themselves. The Palestinian community in the UK has raised the disturbing
absence of key information about these past and current injustices, and
highlighted the racism it exposes then and now.
Public
discussion of these facts, and a
description of these injustices, would be prohibited under the IHRA’s
guidelines, and therefore withholds vital knowledge from the public. This
silencing has already begun. Today we can freely describe the racist policies
experienced in the era of British and European colonialism in our countries of
origin (indeed it is taught in British schools), but the colonial history of
the Palestinians is continually erased. This is a dangerous breach of our own
rights, and of the wider British public: we must all hear the full story of the
Palestinians in order to make sense of the current discussions about racism and
Israel.
We also know of the efforts by organisations –
including UK-based fundamentalist groups aligned with the far-right in the US –
to deny Palestinians’ basic humanity by suppressing their entire history and
current plight. At the same time, hard-line conservative groups in the US, such
as the Middle East Forum, are providing funding and support to anti-Muslim
extremist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), deliberately increasing
hatred, fear, and confusion. These coordinated efforts by right-wing extremists
are being actively encouraged by President Trump’s racism and fear-mongering,
which is now aimed at dismantling UNRWA, the UN agency that protects
Palestinian refugees.
Over this past year, several terrible events
have demonstrated the dangers of silencing migrant and BAME communities. The
fatal fire at Grenfell Tower and the shameful Windrush scandal have shown the
active legacies of British colonialism, where racism forms an integral part of
British policies, and renders our communities invisible. This denies our
dignity and humanity, and our right to fair treatment under the rule of law:
the bedrock of British society.
We urgently remind politicians and public bodies
of their responsibilities to uphold the principles of the Human Rights Act for
every British citizen and resident in the UK equally, especially the direct
victims of colonialism, racism, and discrimination. As migrant and BAME
communities we stand as one, united against all attempts to suppress our voices
and our calls for justice, freedom and equality.
List of Signatories
1. African Rainbow Family
2. The Arab Labour Group
3. The Arab Refugee Support Group
(ARSG)
4. The Association of the Palestinian
Community in the UK
5. Baraka Youth Association
(Somali)
6. Black Activists Rising Against
the Cuts (BARAC)
7. Black Lives Matter UK
8. Black Women’s Forum UK
9. The British Arab Association
10. British Muslim Initiative
(BMI)
11. The British Palestinian
Communications Centre
12. The British Palestinian
Policy Council
13. The Campaign Against
Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)
14. Communities Inc, Nottingham
15. Community Integration
Project, London
16. Congo Great Lakes Initiative
17. The Cordoba Foundation
18. Daikon East Asian Women’s
Collective
19. Dar Assalam – Iraqi
Association in Britain
20. Decolonising Our Minds
21. Deport, Deprive and Extradite
Project
22. Eritrean Elders Welfare Association
in UK (EEWA-UK)
23. Eritrean Parents and
Children’s Association
24. Europal Forum
25. Facilitate Global
26. The General Union of
Palestinian Students (GUPS)
27. Grenfell Speaks
28. Ikram United Kingdom and Eire
29. Indian Matters UK
30. Indian Workers Association
31. Independent Workers Union of
Great Britain, the United Private Hire Drivers Branch
32. Independent Workers Union of
Great Britain, the University of London Branch
33. Iraqi Transnational
Collective
34. Iraqi Women’s Organisation:
Tadhamun
35. Jawaab
36. Justice for Grenfell
37. Kashmiris for Labour
38. Kurdish Student’s Union
39. Kurdish Assembly in the UK
40. Lebanese Association of
Britain
41. Leeds Unity Centre
42. Lesbians and Gays Support the
Migrants
43. London Latinx
44. London Race and Criminal
Justice Consortium
45. Media Diversified
46. Meridian Women’s Association
47. The Meena Centre, Birmingham
48. Migrant Media
49. Migrant Rights Network (MRN)
50. Migrant Solidarity Manchester
51. Migrants Organise
52. Min Quan – Chinatown People
Rights Group
53. Minaret Community Centre
54. Momentum Black Caucus
55. The Monitoring Group (TMG)
56. Movement for Justice
57. Movement of Asylum Seekers in
Ireland
58. Muslimahs Resist
59. Muslim Association of Britain
(MAB)
60. Muslim Worker’s Association
61. Network of Eritrean Women
62. Nijjor Manush (Bengali and
Bangladeshi Campaigning Group)
63. North West Peoples’ Voice
64. Olive – Palestinian Youth
Group
65. Oxford Syria Solidarity
Campaign
66. Pakistani Community Centre
Oldham
67. The Palestine Return Centre
(PRC)
68. The Palestinian Forum in the
UK
69. Pal Med UK
70. PCS Union National Black
Members Committee
71. Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
72. Racial Justice Network
73. Rethink Rebuild Society
(Syrian)
74. Right 2 Work UK
75. Roj Kurdish Women’s Assembly
76. Sante Refugee Project
77. The Society of Black Lawyers
78. South People’s Project
(SOPPRO)
79. Tunisian Association in
Britain
80. United Families and Friends
Campaign (UFFC)
81. Voices for Creative Non
Violence UK
82. West London Moroccan
Association – Widadia
83. Women’s Alliance for
Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria
84. Zimbabwe Human Rights
Organisation (ZHRO)
