The Liberation Movement stall at Unite’s London and Eastern Black History Month 2024

The Liberation Movement stall at Unite’s London and Eastern Black History Month 2024 event. TLM volunteers with Luke Daniels (left) president of Caribbean Labour Solidarity and Unite equalities chief Siobhan Endean (wearing a scarf).

Croydon antifascist victory

My eyewitness report:

Rumours had been circulating that anti-migrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Black protestors would be descending on Croydon. As a result, Muslim youth and other people of colour formed themselves into groups of a dozen and more to march through North End, the main shopping centre yesterday afternoon to resist the fascists. Just before 6pm they stood in front of the local mosque in West Croydon to defend it and special police squads, who had been alerted to possible demonstrations by the far right swung into action. Skirmishes then happened between the youth and police. A young Black man was handcuffed, searched but released after protestors demanded officers let him go. Community leaders, including from Black-led The Liberation Movement, applauded the brave resistance mounted by the youth who heeded calls from elders for peace and calm and dispersed as there had been a no show from the cowardly fascists. Croydon, where the fascist National Front had their headquarters in the 1980s, used to be their stronghold. It had been a magnificent demonstration of community unity and resistance. A great victory for anti-racists. No Pasaran!

Credit to: Marc Wadsworth

Viral bystander video of wrongful bus stop arrest

Liberation Movement supporter Clement Benjamin filmed this video of a Black mother being wrongfully arrested at a Croydon, South London, bus stop in front of her crying infant son. It went viral and resulted in the rare occasion of the arresting officer being charged with aggravated assault. We encourage you to also film such incidents and tell us about them by emailing info@liberationmovement.org.uk provided it doesn’t put your safety at risk. Read “Stand by Me” on this website: communitiesinc.org.uk

Marc Wadsworth on Stephen Lawrence at LIAAF 2023

Marc Wadsworth shares his experience working with Stephen Lawrence’s family and campaigning against institutional racism in the UK. This speech was given on a panel marking Stephen Lawrence’s murder at the inaugural Leeds International African Arts Festival.

Veteran Black rights campaigner Marc Wadsworth shares his experience of helping the parents murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence set up their justice campaign 30 years ago and what’s happened since.

https://www.peepaltreepress.com/blog/news-authors/watch-marc-wadsworth-stephen-lawrence-liaaf-2023

Watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/O9JO-IBtQUE

Join our month of action standing up against the #RefugeeBanBill

This action against the government’s #RefugeeBanBill, proposed by Together with Refugees, is being supported by The Liberation Movement.

We hope you’ll do what is being requested:
Join our month of action standing up against the #RefugeeBanBill

As the government’s #RefugeeBanBill reaches a key stage in Parliament, Together With Refugees is taking a clear stand across the country to show this cruel bill does not represent us – and that instead we call for a fair, compassionate and effective approach towards people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

While we have raised a range of deep concerns with the bill, Together With Refugees is particularly pushing on two key aspects:
Ensuring the UK upholds its international commitment to the fundamental right for people fleeing persecution to seek protection in the UK
Stopping the government rolling back the law that bans child refugees being locked up.

Amendments on both these issues are now tabled in the House of Lords in collaboration with Together With Refugees members. Before the bill returns to the Commons for debate it’s vital that MPs hear loud and clear from as many people and groups as possible in their constituencies who stand together with refugees – both directly and via media and social media.
Together With Refugees is calling for a month of action during June, particularly the latter half coinciding with Refugee Week (19-25 June) and Scottish Refugee Festival (16-25 June).

Here are three ways you can take action to support the campaign in June:
Contact your MP to lay out your concerns – by email, letter, requesting a meeting at a local constituency level, or inviting the MP to an event in your community. If your organisation is a national coalition member, please ask your supporters and networks to do this. Please check out this Together With Refugees guide to engaging your MP on the Refugee Ban Bill (this will be kept updated with any new developments on the Bill as they happen).

Organise or join a Hospitality Not Hostility community meal or tea. Invite your local MP to a Hospitality Not Hostility event to demonstrate at this crucial time that people in their constituency care about the issue of refugees and want their MP to commit to a fairer, more compassionate approach. More details on Hospitality Not Hostility and toolkits to support you here.

Stand against the government’s attempt in the bill to legalise locking up child refugees. We are working with Citizens UK, children’s charities and many other Together With Refugees members to raise this shocking aspect of the bill in the media and social media over coming weeks. We’ll keep you posted with more details – it would be great if you could support and amplify these calls through your social media channels.

Do get in touch with your updates and any questions or suggestions. Thank you again for all your campaigning work – and please step up the pressure in the coming vital weeks if you can.

Rebecca and the Together With Refugees team

TLM condemns far-right thugs who attacked Knowsley refugee centre – and Tories fanning flames

TLM condemns divisive rhetoric from government ministers, including Home Secretary Suella Braverman, which is
responsible for stoking up hostility towards them by, among other things, describing their presence in the English
Channel as “an invasion”.

Read on Skwawkbox


We note that Jewish leaders have also criticised such hate speech, with the Liverpool violence at the Suites Hotel,
Knowsley, coming just two weeks after Holocaust Memorial Day, which TLM marked by providing a keynote speaker at
a commemorative event. The Jewish leaders noted that the same hate-filled lies from government politicians about
Jews, in the 1930s, led to the murderous Kristallnacht attacks on their community in Nazi Germany, which claimed
many lives.
TLM national co-ordinator Deborah Hobson said: “We applaud the brave actions of our sister organisation Care4Calais,
who were in Knowsley to stand by migrants at the hotel, despite being heavily outnumbered by the far-right thugs. TLM,
joining with other people among Britain’s justice-loving majority, give our solidarity to migrants, asylum seekers and
refugees and will defend them at every opportunity.”
We note the statement from Merseyside police that several people, aged between 13 and 54, have been arrested
during the violence and one of their vans was burnt out. Recently, fascists have mobilised on a national basis to attack
vulnerable people from abroad, most of whom have fled war and persecution in their own counties and been put in
hotels in England, Scotland and Wales. The fascists have used time-worn racist tropes about Britain being “swamped”
and alleged attack by migrants on local females, to incite residents against them.
Other cities and towns, as well as Liverpool, have seen local communities, trade unions and politicians commendably
come together to build resistance to far-right hatred. We praise the statement this year from Britain’s largest unions in
support of migrants. All communities should show solidarity, not waiting for bad-intentioned people, who wish to spread
hate, to turn up before the necessary actions are taken.
The Conservative government, and their cheerleaders in the news media, have deliberately whipped up anti-migrant
feelings in a cynical attempt to drawn attention away from the economic crisis they have unleashed on the country and
are using scapegoats to do that.
Britain, a wealthy Global North country, is not being overrun by Global Majority people of colour. In fact, Britain is
ranked just sixth in Europe regarding the number of asylum seekers and refugees to whom it has given protection.
What Britain needs is an asylum system that allows for faster and fairer treatment of those desperate people forced to
use it. That means, more not fewer safe and legal routes for them, as called for by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees.
We demand positive action from the British government. But have to say, its deplorable retreat from some of the
important recommendations made by the government’s Windrush report, in the 75th anniversary year of the iconic ship
bringing people from the Caribbean to help rebuild Britain after the war, does not bode well. We join with the Jewish
community, and others, in saying: #NeverAgain.
End
Note to Editors: The Liberation Movement (TLM), is a cross-party, multi-faith Black Lives Matter-inspired anti-racist
alliance of African Asian Caribbean and other people of colour and their allies, strongly supported at the grassroots by
community and trade union activists. More than a dozen MPs back TLM, along with trade unions, with black-organised
members, at a national and local level.