'RACISM' LACKS A DEFINITION, Let's Thank GOD! by Brian Bamford

IN 1959, I went to the branch meeting of my local Rochdale ETU branch one Friday night to try to raise the issue of the boycott of South African goods with the elctricians there. I was a 19-year-old apprentice at the time and the TUC, the Labour Party and the Liberal Party had all declared their backing for this international campaign which had been called for in November 1959 by the Movement for Colonial Freedom.

As a young man I was surprised first by the lack of interest of the ETU branch officers, and remember the ETU was then regarded as a militant communist trade union, who despite my protests didn't see any point in my request that the branch should discuss the international boycott campaign. They were too busy collecting the members subscription as they were queuing-up to pay before going out on the razzle as it was Friday night. As I tried to interest a West Indian electrician the chairman, who had become tired of my appeals for support, asked the assembled members if anyone was anxious to discuss the topic of the boycott of South African goods? The silence was deafening! Even the one black man present didn't show any interest.

It took many more years of international struggle before South Africa obtained anything approaching freedom and aparthied was removed.

Yet according to Kader Asmal: ‘If any event galvanised the Boycott Movement into action it was Chief Albert Luthuli’s plea for sanctions”¦’ Luthuli’s statement reads: ‘I appeal to all governments throughout the world, to people everywhere, to all organisations and institutions in every land and at every level to act now to impose such sanctions on South Africa that will bring about the vital necessary change and avert what can become the greatest African tragedy of our time.’

Apathy & Pleading Petitions

I was reminded of this disinterested apathy of these 1950's north of England trade unionists when I was recently urged to sign a petition to support the three footballers who according to the media had been racially abused for missing a penalty in last Sunday's Euro Final.

The protest petition reads:

'Three black football players have received a storm of racist abuse after England lost the final. We can't let such hatred go unchallenged -- so let's meet it with a deafening public cry of support from across the country. Add your name to the public letter below, and when we reach 100,000 names, Avaaz will publish in a major national newspaper.'

The petition pleads the case further:

'Within minutes of England losing the match, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook were flooded with cruel, racist messages towards the players. Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel have since condemned the abuse -- but only after they'd originally undermined anti-racism gestures by the team earlier in the competition.'

'Let's show these three black players, and the whole country, that racism has no place here. That as ordinary citizens, we will not sit by as a small minority of people spew their hatred and ignorance. But more than that, let's show the children of this country what it truly means to be English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh and BRITISH in the 21st century.'

Worthy words indeed!

'Racism' is not defined! Racial discrimination is!

My understanding is that the United Nations (UN) does not define 'racism' as such; however, it does define 'racial discrimination'. According to the 1965 UN International Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, '...the term "racial discrimination" shall mean any distintion, exclusion, restriction, or prefernce base on race, colour, desent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundimental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.'[

'Racism' is clearly not defined by the UN because it is ambiguous and is often used as an ideological swear word by the liberal left in much the same way as the word 'Facist' was used in the 1930s as a term of abuse. Despite the fact that one such petition had more than a million signatures on it according to Woman's Hour today I doubt that the culture will change and I suspect that many people will find this kind od virtue signaling turns their stomachs. Even if Gareth Southgate OBE is ever such a nice bloke.

As they say 'Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same'.

*******************************************************************

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité? by Les May

THERE’s a line in the James Stewart film ‘The Dynamite Man from Glory Jail’ which always comes to mind whenever I hear that the leader of some religion based political party or other is making demands; ‘God uses some people and some people use God’. If you think we have problems in the UK with a few mediaeval minded God botherers outside a school, spare a thought for Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

Supporters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, variously described as ‘hardline’ and ‘far right’, blocked major transport routes demanding the release of their leader Saad Rizvi who had been arrested on Monday after he gave the government an ultimatum to send the French ambassador home or face protests culminating in a march on the capital on 20 April. One protester and a police officer who was beaten by angry crowds have died.

Islamist groups in Pakistan have been enraged by France's Emmanuel Macron defending his country’s freedom of speech laws after the killing of a teacher who had shown images of the Prophet Muhammad to his class.

Khan’s problem is that last November he appears to have tried to buy off demonstrators who had organised anti-France protests demanding a boycott of French goods and the severing of diplomatic ties.

At least that is how the protesters see things, though at the time a senior government official is reported to have told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity that the "government has no intention of cutting diplomatic ties with any country" and that the situation had been 'handled accordingly' to ensure the protesters left peacefully. If true this suggests that Khan’s government may have told a ‘porky pie’ to get themselves out of a hole and now it has come back to bite them.

In this country we hear a great deal about so called ‘Islamophobia’. A phobia is essentially an irrational fear of something, so Islamophobia is characterised by a wholly irrational fear of Islam. But when we look at what is happening in Pakistan and the consequences of the demands being made by those outside a school in Batley, should we not ask ourselves if in some cases these fears really are wholly irrational?

*********************************************************

Tories to impose ban on boycott of 'unethical' firms!

The Tory government is planning to introduce legislation that will make boycotts of 'unethical' firms illegal. Under the proposed legislation, all publicly funded institutions will be banned from refusing to buy goods and services from companies involved in the "arms trade, fossil fuels. tobacco products or Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank." Public bodies that continued to pursue boycotts, would face "severe penalties", according to a government minister.

Under the proposed legislation, organisations would have been prohibited from campaigning against apartheid or in future, from promoting boycotts against firms involved in supplying arms to countries with a record of abusing human rights.

At least three local authorities, including Labour controlled Birmingham Council and Leicester, have threatened to end contracts with the French-owned water, energy and waste-management company Veolia, over its involvement in the West Bank settlements. As a result, the company announced that it  was ending its operations in Israel. In November 2014, Leicester Council adopted a policy to boycott goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Jewish groups have denounced the decision declaring that it "amounts to a get-out-of-town order to Leicester Jews" and have launched a judicial review.

Government sources say they are cracking down on town-hall boycotts because they "undermined good community relations, poisoned and polarised debate and fuelled anti-Semitism." Critics say that the government proposals are a "gross attack on democratic freedoms and local democracy" which should be free of central Government political control. Student union bans, could also be illegal under the proposed legislation.

Although much of the publicity about this issue has been focused on boycotts affecting Israeli companies, the proposed legislation may be intended or have unintended consequences, for a range of different groups who hope to urge public bodies to deny contracts to organisations deemed unethical. For example, a body such as the 'Blacklist Support Group',  is seeking to promote a boycott of construction companies, known as the 'McFarlanes Defendents', that includes Carillion, Kier and Sir Robert McAlpine, who have admitted guilt in the High Court to "infringing workers' rights to confidentiality, privacy, reputation and data protection." The construction companies have also admitted to a further claim of 'defamation.

John McDonnell, the Labour Shadow Chancellor, believes that the 'blacklisting' of construction workers by these companies, is a national scandal. Although some Labour councils in the North West, such as Tameside, in Greater Manchester, continue to use construction companies such as Carillion and Kier, who have admitted to infringing workers rights and to having been affiliated to a secretive blacklisting organization called the 'Consulting Association', the Shadow Chancellor says:

"Labour will do everything in our power to ensure that taxpayers money is only given to companies with the highest ethical standards by ensuring that public contracts are not awarded to companies involved in serious human rights violations."

If the planned proposals by the government to ban boycotts of 'unethical' firms goes ahead, this sort of action may well prove to be illegal.

HOVIS workers strike against zero hours contracts. Three arrested on picket line!

We are publishing below a statement we have received about the strike at Hovis in Wigan:

"Strikers who work for Wigan Hovis,  have called for a mass protest at 2 to 2.30 am tonight ( on the night of Sunday into Monday ) as the lorries leave the depot at Cale Lane, Wigan. WN2 1HB.

The strike by members of  the Bakers, Food and Allied workers Union (BFAWU)  is
against the use of zero hours contracts and for security of employment.

We attach pictures from Saturday's excellent march and rally in the town.

We call on all trade unionists to support these workers in there struggle against no hours contracts. Three of them were arrested on the picket line at 4am this morning two of them women. One of these was

assaulted by the police protecting scab labour.

They need your physical and financial support, but most of all they
request every body to boycott all HOVIS products and pass this on to
all contacts across the UK."