TUC march against racism (1)
01 January 1991
TUC march against racism
artdoc June=1994
Almost 40,000 people joined a Trades Union Council (TUC) `Unite
against racism' march from Spitalfields Market to London Fields
on Saturday 19 March. It was one of the largest anti-racist
demonstrations seen in recent years and highlighted the
escalating racist violence in east London since the election of
the fascist British National Party (BNP) candidate, Derek
Beackon, at the Isle of Dogs by-election last year (see
Statewatch, vol 3, no 5).
One victim of this increased violence was nineteen-year old
Muktar Ahmed, who was brutally beaten by a gang of twenty racists
less than a hundred yards from his home in February. The beating
he received was so severe that he was fortunate not to have died.
Following the Isle of Dogs election campaign the Liberal
Democrats were severely criticised for a running a blatantly
racist campaign that contributed to the BNP victory by
victimising the local Bangladeshi community. This pressure forced
the party to initiate an inquiry, chaired by Lord Lester, into
the conduct of the local party. It concluded that their campaign
`was profoundly misguided, and was counter-productive in helping
to make racism appear respectable and pave the way for the BNP's
victory'.
Nonetheless, the inquiry appears to have had little effect on
the local party who obstructed the TUC march organisers at every
opportunity. The planned route of the march, from Spitalfields
Market to Mile End Park, was turned down by the Liberal Democrat
controlled Tower Hamlets council on the grounds that a rally at
the park would spoil the grass. A second venue, at Victoria Park,
was also refused and the march was eventually forced to rally at
London Fields, in neighbouring Hackney. These circumstance made
complaints by Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, that he had
not been allowed to speak at the rally, ring hollow.
Since the march the Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats have faced
further criticism following the attempted deselection of six
Asian candidates and their replacement by whites in order to run
an `ethnically balanced ticket' for the May council elections.
The racism of the Liberal Democrats, combined with splits within
the Labour Party over whether they should play the `race-card'
does not bode well for the May elections when the BNP will be
fielding three candidates in the area. If the BNP win all three
seats they will have access to a twenty-million pound budget to
further their fascist aspirations.
Political speech and race relations in a liberal democracy, Lord
Lester. Report of an inquiry into the conduct of the Tower
Hamlets Liberal Democrats in publishing allegedly racist election
literature between 1990 and 1993, Liberal Democrats, 1993.
Neither unique nor typical: the context of race relations in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets (Interim report). Runnymede
Trust, 1993.
Statewatch Vol 4 no 2, March-April 1994