2017 : Communities of Resistance and tackling post Brexit racism
The National Police Chiefs Council reported that hate crime across the UK had gone up to over 58% in the two weeks either side of the BREXIT vote compared to the same period last year. That’s 912 more reported incidents from 6th to end of June. The Metropolitan Police continue to record a similar increase in the capital. Some parts of London have witnessed 4 incidents every hour. The Monitoring Group has so far dealt with 212 calls from people facing racial abuse, harassment, criminal damage and violence. This alarming spike has come at a time when the level of racially or religiously motivated hate crimes was already higher than following the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Indeed, in 2014/15 there were 52,528 hate crimes recorded by the police, compared with 44,471 in 2013/14, with all five of the protected groups under hate crime legislation experiencing an increase in recorded crime. Race hate crimes have accounted for nearly 80% of all hate crimes in every year since 2000. Current surveys of hate crimes across the UK indicate that although migrants account for nearly 60% as victims of race hate abuse, the abuse and crimes is also directed is also felt by settled BAME communities. Although the spike was initially thought to be a short-term problem, the latest reports, however, indicate a long term trend that has also witnesses racially motivated murders on British streets of a Labour politician and polish migrants. We expect as the Brexit negotiations progress over the next two year, this will only worsen on the streets of Britain.
The Communities of Resistance project aims to help local communities to build networks to challenge this growth of racism. The aims of the communities of resistance project is twofold.
Create an infrastructure for a viable network that challenges the growth of racism and xenophobia (xeno-racism) nationally in post-BREXIT Britain
Influence a positive shift in the narrative on migration and racism amongst local communities, media and policy formers based on a rights-led agenda.
We will be doing this through the creation of networks that can create dialogue and unity between different communities suffering racism and xenophobia through shared experiences, and secondly through generating new leaders amongst migrant and BAMER communities. Over 2017 we will be working across South Yorkshire, Nottingham and London to bring people together to build positive support for victims of hate crimes; dissemination of information and knowledge, including publication of reports and media commentary, to influence new thinking; organising public meeting and forum to make informed decisions and identifying and training young people with leadership skills.