AND FILE SPEAKS OUT _ADESH IDS SOCIATION ROUP WHITI NO BRITAIN Wonder E ARE US TO STRY HERE like before the recent events?
years and more since the first immitrade unionists. offered the same credit facilities and call To DovCott tne cIuD What was the situation in Southall Well, for many years now - for fifteen grants came to this town - I think we've had a very good record of race relations. mented.
Indian and other immigrant people were very quickly assimilated into the trade union movement, they were very good This was particularly the case after the woll strike many years ago - a situation where a rubber factory imported and exploited immigrant labour. The workers came out on a long strike. Irish workers at Wolff who came out in solidarity were support by Indian shopkeepers during the Of course, you always get backward elements in any society, ane especially among older people. An example was the dispute over the soutall Labour CuD For some time there had not been a black face seen in that club, though the club has specifically denied that there is a colour bar. They have no coloured members to the best of my knowledge. Last dangers.
year, following a dispute in which some West Indian workers were refused entrance, Ealing Trades Council issued a Asian youth activist in Southall We used to have really violent struggles in Southall up to 1970. There was a lot of racialism but then quite a majority of the population was white. There was trouble with the skin-heads. After that there was very In the last two or three months, however, incidents have taken place. Gangs of white youth have come to Southall to beat up coloured people, not just the Asians. But nothing as serious as that Friday night when one of From there on we thought it was necessary for all the youths to get together if our so-called leaders were not prepared to do anything. We came together on the Saturday started protesting, started gathering, outside the Victory pub where Chaggar was stabbed to death.
Then followed the action that was taken outside the police station to secure the release of those who had taken part in the action outside the Victory pub. None of these big demonstrations, the press and publicity, would have happened without that unity and action on Saturday and Sunday. If we had not taken this action it would have been just another death of a black person.
The police, community leaders, and the press insisted that it wasn't anything to do with racialism. It was just a fight and somebody was stabbed. Even when it was recognised that it was racialist, we were told: 'Cool it down, None of our community leaders were really responsible for the action. They didn't approve of it. They only joined in when they thought that the youths might be prepared to This leadership has kept the true facts from our people. The number of different committees they have created have really divided our people, and that's why we have been unable to take really strong action in the past. This time the youths forced unity of all these different bodies.
If nothing else, the death of Chaggar has united all these parties for the first time. Now there should be one commiWe've also felt it necessary to form our own Youth Association, so that we can force our leaders to listen to us. They cannot go around making decisions without us. It is about time that we youths were consulted. It is us who largely suffer from discrimination.
It's not that our parents don't suffer. But we don't want to go through the same experience as them. They accepted it. Our leaders still accept it. We won't accept Most of this violence concerns the youths only. So the youths have to be consulted, not just on the local questions, We are not prepared to accept as adequate the sort of protection we have had from police in the past. Either police protection gets better or we will have to - not take the law into our own hands — but we will have to do something to defend ourselves, in which ever way we think Our party responded by passina a resolution to vacate the premises we rented trom tne club torinwiin. There was a hell of a struggle within the party over a period of months to try to get this impleBoth Southall LPYS and Hounslow Trades Council have passed resolutions supporting the right of blacks to organise in self-defence. Can you tell me how the local labour movement has responded to these local events? If black workers feel that they are not being protected by the police, they will of necessity have to organise themselves into some form of defence organisations. But I should say that if it is black defence organisations that is divisive.
If the police do not perform their functions of protecting all people, and we are obliged to form groupings to protect our selves, they must be made up of all sections oT tne working class, ney must be work ers defence squads, because to do it any other way is divisive and has inherent So where does the labour movement in this area go from here? This demonstration has shown that local people want to live together in peace and can live together in peace. It's up to the Labour rarty to mignt alongside tem in their struggles The leadership of the Labour Party nationally have failed absolutely to give a lead. Jenkins has allowed racist organisations to march through immigrant areas in Bradford and Birmingham. This is an abdication of responsibility If Jenkins has qualms about stamping on tascist orcanisauions inen ne snould move aside for someone who doesn't have those qualms - who will stand up tor the working class and actively oppose fascism.
If anything good has come of the last few weeks, it's that the complacency that has so far prevailed has been cast aside. They have no longer got a classical immigrant population that is prepared to accept being kicked around.
The kids that went to the police station, Sunday last, weren't immigrants - they were English kids, some of them born and bred here. And they are not going to be kicked around any longer. We have to rise to that, we have to pull them into our movement. We have to put the whole question on a class basis.
We are giving a lead in Southall. I hope the rest of the labour movement will follow that lead.
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LABOUR RANK Constituency Labour Party
CIST WELL & LE