The black self-defence in Brick Lane can expect little help from the Hackney Committee against Racism, thanks to successful efforts by the local Communist Party to defeat a motion calling for this prin None of the arguments nut forward by the CP had any thing to do with the monon. Monty colaman, a leading loca Stalinist, told the committee that in 1949 attacks on two Jewish youths were not met by self-defence groups' but by massive labour movement demonstrations; he asserted that self-defence organisations would split the labour movement (ignoring the part of the motion which called for labour movement support; and concmcca inar ine way orward was nor "separatist groups but for blacks to join -implying that URDE the divisions along race lines in the working class could be laid at the door of sectarian blacks.
Of course, like the other sectarians who oppose this position, the Communist Party will not actively campaig against black self-defence outside the confines oj committees, nevertneless, they have put a block on concrete action wich coum nave tea to orscusston. with local self-defence groups on how support can be turned into practical COSESLUTICE ANTI-BRITISH?
he unspoken attitude dening much of yesterday's Commons debate on immigration seemed to be, once again, that immigrants are some kind of natural pollution, like the coypu rat which infests British rivers./ Simon Hoggart's bitter comment in the Guardian (6 July) underined now deeply racidism runs through every stream of British political Amidst inter-party backslapping about now tair we all are to immorants. winian Whitelaw talked of 'not stretching the tolerance or the britise people too tar The impeccable 'liberal", Roy 'I murder Irish political prisoners' Jenkins, proceeded to propose a register of immigrant dependants These people 'liberals", these people 'moderates'! Their ideas and their attitudes are as racist as nose or tue var ional Front, but it just wouldn't do to let our parliamentary veneer drop now For these people the problem isn't racism but immigration, more precisely black immigration. But anyone who starts from that position is a racist. Once upon a time, when the Tories were trying to push through the 1962 Immigration Act, harold wison and tne Labour rarty said Ine same tning. Now tney simply play the numbers game with people's lives.
"Left' Labour MP Sydney Bidwell at least rose to speak. But to say what? He agreed with Mr Jenkins that the rules had to be drawn tightly - but please, exercise a little human discretion. Then came the joke of the debate: To be racist and sur up racial natred in britais is to be anti-British, and the sooner we snap out of it the better.
Anti-British? The British Empire was born of slavery and maintained by racialism - a racialism that denied that black people were even human beings, just chattels to be bought and sold.
But perhaps that was all an anti British aberration as well?