Theo Sharieff Winston
Over 400 people attended a public meeting in Birmingham on 26 June after government attacks on some schools in predominantly Muslim areas of the city.
It marked the launch of the ‘Putting Birmingham School Kids First’ campaign and the start of a local fightback against Michael Gove and Ofsted’s coordinated attack on Birmingham’s Muslim community.
Parents who spoke stressed fears of further isolation of the Muslim community as allegations of radicalism among their schoolchildren creates an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion across Birmingham.
This division of the city along ethnic lines during a period of unprecedented attacks on the working class, doubtless delights the government.
One speaker pointed out that, while there are issues of governance in the affected schools, this was a result of Tory policy to gut local authorities which originally would have overseen and potentially handled the matter.
Due to Ofsted’s political nature, he called for an open public inquiry conducted by community members themselves to dispel any government propaganda.
Socialists would support this but the teachers’ unions and the labour movement must take the lead in this inquiry.
