The Socialist 27 July 2016

No compromise with Labour right

No compromise with Labour right wing

Mood to defeat the Blairites

Anger against Blairite 'traitors' sweeps Portsmouth Momentum

'Defend Corbyn' rally

Corbyn's 'rock-star welcome' in North West

End Victorian working conditions

Tories plan further fee hikes for uni students

Them & Us

What we saw: UB40 backs Corbyn

Europe and the workers' movement after Brexit

Why the Socialist Party opposed the EU

Turkey: no to military rule, no to Erdoğan's rule

Barcelona 1936: the people's Olympics

Fawley refinery strike against 'race to bottom'

Unite policy conference backs reselection of Labour MPs

Brookes workers continue the fight against 2Sisters

Workplace news in brief

Black Lives Matter demo shakes Leeds

Sheffield solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Huntingdon anti-racist rally

Pent Valley school closure judicial review blocked

Reverse Derby council cuts

An explosion in sales of the Socialist

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/911/23280

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 27 July 2016 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook

Sheffield demonstrates in solidarity with Black Lives Matter

Sheffield Black Lives Matter demonstration 22 July photo Alistair Tice (Click to enlarge)

Will Hornett

On 22 July Sheffield's first Black Lives Matter demonstration, a large and vibrant march around the city centre took place, beginning and culminating in big rallies of about 1,000 people.

This demonstration follows a wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the country organised largely by young, black, working class people. These are in solidarity with the massive movement in the USA that has built up as a response to the racist murders of black people by the police.

In the US in 2015, at least 102 black people were murdered by the police. That is five times the rate of the killings of white people, also horrendous crimes in themselves. In Britain, there is a growing consciousness among young black activists, radicalised by the movement in the US, that the UK is not guiltless.

For example the high profile racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, the investigation of which was marred by institutional racism and corruption, and most recently, the death of 18-year old Mzee Mohammed in police custody in Liverpool which is currently being investigated.

BLM demo, Sheffield, photo by A Tice (Click to enlarge)

This demonstration highlighted the importance of viewing these racist attacks as part of a broader picture of the institutionalised racism, most immediately, of the police.

The point was made by several speakers however that this racism is embedded in more than just the police. It is embedded in the racist immigration services that make it much harder to migrate here as a person of colour than a white person. A system which detains hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers in detention centres like Yarls Wood, the vast majority of which are people of colour.

Also, cuts to local services in working class communities disproportionately affect people of colour because they are targeted at working class communities.

The organisers were clear that this is not the end, that there needs to be an extended campaign against racism, cuts, and austerity, and that this should become a movement as large and strong as we are seeing in the US.

In this issue

#KeepCorbyn

No compromise with Labour right wing