Letter from Lee Jasper to Commisioner Howe requesting arrest of Bob Diamond

I sent a letter to Commissioner Howe requesting the immediate arrest of Bob Diamond under the Fraud Act 2006. You can see it here....

Commissioner Metropolitan Police
Mr Bernard Hogan Howe
New Scotland Yard
London SW1

Thursday 5th July 2012.

Re Financial Services Authority report into Barclays fixing of Libor and Euribor interest rates.

Dear Commissioner Howe,

I write this open and public letter to make a formal criminal compliant about Barclays former Chief Executive Bob Diamond, his senior management team and other employees who during the period between 2007 and 2009, at the peak of the global banking crisis, fraudulently filed artificially low Libor and Euribor rates resulting in the defrauding of billions of pounds of public money. I believe that these actions constitute serious criminal acts as defined by the Fraud Act 2006.
The potential scale of this criminal act of fraud demands that the MPS Serious Fraud squad, in the interest of justice, immediately secures all relevant evidence and without delay arrest all those suspected of being involved with immediate effect.

The lack of action to date by the MPS Serious Fraud Squad is inexplicable and is sharp contrast to the effort, resources and commitment of the MPS to prosecute individuals alleged to have taken part in the disturbances of August 2011 sparked by the shooting of Mark Duggan.

The vigorous approach adopted by the MPS to arresting suspected rioters and the sloth like response to an extremely serious crime that could potentially affect millions of individuals and companies alike, defrauding them of potentially billions of pounds, illuminates the policing priorities of the MPS. There is, as you know, a body of growing public opinion that believes that there is one law for the rich another for the poor.

It is in the public interest that arrests are made and additional evidence secured quickly if public confidence in the unbiased equal application of criminal law for all citizens regardless of status or wealth is to be regained.

Lord Justice Mansfield in the case of enslaved African seeking freedom James Somerset in 1729 said “ Let justice prevail even although the heavens may fall.”


I urge you to end the prevarication of the MPS on these matters and enforce the law of the land. Yours sincerely

Lee Jasper
Co Chair of BARAC
Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts UK

Cc Mayor of London

Tackling Racism in the UK in the 21st Century

Jobs and Freedom March on Washington 1963

I read with great interest the recent article by my friend and comrade Liberal Democratic Councillor Lester Holloway entitled “Putting the movement back into the anti racist movement”.

Lester’s article bemoans the demise of a once vibrant anti racist movement. Reflecting on the anti racist struggle for race equality and justice in the mid 1980’s and 1990’s he harks back to a more passionate age where activists were found on every street corner, bold conferences were held highlighting and exposing racism and people were not afraid of speaking truth to power.

He contrasts this with the reality today where most black organisations are politically emasculated and remain largely silent on the issues of the day.

He points out that during the last 20 years, institutional racism and its effects has worsened whilst we as a community have become increasingly politically marginalised and ineffective.

The article had particular resonance for me as I was involved in many of the black/anti racist organisations he cites in this article. There is much truth in what Lester says and I for one am hoping that it will kick start a much needed debate as to where we go from here. There are some points I disagree with but it would be both churlish and lead to an unnecessarily sterile debate to rehearse these points by way of response. Much more important is the substantive issue raised by his article that the anti racist movement, once vibrant has now lost momentum.

Lester points out that we have failed to nurture young talent. I could not agree more: that is the real reality that now needs to be both accepted and dealt with. There is an urgent and burning need to nurture and educate new leaders in how to more effectively challenge racism and injustice.

Our failure to do so has cost us dear and the August riots of 2011 bare testimony to the fact that we have failed to provide the necessary leadership and succession planning to facilitate the emergence of young leaders capable of organising and representing youth in crisis.

I would argue that the profound economic crisis in the black community, exacerbated through the powerful magnifying lens of racism, is tearing our community apart and has led to a weakening of our resolve to fight racism, a decimation of the black voluntary sector as a result of public sector cuts and as a result a virtual silencing of our strong political voice.

The public hi-tech racist media lynching.

As most people will know, others and I were the victims of a sustained and ruthless campaign led by the London Evening Standard. From Dec 2007 until May 2008 both Ken Livingstone the then Mayor and I as his political adviser, were subjected to a relentless and deeply racist media smear campaign. The length and breadth of this campaign was and remains unprecedented in British political history. For nearly 7 months the media whose real agenda was to defeat Ken Livingstone, used London’s black communities and me as their whipping boy to undermine Ken. Effectively we were nothing more than political road kill in Boris Johnson’s remorseless drive for power.

Initially many from our community defended and publically supported me. But as the campaign intensified and month after month those attack increased so that support began to wane and fall away. As time wore on I saw people physically wilt under the weight of continually defending me from scurrilous and unfounded allegations.

To be attacked for a week or a month is one thing to be attacked for nearly 7 months on a daily basis took its toll on that support. Quite simply it was beyond the experience of most black people and organisations. It was one of the most sustained racist media campaigns ever seen in British political history.

Supporters were threatened with similar ‘exposure’ by the press and understandably as a result were increasingly reluctant to speak out. Organisations concerned for their funding for the most part kept quiet. As the months passed it became clear that the Standard was intent on targeting anybody who spoke out in my defence.  Others seeing an opportunity to make good their own political fortunes or settle old scores began to feed the racist media firestorm with more smears, lies and innuendo.

In the end all but the most principled and strongest stood by me.  Tribute needs to be made to those like Lester Holloway and others too many to mention here who were resolute and unflinching in their support. Many paid a price for doing so, some losing work, some being targeted and marginalised and others were simply exhausted with continually publically defending me from a barrage of allegations.

Most damaged were those innocents who were caught up in the initial media campaign by association with me. The press attacked them leaving families psychologically damaged, politically marginalised and financially ruined as a result. To see peoples lives destroyed in such a callous and malicious media driven racist attack was excruciatingly painful for me. It is that pain of family, friends and colleagues that will remain with me all my life. More than 17 people were arrested and had their lives ruined.

I lay claim to being the most forensically investigated black man in Britain having endured 18 month investigations by Boris Johnson’s Forensic Audit Panel, Metropolitan Police Services, Financial Services Authority, DLA Piper Forensic Accountants, London Development Agency, the London Assembly, Companies House and the Charity Commission all of whom declared that  “there is no case to answer”.  Not that you saw that in the news to any large extent. Such things are routinely ignored or relegated to a small paragraph next to the horse racing results.

Despite a myriad of serious accusations being made not a single person was charged with any offence.

As a hardened activist even I was taken a back at the ferocity, length and forensic nature of the campaign. This continues to pain me most, to have witnessed the dire physical, emotional and financial effects on close friends and colleagues. To witness great black organisations who had done nothing other than defend me and challenge the racism of the press and to see them driven into the ground watching helplessly as their funding evaporated like the morning dew.

Under attack we don’t fight back.

The consequent effect of this campaign was to frighten and intimidate black and anti racist organisations from speaking out against injustice. Ultimately it was an exercise in control, intimation and discipline.

In addition during the last 4 years we have seen massive cuts to the black voluntary sector that has substantively reduced our capacity to organise effectively.  Organisations have closed, services lost, staff and client teams dismantled and management committees disbanded.

Why the ant racist movement has run out of steam.

In addition, we have seen a sustained and on going political attack led by the PM David Cameron and his Cabinet on the principles of multiculturalism and anti racism. Race equality as a policy priority has been relegated and marginalised. A new crop of Tory Black right-wingers have conspired with the press to pathologise black communities, identifying black people as the authors of our own misfortune and dismissing the reality of racism as a fiction.  Our networks were wiped out and those that do remain are much reduced in their capacity to do anything meaningful and sustained.

Meanwhile post 9/11the left in general has focused on Islamaphobia at the cost of campaigning on wholesale institutional racism of the state. The immergence of the racist English Defence League targeting Muslim communities reinforced that trend. As a result the issues of stop and search, school exclusions, deaths in custody, racism in the workplace and in recruitment have been ignored.

In 2008 during and after the elections I was asked to resign as the chair of Operation Black Vote and Equanomics both mentioned in Lester’s article. The 1990 Trust board refused to consider my return as a Trustee. All argued that politically I was a ‘toxic’ brand. Having been asked to stand down by people I respected I had no choice but to comply. In essence they were right although I disagreed with them at the time I came to value their counsel, allowing me more time with my family and to recuperate from the battering I had taken.

Since then attempting to rebuild new movements such as Operation Hope & Recovery and Black Activists Rising against the Cuts (BARAC) has been hugely difficult. Personally challenged financially as a consequence of legal costs associated with clearing my name, and carrying the burden of being politically marginalised, makes this task comparable to climbing Everest without any shoes. 

Despite this I have sought to continue to support families suffering injustice and represent black people struggling to confront racism and injustice. Without the basic requirement of an office and resources this becomes a task of herculean proportions.

We need fresh leadership.

Where I do agree with Lester is the need to help facilitate the next crop of young black radical leaders. We must do more in helping that young talent onto the national stage and provide the necessary support, advice and guidance that will allow them to benefit from the experience of seasoned activists.

Comparisons with the USA and leaders such as Reverend Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are unfair. African Americans are more homogeneous and have the benefit of Affirmative Action legislation that created a black middle class that has more political leverage than we do here in the UK. That is in addition to their huge numbers, their iconic civil rights struggle and their political and economic power developed over 300 years of campaigning.

Black communities in Europe and the UK have been around in significant numbers for a significantly shorter period. Most are relative newcomers who are much more culturally and religiously diverse than the African American community. This means the shared political, historical religious, cultural narrative and understanding of the lived experience of racism in the UK differs for many Diaspora black communities. This lack of a national single shared political narrative is disabling and makes building consensus among UK’s black communities much more difficult as a result.

Our most fundamental weakness, our real Achilles heel if you will, is the absence of a strong black economy capable of funding and sponsoring our own struggle. I cannot emphasis this enough, without our own financial base our fight for equality and justice is comparable to carrying water in a basket.

The future: Where do we go from here?

My thoughts are that there is an urgent need for a unifying national anti racist conference that can inject some greater level of organisational cohesiveness to a movement shattered and broken as a result of a sustained attack by the ascendant right and their allies in the press.

I have argued for the adoption of an admittedly defensive ‘circle the wagons’ strategy for at least two years. In 2009 I wrote to all national black organisations and suggesting a joint meeting to discuss how the cuts would impact our communities. Suffice to say that such was my fall from grace in some people’s eyes that I did not receive a single reply. Despite that I remain convinced that UK black organisations need to be unified and working together on a shared political agenda for radical change.

These organisations made the political calculation that they would be better off financially working with Government rather than building mass movements to radically challenge state racism. I can understand that they had employees with families and mortgages to pay. The real tragedy was, as a result of them keeping silent nobody heard them scream when the cuts eventually came.  Ironically today most of these black organisations have closed, are on the verge of closing and politically muzzled on a short lead.  Throughout the last decade the black struggle for race equality and anti racism became depoliticised: reduced to nothing more than a safe series of ‘diversity management frameworks’ devised by consultants.

With racism in the UK getting worse as the economy declines, the need for a fresh impetus and new tactics is abundantly clear. BARAC has joined hands with the Occupy Movement and UK Uncut in recognition of the need to develop new alliances in the struggle for equality.

We have established these strong alliances in an effort to recognise the need to reach out to young people. 

My real fear is that we will be the first UK black generation that bequeaths to its young people a society that is more, not less racist, than that gifted to us by the Windrush generation.

They self sacrificed to ensure we, their children, had real opportunities that they did not. As we contemplate the future for our children we must consider what is the legacy we wish to leave them?  I say the only legacy worth leaving is a strong commitment to achieve equality in our lifetime, not in 50 or 100 or 300 years but now. As British citizens our children deserve no less and if we fail then so we shall be rightly cursed as the generation who abandoned their prime historical and moral imperative to push their children on. 

Moving on to the future and how we no respond to the challenge we face as outlined in part in Lester’s article I do think it important to outline a possible way forward in the struggle for race equality.

BARAC has agreed a major discussion framework for a major push next year to address some of these issues and take this debate forward.

Equality in our Life Time: A National March on for Jobs and Justice

2013: The 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther Kings famous “I have a dream” speech.

On August 28^th 1963 Dr Martin Luther King led the historic civil rights Jobs and Freedom March on Washington. The march attracted over 300,000 people in a unique and historic effort to end racial segregation, racial prejudice and Jim Crow legislation in the United States.

Dr Kings now legendary “I have a dream” speech was the most articulate and urgent clarion call for justice envisioning the future arrival of a just and non-racial America. The March on Washington with Dr King has become the most defining and resounding image of the US civil rights struggle and the reference point for international campaigns for the adoption and promotion of global human rights.

50 years later and here in the UK racism and prejudice continues to plague human relations and violates human rights across the world. The dream of a world where the antiquated and ideas of racism and irrational prejudice were consigned to the dustbin of history have yet to be realised in the 21^st Century.  That’s why we have to march again to revitalise a new anti racist movement and ensure we push our issues back onto the political and media agenda.

Racism and injustice continues to blight the lives of millions of British citizens and as a result of the current economic is both exacerbating and increasing rates of racism. We are in real danger that yet more generations of our people will be subject to a lifetime of discrimination.

The challenges for this generation are to embark on a sustained national political campaign to end structural social and economic racism and deliver the dream of real race equality in our lifetime.

We are calling for a recreation of that famous iconic march on Washington with a march in 2013 in London. 50 years after Kings enigmatic speech we are free but not yet equal. Racism in 2012 is on the rise and the very future of our children and grandchildren is at stake. Our community cannot afford to see its black voluntary sector demolished, we cannot afford to see more of our young people unemployed, rotting in jails or becoming depressed with mental illness nor can we be denied justice at the hands of the police and the courts.

Lester’s article has ignited a debate of which this response is but one part. BARAC is suggesting this discussion continues within the context of the 50^th Anniversary of the historic 1963 march on Washington. We want to move the debate onto where we go from here in the run up to a general election due to take place on the 7^th May 2015.

BARAC is inviting black organisations nationwide to sign up to a broad discussion that explores the potential of reaching consensus agreement to:

• Attend the National Coordinating Committee for the March and help us develop the main anti racist demands and produce a mobilisation strategy for the march. 

• To join with us in helping to formulate a national set of demands for jobs and justice.

• To explore the possibility of holding major black organisations AGM’s and or national conferences during one week in 2013. We are suggesting a National Black Convention to be held during one week at a residential venue in early September 2012.

This initiative will be presented and discussed at the forthcoming BARAC public meeting on 27th July. Speakers include Marcia Rigg, Sean Rigg Justice and Change Campaign, John McDonnell MP (invited), Zita Holbourne & Lee Jasper, Joint National Chairs of BARAC and more speakers to be confirmed.  We hope you will join us.

Venue: Stratford Advice Arcade, 107-109 The Grove, Stratford, London, E15 1HP, 5 minutes walk from Stratford Rail, Tube and Bus stations.

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/253975948046675/

Lee Jasper

Email: lee-jasper@live.com

Putting the movement back into the anti-racist movement: by Lester Holloway

When I first got involved in campaigning for race equality the Tories were in power, unemployment was rising steeply and money was too tight to mention. Yet back in the early 1990s there was an energetic anti-racist movement making waves despite a chronic lack of cash.


Whether it was the consistent protests against the BNP’s bookshop in Welling, the marches for victims of race attacks, or the vibrant ARAfests – organised by the Anti Racist Alliance (ARA) – it felt like I was part of a mass movement. The leaders were young, smart and fearless; the campaigning full time. Conferences echoed to passionate rhetoric from around the hall, not just the top table.

Black MPs, Bernie, Diane, Paul and Keith, had only just won their first re-election. It was a time of struggle. Against institutional racism – even before the term entered the popular lexicon. And against the far right, who were still cloaking whole neighbourhoods in fear.

Twenty years on and little has changed concerning institutional racism. Black young men are currently 28 times more likely to be stopped and searched against a background of heightening tensions on the streets that were partially responsible for last years’ riots.

Black unemployed has rocketed during this recession, especially for the youth, and disproportionate rates of incarceration and higher sentences for the same crime continue to rise.
Controversial deaths in custody appear to be back to their 1980s level and still no police officer has been convicted of any offence relating to the death of a black person.

Stop and search: as disproportionate today as ever

With so much still to campaign over, who is doing the campaigning? The answer is that today there are precious few dedicating themselves to these perennial issues. The truth is, these days there isn’t a lot of movement left in the anti-racist movement.

That united collective voice, that clear leadership, those recognised personalities, have given way to many people pulling in all directions or promoting their individual projects.

Groups like Operation Black Vote (OBV) can still pull a crowd – like they did for the Mayoral Hustings this year – but there is a yearning for a forum where people can genuinely speak out for themselves and participate in a movement for justice that is solid and sustained.

Much campaigning over the past four years has not had the air of momentum. We’ve gathered for a conference on Black Men in the Community only for things to go quiet. We’ve attended a large event, after last years’ riots, on combating stereotypes of black youth only to be disappointed by a lack of follow-through.

We heard what a powerful force Equanomics was going to be in redefining the debate over race and economics… and then we heard no more.

It’s almost as if fads have replaced strategic goals.As if we need to flag up new issues because the old ones – the ones keeping the community down – are just too boring to really interest the community.

Granted, the Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) group continues to hold public meetings, but compared to back in the day I just can’t sense that activists are harnessing a groundswell of protest. It’s not like ordinary people are not suffering.

Levels of frustration at lack of opportunities, oppressive policing and racism – albeit ever more disguised and insidious – are as high as it has been since the 1980s. So why are today’s black leaders seemingly unable to galvanise the community to fight back like before?

Well, the fact is many of them first became leaders in the 80s and 90s. This is part of the problem. The movement has suffered from a lack of nurturing younger talent. Retaining a firm grip on positions has eclipsed succession planning. Yet after 20 years of leadership, those same individuals are now well into their middle age. Diamond-mines of expertise, but less fuel in the tank.

Stephen Lawrence: campaigning made the case headline news

The advent of social networking media has revealed some prominent figures to be locked in a mindset of reacting to events, to news stories, without offering solutions. The pro-active campaigning I was first exposed to appears to have dissipated somewhat.

There are very many highly talented young people – from youth workers to former gang members – with great leadership potential.

We can either wait for them to form national campaign organisations themselves or the elders can tutor them to step up. The latter is clearly the quickest way of filling the vacuum of radical day-to-day leadership necessary to rebuild a grassroots movement.

That’s not to write off the ‘old hands’ – far from it. They (and I include myself in this category) still have much to offer. But we cannot speak for the youth today or fully understand their experiences. Age and time invariably erodes the uncompromising idealism we once felt, and while the outrage at injustice may burn as strongly as ever, the tactics and approach will be different, perhaps better suited to an earlier era.

Years of politicking and the accumulation of friendships and interests can alter outlooks. Middle age alone will blunt appeal to the disaffected youth. It is time that black youth spoke for themselves, not as invited guests on an old platform, but on their own platform inviting us oldies to pontificate before telling us how they are going to do it now!

Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of life left in us 40s-somethings! But just as ‘democratic’ governments lose their legitimacy if the same leaders have remained in situ for 20 years, so too voluntary community leadership needs to churn through new talent to remain relevant and fresh.

For every creaking Al Sharpton we must promote a dozen new Toure’s. And let me state clearly, I will get behind a young leader no matter how many years my junior if he or she has the vision, dynamism, intellect, energy and uncompromising bravery that the cause deserves and needs.

Back in 2008, as the London Evening Standard were waging an intense political campaign against Lee Jasper, I wrote an editorial for the New Nation newspaper making the case for a renewal of the anti-racist movement. What was needed was a mass democratic movement not a permanent small elite, I wrote.

We needed leadership that strived to form a broad church not exclude sections of the community because they were not fully signed up to a specific political perspective. And we needed active succession planning that developed and promoted young leaders.

Lee Jasper: a lot still to offer

Myself and New Nation were standing full-square behind by Mr Jasper in the face of the sustained assault on black leadership, but I felt it crucial that the black community also thought deeply about the way forward and didn’t just leave the future of campaigning to fate.

That they considered what the long term impact of this assault would be and learnt lessons about creating an anti-racist movement which cannot in future face such an attack – because the level of unity and activism in the community would rise up in strong defence of our leaders.

I was not writing off Mr Jasper or the prominent race equality campaigners in his circle – quite the opposite – but I was seeking to plot future for the movement, or at least ask the questions that will aid such a debate.

Despite Mr Jasper being innocent of the allegations and insinuations thrown at him during the 2008 London elections, it was notable how few people in the community rose to his defence. The biggest anti-racist organisations seemingly crumbled, unable to mount a counter response or to galvanise the masses behind them.

It was a watershed moment. The 1990 Trust, where I had previously worked, entered hibernation and the Black Londoners Forum collapsed. When inquiry after inquiry cleared Mr Jasper there was no revival of fortunes for these groups.

Four years on and the campaigns for race equality are still in deep-freeze. While OBV, another organisation where I’ve worked, is continuing to deliver on its’ shadowing programmes the reality of finances have forced it to slim down.

Largely, Britain’s black community still lack an engine driving a strong anti-racist movement. There is certainly nothing comparable to Rev Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH coalition, or Sharpton’s National Action Network, or indeed the NAACP. And all the while, indicators of unequal racial outcomes in Britain continue to worsen.

Today there is not one organisation taking a lead and mobilising a popular response across the country. Both proactive campaigning and research into these topics has fallen below a level that the crises demands.

And while the United Families and Friends Campaign has done much to draw attention to the increasing numbers of deaths in custody, the vigils and marches could have benefited from the kind of mass mobilisation that the old ARA or a once-funky National Assembly Against Racism used to deliver.

It is almost as if we’re still shell-shocked from 2008. We cannot afford to be. When London mayor Boris Johnson announces an inquiry into race and policing, or when Home Secretary Theresa May talks about an investigation into police corruption in the Stephen Lawrence case, where is the anti-racist perspective in the media? Where is our own black media to work alongside the movement to popularise the journey towards justice and give it social and historical depth?

Where is that voice that speaks for a whole movement of activists? Today, commentators on such matters are an ever-changing collection of talking heads speaking for themselves or a small group they represent. Their agendas are not informed by a constituency of campaigners behind them.

That is why we need a new generation of young leaders to pick up from where the older generation have left off. The class of the 80s and 90s have much to offer and our experience is being put to good use setting up useful social enterprises to mentor black youth, and a range of specific campaigns such as domestic violence.

But we need more, much more. We need to mobilise those that are suffering most, the disenfranchised black youth. Give voice to the oppressed and renew our demands for justice. But in new ways, led by a generation who will take the reigns of national leadership, galvanise the masses and breath new life into the issues that we all face.

We can’t recreate the campaigning of the 80s and 90s but create a springboard for the campaigning of the 10s and 20s.

By Lester Holloway
First published at: http://cllrlesterholloway.wordpress.com
@suttongoingon

OBV brings Salute: The Movie to the West End

OBV brings movie to London’s west end.

Imagine you are one of the fastest men on the planet you’ve just won the Olympic gold medal at 200 meters and fame, fortune and the easier life beckon. This is what Tommie Smith confronted in his once in a lifetime moment of glory.

Yet, he and fellow American John Carlos chose another path. Standing on the podium as the flash bulbs flashed, Smith and Carlos bowed their heads and raised the black gloved fist in a silent protest. They used their moment of glory not for themselves but to highlight racial and social injustice in an America and beyond.

The ‘Salute’ has become one of the most powerful non-violent symbols of any protest. In terms of the Olympic games it is truly iconic.

But the story behind the ‘Salute’ is also one of great intrigue, sorrow, glory and sadness. The third man on the podium that day in 1968 was an Australian Peter Norman. Although, at first glance he looks like he is a bystander caught up in something bigger than he could imagine, he wasn’t. The silver medallist-who ran the race of his life, not only supported the two Black men, he also and showed great solidarity by wearing a badge against oppression on the podium, and challenged his own nation in regards to the treatment of Aborigines.

This is their story. The untold story in which their lives would forever be entwined by that one iconic moment. The Salute.

Dr Tommie Smith will attend the London Premiere-with a Q& A after the film- along with sporting superstars past and present. Music, TV and politicians from across the globe will also be in attendance.

The film will have its UK premiere on Wednesday 11 July 2012, 7.00pm at an exclusive London West End venue.

OBV has a limited number of tickets for sale to this premiere.  We have VIP tickets at £40 and others at £25.

Buy your tickets online at this link:
http://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/salute-movie

Brighton & Hove Racial Harassment Forum AGM: Wednesday 20th June 2012

Brighton Town Hall. Bartholomew Square, Brighton BN1 1JA

 

Brighton and Hove Racial Harassment Forum

13^th Annual General Meeting Agenda

Wednesday 20^th June 2012

6.00 - 8:00 pm

Rooms 2 & 3, Brighton Town Hall

5:45            Registration And Voting For The Community Vice-Chair Elections. Refreshments Will Be Available.

6:00            Welcome, Introductions And Apologies –

Linda Beanlands, Statutory Vice-Chair Of The RHF, Commissioner: Community Safety.

6.10            Forum Chair’s Address, Dr. Sobhi Yagoub, Chair Of The RHF.

6.20           Address By Cllr Ben Duncan, Chair Of The Community Safety Forum (To Be Confirmed).

6.30            Keynote Speech: ‘Title To Be Confirmed’

Lee Jasper,

Followed By Q+A Session.   

7.15            Community Safety: Casework Team Service Offer,

Linda Beanlands, Commissioner: Community Safety.

7.30            Hate Incidents & Crimes: Policies And Procedures

Chief Inspector Bruce Mathews

Followed By Q+A Session.   

7.55            Announcement Of Election Results For Positions Of Community Chair And Community Vice-Chair.

8.00            Thank You & Evaluation

                    End Of Meeting. 

www.racialharassmentforum.org (site currently undergoing development)

The Met must address its cultural psychosis on race: by Peter Herbert

(Article originally published by the Guardian)

With over 50 complaints made to the MPS in two months, condemnation of police racism is no substitute for action

Police stop and search black youths at the entrance to the Notting Hill Carnival in 2008. Photograph: Gideon Mendel/Corbis

The disclosure that as many as 51 allegations of racism were made to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in the two months after 1 April should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the Met's track record of institutional racism. It is difficult for a leopard to change its spots just because a Lord says it should. If the period from April to June is representative of a general trend, this may mean that we'd be looking at an average of over 200 complaints per year, which in itself would only be the tip of the iceberg. As with all aspects of racism, the real figure is certainly a lot higher.

The term "institutional racism" was always a very generous term from the outset. It allowed senior management to claim that there was little or no direct racial discrimination. The reality has always been different. Human beings sadly do differentiate on grounds of race, gender and class in making their everyday decisions. The police are no exception to this general behavioural tendency, but the danger is that given the pressures of their jobs, mere racist prejudice is more likely to result in racist actions than with other members of society.

Police officers have overlooked the development of a culture in which being African Caribbean, and more recently Asian and Muslim, was of itself a cause for suspicion. The disparity in the MPS stop-and-search figures, exceeded only by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) in disciplining rates for black and minority solicitors, suggests a deep cultural psychosis.

The reaction of senior management today is to scramble to deny the problem, and is a widespread one reminiscent of the "few bad apples" comments made famous years ago by former commissioners defending the MPS.

The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who himself paid a less than keen interest in anti-racism while editor of the Spectator magazine, permitting racist articles by the journalist "Taki" not only to be published but also to remain online for several weeks, was himself subject to an investigation by the MPS that was referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Johnson recently claimed that "we've moved on" from the term "institutional racism", first defined by the Macpherson report, adding that "I think great progress has been made but there is more to do". This strongly suggests he fails to grasp the seriousness of the issue and warrants some analysis as to who the "we" are.

The mayor may have been referring to white people in power and authority like himself and his former deputy mayor Kit Malthouse, which would explain why so few of the recommendations of the Race and Faith report of 2010 still had not been implemented.

Racism flourishes when permitted to do so. There is clear evidence that the leadership of the MPS, which is still horribly white, these days does not have race central to its core business objectives to eradicate or reduce. Words of condemnation are no substitute for action. The actions against racism are far less vigorous in practice.

In its wider responsibility neither the mayor of London nor the MPS sought to maintain the work of the London Race Hate Crime Forum organised under the former Metropolitan Police Authority. This body, which was able to scrutinise hate crime on a borough basis, was effective in increasing the sanction detection rate of hate crime, doubling up from a low of 19% to 38% in 2008.

Yet it was effectively abandoned and the responsibility returned to the old system, which always lacked effective scrutiny and accountability – despite the fact that in London last year there were over 8,000 racist incidents reported to the MPS as compared to 10,000 reported some three years ago. This is almost certainly an indication that the general public has less confidence to report racist incidents to the MPS than it did some years ago. It almost certainly does not mean that racist incidents have fallen by 20% in the last three years, as some would suggest.

There is inevitably a synergy between the fight against race and religious crime and the internal problem of the MPS. Black and minority communities are less likely to join an organisation seen as soft on race and the same community will think long and hard before reporting racist incidents to a police force with a racist ideology among a significant minority. The real answer lies not in the one officer who utters racist comments but in his colleagues who pretend not to hear. That is the culture that has to change.

By Peter Herbert for the Guardian.



Boris Johnson announces ‘review’ into Police racism. Lee Jasper slams ‘cosmetic’ response to institutional racism.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson - pays only lip service to race issues.

Boris Johnson today announced a ‘review’ into racism in the Metropolitan Police Service in recognition that under his watch, racist is resurgent and out of control and as a consequence the relationship of the MPS and London black communities is the worst we have seen in years.

This ‘inquiry’ the details of which are as yet unknown will, it’s said, look at the implementation of the discredited ‘Race & Faith Report’ published and then subsequently ditched in August 2012. Published some 18 months late in the middle of the summer holidays, the report was instantly forgotten by all. The report was a joke and I wrote a damning article about this at the time.

The credibility of the report that focused entirely on the issues of recruitment, retention and promotion of black officers was deeply compromised. In essence this report was politically hijacked by Boris Johnson and the then Police Commissioner Kit Malthouse, both of whom were determined to ensure that the findings concluded that the “MPS was no longer institutionally racist”.

The then inquiry team one of whom resigned in protest heavily resisted that finding. The report itself did not reach any such conclusion, however the Mayor insisted that the following passage referring to ‘institutional racism’ was inserted into the report

“Now, however, as a consequence of rhetorical inflation, the term is used too glibly as a blanket indictment and as such has become a barrier to reform. Paradoxically the concept of institutional racism has become a millstone around the neck of the MPS, obscuring our understanding of the nature of any continuing endemic racism in that or any other large organisation.”

The Mayor made a serious error in seeking to dismiss the reality of ‘institutional racism’ and  that would cost London and the rest of the country dear, as within a year of the publication of the Race & Faith report London exploded in violence at the shooting by the MPS of Mark Duggan.

The Race & Faith report was a real missed opportunity. Ironically today, in his desperation to be seen to responding to huge concern about race and policing,  in a media driven reflex action he has now decided to conduct a review on the implementation of a series of recommendations that, at the time of publicising, he had no real intention of implementing.  A new ‘review’ that focuses on the discredited narrow employment focused recommendations of the Race & Faith report which demonstrates a deliberately confused knee jerk political response that fails to recognise the scale of the problem.

The truth here is that the Mayor pays nothing but lip service to tackling racism in the MPS. He sees these issues as just another opportunity to grab headlines and is forever in search of cosmetic solutions.

This problem was exemplified today as the ‘review’ was announced at the meetings of the GLA Police and Crime Committee. Both the Mayor and the Commissioner answered questions from London Assembly members. Today when asked questions about the review (that unsurprisingly was first announced in the press) Boris stated he thought the review had already started whilst the Commissioner claimed he did not know anything about it.

The acute political deficit and confusion at City Hall in understanding London’s multiculturalism and anti racism does not stop there. It extends up the Thames right up to New Scotland Yard. 

In February this year I challenged Commissioner Hogan Howe publically to accept that relations between London’s Black Community and the MPS was the worst it had been in 30 years.

I put it to the Commissioner that “The MPS has lost the confidence of black communities through massive year on year increases in stop and search and controversial deaths in police custody. How are you going to repair and restore confidence”?

Commissioner Hogan-Howe replied: “I disagree with almost everything you have said.”

Further the political co-option of Operation Trident originally set up specifically to tackle gun crime in black communities and bastardised into a London wide anti gang unit, clearly illustrates that in the eyes of the Mayor and the MPS Commissioner, London’s gang problem is in essence a black community problem. Trident is fatally compromised as a result.

The riots of August 2011 and the current deluge of racist incidents within the MPS and the reluctant acceptance of both the Mayor and now the Commissioner that there is a need for another  ‘review’ does not represent   a serious effort to get to the root of the problem of endemic institutional and cultural racism within the MPS.  The confusion around its launch today demonstrates the cynical politicking of the Mayor’s Office.

The Mayor over the last two years and the Commissioner of late have both refused to accept that there was a profound crisis of trust and confidence between London’s black communities and the MPS. They consistently denied there was a problem and when the August 2010 riots erupted they were spectacularly unprepared and did not have the political or professional capacity to respond, leaving London and the country twisting on the wind.

Once again I can forewarn them that playing politics with the issue of race and policing is a dangerous and deadly game. This summer will see tensions rise again as result of deaths in custody Inquest hearings that will dramatically increase tensions and the 2012 Olympics that will see aggressive increases in stop and search figures. That’s not including any catalyst events that will no doubt take place in addition to a black youth unemployment rate that is now 56%.

I believe, that in an effort to begin the process of restoring trust and confidence, the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee should organise public consultations as matter of urgency if we are to avoid further disturbances on the streets of London.

Boris Johnson now has sole power over the MPS, He can decide under the new powers given to him to initiate widespread and fundamental reforms of the MPS. He could use these powers to good effect.

The Mayor could establish a judicial public inquiry into suspicious deaths in custody. He has the power to do so under the GLA Act. He could agree to attend a round of public consultations organised by London’s black communities (GLA organised consultations are poorly attended and are stage managed) in an effort to identify the real reality of racism of policing.

He could establish a judicial inquiry into the potential police corruption of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry as demanded by Doreen Lawrence.

He could insist, as I did whilst in post, that all MPS recruitment over a period of three years focuses solely on advertising targeting black and ethnic minorities resulting in the biggest increase number of black police officers recruited ever seen in the history of the MPS.

He could demand that the MPS immediately settle all outstanding internal and external race complaints from serving officers and members of the public saving the taxpayer millions of pounds in legal fees and years of tortuous grief endured by public complainants.

He could insist that the MPS set out a draft race equality strategy for consultation. He could insist that all DNA of people not charged with a crime are removed form the police database.

He could insist that stop and search numbers come down just as he insisted in 2008 that they went up.

These are just a few things he has in his power to do. This ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ Mayor has a proved to be a disaster for race relations in London.

The recent Mayoral elections demonstrate that his stance on race is the very thing that is an attraction for some Londoners, who understand and agree with his ideological opposition to the principle of race equality.  For a city like London that is a catastrophic error borne of prejudice and ignorance and one that will cost the City dear.

Lee Jasper