Tag: statement

Setting the record straight

A Statement from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities

On Wednesday we released our report into race and ethnic disparities in the UK. In it we stated categorically that “we take the reality of racism seriously and we do not deny that it is a real force in the UK”.

We also said our report sought to “approach the issues of racial and ethnic disparities in a balanced way, highlighting both the success stories that the data reveals as well as delving into what lies beneath some of the most persistent and enduring ones”. We are pleased that so many people are engaging seriously with the ideas and evidence we have presented.

The facts and analysis we presented challenge a number of strongly held beliefs about the nature and extent of racism in Britain today.

Sadly, however, in some cases fair and robust disagreement with the Commission’s work has tipped into misrepresentation. This misrepresentation risks undermining the purpose of the report – understanding and addressing the causes of inequality in the UK – and any of the positive work that results from it. For that reason, it is necessary to set the record straight.

We have never said that racism does not exist in society or in institutions. We say the contrary: racism is real and we must do more to tackle it.

That is why our very first recommendation to the Government is to challenge racist and discriminatory action and increase funding to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to pursue investigations.

We reaffirm the Macpherson definition of institutional racism, though we did not find conclusive evidence that it exists in the areas we examined. However, we said that “both the reality and the perception of unfairness matter”, which is why our recommendations are underpinned by four themes – to build trust, promote fairness, create agency and to achieve inclusivity.

There has also been a wilful misrepresentation by some people of the Commission’s view on the history of slavery.

The idea that the Commission would downplay the atrocities of slavery is as absurd as it is offensive to every one of us. The report merely says that in the face of the inhumanity of slavery, African people preserved their humanity and culture. The Commission’s recommendation for Government to create inclusive curriculum resources is about teaching these histories which often do not get the attention they deserve.

The deeply personal attacks on many of us by politicians and other public figures are irresponsible and dangerous. For example, one MP presented commissioners as members of the KKK. Robust debate we welcome. But to depict us as racism deniers, slavery apologists or worse is unacceptable.

This is a wide ranging report, and we hope it will lead to further research and better understanding of the complex causes of inequalities in the UK. Our terms of reference were ambitious and, despite the disruption of COVID-19, we addressed them by drawing upon a wide range of sources and evidence, as well as the lived experience of people, including our own.

We hope that going forward, the report will be read carefully and considered in the round. Our experience since publication only reinforces the need for informed debate on race based on mutual respect.

The 24 recommendations we have made will, in our view, greatly improve the lives of millions of people for the better if they are all implemented.

People’s Assembly Scotland: No return to ‘normal’

With most of the major Trade Unions and Trades Councils in Scotland as affiliates, coupled with representation from political organisations across the Scottish political spectrum, the People’s Assembly Scotland can rightly claim to be the largest Anti Austerity force north of the border (writes PAS chairman PHIL McGARRY).

Last Saturday (18th April 2020) the People’s Assembly Scotland steering group held an online meeting. Attendance was higher than usual, and it was agreed to issue a statement with our concerns about how governments on both sides of the border have performed in recent weeks.

Our statement is lengthy in order to offer the widest range of views expressed wider circulation; we also offer suggestions as to what happens once this is over.

In issuing this statement to the press it is in the hope that its publication will encourage discussion on what happens at the end of this emergency.

 When this crisis has passed there should be no return to “normal”.

We need to salute those we have lost and those key workers who have served our people well despite being undervalued by those in power. This should be with both national and local demonstrations and rallies under the banner of thanks but no return to the old “normal”. No return to the “normal” of low paid precarious work and bogus self-employment but for recognition with a rise in pay backdated to long before the start of the crisis.

Anything less would be an insult to the memory of all who have died whether in their workplace or as a result of governments inaction and unpreparedness.

The PAS Statement:

PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY SCOTLAND STATEMENT ON THE CURRENT CRISIS

The failings of the Tory government and the blind tacit following of their strategy by the Scottish Government has all contributed to the current disastrous situation we now face in all our front-line services, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of many workers and the general population at large. This added to the number of deaths in the community caused in part by the Scottish government’s unpreparedness is a national scandal.

The Tories initially pronounced a policy of herd immunity, where acceptable losses should and would be accepted, because those losses would be in the lower classes. Where the protection of corporations and the financial system was their paramount priority.

The Tories and the Scottish Government are still failing to adhere to the World Health Organization’s guidelines of, test, trace contacts and isolate those individuals.

They suppressed the conclusions of a cross government pandemic drill codenamed Exercise Cygnus that took place in 2016, which accurately predicted that the NHS would be plunged into crisis by an infectious and deadly disease.

This crisis in the NHS and Social Care is the direct result of cuts to all public services by first, the Tory Lib Dem coalition and then subsequent Tory Governments. New Labour have a case to answer here as well with privatisation in the NHS and the cuts to public services they implemented when in power.

A total lack of preparation has resulted in the ongoing fiasco around ventilators and PPE. We were told not to worry, there is plenty of PPE, yet a RAF flight to Turkey brought at current usage only two days’ worth of supplies. But it matters not as private corporations like Burberry and Dyson are now reaping rewards.

On testing and tracking the list of failings and broken promises grows daily with targets continually being missed, a tactic the Scottish Government are also failing on as they have blindly followed Westminster policies from day one. SNP Govt has not used existing devolved powers to better protect us.

Other countries who handled this crisis far better, such as Denmark, New Zealand and Taiwan. All acted early on and have reduced the death rate. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, told her country to “take it seriously” and she did. Testing began right from the get-go. Germany jumped right over the phases of denial, as seen below. Germany’s numbers are far below its European neighbours.

Data from the European Centre for Disease Control as of April 12, 2020

https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#486668633dec

While other countries heeded WHO advice and acted appropriately, our governments all but gave up contact tracing and did nothing. Mass gatherings, concerts, racing and Champions League football all continued unchanged and schools and pubs remained open.

Currently across the country front line workers are putting their lives on the line.

Who are these key workers that we all rely on to survive this crisis?

NHS, Porters, Security, Admin, Cleaners, Nurses and Doctors

Social Care workers both public and private

Transport and shipping workers

Local Government workers across all sectors

Maintenance and construction workers

Retail and warehouse workers

Postal and delivery workers

Manufacturing workers

Few of these essential workers would be allowed entry to our countries due to proposed restrictive immigrations laws by the current government.

It will soon be International Workers Memorial Day and the mantra of “Remember the dead but fight for the living” will have an even greater resonance this year. Workers are not being adequately protected, resulting in the deaths of frontline workers across all sectors.

The TUC has requested a national one minutes silence on 28 April to commemorate/honour workers, doctors, nurses, care workers, bus drivers etc who have caught and died from virus at work. Our STUC should also adopt this simple measure as a show of solidarity.

Action is required now by all three Governments across Britain.

Manufacturing companies across all sectors that can be diversified should be ordered to switch production to PPE, respirators and all the other necessary equipment required by all our frontline services.

We need to follow Test, Test, Test, trace and track, not just in the NHS but wider

Public transport is now seen as a front-line necessity, it should be nationalised.

Social Care is in the direct firing line with the lack of PPE putting all workers in danger. All Social Care should be brought into the public domain.

We need a nationalised pharmaceutical company.

Once this crisis has passed, we will be faced with a situation much worse than the financial crash of 2008. The COVID-19 pandemic should not be blamed for, yet another severe cyclical crisis of the capitalist system caused by corporate ownership of the economy and the anarchy of market forces.

This crisis only underlines the inability of capitalism, especially our privatised, free-market neoliberal model, to meet public health and environmental emergencies.

According to official UK estimates and the latest analysis from the UN Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), bailing out private enterprise in Britain will cost at least £350bn over the coming period.

We must prepare a mass campaign uniting People’s Assembly groups alongside the STUC, Trade Unions, Trade Union Councils and all other community campaigning organisations against the onslaught we will be faced with.

We cannot go back to business as usual, where the cost of this crisis will fall yet again on the poorest. Where all frontline services which we all rely on, will once again face further cuts to balance the government’s books. Ensuring the protection of the financial industry and the continuing dominance of corporate power will be the foundation of all that they propose.

The People’s Assembly Scotland last year re-launched its own vision of what can replace austerity. A vision of investment where we build and protect our services. Our booklet “In place of austerity – A Programme for the People” gives a base and starting point for the discussions and organisation we need to be having now.

Both “In Place of Austerity” and the joint People’s Assembly and Unite Community Universal Credit guide can be found on the People’s Assembly Scotland Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/752289384786607/files/

 We support the call from the TUC for a public inquiry looking into the “grotesque” failure to provide frontline workers with adequate personal protective equipment.

We hope that the STUC will echo this and call for a similar enquiry here in Scotland.

When this crisis has passed there should be no return to “normal”. We need to salute those we have lost and those key workers who have served our people well despite being undervalued by those in power. This should be with both national and local demonstrations and rallies under the banner of thanks but no return to the old “normal”.

No return to the “normal” of low paid precarious work and bogus self-employment but for recognition with a rise in pay backdated to long before the start of the crisis.

Anything less would be an insult to the memory of all who have died whether in their workplace or as a result of governments inaction and unpreparedness.

Draft Peoples Assembly Scotland Press Statement on the current crisis (1) (2)

It’s life, Boris … but not as we know it

PRIME MINISTER’s LATEST STATEMENT ON CORONAVIRUS

Good afternoon everybody, thank you very much for coming. I wanted to bring everyone up to date with the national fight back against the new coronavirus and the decisions that we’ve just taken in COBR for the whole of the UK.

As we said last week, our objective is to delay and flatten the peak of the epidemic by bringing forward the right measures at the right time, so that we minimise suffering and save lives. And everything we do is based scrupulously on the best scientific advice.

Last week we asked everyone to stay at home if you had one of two key symptoms: a high temperature or a new and continuous cough.

Today, we need to go further, because according to SAGE [the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] it looks as though we’re now approaching the fast growth part of the upward curve. And without drastic action, cases could double every 5 or 6 days.

So, first, we need to ask you to ensure that if you or anyone in your household has one of those two symptoms, then you should stay at home for fourteen days.

That means that if possible you should not go out even to buy food or essentials, other than for exercise, and in that case at a safe distance from others.

If necessary, you should ask for help from others for your daily necessities. And if that is not possible, then you should do what you can to limit your social contact when you leave the house to get supplies.

And even if you don’t have symptoms and if no one in your household has symptoms, there is more that we need you to do now.

So, second, now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel.

We need people to start working from home where they possibly can. And you should avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues.

It goes without saying, we should all only use the NHS when we really need to. And please go online rather than ringing NHS 111.

Now, this advice about avoiding all unnecessary social contact, is particularly important for people over 70, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.

And if you ask, why are we doing this now, why now, why not earlier, or later? Why bring in this very draconian measure?

The answer is that we are asking people to do something that is difficult and disruptive of their lives.

And the right moment, as we’ve always said, is to do it when it is most effective, when we think it can make the biggest difference to slowing the spread of the disease, reducing the number of victims, reducing the number of fatalities.

And as we take these steps we should be focusing on the most vulnerable.

So third, in a few days’ time – by this coming weekend – it will be necessary to go further and to ensure that those with the most serious health conditions are largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks.

And again the reason for doing this in the next few days, rather than earlier or later, is that this is going to be very disruptive for people who have such conditions, and difficult for them, but, I believe, it’s now necessary.

And we want to ensure that this period of shielding, this period of maximum protection coincides with the peak of the disease.

And it’s now clear that the peak of the epidemic is coming faster in some parts of the country than in others.

And it looks as though London is now a few weeks ahead.

So, to relieve the pressure on the London health system and to slow the spread in London, it’s important that Londoners now pay special attention to what we are saying about avoiding non-essential contact, and to take particularly seriously the advice about working from home, and avoiding confined spaces such as pubs and restaurants.

Lastly, it remains true as we have said in the last few weeks that risks of transmission of the disease at mass gatherings such as sporting events are relatively low.

But obviously, logically as we advise against unnecessary social contact of all kinds, it is right that we should extend this advice to mass gatherings as well.

And so we’ve also got to ensure that we have the critical workers we need, that might otherwise be deployed at those gatherings, to deal with this emergency.

So from tomorrow, we will no longer be supporting mass gatherings with emergency workers in the way that we normally do. So mass gatherings, we are now moving emphatically away from.

And I know that many people – including millions of fit and active people over 70 – may feel, listening to what I have just said, that there is something excessive about these measures.

But I have to say, I believe that they are overwhelmingly worth it to slow the spread of the disease, to reduce the peak, to save life, minimise suffering and to give our NHS the chance to cope.

Over the last few days, I have been comparing notes and talking to leaders around the world and I can tell you that the UK is now leading a growing global campaign amongst all our friends and allies, whether in the G7, the G20, the UN, the IMF – all those bodies in which we play a significant role.

We’re leading a campaign to fight back against this disease.

To keep the economy growing, to make sure that humanity has access to the drugs and the treatments that we all need, and the UK is also at the front of the effort to back business, to back our economy, to make sure that we get through it.

I know that today we are asking a lot of everybody. It is far more now than just washing your hands – though clearly washing your hands remains important.

But I can tell you that across this country, people and businesses in my experience are responding with amazing energy and creativity to the challenge that we face, and I want to thank everybody for the part that you are playing and are going to play.

Hearts act swiftly to stamp out criminal behaviour

Hearts will close a section of their Wheatfield stand for the last two games of the season in a move to stamp out unacceptable behaviour at Tynecastle. The decision was announced hours after a 19 year old man was arrested and charged for an alleged hate crime committed during Saturday’s Edinburgh derby. Continue reading Hearts act swiftly to stamp out criminal behaviour