Fault lines in the fight against racism and antisemitism
JVL Introduction
Liz Fekete argues here that a dangerous division has developed in society’s understanding of racism today.
Opposition to individual bigotry, and a generalised condemnation of ‘hate’, is acceptable; a more expansive anti-racism especially that geared towards specific interventions around, for instance, immigration laws, school exclusions, housing policies, racialised policing and media frameworks, is not.
With racism redefined solely as personal hate, prejudice and bigotry, we have an erasure and dispossession of the historical experiences of BAME communities in this country. The collective lessons we have learnt over several decades about the structures that perpetuate racism and hence the nature of the fight needed are deemed illegitimate.
We must resist the personalising of racism or we shall all be the losers.
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Thanks to the author for permission to repost this article
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This article was originally published by Institute of Race Relations on Thu 30 Jan 2020. Read the original here.
Fault lines in the fight against racism and antisemitism
The government’s bifurcated approach to racial equality is deepening fissures in our movements with anti-racism emerging as a key site of struggle
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An excellent article, bringing together the different aspects of racism, noting the links and promoting a united response. After decades of working against racism in all its forms I must say I am astonished at the ignorance displayed – deliberate or otherwise – by authorities, and organisations, as well as individuals who you think would know better. We cannot let this happen.
‘It’s vital that the anti-racist movement, if it is to survive, does not go down the road of the increasing personalising of racism and limit its activities to moral outrage about who tweeted what or even retweeted what.’
This is an excellent article and clarified for me something I have felt for some time – the increasing emphasis on media moralising about alleged racist (and antisemitic) statements that take them out of context and time, and turn them into a media spectacle that can intimidate and destroy people while at the same time ignoring horrific and brutal (structural) racism particularly in the way groups of people are treated and in foreign wars.
This is a very useful and interesting article. It needs to be emphasized though, that there is a big difference between an individual making and unguarded stereotyping or prejudicial comment and either inctement to racial hatred or a person with power or influence making racist remarks, often with a view to strengthening institutional racism. This is why it is legitimate to cite John Mann’s hostility to travellers, or the other emanations from people in positions of power in the article.
As far as I know, this struggle over institutional racism is part of the history that led to Sivanandan and his supporters wresting control of the IRR from the forces of liberal paternalism and moralism in the 1960s. Does anyone know where he published the original article on this? I’m sure it is well worth revisiting. I believe even used the statement “sticks and stones…etc” in it.
Sivanandan’s ‘Race and Resistance: the IRR story’ (1972) was republished in Race & Class October-December 2008 (50/2). His distinction between personal attitude and structural racism runs through many pieces, but possibly relevant now is ‘RAT: the degradation of black struggle’, which first appeared in Race & Class Spring 1985 (26/4)