Tag: News

Lega nel Mondo in Liverpool

February 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Matteo Salvini was the Deputy Prime Minister in Italy until the end of last year. He has been held responsible for a lot of the far right anti-immigration hate in Italy and has also been reported as saying he wanted a “mass-cleansing” of the country. Shortly after becoming Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister,  Salvini announced his intention to conduct a compulsory census of Italians in order to identify and deport Roma people from the country.

On 12th February the Italian senate formally authorised a criminal case against Salvini,  This is due to Salvini allegedly depriving 131  asylum-seekers, who were on board the Gregoretti coastguard ship, of their liberty, by not allowing them to disembark.  He will now be tried for kidnapping.

Unfortunately Salvini’s right-wing views have had support both in Italy and in other areas of the world. In 2018 Salvini ‘s party, The League, formed a global network of supporters. Some of The League’s supporters are in the UK and have organised a dinner at a restaurant in Liverpool for 28th March 2020, which has caused outrage amongst residents of Liverpool. The advert implies that Salvini will be present. However, since it was first published, Salvini has denied this,  saying that he will not be present, and that: “What is happening there is not a rally, but a dinner among supporters of the League in Liverpool – they are going to eat fish and chips.”

The Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, said “division and hate” was not welcome in Liverpool and “the only audience he’ll find here is one that won’t be shy in telling him what they think of fascists like him.”

Liverpool has a strong history of opposing far-right visits to the city and standing up for what is right. They have had a 30-year boycott refusing to sell The Sun newspaper after the Hillsborough disaster.  We expect this event will not be ignored and that, if it does go ahead, there will most likely be protests and rallies.

 

 

Multilingualism is here to stay!

February 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

We wrote our own blog post about an increase in hate crime incidents in Sheffield since Brexit, and the importance of supporting our international friends and students. Now, the Big Issue have also reported that EU members have been subjected to hate crime in Brighton & Hove and London amongst other places.

The crimes appear to be happening after members of the public hear people speaking in other languages apart from English. There is a lack of acceptance of different cultures by some individuals, and this is making people feel unsafe. The UK is a vast multicultural country where hundreds of different languages and dialects are spoken. We need to be proud of our multicultural community and celebrate the diversity that enhances our every day lives rather than persecute those who are different. Just because Brexit has happened does not mean other languages should disappear in the UK. The ability to speak more than one language is increasingly important nowadays and the people who live here who can do that should be appreciated more.

Perhaps the British public should learn from, as the Big Issue recall, the story of protesters in Warsaw. “After a man on a number 22 tram in Warsaw punched a university professor for speaking German to a visiting German colleague, protesters rode number 22 trams in Kraków speaking foreign languages and reading aloud from books in German and Russian.”

Auschwitz 75 years’ on

January 28, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Yesterday (27th January 2020), marked the 75th anniversary of Soviet soldiers liberating the Auschwitz death camp in the final year of the Second World War. Survivors of the Holocaust and current world leaders attended the ceremony at Auschwitz, to remember those killed by the Nazi regime. However, alongside remembrance, a strong message was also made highlighting the importance of ensuring that this does not happen again.

The focus of this year’s ceremony was on the survivors themselves and their message was clear, world indifference to hatred must stop so that events like the Holocaust do not happen again (Connolly, 2020). This message was echoed by the French president Emmanuel Macron, who stated that Antisemitism is not just a problem for the Jewish community, rather it is a problem for us all (BBC, 2020). Statistics from the UK also demonstrate that Antisemitism is still very much a contemporary issue in society. The second most targeted group of religious hate crime were the Jewish community, with them being the victim of 18% of all reported hate crimes (Home Office, 2019). It is important to note that this figure could be higher, as it only includes reported hate crimes, many may go unreported for a variety of reasons.

With these statistics in mind, it is clear why the message of ending indifference from survivors of the Holocaust is so important. As a society, we need to ensure that we are tackling religious hatred, and other forms of discrimination, so that we can prevent the horrific events of the past happening again.

Tackling Racism

January 21, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Recently in the news is Uni of Sheffield’s attempt at tackling racism on campus and in Halls. They plan on hiring students to be “race equality champions”. This seems like a potentially good idea, however their execution of it is lacking.

Their plan is to tackle so called “microaggressions”, which they so happen to give a list of examples. Are microaggressions really the type of racism that needs addressing? Is there not something more pressing? A report from last autumn stated incidents of name-calling, physical attacks and racist material on their campus, shouldn’t this be dealt with first? The idea is to open communication surrounding racism, not to control free speech. This response to the idea that universities can be oblivious to hate is a step forward but is it focusing on the right issues, especially when microaggressions are mostly unintentional.

It’s not like Hallam hasn’t had problems, so should Hallam take the same initiative and have our own “champions”? Is there another way Hallam could tackle racism? Should students be paid to tackle racism or should it be something any decent person should tackle for free?

© 2024 Standing Together

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑