Tackling the Racist backlash

The issue of racism is raising its head again in the student movement. The two Manchester students removed from a plane at gun point for flying with dark skin are unlikely to be the only ones to feel its effect. Already the government is putting pressure on NUS to line up with it in “facing down extremism on our campuses” a sign that its war on “terrorism” abroad is coming home in a big way. The signs are that NUS is willing to accept the framework of Bush and Blair’s rhetoric and from there the only way is down. Gemma Tumelty’s guardian article is a case in point.

After the NUS fiasco over Lebanon it’s record on opposing the Bush/Blair “war on terror” is already poor and we could be about to see that translate into a failure for our students at home. What is needed now more then ever is an organised force within the student movement that can put forwards an alternative strategy on fighting the racist backlash against our students. We need a response based on an understanding that imperialism is creating an “enemy at home” and raising racial tensions as a result. If we are to successfully break the backlash we need a united campaign against racism which rejects that framework of “terrorism and civilisation” and stands clear on the point that the issue is racism.

The starting point must be a campaign based on radical students in the anti-war movement, Muslim communities and the NUS. A starting point that lines us up against Bush and Blair’s wars at home and abroad.