A SMALL but important step forward was taken by the anti-racist movement at the National Assembly Against Racism which took place on February 4.
Around 700 people at the conference (which took place in plenary sessions and did not take resolutions) heard a host of speakers.
These included Labour MPs Gordon, Shore, Grant, Abbot, Cohen and Livingstone, MEP Pauline Green and TUC leader John Monks, who said that the TUC would shortly be calling another march against racisil, this time in the North.
Of the MPs, only Livingstone called for the repeal of all immigration laws, and none attacked the Labour leadership's bi-partisanship on these questions.
There were speakers from organisations such as the Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Churches Commission for Racial Justice.
But the tenor of the day was set by the moving testimonies from those at the sharp end of racist policing; those campaigning around deaths in custody and those raising the failure of the police to pursue people involved in brutal racist attacks.
Anti-deportation campaigns were also given a voice, and the testimony of Ivory Coast activist and former detainee at the Campsfield immigration prison, Francis Dickson-Braoua, who is due to be deported on February 5, was particularly poignant. Anti-racist struggle needs black leadership The lessons of Auschwitz were on the lips of many, and a refreshing number put forward a class analysis of the rise of fascism. Dave Landau of the Jewish Socialist Group raised the lessons of Cable Street, while Ken Livingstone argued that divisions on the German left aided Hitler's rise to power.
Charter
The conference saw the launch of an anti-racist charter for the new millennium, drafted by Tower Hamlets Anti-Racist Committee (THAR), which will be the focus of a recall conference.
While the Assembly did not adopt or formally consider this document, it was the focus for many contributions from the platform and in the limited session for speakers from the floor.
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The need to build unity across the different sections of the black community - African, Caribbean and Asian. - and for black leadership of the movement was a key theme for many.
There were some attempts to draw lessons from the split in the Anti-Racist Alliance, through warning against self proclaimed leaders, and recognising the importance of giving a voice to those like the family campaigns who are actually confronting racism in practice.
Black nationalism and separatism were fairly muted, and the need to win the labour movement to the anti-racist struggle was given prominence.
Many of those who argued for legislation outlawing racial harassment, such as Harry Cohen MP, at the same time pointed out that one could not pointed out that one could not rely on the law and supported the right to self-defence.
Azim Hadjee from NUCPS, while welcoming the concept of a charter, said that his organisation was not convinced that cre-