Speech for Priority Campaigns launch

There has never been a more important time to have a strong and active NUS Black Students Campaign.

Rising racism is threatening all of the Black communities – arguments and attitudes that just a few years ago were confined to a marginal fringe are now common currency.

Now daily we see attacks on our communities from politicians and the media – just over a week ago, Ruth Kelly, made a speech undermining the very idea of multicultural society – in effect saying that Black communities have to abandon our identity, our right to be who we are – to live our lives how we chose.

The claim that Black communities are segregating ourselves is a lie – a dangerous lie. All of the leading academics – in Britain – Professor Ceri Peach at Oxford, Dr Ludi Simpson at Manchester and Professor Danny Dorling at Sheffield have all shown that Britain continues to become less and not more segregated.

Giving credence to such baseless myths can only fuel further racism.

Rather than challenging the racism that excludes Black people from positions of power and opportunities – they are trying to blame us for supposedly ‘isolating’ ourselves.

Instead we need to confront the racism, under-representation and discrimination that isolates Black people from our institutions. From parliament to our own students unions Black people are denied the levels of representation that would come close to reflecting our numbers – the only way to win our equality.

That is why we have an NUS Black Students Campaign.

The NUS Black Students Campaign will continue to build on its success of recent years which has seen it transformed into one of the most vibrant and dynamic parts of NUS - representing all sections of the African, Asian and Caribbean communities.

Bringing Black Students together – breaking down the common oppression we face.

A majority of our activists are Women, Black lesbian and gay students are at the heart of our campaign. FE students – a majority of Black students – are better represented than anywhere else in NUS.

We want to build on this success – and ask every one of you to contact us about how you can help more Black students in your institution get involved in our campaign.

This year the Black students campaign is running a ‘votes are power’ campaign to empower Black students to overcome the barriers to our participation, while taking forward our campaign for Black Students officers - providing dedicated Black representation - at every level of our movement.

Meanwhile, a year on from the tragic murder of 18 year old student Anthony Walker, racist attacks continue to rise and our campuses are increasingly threatened by those who seek to exploit the climate of rising racism.

The fascist British National Party – who want an all white Britain- stand on record support – threatening us all.

They can only be defeated by confronting head on the racism that gives them the oxygen they need. This means the Black communities must play a leading role in the anti-fascist movement in alliance with all those who want to challenge their murderous agenda.

We are continuing to work with Unite Against Fascism to educate and activate students against the threat of this nazi party and call on all of you to get active in this vital work.

The Muslim community, in particular, is bearing the brunt of a wave of reaction that is impacting on all of our rights.

We will continue to challenge Islamophobia along with all forms of racism.

The expansion of further and higher education has drastically changed the face of our institutions. Just as a majority of students are now women, Black people now represent 20% of all students. But too often access to more ‘elite’ universities is minimal, the increasing burden of debt hits us hardest and racism and under representation continue to shape our experience.

Our campuses have the potential to provide a powerful and positive model of what diversity and multi-culturalism can really mean. Celebrating who we are and where we come from. To dispel the lie that we must all become the same – that our cultures and our identities should be degraded and abandoned.

For the third year running the NUS Black Students Campaign will be working with the Mayor of London and Student Assembly Against Racism to organise Student Rise Against Racism initiatives – from debates and meetings to stalls, music and food events – taking the message of Europe’s largest anti-racist festival in to students’ unions.

Our campaign is proud of the important and valuable contribution Black people make to our colleges and universities – just as we do in every sphere and walk of life.

We are proud of what our campaign can achieve and who we are as Black people.

That is why we are encouraging all students unions to get involved in Black history month in October. There is a briefing on what you can do on the NUS website.

And in 2007 we will be working with you to mark 200 years since the decision to abolish slavery in the British Empire.

We are also concerned to challenge such oppression and injustice today.

Students can play a key role in campaigning for trade justice and an end to global poverty.

Racism has always accompanied war and colonisation.

We will continue to oppose the occupation of Iraq, threats against Iran and Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine – just as, this summer, we joined the majority of the world in condemning those who refused to call for an immediate end to the violence in Lebanon.

And we are inspired by the social and democratic gains in Venezuela where the African, indigenous and mixed race majority are empowering themselves for the first time.

The NUS Black students campaign expects to face enormous challenges in the year ahead – we are ready for these challenges and are determined to confront them – our campaign is strong and united and continues to move forward - I encourage all Black students to get involved the campaign – and all students to get involved in supporting us in this work.

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