[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress Printed for the use of the
2nd Session Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Race, Rights, and Politics: Black and Minority Populations in Europe
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
Briefing of the
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Washington: 2018
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-1901
[email protected]
http://www.csce.gov
@HelsinkiComm
Legislative Branch Commissioners
HOUSE SENATE
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ROGER WICKER, Mississippi,
Co-Chairman Chairman
ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida BENJAMIN L. CARDIN. Maryland
ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas CORY GARDNER, Colorado
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee MARCO RUBIO, Florida
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire
RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas TOM UDALL, New Mexico
GWEN MOORE, Wisconsin SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
Executive Branch Commissioners
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
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ABOUT THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as
the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency created in 1976 to
monitor and encourage compliance by the participating States with their
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Race, Rights, and Politics: Black and
Minority Populations in Europe
September 12, 2018
Page
PARTICIPANTS
Hon. Gwen Moore, Commissioner, Commission for Security and
Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 5
Dr. Mischa E. Thompson, Senior Policy Advisor, Commission for
Security and Cooperation in Europe ........................................ 1
Alfiaz Vaiya, Coordinator, European Parliament Anti-Racism and
Diversity Intergroup (ARDI) ............................................... 2
MP Olivio Kocsis-Cake, Hungary ........................................ 3
MP Killion Munyama, Poland ............................................ 3
MP Aminata Toure, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany ......................... 6
MP Clive Lewis, United Kingdom ........................................ 7
Nero Ughwujabo, Special Advisor to Prime Minister Theresa May,
Social Justice, Young People & Opportunities, United Kingdom .............. 14
Simon Woolley, Director, Operation Black Vote; Chair, Prime
Minister's Race Disparity Advisory Group .................................. 17
Jeff Klein, Public Policy Advisor, Each One Teach One ................. 20
Ali Khan, Open Society Initiative for Europe .......................... 21
Race, Rights, and Politics: Black and
Minority Populations in Europe
----------
September 12, 2018
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Washington, DC
The briefing was held at 10:03 a.m. in Room 2220, Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington, DC, Dr. Mischa E. Thompson, Senior Policy
Advisor, Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, presiding.
Panelists present: Hon. Gwen Moore, Commissioner, Commission for
Security and Cooperation in Europe; Dr. Mischa E. Thompson, Senior
Policy Advisor, Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe;
Alfiaz Vaiya, Coordinator, European Parliament Anti-Racism and
Diversity Intergroup (ARDI); MP Olivio Kocsis-Cake, Hungary; MP Killion
Munyama, Poland; MP Aminata Toure, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; MP
Clive Lewis, United Kingdom; Nero Ughwujabo, Special Advisor to Prime
Minister Theresa May, Social Justice, Young People & Opportunities,
United Kingdom; Simon Woolley, Director, Operation Black Vote; Chair,
Prime Minister's Race Disparity Advisory Group; Jeff Klein, Public
Policy Advisor, Each One Teach One; and Ali Khan, Open Society
Initiative for Europe.
Dr. Thompson. Good morning. My name is Dr. Mischa Thompson. And
welcome to ``Race, Rights, and Politics: Black and Minority Populations
in Europe,'' a briefing hosted by the U.S. Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission. For those
who may not know, the Helsinki Commission is an independent U.S.
Government agency focused on human rights, economics, and security in
the 57 North American and European countries that make up the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The commission is
chaired by members of Congress, bicameral, bipartisan, and includes the
executive branch.
The OSCE has had a focus on diverse and vulnerable populations,
from Roma and Jewish populations to national minorities and migrants,
in Europe and the United States since its inception. Over the past
decade, our commissioners have also focused on the situation of people
of African descent in Europe, or black Europeans, from hearings in the
U.S. Congress to resolutions in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
Central to those efforts has been raising awareness about Europe's long
history and contribution of African descent populations. It is one
reason several of our commissioners were recently supportive of the
European Parliament's first-ever People of African Descent Week, held
in Brussels in May.
We are very thankful to be joined today by some of the organizers
and participants of what was called PAD Week, as well as some of
Europe's leading legislators and voices on democracy and human rights.
You can find all of today's speakers' bios in the blue folders and
online. And we actually have several panels today--after each panel
there will be time for questions and discussion with both our in-house
audience and our online audience. We are also able to take comments via
Facebook and can be followed under the Twitter handle @HelsinkiComm--
so, Helsinki C-O-M-M. Please be certain to speak loudly into the
microphone for our in-house audience as well as the persons on the
panel.
And with that, I will turn us over to Alfiaz Vaiya from the
European Parliament, to lead our discussion today.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Mischa. And, first of all, thank
you to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, to Dr. Mischa Thompson, and to
Izmira for organizing today's briefing in Congress. We have an
interesting panel of different policymakers from Europe who represent
black and minority populations in Europe. We will try to split today's
debate into three panels, the first panel being on the state of human
civil rights in Europe, a second panel looking at ways forward and
looking at the U.K. Race Disparity Audit with Prime Minister May's
advisor on race issues, and then a final panel with representatives of
civil society from Europe to talk about different policies and ways
forward.
So I don't want to take up too much time. The idea is to make it an
interactive discussion rather than speeches. So I will introduce our
first panel. To my right is Clive Lewis, who is a member of Parliament
from the United Kingdom. To my nearest right is Olivio Kocsis, who is a
member of Parliament in Hungary. To my left is Dr. Killion Munyama,
who's a member of Parliament in Poland. And finally, I have Aminata
Toure, who is a member of Parliament in the German regional Parliament.
So we're going to have a little bit of a discussion on the issues
in Europe. For those of you who aren't really familiar with what's
going on in Europe, we seem to have had in the last few years a wave of
different populist movements appearing in Europe--both left-wing and
right-wing. And we see that all across Europe, these movements are
breaking the traditional political center spectrum. And we're seeing
these policies now actually have majorities becoming represented in
Parliament, but also in governments. From Portugal, where you see left-
wing parties in a coalition government, to other countries, such as in
Austria and Italy, where you see populist parties who are right-wing in
government. And so we see the normalization of these populist parties
in Europe. And that has an effect on black and minority populations in
Europe.
We will go a little bit away from black populations in Europe,
because we have also speakers coming from countries where you have less
of a black population. And we will broaden the discussion to minorities
and refugees and asylum seekers. We also have a very good political
balance in the first panel because we have members of Parliament who
belong to the Christian Democrats, to Social Democrats, and to Greens.
So I think we'll have a very interesting discussion.
Maybe I can first come to Olivio. So we see--in Hungary, the
Christian Democrat Fidesz Party is in government. We've seen regularly
attacks on different fundamental and civil rights in Hungary, from
freedom of press, from academic freedom, to judicial reforms and also
issues around press freedom. But one of the main issues we see also in
Hungary is a constant wave of populist messages targeting vulnerable
communities--those who are migrant, asylum seekers, refugees, to
Muslims, to LGBTI community, and others. So what is your perspective on
what's happening in Hungary right now? And how do you see it playing
out in the next couple of years?
Mr. Kocsis-Cake. First of all, thank you for the introduction and
thank you for inviting me to this event. In the first place, let me
just describe the Hungary situation. My name is Olivio Kocsis-Cake, and
I am the member of the Hungarian Parliament and party director of
Dialogue for Hungary Party. It's a brand-new party. It was established
in 2013. Dialogue is a progressive green party whose agenda focuses on
social issues, social justice, ecology and sustainability. Hungary, due
to its historical background, lack of colonial past, and geographical
position--being landlocked in Central Europe--Hungary has very limited
African origins or black citizens. I think the same in Poland. They
number approximately a couple of thousands, most of them being
descendants of exchange students who met their future wives or husbands
during their study. I came from such a marriage. My father came from
Guinea-Bissau and studied economics in Budapest when he first saw my
mother.
My personal background has always made me sensitive about minority
and social issues and human rights, civil rights of my country.
Solidarity is a key pillar of my own values and my party's political
agenda. In Hungary, the minority facing the biggest social challenge is
the Romas. Their situation in some respects resembled that of African
Americans in the 1960s. In the legal and constitutional perspective the
Roma are equal members of the Hungarian society, but the reality is
very different. Their social status, coupled with brutal lack of
opportunities, make their ordeals one of the biggest challenges and
major responsibilities of any progressive political leader or political
party. So briefly, this is the situation in Hungary.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you, Olivio.
So maybe if I turn over to Dr. Killion Munyama. Olivio said that
there are lot of similarities between Hungary and Poland. We see with
the Law and Justice ruling party that a lot of the reforms that they're
doing in Poland are very similar to the reforms we see Prime Minister
Orban doing in Hungary. And we see that, the line of attack against,
you know, vulnerable communities and minorities is also very similar to
Hungary.
Now, you're a politician from the Christian Democrat party, the
Civic Platform. You were in government--your party was in government
previously and has been challenging the current government on their
reforms. How would you assess what's going on in Poland in regards to
minorities?
But also taking your own example--I mean, you're the only black
member of Parliament in Poland. And you've done some work for the
Council of Europe on improving representation of ethnic, religious,
racial, and LGBTI minorities in Europe. So maybe you can talk a little
bit about that as well.
Thank you.
Dr. Munyama. Thank you very much, Alfiaz, for the introduction.
It's such an honor to be here to present our work within the Council of
Europe, as well as my work in the Parliament of Poland. I've been a
member of the Polish Parliament since 2011. This is my second term of
office in the Parliament. Correctly, I'm the only black representative
of the Polish Parliament, out of 460 members. Poland, as it has been
mentioned by Olivio, it's very much similar to Hungary, in the sense
that most of the black community there is based on former students who
now work within Poland. They are professors, they are part and parcel
of the health sector in Poland. And to be frank with you, we could say
that most of us--[off-side conversation]. All right, yes.
So what is happening today in Poland is that there is a situation
whereby the leading--the ruling party, Law and Justice, actually has
been introducing some of the legal aspects that are not very clear to
most of the expectations of the country today. But of course, it's been
challenged by the European Union and also the Council of Europe itself
on violating some legal aspects that have been going on for the last 30
years in the country. The country has been developing very well. It's
still developing at the moment. And we can say that some of those legal
changes that need to be changed are, of course, justified in some way.
But they have to be conducted in a better way than it has been
conducted so far.
But on the political ground or in Poland, and the fact that
minorities are actually somehow recognized, and it's not an issue at
the--you know, that they are completely outspoken. We can say that at
the moment, working--I mean, I've worked on a report in the Council of
Europe that has been a resolution--Resolution 2222--on promoting
diversity in politics. And this involves people of different minorities
and sexual orientation. People of minority background such that in the
resolutions we have come up with some very important conclusions. We
say that there should be a change of mindset, deconstructing the
stereotypes according to which origin and competencies are interlinked.
We have put some recommendations to political parties in the 47
member countries of the Council of Europe. And most of those
recommendations are there to encourage the progression of people from
diverse backgrounds within party structures. We have also emphasized
the fact that political parties should introduce mentorship programs
and ensure that their beneficiaries come from a variety of backgrounds.
Also, we have indicated that political parties should look to support
the creation of group-specific causes within their ranks, and also to
ensure that equality across the board is mainstreamed in political
programs and the public discourse of their leaders.
So these are some of the recommendations that we have put in the
resolution, which is from the Council of Europe. As I said earlier,
it's a Council of Europe which consists of 47 member countries. Out of
those, 28 are in the European Union and 19 are actually non-European
Union members. So I'll go into details on some of the conclusions of
the resolution in the latter stage.
Thank you.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Killion. Before I go to the other
two panelists, I want to introduce a good friend of ours and a very
strong supporter of black and minority populations in Europe,
Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Congresswoman Gwen Moore has been an active
supporter of our work in improving political representation of black
and minority populations in Europe, through sponsoring the
Transatlantic Minority Political Leadership Conference, but also
through the Helsinki Commission.
Congresswoman Moore is a member of the Helsinki Commission, a whip
of the Congressional Black Caucus, and an active member in various
caucuses, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the LGBT
Caucus, and others. Congresswoman Moore is also the ranking member on
the Financial Services Committee. And I think that's why we have this
room today as well. [Laughter.] So a big thank you to you,
Congresswoman Moore. If I can give you the floor to say some words?
Ms. Moore. I'm also late. [Laughter.] I was just listening to
honorable Munyama give this amazing report. And I do have some
questions. I don't want to really interrupt the flow of the panel. I
just want to comment on how proud I am of this organization, and the
deepening relationship that is developing between African American
parliamentarians and our brothers and sisters across the pond. They
want to thank Dr. Mischa Thompson from the Helsinki Commission, my
fellow commissioners--Representative Hastings, Representative Sheila
Jackson Lee--also our outstanding staff, Bob Hand, who--last time I saw
you was over there, I don't ever know where you're going to be. And of
course, my own Izmira Aitch, who herself was educated in Europe and
came to appreciate the importance of these relationships. I think she
is not going to let me get away with not making sure that you all are
all recognized.
I just want to say that this relationship is really deepening. And
I'm really happy that these parliamentarians are going to participate
in the Congressional Black Caucus conference this weekend and on
various panels. They're going to participate--and if I'm repeating
myself, Mischa, you're too far away to kick me. [Laughter.] They're
going to be doing other work here--they're going to be in sessions with
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee on her Judiciary Braintrust, and
Representative Bobby Rush on voting rights on September 13th. And so we
really look forward to their full engagement this weekend.
I'm really pleased that this briefing on ``Race, Rights and
Politics: Black and Minority Populations in Europe'' really gets the
traction that it needs. We're doing something beyond just, you know,
Africans of the diaspora for a week or for a year or 10-year period.
We're trying to build the relationship that is going to continue,
because our challenges and our assets are the same. We have challenges
with the police, with political inclusion, with lack of recognition of
our gifts and talents and the contributions that we make in building
our countries to be the best they can be.
And so like all politicians, I talk too long. So I will yield back
to you, honorable Munyama.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much----
Ms. Moore. I'm sorry. [Laughter.]
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Moore. I think some
of the points you make about some of the issues in the U.S. and in
Europe--we face a lot of overlapping issues. And I think more so than
now any time before, we see that those issues are really coming to the
forefront and that black and minority populations, both in the U.S. and
Europe, are facing similar problems, whether it's political rhetoric to
issues around criminal justice to representation. And so it's good to
bring politicians and policymakers from Europe to have these
discussions. So thank you very much for always supporting us in that
work.
Maybe I can now move on to Aminata Toure, who is a member of
Parliament in the northern regional parliament in Germany. And so
Germany's an interesting case because, until so long after the
Holocaust, we really saw a strong resistance to the far right and to
populist parties. And then suddenly in the last few years we see the
rise of the AfD, the Alternativ fur Deutschland, which is a far-right
populist party. We see that in the last general election they increased
their vote share and entered the Parliament. And we see that they're
changing the political discourse that both Social Democrats and
Christian Democrats are now following. And we see a toughening in
political rhetoric from the middle who have now shifted to the right in
Germany. And we see that since, let's say, this great intake in 2015
when Angela Merkel opened the borders, as some critics would say, we
see a lot of tensions in Germany--between, let's say, the majority and
the minority population.
And you're a spokesperson for the Greens on migration. So it would
be interesting to hear what you think of the AfD and their influence on
the political scene, especially as you're being a member of Parliament
for the Greens, but also about the situation for migrants and refugees.
Just this past two weekends we saw large protests. We saw Nazi salutes
in the street. But we also saw something which was a bit more worrying,
which was the reaction of certain policymakers, who normalized it,
including the chairman of the intelligence agency who downplayed the
incidents of far-right mobs. So maybe you can touch on those points. I
know we're brief on time, but just some points.
Ms. Toure. Yes. First of all, thank you for the invitation. I'm
very happy and glad to be here. Yes, the situation in Germany is
difficult because, for example, to describe the situation in the state
where I live, in northern Germany, I was the first black woman ever in
the Parliament. And, on the other hand [applause], it was the first
time for the right-wing party to enter the Parliament at the same time.
So you see, you have a very tense situation there. So every time I'm
talking in the Parliament, I'm directly talking to them and telling
them what they are not doing right. And so it's always very tense in
this Parliament.
And as you mentioned, 2 weeks ago a person was killed by two
refugees in Chemnitz, in eastern Germany. And so this happened. And the
right-wing parties and neo-Nazis used this situation to go on the
streets and to follow people who look different, or look not white,
actually. And so they went out on the streets and were following them.
And there were a lot of people going on the streets on the other hand--
for example, myself and colleagues from Schleswig-Holstein--we were
going there to demonstrate for the rights of migrants and minorities
because the situation was very difficult. And we are talking right now
in Germany--in the whole of Germany about this situation, that on the
one hand you had 4,000 people demonstrating against right-wing parties
and Nazis, and on the other hand you had 4,000 neo-Nazis saying that
people who look like me or have a migration background should leave the
country.
So this is a discussion we're having right now. And you see at this
moment that we definitely need to talk about where are minorities and
people with a migration background standing in our society, in Germany?
And this is a difficult decision we are having. And if you look at the
political situation in Germany, you only have, for example, six people
who are black and are members of parliaments, for example, in the whole
of Germany. And we have 82 million people living there. And if you look
at the number of people who have a migration background, you see that
we have 23 percent of people who have migration background. But they
are not represented in the politics or are not policymakers.
So we have a long way to go, definitely. And I realize--I'm a
member of the Parliament since 1 year. Last year we had elections
there. And I realized that I have to travel all over Germany, because
many organizations who are working with migrants realized, oh, there is
a black person being a policymaking person or a politician, and I have
to go there. And I want to go there, because I see we don't have enough
role models in Germany. And you don't have representation as much as
needed. And so I see there are a lot of things we have to do.
And I'm very thankful and grateful to be here to see how it's
working in the United States because for sure we, as German blacks, for
example, we always look to the United States. And we see that here
people are working together, the Black Caucus. These are institutions
we look at and we're very happy to see that this is working here. And
we need something like this in Europe, in Germany as well. So I was
very happy to attend the PAD in May, where I met many of you, because
it's empowering you to continue what you're doing and that you're not
alone in this way. Yes. [Applause.]
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Aminata. I think it's very
important when you talk about the empowerment and coming together--I
think that's one of the objectives we had in the European Parliament
when we organized this first People of African Descent Week. But I
think also the importance of the Congressional Black Caucus, the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which I think is also happening this
week, is it brings together minority policymakers from different groups
to talk about issues that sometimes overlap. And there is also the
issue of demographics.
What was interesting about the case in Germany--for those of you
who don't know--in the first case where two refugees had stabbed or
murdered an individual, it was kind of ironic because the victim was
actually a half-Cuban half-German anti-racist. And it was ironic that
when this mob rule went out they were targeting anyone who was foreign.
And I read somewhere that his friends were saying, well actually, if he
was out on the streets the mob rule would have probably attacked him.
So it's a very ironic situation that they're using the death of a half-
Cuban half-German man to go and attack vulnerable communities and
migrants. So thank you for bringing up those issues.
Our final speaker on this panel is Clive Lewis, who's a member of
Parliament in the U.K. for the British Labour Party. Clive, you use to
serve on the front bench----
Mr. Lewis. Still do.
Mr. Vaiya. You still do? Not in the Shadow Cabinet. He resigned
from the Shadow Cabinet over the Labour Party's Brexit policy. And so
maybe a few questions for you on the situation in the U.K., but I think
a lot of people would be interested to hear about the impact of Brexit
on black and minority populations. What does that say for the U.K.? A
country that always prided itself on being an outward-looking country
but has sort of taking an inward-looking step. And what does that say?
We see that after the Brexit referendum we saw attacks go up against
migrants, against people from black and minority populations. So how do
you assess the situation? And what impact do you think Brexit has had
on that? Has Brexit had an impact on that?
Mr. Lewis. Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here
this morning. Well, first of all, I come from a city called Norwich.
I'm one of two MPs. It's called the fine city of Norwich. If you ever
have a chance to come and visit, please do. Bit of a plug there. And
I'm also the first black MP to represent that city. And it's a city
which is overwhelmingly a white city. It's only in the past, I think,
decade that it's been connected by a major road to another city.
I think it's the last one in Western Europe that is in that
situation. And so it's been very isolated. It's a medieval city. But
it's a fantastic place. I'm very proud to represent it and very proud
to have been chosen by my constituents to be in Parliament on their
behalf.
Look, Brexit is--well, for approximately half the population,
Brexit is a curse, where you say, you know, a thousand Brexits on your
head. For the other half of the population, Brexit is a blessing--may a
thousand Brexits be upon your head. So, ultimately it depends which
side of that--approximate side of the population you talk to. It's
still an ongoing, unfolding situation. It's not over yet. I'm someone
who understands the way that the referendum works. That's how democracy
works. But democracy doesn't just then stop at one referendum. There's
an ongoing process and we'll see what happens.
The vast majority of black people in the United Kingdom, according
to the statistics--and they're not overtly clear--but it looked very
much before the campaign that, the vast majority of black people were
voting for remain. There was a group--one group in particular which we
think may have been more leave, which was the South Asian community.
And the reason for that is perhaps because this whole concept of
European identity isn't something that washed with them. They were a
group that particularly identified with so-called British values. And I
think that was something that they identified with in terms of the
leave campaign. But nonetheless, the vast majority of black people--
black and ethnic minority people in the United Kingdom have been
staunchly remain.
And the impact on black people--on black and minority communities
in the U.K. after Brexit has been quite stark. We know that the number
of attacks that occurred--race hates and attacks on U.K. citizens after
Brexit--shot up by 20 to 30 percent, sometimes higher in different
parts of the country. So we're quite clear that there has been a
backlash, partly because one of the main reasons why they--the leave
campaign was able to achieve success in the referendum was by basically
what you would call playing the race cards. The pressures--so-called
pressures of immigration and stoking up that fear of xenophobia has had
knock-on effects on the black community.
And they've done that. They've achieved in part their ability to be
able to push the U.K. on to the brink of leaving the European Union in
part because of that. Now, it wasn't the only reason why people voted
to leave, but it was an important reason. But we can already see
there's been a shift in the U.K. as the economic implications of Brexit
now become clear. And increasingly, if not the majority of people in
the U.K., according to the latest research, say that actually they
shifted and that the economy is more important than dealing with what's
called freedom of movement within the European Union. So I think when
the crunch comes, people understand that actually the message that
migrant communities, black communities--and unfortunately, the two are
very different but they get along together--but these two different
communities contribute so much to our country.
I think for the future, in terms of where the United Kingdom goes--
look, Theresa May is having a very, very hard time as regards to being
able to sell this to Parliament. I'm not sure she's going to be able to
do it. I'm not sure she's going to be Prime Minister by the end of the
next 6 months. And that prediction could come home to bite me on the
backside, but I don't think she will be. I don't think the numbers are
there. However, what I will say is when you consider the situation that
many black and minority ethnic people find themselves in the United
Kingdom, because of structural racism, they already struggle in terms
of universal access.
For example, we know that they're 21 times more likely to have
their applications called in. We know they're eight times more likely
to be stopped and searched. We know they have the worst housing. We
know that they have the worst opportunities when it comes to the jobs
market. So if leaving the European Union is going to be the economic
disaster most economists say it is, it will be black people who
disproportionately suffer within that. And I think that's one of the
reasons why so many black people--black and minority ethnic people
within the United Kingdom are quite clear that Brexit is bad for them,
not just in terms of the xenophobia and racism that has been ratcheted
up, but also in terms of the economic impact on them. So it's a lose-
lose for our black and ethnic minority communities.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Clive. A bit of a bleak outlook for
black and minority communities within the U.K., but, I mean, there have
been some positives in the U.K. I mean in terms of political
representation. We'll come to our second panel where we have Simon
Woolley. But there's been a lot of work around increasing political
representation of black and minority members of Parliament. I think in
Europe we have the highest share of black and minority population
represented in Parliament. So I think there are some good things. To
her credit, Prime Minister May did carry out a race audit which looked
at the impact for different minority communities. And we have Nero,
who's a Special Advisor to Prime Minister May to talk about that in the
next panel.
So there are problems in the U.K., I fully agree. I think but there
are also some positive things that we have to look in the U.K. in
comparison to our brothers and sisters in other European member states.
And also in the European Parliament, where we only have around 20 black
or ethnic minority parliamentarians out of 752. And we have around
about 55 to 60 belonging to parties that are openly neo-Nazi and
racist. So I mean we definitely see this imbalance in representation
across Europe.
I want to open the floor up to some questions from the audience. I
think we can group maybe three questions together. And the mic is there
for people who want to take the floor. If you could introduce yourself
when you ask the question. Do we have any questions?
Ms. Moore. I had a question. I really appreciated this panel. And I
guess what I would ask of the honorable Clive Lewis is whether or not
you think--and I've asked this before, I don't know--do you think
there's a chance of some reconsideration on Brexit. You say, we'll wait
and see what happens. So that was a cliffhanger for me. [Laughter.]
Finish that thought. Close the loop.
Mr. Lewis. Yes. I do. I'll explain why. What's happened? We've seen
a shift in the polling numbers of people who now understand that the
debate that took place in the United Kingdom during the referendum, one
of the key things that came back from vast swaths of the population
was: We don't know who to believe. We don't know what to do. From a
large number of people. And the level of debate, I think, was very
poor. I think many commentators at the time and after believed that the
level of debate was very poor. It was also ratcheted up in quite an
appalling way by some of the right wing--Nigel Farage and others in our
country. He's a good friend of President Trump. That should tell you
what you need to know about Mr. Farage.
Ultimately, what we're now seeing in the United Kingdom is the
debate that should have happened, the referendum now happening over the
intervening 2 years since we triggered Article 50, which is the
mechanism by which we leave the EU. Now, it was designed in such a way
that no rational country would ever want to leave, because it is such a
short time scale that no rational country would want to do it. We did
it. We triggered Article 50, which is why I resigned. But we triggered
it, and now the clock is ticking and it's running out.
And what you're now seeing is that people--you've got car
manufacturers just yesterday who said--Jaguar, others--who've said as
things are standing at the moment, we are looking at tens of thousands
of job losses in manufacturing in the U.K. The CBI, the very
organizations that have historically and traditionally supported the
Conservative Party are now saying, What the hell are you doing?
And so increasingly, the economic establishment of the United
Kingdom is beginning to lose patience with this brinkmanship. And I
think the public are beginning to understand that.
The bank of the government, the Bank of England, has been quite
stark in what he's been saying. Even our own Chancellor of the
Exchequer is now--you know, came under fire for kind of beginning to
prepare the treasury and the government for what looked like quite
severe drops in national income, given a hard Brexit, or a Brexit as
was described by Theresa May in the exchequers plan.
So ultimately, I think if Theresa May doesn't have the numbers in
Parliament, which we know she doesn't, her exchequers plan is probably
dead in the water as things stand, because the core of her MPs, the
hard Brexiteers want a hard Brexit. They don't want a soft Brexit. And
on the other side of that, you've got an increasing number of members
of Parliament who want to remain in the European Union. And she's
caught in the middle. And I don't think she has the numbers. And that
means that there is now increasing pressure on all of the political
parties, including mine, for a second referendum. Whether that happens
or not, I'm unclear.
But the reason I said it's likely to be a general election is
because she doesn't have the numbers, and if she can't get the actual
agreement through Parliament, then we have a constitutional crisis in
the United Kingdom, which many people feel can only be resolved by
dissolving Parliament and calling a general election. So who knows?
Then it's open. It's a kind of open story there. And what could happen?
You could have a Labour government. And then we don't know what would
happen from there, because they have a somewhat different position on
Brexit--Brexit nonetheless, but for a much softer Brexit. But it
remains to be seen what happens then. So it's possible we could yet
come back from the brink.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Clive. I think we have a question
here. If you can introduce yourself as well, please.
Questioner. Hello. I am Demetrius Brisco [sp]. I'm an intern for
Congressman Conor Lamb's office.
I'd like to thank you all for coming here today. And I'd like to
thank Congresswoman Moore for having everyone here. It's very
inspirational for me, a person who wants to grow up one day and run for
Congress. I really thank you for having this panel here. My question
is, how can African Americans here in the United States be aware of the
problems facing African Europeans or African British folk to understand
the problems that you're facing and how can we help to end those
issues--not just in Europe, but around the world?
Thank you.
Mr. Vaiya. Do we have any other questions?
Questioner. My name is Wyatt Red [sp]. I'm a journalism grad
student at American University.
Mr. Lewis talked about the role of racism in Brexit. And I'd like
to hear from some of the other representatives from other European
countries about what role they think racism might have played in Brexit
and the implications it may have for their own countries.
Thank you.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much. And a final question.
Questioner. Hi. Thank you, again, for all of you coming today.
I'd like to hear more about the EU's decision to punish Hungary for
the refugee situation in that country.
Thank you.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much. So the first question, how can
African American minority populations help European counterparts? The
second question on the impact of racism--the role racism played in
Brexit. And a third question, probably for me and Olivio, Article 7,
and the European Parliament to trigger Article 7 against Hungary. We
can probably start with the third question first because we can quickly
explain exactly what happened.
Mr. Kocsis-Cake. Thank you. Yes, there is a report made by Judith
Sargentini which focused on Hungary, rule of law and a lot of things,
but the migration issue as well. Yes, when we talk about minorities we
shall not avoid that issue of migration. In Hungary, it's a really hard
issue. When was the migration crisis in 2015 or prime minister who won
the third election in row in this year with supermajority, don't
hesitated to use this tragedy for--to campaign. And the last time he
won this--won the election because of the migration crisis, he made a--
he ran a super-focused, excellently disciplined campaign. One simple
message, that a vote for Orban is remaining Hungary, Hungarian. A vote
for other opposition candidate means opening the floodgates to
migration from the Middle East and Africa. So it was a really hard
fearmongering campaign. And I hope this report, which accepted by the
European Parliament, could cause Orban to rethink their policy on
migration.
And there was another question of who can help African-origins
people in Europe? I think the U.S. has to support democratic
institutions in Europe. That is really important. Liberal rights and
freedom of press. And that's the most important thing to do.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you, Olivio. I think for some people in the room
who aren't familiar with Article 7 and what exactly happened, the
European Union can trigger Article 7, which is a loss of certain rights
that a EU member state gets at council, which is when the 28 member
states come together. And the European Parliament today in a landmark
report, the first time ever, passed a report of Judith Sargentini that
we actually contributed to, which actually calls on the European
Commission and European Council to trigger Article 7. Article 7 can
lead to the removal of voting rights of a particular member state. But
what's very important about what happened today is the fact that Prime
Minister Orban was at the European Parliament yesterday.
And for the fact that for the first time in this particular report
you needed two-thirds majority. So it's not just the left of the
Parliament, but you needed the Christian Democrats, some of the other
parties, I think some members of even the U.K. Conservative Party to
support this resolution. And I think it's a very strong signal of the
European Union and of the European Parliament to show that they are
worried about Hungary and they are worried about the implications of
some of the reforms Viktor Orban's doing, but they're also the impact
and how the reforms in Hungary are now moving to other EU member
states. We see this in Poland as well. So I think it's very important
just to explain what Article 7 was.
Maybe I can go to Aminata. Maybe you want to answer some of the
questions.
Ms. Toure. Yes. I'd like to say something to the question: How can
Afro American people help European black people. And when I was writing
my bachelor's thesis, I was writing about the situation of black women
in Germany. And I read there that, for example, Audre Lorde went to
Germany and worked together with Maya Ayim, a German--an Afro German
person, to work together and to ameliorate the situation of black
people in Germany.
And I think exactly situations like these are important, to work
together and help because, as I said when I was talking before, it's
important that we have conferences like this, for example, the Black
Caucus conference, where we are allowed, or we can come and see how you
working here, and how it can strengthen our work as well. And so I
think as well, the PAD week in Brussels was also important for me, for
example, to learn how other African descendants work in politics and to
bring it to Germany.
Because most of the time, especially when you're the only black
person in politics, sitting there most of the time surrounded by white
men, it's always a bit difficult to see what you're fighting for or how
the way can go. So it's important to talk to others who made the same
experience and to learn from it and to try to do the same thing in your
country. And so I think this is important.
Dr. Munyama. Yes. You know, as far as the help we can send, that is
African Americans assisting what is happening in Europe, this is one of
the best examples of what is happening, what Congresswoman Moore is
doing, what Congressman Hastings is doing, and Lee as well. This is a
very important role that they are doing to help people of African
descent in European countries. And of course, we're looking forward to
such meetings like these conferences, both in Europe and in America.
But, of course, it's a light to the good relationship between people of
African descent in Europe and people of African descent in the United
States of America.
Inasfar as the question on the role of racism in Brexit--because
actually I'm preparing a report on the implications of Brexit on
migration today in the Council of Europe, and I'm the rapporteur for
that actual report--and I realized that the issues which were raised,
among which Clive has mentioned, was the issue of people living in the
United Kingdom without knowing the language, people who don't know the
language in the United Kingdom and they come and work, especially from
our countries, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and so forth. So it
was one of those reasons why actually British people who thought
probably they are being deprived of their labor capabilities or the
possibilities to work, they decided, No, we have to vote against being
in the European Union.
So it's not only an issue of racism, as such, but it's also an
issue of language. We're talking about whites coming from other
European countries who couldn't speak the language. Then they were
actually--I mean, the target. Yes, I was watching one of the BBC 4
programs showing a Polish man overusing the benefits in the United
Kingdom, and as an example, to be able to leave Brexit. But the other
thing also we realized is that Britain was not really very attached,
married to the European Union. You would find that most of the European
Union countries, their flags, there are two, right? You have the
national flag and the European Union flag. But it was not very symbolic
in most of the British places where you could go. You could only see
the Union Jack alone, not with the European Union one. So those are
some of the things I have observed with the first stages of the report
that I'm writing on the implications of Brexit on migration.
Thank you.
Mr. Lewis. So I'll address the issue of things that we can do to
work closer with people of the African diaspora, black and ethnic
minority communities across Europe, in particular the U.K. and the U.S.
Of course, events like this, dialog such as this is helpful. But I also
think understanding this--particularly with the United Kingdom and the
United States, that the issues that affect African Americans in
particular and black people in the United Kingdom come from pretty much
the same place, which is structural racism, the justifying ideology of
slavery, of colonialism. Understanding this--and it's still quite a
novel idea and concept to even many of my colleagues in my own party
that this is something that's real--concepts of cultural appropriation.
There was a bit of a hoo-ha in my own country over a famous white
chef who decided to do something called ``jerk rice,'' which doesn't
exist as an actual food. But it became a kind of big issue of something
called cultural appropriation, and it caused a complete storm on our
social media, and so on and so forth. And you can see the level of
ignorance of many people about these kind of quite basic concepts. So
understanding that we have very similar issues in both countries, and
also that structural racism also spreads over to Europe. I would say in
Central Europe and Eastern Europe that often manifests itself more
historically as a fear of Islam, because obviously the Islamic empire
back in the 16th century almost overran--and 15th century--almost
overran parts. And there's a long, visceral fear of Islamic
expansionism, which kind of interconnects with and complicates some of
the issues in Central and Eastern Europe.
But the other thing I would say is understanding that one of the
things which I think unites us all is whether we're talking about the
rise of the far right in Europe, whether we're talking about the rise
of Donald Trump and right-wing populism in the U.S., or whether we're
talking about Brexit, these are symptoms. These are symptoms of a
number of other factors, such as 40 years of neoliberal economic
policies which have driven inequality within European and Western
economies to an extent where it's now coming across.
It's about climate change and the pressures of that. Again, with
climate change we know that it will be predominantly black people who
bear the brunt, and are already bearing the brunt, of climate change.
Colonialism too in some ways. The irony that, our industrial
revolutions in Europe were fueled by slavery and colonialism, and that
every industrialization process now is driving climate change, first,
in those countries that were pillaged and plundered first of all, you
couldn't make it up. And obviously in terms of technology and the
fourth industrial revolution. All these pressures are combining, I
think, to make for potentially a very dangerous world, of which black
people and scapegoating of minorities could well be a very, very
blatant part of that. But there's also the opportunity for very many
positive things to come of that.
And the last thing I will say is the issue of class. You know, I'm
a socialist. Class is a big factor in this. And also I find the nuances
of race within those class struggles. I also understand that there is a
fight going on at the moment between the 99 percent and the 1 percent--
those who own the vast majority of wealth and power in this world. And
you're on the field. You don't get a choice in this. You're either part
of the 99 percent or you're part of the 1 percent. And you have to pick
a side. And ultimately, I think the struggle of black people and black
and minority ethnic people in my country and across Europe is very much
related and connected to that class struggle.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Clive. Thank you to all the
panelists on this first panel. I think it's been a very interesting
discussion, to talk about the different EU member states, but also
about the impacts of Brexit and other issues on black and minority
populations in Europe.
If I can now ask my second panel to come to the front. In the
second panel we want to talk more about possible solutions and talk
less about the situation. And we're going to use the example of the
United Kingdom and the government's race audit. To her credit, the
Prime Minister May, when she first became Prime Minister made a speech
about protecting minority populations in the United Kingdom. And one of
the things she committed to was a U.K. race audit. I think it's the
first-ever race audit anywhere in Europe or in the world. And it's a
very impressive piece of work. You can access the information on the
government's website also. \1\
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\1\ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/race-disparity-audit
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But we luckily have Nero Ughwujabo and Simon Woolley to talk about
the U.K. Race
Disparity Audit. Nero is a special advisor to Prime Minister May
and is responsible in Downing Street for the race audit. And Simon is
the chair of the task force of the race audit. And Simon is also the
director of Operation Black Vote, which aims to energize and bring
together black and minority policymakers and emerging policymakers to
the Parliament. A lot of the good work in terms of representation in
the U.K. Parliament of black and minority population has been done
thanks to Simon's work. I think Clive was also one of the intakes of
Simon's mentorship program, if I'm correct. So Simon's been doing a lot
of excellent work.
But I think maybe we can start with Nero. And we also have to give
credit to the Conservative Party. There are issues in every political
party, but even in terms of political representation the Conservative
Party has less than Labour but, for a Christian Democrat center-right
party, we do see progress. We do see black and minority population
achieving positions within the party. Right now in the Cabinet, we have
Sajid Javid, who is holding one of the great offices of state. In the
previous government of David Cameron, we saw Baroness Warsi. So we do
see good representation in the party. But we also see this commitment
of the Prime Minister and of the party in the form of the race audit.
So maybe, Nero, you can give some background on what is the Race
Disparity Audit, why the Prime Minister decided to commit herself--and
the government and all the departments--for pushing the Race Disparity
Audit. And an interesting one maybe here also, why it's relevant for a
conservative Prime Minister to do this. A lot of people will have
doubts, and have had doubts, and have accused the Conservative Party at
times of being discriminatory or not a safe space for black and
minority populations. So why is it that that the Conservative Prime
Minister decided to do this Race Disparity Audit. And we should give
Nero credit for the work he's doing in Downing Street. I mean, to be
there, working directly with the Prime Minister and advising ministers
on how to implement some of the action points of the Race Disparity
Audit, is very impressive work. That's something that we should bear in
mind. So, Nero.
Mr. Ughwujabo. Great. So thank you all very much. And I must say
how delighted I am to be here. It's fantastic to be here, and to see
the cooperation of people of African descent across Europe as well. I
also participated in PAD Week and, again, found that incredibly useful.
Just to say, my actual title is Special Advisor to the Prime Minister
on Social Justice, Young People, and Opportunities. So I lead across
those range of areas. Also, I work quite closely on a civil society
strategy, as well as the integration strategy. But I'll talk
specifically about this audit, because this portion of the discussion
is about the way forward. And I see this very strongly as a potential
example for other places to take forward as well, focusing on that area
of data.
When the Prime Minister first stepped on the street--so Downing
Street, this was in July--she talked about tackling the burning
injustices. It wasn't just about race equality. It was about a range of
other injustices that you see in the society. And she wanted to make it
her personal mission to focus on addressing race equality--addressing
the burning injustices. And in August 2016, she launched this idea of
having an audit of all public services to look at what the experience
is for black and minority ethnic communities, to look at whether there
are disparities or not, where those disparities are, and exactly what
we can begin to do about them.
In October last year, the audit itself was actually launched. And
as I said, this is an unprecedented audit. As Alfiaz has already
introduced, there's nowhere else in the world where this has been done.
So we do feel strongly that it's a good example for other countries to
actually copy. That audit was launched in October last year, so we're
actually approaching the first-year anniversary of this audit. What a
lot of commentators said at the time was, okay, we know what some of
these disparities are. We're quite familiar with some of these issues.
So what exactly are you going to do about it? And during that October
launch, the Prime Minister actually called on society as a whole, more
specifically government, to explain or change. So this is the mantra,
the call to action to all of us to look at these disparities and to
look at what we can actually do to improve the experiences of people
from different backgrounds in public services.
And since that time, we've actually moved onto another core wish
she made to her department specifically. That issue come up with bold
and ambitious policy responses to what was found in the audit. And I
can tell you that from the launch of the audit, there are a number of
responses that we've actually put in place in government to respond to
the challenges. At the time of the launch, MP David Lammy also launched
his report, which was looking into the experiences of black communities
in the criminal justice system. So that was rolled into the audit
response in terms of making sure that there is a kind of a wholesale
criminal justice system reform. And that is still ongoing.
We launched a review of school exclusions because this was a
particular issue in the audit, that young black men in particular are a
number of times more likely to be excluded from school than others. And
we wanted to make sure that we tackled that. That's likely to be
reported by the end of this year. And, again, we will begin to see what
policy responses we can put in place. At the launch of the audit is
where we announced a project looking at hot spots--unemployment hot
spots. So these are areas across the country where there's a high level
of unemployment amongst ethnic minorities. And we wanted to do a focus
project in those areas to help to tackle and alleviate the problem of
unemployment.
We also launched a significant review of mental health, and a
number of interventions in that area to help improve the experience of
black communities. And most recently, we announced 19 million pounds--a
fund of 19 million pounds to look at tackling specifically youth
unemployment. Again, this is a significant issue. And as you can see,
the response in terms of the financial contribution is also a
significant response. And we're in the process of designing exactly how
that money is going to be used to tackle youth unemployment. And I can
tell you that the model we're looking at is one that will be
sustainable, so that this is not just a simple, quick intervention, and
that maybe a few years down the line we'll go back to the same
situation.
We actually want to be able to respond in a significant and
sustainable way. One of the things that I can say clearly from the U.K.
perspective and from the government's perspective is that the Prime
Minister is personally committed to this agenda. And as part of that
explain or change mantra that she put forward, she also established an
advisory group made up of members from the black and ethnic minority
communities to help to hold government to account, and also to
contribute to the solutions. And we're delighted to have Simon Woolley
to chair that group. He, being an independent person working in the
volunteer and community sector, can bring that independent voice to the
work that we do.
So there's a great deal of commitment. I can say there's a lot to
learn from us. But part of being here is that there's a lot to learn
from you and from other parts of Europe. And we'll be very keen to
welcome you to the United Kingdom to see the audit for yourself and to
learn from the interventions that we're putting in place.
So thank you very much for listening.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Nero. Maybe you can later on share
the actual website where the government has put all of the data, for
those of you who are interested in it. \2\ It's a very comprehensive
list of ambitions and responses. I was also aware that when the
government rolled the race audit out, I think we have to also give
credit here that, you know, it was a full rollout, from the prime
minister herself to members of the Cabinet. And I mean, I think that
showed just how much priority the government was giving to this
particular Race Disparity Audit.
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\2\ https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/?utm--
source=rdareport
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And I think one of the interesting things--and we've spoken about
this in Downing Street, when we met--was actually when we think about
the Race Disparity Audit, we really think of black and minority
populations. But actually some of the biggest disparities that the Race
Disparity Audit showed was for the Roma Gypsy community, but also for
the white working class--young men who are white working class. And so
actually it's a very impressive piece of work, because although many
people had in mind black men or the ethnic populations, actually it
showed the discrepancies and disparities for other groups.
And they can also help us when we're trying to put policy
recommendations in place. It can be an easy sell when you're saying
that it's not just for particular minority communities but, you know,
actually, the benefits of such a Race Disparity Audit are first of all
to show us the data, but second of all the responses actually benefit
other groups, not just the black and minority groups.
So thank you very much, Nero.
Now, Simon is chairing the advisory group of the Race Disparity
Audit. Amongst other members, you have members from business, and
members from civil society. I have already introduced Simon, but just
to say that, we have one of the most respected members of the black and
minority community in the U.K., who has not just been at the forefront
of pushing black and empowering black communities, but also others. I
mean, from my own community, the South Asian, but Indian, and Muslim.
Just last week you and Clive were part of this Muslim-Jewish-Black
alliance to welcome the decision of Jeremy Corbyn to adopt--and the
Labour Party--to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism.
Simon is really one of those people. I'm really happy that Simon is
the chair of the Race Disparity Audit because Simon really looks not
just at his community but at intersections of different communities
meeting together and having an approach that benefits all communities.
And I think sometimes when we do this kind of work we sometimes get
stuck in our own silos, you know? We sometimes become very tribal about
our own community. But the work Simon has done throughout his career is
a testament to see the representation in the Parliament, not only in
black politicians but South Asian politicians and others. So, Simon,
maybe you can talk about your role on the advisory group of the Race
Disparity Audit.
Mr. Woolley. Thank you. I wanted him to stop because I didn't want
to get a swelled head.
[Laughter.] Yes. But I'm an activist. I'm an activist fighting--I'm
an activist fighting for social and racial justice. And I often see
myself and my organization, Operation Black Vote, as disciples of Dr.
Martin Luther King and Malcom X, and Reverend Jesse Jackson. We've been
passed the baton and we're running with it.
And what I like about coming to these events, and to the
Congressional Black Caucus, because it reminds us about the global
solidarity that we desperately need right now to, one, lay bare some of
the challenges and the persistent inequalities. But to come together as
brothers and sisters to find the solutions in a manner that's urgent.
And as an activist, actually, I want to pay tribute to Dr. Mischa
Thompson and Alfiaz, as a matter of fact, that bring us together, that
bring us into this space to connect, to plot, to plan on a better--a
better future. And as Alfiaz said, is that this family of activists
covers the African diaspora, but also Latinos across the globe, and we
know we've worked well with Maria Robles Meier, who's here, making that
connection. And with the Asian communities in Europe.
And we're stronger together. And now more than ever--I mean, what
you're facing here in the USA is a parallel challenge to what we're
facing in Europe. You know, when you consider--when you consider there
are political parties in Hungary, in Germany, in Belgium, in Holland
that's whole raison d'etre is to attack people that look like me and
Alfiaz. And when they attack us, they may attack us politically, but
they give a green light to the very vicious, nasty thugs to say, This
is okay. And that's what we are confronting. And you know, in the last
session--I know people spoke about Brexit and they're kind of
justifying some of the reasons that people hate foreigners. For
example, one of the panelists said that people felt that those come to
the U.K. don't speak English, and they are taking our benefits.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of migrants
that come to the U.K., as a matter of fact, speak excellent English.
They just do. I mean, if I asked you--if I asked you honestly here how
many--how many second languages do you speak--I don't want to embarrass
you. [Laughter.] Right? But in Europe they make it--they make it their
business. The other point too, of course, is the benefits. You know,
those that are coming to the U.K., those that are coming to European
countries from often war-torn and desperate places are young. They are
energetic and vibrant. And they're not using social services. They're
working from sun-up to way past sun-down, and often propping up
societies. So that myth should be busted--busted.
But, you know, yes, we talked about the negativity. Yes, we've
talked about the challenge. But there is some good news in all of this.
And we must recognize that. Central to this good news, and central to
potentially, but dramatically, moving the race equality dial, closing
those persistent inequality gaps is leadership. Leadership. When we had
a conversation as activists on the street with PM Theresa May, to say
we want you to lead from the top right across government to do a number
of things. One, research the persistent inequalities in education, in
health, in housing, in the police. Why is a lifetime chance of a young
black man so different to a young white woman? Why? Because of the
structural inequalities that see one less superior, inferior, to
another. No other reason. Lay those inequalities bare. As Nero said,
explain those inequalities or change, simple.
Lay the inequalities bare, and then have a plan to close the gaps.
Think about that for a second. That leadership, clarion call. And then,
for that leader to call in all her ministers and say: Each and every
one of you will have to lay the data bare and have a plan to close the
gaps. So you've got the leader. You've got the ministers.
And then you've got me and Nero. And myself and Nero--particularly
myself because, you know, he works for the government. I don't so I can
say what I want. [Laughter.] Right? But being given the mandate from
the Prime Minister to, in effect, for her to say to me: Hold my
ministers' feet close to the fire. Crudely speaking, keep your foot on
their jugular. Don't let them get away with it. And push, push, push.
My job then is twofold. One, to keep the foot on the jugular, in a
nice way. [Laughter.] Now, this is good for you too, by the way. But
also to take the community along too, because it has to be that link--
the heads of government, the ministers, the policymakers, the
activists, and the community--because it is the community that will be
directly affected by these policy changes. And I'll just give you one
example on how this translated, because I know we're short for time.
We spoke before about the great disparities in the education
system. It's difficult for our communities to get to the top
universities. When we get there, we can't get the same degrees, even
though we've started at the same level playing field. When we have
14,000 professors, only 70 look like me, disparities at every juncture.
Nero said to me, call a meeting. Call a meeting with the vice
chancellors. Bring them to Downing Street. When they get an invite to
Downing Street, they come. We sat around the table with them all--the
top universities, Oxford and Cambridge, and all them type.
I tell you this, when these heads of the universities came into
Downing Street one of them turned around to me and said: Simon, when I
came into this building I came in with a flak jacket on and hard
helmet. They came in prepared to be defensive, to be in a mode where
they couldn't listen because they were defensive. But our approach was:
This is about leadership. We're not going to attack you. We need to
find out the persistent inequalities and, together, find solutions.
They collectively had a sigh of relief. But the outcome was they were
suggesting to government and to their fellow peers how they could
dramatically close those gaps.
Let me say--let me say this, this is a new way of doing politics.
The politics of these buildings, the politics of Westminster, the
politics of Hungary, or Poland, are adversarial. You go in to do
battle. You can't see the light when you're doing battle like that.
This politics is grown up, predicated on leadership, inclusive, with
clear solutions. I want you to lobby--to lobby your Congressmen and
women and senators and say: You want a new way of doing politics.
Something like they're doing in the U.K. [Laughter, applause.]
Mr. Vaiya. And more than best practice--very quickly, from my side,
one question to both of you very quickly. How can we replicate this in
other countries? What kind of enabling environment do we need where we
can have--where we can do something like a Race Disparity Audit? In the
U.K. we have a very different history, also a very different way of
integrating and engaging with minority communities. But what would you
recommend, Nero and Simon, for other countries where you don't have
such a high black minority population, or you have a huge reluctance
because of the political environment right now?
Mr. Ughwujabo. Yes. I'll answer your question. But let me make my
own statement first. [Laughs.] So there are a number of things I just
wanted to touch on that I missed. One of them is that the website
itself is Ethnicity Facts and Figures. So if you can have a look at
that online, you will be able--if you can Google ``ethnicity facts and
figures'' you can come to the website. 1A\3\ One of the key things
about it is that it's a permanent resource for the government of the
U.K. So any government from now on will have access to that data to use
in shaping policy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/?utm--
source=rdareport
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
And a key part of this project is about driving evidence-based
policymaking, which I think is what Simon was referring to. And I think
for other countries in Europe, that's really the focus--transparency,
data, and evidence-based policymaking. If an audit--a similar audit is
conducted anywhere, it's the role of government to focus on where the
challenges are to do what they can to address those. And we have a Race
Disparity Unit in government that's responsible for delivering the
website and the project. So if any of the countries want to come and
talk to them, we'd be happy to facilitate that.
Thank you.
Mr. Woolley. Okay. What should be the drivers for you to lobby your
government? Well, it's simple. It should be in society's, in
government's self-interest--self-interest--to do this. Unlock talent on
your doorstep. It's in everyone's interest--it's in everyone's interest
that you have--I have a mantra in the U.K. that I believe, black or
white, there is potential talent in every street, in every city, in
every part of the U.K. That's a starting point. And so how do we--how
is that fulfilled? By having an honest appraisal of the institutions
that either support that talent or hold it back. When you listen to
Donald Trump, when you listen to most presidents, when you listen to
most leaders they want their countries to be great, right? They want
their countries to be successful.
So you speak to their interests. Why are you leaving hundreds of
thousands of people out of work, no hope, going either into criminality
or, worse still, extremism? Because the system holds them back. Why not
bring them into the family of our societies and get them to flourish?
You've got to make--you've got to make the positive self-interest
argument that drives this agenda, because if you are saying that this
is morally the right thing, they often don't listen. If you're saying
it's political correctness, they are definitely not listening. You've
got to make it real to them. Show them the benefits of unlocking
talent.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Simon. I think the issue of
demographic changes--I think that's a whole different conversation--but
also the fact that you see this all across Europe--that we wage
constant political attacks against minority or black populations, when
actually if we'd done the opposite and we'd brought them in we could
actually solve a lot of the problems that we see in terms of the
economy, in terms of social progress.
But there seems to be a reluctance more because of political
maneuvering and the political realities rather than politics by facts.
And it's very important to stress that, you know, in the U.S. by 2042
there will be no majority group. I think in Europe and many member
states we see that--and I think Aminata said in Germany, 20-odd percent
come from a migration background. And the trends are showing that's
just going to continue to evolve in the future. So we might as well try
to tackle these issues now, rather than waiting for when these issues
then blow up into bigger problems.
Before I come to the audience, we have about 20 minutes. And I also
take up a lot of time. But maybe very quickly, we have two
representatives of civil society. We have Jeff Klein from Each One
Teach One, which is an organization based in Germany that works with
black Germans. And we have Ali Khan from the Open Society Europe
initiative--sorry--the Open Society Initiative for Europe, which has
been working a lot on promoting the rights of different black and
minority population. The OSF has been a key supporter of our work in
the European Parliament, but also in terms of PAD Week and this
delegation. So thank you very much. So maybe Jeff and Ali, 2 minutes
each, on the role of civil society and the role of your organizations
in this work.
Thank you.
Mr. Klein. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a great
honor to be speaking here today, and also to be part of this
delegation. So I wanted to start off giving a little bit of a historic
background, because I think it's important to understand the situation
we are in right now. And there are two misconceptions--two general
misconceptions that I'd like to address as well. The one misconception
being that Germany did not take part in the colonialization of black
people, their minds and their lands, which nothing could be further
from the truth. And the second misconception is that black people have
been--have just been around Germany for a very short amount of time,
when in actuality black people or people of African descent have lived
in Germany since the late 17th century.
Enslaved Africans were first brought from West Africa to the ports
of Hamburg as early as 1682. And 200 years later, during the Berlin
Africa conference in 1884, Europeans powers met to basically negotiate
their claims on Africa. And last, in 1908, German colonial authorities
were responsible for the first genocide of the 20th century in what is
today known as Namibia. So although there is a lack of specific data on
African-descended populations in Germany, the estimates range between
800,000 to 1 million. And however, the contribution of black people in
Germany, as well as the long history of discrimination against people
of African descent, they are virtually invisible in the German public
sphere, and largely also to the German Government.
However, the German Government has started to come around, so to
speak. And to this end, EOTO, my organization, is the very first Afro-
diasporic organization in Germany that receives structural funding from
the German Federal Government. And this is a fact that is both as
exciting as it is shocking, in a way, especially given that we are
right now in the midst of the International Decade for People of
African Descent. And the German Government, along with many other
governments in Europe, still have not come around to provide adequate
funding for self-organizing black organizations. But fortunately, there
are other donors, such as, for example, the Open Society Foundation,
who have emerged as great allies and supporters.
So given this context, we at Each One Teach One, we do our very
best to provide services to black communities, but also to our allies
that center around the well being of people of African descent, in
Germany and in Europe, and empower those communities to make
contributions to themselves, strengthen their access to knowledge, and
also their visibility.
Mr. Vaiya. Quickly go to Ali, and then maybe to Q&A. I'm really
sorry, but we're really running out of time.
Mr. Khan. Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Ali Khan. I work for the
Open Society Foundations. And specifically I work on the--what we call
the anti-discrimination portfolio within Europe. The anti-
discrimination portfolio is basically a funding portfolio where we
focus on the rights of black Europeans and Muslim Europeans. This has
become very specific, and there is reason for this.
And basically what I want to talk about and what I think is really
important in the world of funding, and what we can change as
grantmakers and funding organizations, is that traditionally even we as
Open Society Foundations--which we call ourselves a social justice
funder, a grassroots organization supporter--a lot of our funding ends
up going to the big civil society organizations that work--you know,
the Amnestys, the traditionally big, big organizations that actually
already have quite a lot of money.
So what I'm trying to do, and what my goal with this portfolio is,
together with my colleagues, is that our funding goes to organizations
that are minority led. So when it comes to--Each One Teach One is a
great example of that. We--I think what we try--what I'm trying to say
and what I think is a really important message is that this group--
minority groups in Europe don't need to be saved by the traditional
NGOs and the big NGOs. But what we need is money--money going into
those grassroots organizations, into those organizations who are led by
people who are agents of change, but just never had the opportunity,
because this is just unfortunately how the funding world works. And
even within OSF, it is so much more difficult to fund an organization
that is small, that is new, than it is to fund an organization that is
established. And this is something that we are actively trying to
change.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Ali and Jeff.
We have some minutes, if we have any more questions? If you want to
come here to the mic on the left. And then we can have final responses
from members of the panel.
Questioner. Hi. I'm Ben, an intern with Representative Steve
Cohen's office.
I had a question about the Race Disparity Audit and its
replication. Is this something that the government is looking at doing
when it does more wider-spread social reforms, such as--after Brexit,
certainly a lot is going to change. And with the expansion of grammar
schools, looking at educational exclusion. That seems like something
that really, really could affect BAME communities in the U.K. And I was
wondering what--if this is something that is going to be looked at
again and again.
Mr. Vaiya. Do you want to ask a question?
Questioner. My name is Rosie Berman. I'm with the Tom Lantos Human
Rights Commission.
My question is for the civil society panel. I'm interested in
learning more about the different black- and minority-led grassroots
organizations that are operating across Europe.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much. And the final question?
Questioner. Hi. Good morning. First of all, thank you all so much
for coming here today. My name is Henry. I'm with Congressman Al
Green's office.
I want to ask this question as someone who studies international
affairs. With all the great things, with all the great possibility that
the European Union can do, and the member states of the EU can do to
promote equality, we also have to face the fact that there is rising
populism and far-right movements in Europe--the UKIP, the AfD, the PVV,
these are just some easy examples. So what are the things that the
European Union and European civil society should do in order to counter
these acts, to build up a multicultural, more diverse society in
Europe?
Thank you.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much for the interesting questions. Do
you have a final question?
Questioner. Good morning. Nicolae Stefanuta, representing the
European Parliament here in town.
I just had a question for Mr. Ali Khan. I was wondering how you
guys deal with the challenge that is obviously happening to your
organization in Hungary and other places. You know, we're talking about
mostly people of African American descent, but also the anti-Jewish
rhetoric, Mr. Soros being personalized as evil incarnate, that is
happening both in this country and both in the EU.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much. Just very quickly on the question
of dealing with far-right or populist movements across Europe, I think
one thing we have to recognize is that they're very different. The
Steve Bannon plan to open an office in Brussels, there was a lot of
worry amongst colleagues. But I think, we have to understand that they
are very different movements in Europe. I mean, the Dutch far-right
populist party is economically very, very similar to the left, but also
socially liberal in terms of LBGTI rights, in terms of gender rights,
often using those particular rights to attack--you know, to say that we
should have worries about Muslim communities because they have an
impact against Dutch LGBTI and Dutch women. Whereas in certain
political parties in Hungary, in Italy, the far right is a traditional
far-right and populist party. So I think that it's a very difficult
response on how to respond--how to respond back to these movements
because they are so different in the way they are structured but also
in the outlook and their aims.
Saying that, there are a few issues that they agree on and they
work on. But I think one thing--one response--and I think we said it,
both Simon and I, is that we need to see how we can avoid differences
within particular minority communities. For me, it's a big concern from
the European Parliament side that we see different levels of attention
paid to certain communities than others, but also the fact that we see
that some minority communities are actually supporting the far-right
populist movement. I myself have said it to some of my friends in the
Netherlands who happen to be gay, to say that if you look at gay men in
the Netherlands, there's quite a few, actually, who voted for the likes
of Geert Wilders. And I say that, where is the solidarity? Where is the
solidarity between movements? And that's the good work that Ali Khan
and OSF, but also the work that Jeff's organization is doing in
Germany, where they're bringing these different communities together
and looking at it from an intersectional approach. And I think that's
something that we can do, or something that as policymakers we're
trying to encourage.
So that's my take on those questions. Maybe we start off with--
let's start off with Jeff, and then we come down.
Mr. Klein. Okay. So traditionally black-led self-organizations in
Germany have focused their work mainly on combating racism against
black people, and this is something that we at Each One Teach One are
also doing. But we've also shifted our focus more to black empowerment,
and also what I like to refer to as decolonizing the mind. We have a
very unique book and media archive with more than 6,000 books by
African and Afro-diasporic authors. And with that, we try to really
change the German curricula in terms of academia in order to make the
perspectives and the ideas of black people part of the public
consciousness. We do this, for example, with literature, festivals as
well, writing workshops, or cultural events.
One of the things that we also do is focus on youth and on youth
empowerment. We do that through after-school support, ant-
discrimination counseling, and also in outreach activities. Last, what
we do is engage in leadership and advocacy efforts to bring black
perspectives to the consciousness. As people mentioned before, PAD Week
is a prime example of this. Also, our contribution is here, as well as
a network of black perspectives in academia that we will start in
November. So these are just a couple of things that we do in order to
bring forward black people and their perspectives in Germany.
Mr. Khan. Yes, there were two questions, I think, that were
somewhat addressed to me, and one directly addressed to me. The one on
learning more about what European civil society organizations are
doing--it's a lengthy conversation but I'd be happy to speak to you
right after the panel to give you a bit more detail on that.
And then the question on how OSF is dealing with--well, with the
fact that we're not very liked in many countries. [Laughs.] Our office
in Turkey has been closed down. Our office in Moscow was closed down.
Or office in Budapest wasn't actually closed down, but there were laws
that were introduced that basically made it impossible for us to
operate, which led to the closure of the office in Budapest.
Unfortunately, it happened just a few weeks ago. The fact that we are
an organization with money puts us in a privileged position, as in that
we moved the 160 people that were working in Budapest to the new office
in Berlin, which--so we're basically dealing with it, depending on how
things are going on and how we are being forced into having to change.
It's something that I personally don't deal with that much, but I
think we are very well aware that we find ourselves in a climate that
the work that we do and the stances that we take on a lot of these
issues have made us very, very unpopular across the world. And we're
trying to see how we could do that differently. But I personally remain
of the position that we shouldn't--we should stay strong and we should
keep to our values and beliefs, and we should be outspoken, even if
that means that we are at risk.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much, Ali.
Nero, I'd give you the final word.
Mr. Ughwujabo. Great. Thank you very much. So the question that you
asked is a very important one because in reality if you do a one-off
audit, that wouldn't consider the fact that people change, communities
change, and things tend to move on. This audit, as I said, is a
permanent resource. That's the Prime Minister's announcement and that's
what it will be. At the time of launching the audit, we had 250
measures that we looked at for that launch period--measures as in
looking at, say, the number of young people achieving 5 As to Cs in
GCSEs.
That an educational outcome. But since the audit has been launched,
it's been constantly updated. So there's a significant number of new
measures that have been published there.
And the updating, we're not doing it in terms of periodic process
of--so, maybe annually. They've been updated as new data come forward.
And we're also designing processes that make it easier for government
departments and those who are holding government data to publish with
relative ease. So that process is ongoing. The data is there for
everyone to access. And we will continue to update it.
One of the wonderful things about the future, in that sense, is
that the opportunity will be there to be able to compare previous
years, previous data updates, and to see whether we're actually doing
what we set out to do, which is to close those gaps.
Mr. Vaiya. Thank you very much Nero. My final thank you is to you
for listening to and engaging with the questions and listening to us
and listening to our experiences in Europe. And I think it's important
to take away that although times are bleak, there are some positives.
But also, the importance of the transatlantic relationship, not only in
terms of the political level, but also between civil society and
communities. I mean, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from
civil society and communities in America, and likewise in Europe.
My final thank you goes to Dr. Mischa Thompson. I first met Dr.
Mischa Thompson maybe about 2 years ago, or 3 years ago now. And since
then, our friendship and our work relationship has grown very strong.
But the one thing, when everyone keeps on asking the question, what can
people in the United States do? I mean, if you tried to replicate
Mischa Thompson 1,000 times--[laughter]--we could do with a thousand
Mischas, because Mischa's really been at the forefront of pushing, you
know, us to do this work in Europe. And, I mean, just the transatlantic
minority political leadership conference that Mischa and I co-
organized--and when we bring policymakers together, is one of Mischa's
ideas, along with other things. So, I mean, a big thank you to Dr.
Mischa Thompson, to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, to Izmira, and to all
of you for listening and engaging.
Thank you very much. [Applause].
[Whereupon, at 11:48 a.m., the briefing ended.]
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