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Year 2001 No. 62, April 10, 2001 Archive Search Home Page

Chinese Community Protest at Racist Scapegoating

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

Chinese Community Protest at Racist Scapegoating

Rumours of Missing Foot-and-Mouth Virus

Election Comment
Labour Party to Re-Write its Manifesto

News In Brief
Marconi to Cut 3,000 Jobs
Teaching Assistants Demand Better Pay
Teachers Unite over Working Hours

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Chinese Community Protest at Racist Scapegoating

Over one thousand members of Britain’s Chinese community marched through London on Sunday from Chinatown in Soho to the headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) in Smith Square. Among the organisations represented on the demonstration were the Chinese Civil Rights Action Group, the UK Chinese Sports Association and Camden Socialist Alliance.

The demonstration condemned the racist campaign to try to make the Chinese community the scapegoats for the foot-and-mouth epidemic. They shouted slogans such as "Mr Blair, be fair", and carried banners which condemned MAFF for disseminating rumours that the source of the disease was illegally imported meat in Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s Stowell Street, the centre of the Chinese community in the North East.

Restaurateurs and representatives of Chinese associations from all over Britain who participated in the militant demonstration demanded an apology from government ministers and the media over the way the Chinese national minority had been targeted with absolutely no foundation. Chinese takeaways all over Britain also closed for two hours to coincide with the protest as a mark of the anger the community feels at being held responsible. Some outlets have seen trade drop by as much as 40% as racist incitement has been whipped up by the media, with its source in MAFF.

In Smith Square, the protesters were met by the Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown, on the steps of MAFF. He is reported as saying: "It is not true to say that there is evidence that somehow the foot-and-mouth outbreak is anything to do with Chinese catering outlets. The press should not have reported it as such. Our investigations into the source are continuing."

While Nick Brown is reported to have said that he "despised the underlying racialism" and the "hurt caused to the Chinese community", such words are cheap when the source is his own ministry and in his view the extent of the problem is that the rumours "should not have been reproduced in the press". The government, and MAFF in particular, is trying to get itself off the hook for the disastrous treatment of the outbreak and the devastation it is causing to the small farmers, and pointing the finger of blame at anyone but itself. The rumour of the Chinese community being the problem was floated at the same time as the horrific suffocation of over 50 Chinese young people was again in the headlines over the trial and conviction of the lorry driver who was held responsible for their deaths. The government calculates that the association with "illegal immigrants" and "asylum seekers" makes the Chinese national minority an easy target. The racist propaganda is to be condemned by all democratic people.

One of the demonstrators in Smith Square said: "Our community has been in this country for the last 150 years, but now we are back to being treated as a foreign element, the yellow peril. The danger is that because of this the Chinese identity will be associated again with disease, smuggling, sub-standard food and culture."

The Chinese Civil Rights Action Group plans to hold a similar march in two weeks’ time in Manchester and further demonstrations may be held across the North East of England.

Article Index



Rumours of Missing Foot-and-Mouth Virus

A Sunday newspaper carried a story that the foot-and-mouth outbreak could have been started deliberately by someone who stole a test-tube of the virus from the government laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire. The Sunday Express reports that a container of the foot-and-mouth virus went missing two months before the crisis began.

According to the newspaper, the disappearance was discovered during a routine audit of the unit at Porton Down, which also houses smallpox, TB, anthrax and Ebola. It quotes a "senior military source close to Porton Down" as saying: "A phial appears to have gone missing from one of the labs following a routine audit last year. Ministry officials were informed immediately and an investigation was launched initially by Special Branch and then by MI5, who are interested in the activities of animal rights protesters." The paper also claims it has seen documents confirming some sheep carried the virus long before the outbreak was confirmed on February 20. According to a Welsh vet, it was in Wales as early as January, said the paper. Timber merchants say the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food approached them in early February to supply wood for pyres. Agriculture minister Nick Brown insisted this was part of a "regular contingency planning exercise".

While the proposition that the government was aware of the disease before it was officially confirmed cannot be discounted, the story carried by the newspaper is disturbing in the way it propagates rumours that the missing test-tube could have been taken by an "animal rights activist". The Terrorism Act has been drawn up specifically to transform such "activists" into "terrorists" and criminalise political protest. It appears another scapegoat is being prepared by the government as being responsible for the crisis.

Article Index



Election Comment

Labour Party to Re-Write its Manifesto

It is reported that the Labour Party is making last-minute changes to its election manifesto. The reason given is that there was a danger that the document could become an anticlimax because most of the key pledges have already been announced.

This in itself exposes the character of the parties' manifestos at election time. Even given the fact that the people have no part in drafting them, their purpose is not to offer the electorate a choice as to the programme of the parliamentary parties for representing the electorate’s will in governing society. They are part of the electoral stunt or confidence trick to bring parties to power, a sales pitch to win over the electorate to put a cross by a party’s name. The people are not even to be credited with the opportunity to dispassionately review the manifestos, according to the Labour Party.

Article Index



News In Brief

Marconi to Cut 3,000 Jobs

Communications group Marconi is due to announce major job losses. The company met with trade unions representing the workforce yesterday to discuss its plans for redundancies estimated to be around 1,200 in Britain, primarily at its factories in Liverpool and Coventry. Globally, Marconi is to axe 3,000 jobs out of a workforce of 55,000, around half of whom are employed in Britain.

Though it has operations across Europe, the US, Asia and Australia, over 40% of Marconi’s sales are generated in the US. The group sold the military-orientated side of its business to BAE Systems in 1999 and has since restructured to focus on telecommunications in the US. The announcement of the redundancies comes as the US economy goes further into crisis and as telecoms equipment manufacturers in particular are facing problems with a falling rate of profit. Last week, Marconi’s French rival Alcatel said it would cut 1,100 jobs in the US, while Lucent and Ericsson have also been affected by the problems in the industry.

Teaching Assistants Demand Better Pay

Teaching assistants and childcare workers are demanding better pay in conditions where their salaries have been held low.

The Professional Association of Nursery Nurses (PANN) found that salaries for these workers ranged from £9,531 to £12,444 for a 32 ½ hour week. PANN spokesperson Tricia Pritchard urged the government to improve conditions, and said it was time to "recognise" abilities of staff.

Teachers Unite over Working Hours

The government is facing an unprecedented alliance of the teachers’ unions who are demanding a reduction in the working week. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers is the first of four teaching unions to debate and vote on a motion limiting the working week to 35 hours unless the government launches an inquiry into teachers’ pay and conditions.

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