06 July 2016
Now that the results are in, it is easy to see why there is so much mourning across social media; it is a dark day for many reasons and the future is not looking any brighter for the refugees on their way, resident migrants or even those of us lucky enough to be a citizen. However, some would say it is to be expected; all of us who draw family lineage on the wrong side of empire will know that in crisis, like any wounded predator, imperialists often become their most ferocious and unpredictable.
Last week Wednesday: The Malcolm X Movement (MXM), Ealing Momentum, Momentum - Black ConneXions and Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) all got together to organize a “Remain / Leave Debate” to discuss the future beyond the referendum; more specifically, how this future relates to all of us non-white, non-British and non-Christian people living here in England. On the panel there was: Lee Jasper, representing BARAC; Sukant Chandan from MXM; Marlene Ellis from Momentum-Black ConneXions; Nana Asante, representing Africans for Jeremy Corbyn Values; Raj Gill out of West London Unite Community; and Former Cllr Zahida Abbas Noori. Despite the broad range of political backgrounds and views, there were a great number of agreements across the panel, which was what made the event such a success.
There was general agreement across almost the entire panel at the beginning laying the responsibility for the rising tide of fascism, represented by ‘Brexit’ and all its supporters, jointly with: the impotence of current mainstream leaders in dealing with the far right and their campaigns creating disenfranchised masses in the first place. But let’s not forget that “Britain has racism embedded deep in its cultural DNA”1. Moving forward from Friday’s results, there can be no room left for any denial: we now live in a country, in 2016, where a majority, no matter how small, has supported an openly-racist campaign; the culmination of which is going to lead to dire consequences on all fronts.
All is not lost. The event concluded by focusing on the most pressing action points that we need to consider. In the face of one of the most divisive forces on earth, embodied in British fascism and imperialism, unity is one of the most important defenses we have, whether it is: Lee Jasper’s unity through ‘common cause’, which can be used to reach those vulnerable EU migrant’s here who have been spat on by the result; or the age old definition of ‘politically black’, put forward by Nana Asante as well as Lee, which unites all people who fall outside of the well defined category of ‘politically white’. Either way, Sukant brought the event back to the present by making it clear that radicalism is as important a factor: the establishment have not only failed to solve this problem, they have actively contributed to its creation; so it falls on us to make our own solutions. Marlene adds to this perfectly by reminding us that we are not few, we are many; a force to be reckoned with so lets change the way we think to encompass this.
Brothers, Sisters, Aunties, Uncles, Comrades and Partisans: now is the time for action! There are those among us who have experienced first hand the kind of hate that is bubbling over now: they didn’t run; they organized, mobilized and resisted by any means necessary. So we have a duty to do the same.

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