Statement on race riots and pogroms

Aug 7, 2024 | News

Reclaim the Power stands in active solidarity with every Muslim, migrant, refugee, black person, brown person and person of colour being targeted by the racist violence, pogroms and Islamophobia. They are the global majority.

We welcome everyone at our camp, but we unequivocally do not welcome racists. We know that there are people in our network who are being targeted by this racist violence, and we will endeavour to do everything within our power to make this camp a safe, secure and welcoming environment.

This violence is horrifying for all of us to see, let alone the fear and terror felt by communities targeted by this racist hate. But this cannot come as a surprise.

We have seen years of our politicians and media outlets demonising people of colour, Muslims, migrants and refugees to distract from repeated systemic, political and economic failures. The elites of this country have repeatedly chosen to scapegoat those marginalised in our society, to the detriment of us all. For as long as we have politicians that act in the interest of corporations and not community, that choose to hand billions to big business and their mates, the rest of us will suffer. Still, we see large sections of the media refer to pogroms as protests, framing this racist violence as a ‘legitimate concern’.

Slogans used by politicians have been taken up as marching calls in these race riots. We cannot begin to address this if we are not honest about who has whipped up the hate that currently fills our streets.

Now is the time for communities to stand together, to protect those most vulnerable, to support one another with strength, solidarity and defiance.

Our camp is, among other things, about highlighting Drax’s devastating environmental racism. It’s also in Yorkshire, where our friends and neighbours are facing immediate, direct racist violence on our streets. We cannot seriously talk about environmental racism without talking about what’s on our doorstep too.

We recognise that forms of racialised violence do not exist in a vacuum, but are entrenched in global systems of oppression. Those who lack political power, be that communities exposed to Drax’s toxic pellet mills, or the victims of those fueling anti-migrant hate to distract from political failures, are inherently interconnected. To fight one, we must fight the other.

We have been working on this camp against Drax’s environmental racism for over a year, because racist violence is a fundamental part of the systems of oppression we live under. These systems must be resisted in all their forms.

We know that there are people who support the aims of the camp, but will not be able to attend as they need to support their local communities. We are all part of the same movement, one that requires many tactics and responses, and we are just one part of that.

Plans are emerging for how RtP can support community resistance in the region over the weekend, so if you are attending the camp please know that this will not be ignored during our time together.

None of us are free until all of us are free.