BAME Labour conference report

By Jyoti Bhojani, Young Labour BAME Officer

Last weekend saw the Bi-annual BAME Labour Summer Conference – the first real opportunity for ethnic minority members and supporters to come together since the new executive took their posts. So it was no surprise that the agenda for the day was packed.

Kamaljeet Jandu, Chair of BAME Labour opened conference by paying tribute to the victims of the shocking and horrific events in Norway, saying that events there have an implication for all of us. This set the tone of the conference, with Norway and the links that Breivik has to the English Defence League a key theme which came out through the course of the day. Both the Chair and Vice-Chair, June Nelson then spoke about BAME Labour and how the new committee was putting the past behind them and looking forward to the new role that they can play. We all acknowledged that the race equality agenda in the last 20 years has moved on despite the constant attacks on multiculturalism. As BAME communities we need to be in a position to engage with the debate because it’s not about ghettos, it’s about celebrating the diversity of our differences, because we are stronger when we are united.

Nelson went on to highlight that whilst Labour has been the natural home of our communities, there is very little the party can show for this. She emphasised that the new executive was going to change this. Keith Vaz MP then spoke briefly about his experiences as one of the first BAME MPs and the role of the Ethnic Minority Taskforce.

This then led into the panel session, with Vaz, Dawn Butler, Jennette Arnold AM, Cllr Mohammed Butt and Usman Ali, Vice President of the NUS. We were soon back to the topic of the events in Norway, EDL and how we as the left respond to this new threat from the far right. There was a strong sense from the panel that the response must be community based. However, I feel that the panel missed the point; they kept suggesting that the EDL was a political party which clearly it isn’t. This meant that the debate that BAME communities need to have about the EDL and the far right weren’t fully explored. Interspersed with this was the other key theme of the day – selections. Delegate after delegate spoke about how they been overlooked both at local and national government level. This meant that there wasn’t a really an opportunity to ask members what they want to see from the BAME Executive or for a discussion around the structure of the organisation. This is something that came out during my young members networking session.

Over lunch the young members told me that they felt as though the issues which had been discussed weren’t a priority for them. As one young member said to me, “both as a young person and from a BAME community we get overlooked.” They told me that they to talk about issues that are currently having a massive impact on BAME communities as a whole like crime, education and NHS.

Overall, I feel that the day has got to be the start of a conversation about how BAME Labour engages with our wider Labour BAME family. We need to start talking about the London elections, how we ensure that our core voters do come out and vote Labour, and how best BAME Labour can make the voice of BAME communities heard again within the party.