23 October 2020 | UK NEWS
Footage has emerged of a TUCG video call in September, in which it was claimed that the Cabinet Office had called for talks with the Black Lives Matter movement around “colonialism and enslavement”.
The remark was made by Zita Holbourne, the Vice President of the PCS trade union, which covers the Civil Service.
She said: “Here in the UK, in the Civil Service union, in PCS, we’ve been negotiating with the Government around the impact of colonialism and enslavement, and saying that they have to address those legacies if they’re serious about tackling racism.
“We’ve been having negotiations that are headed up [by] Black Lives Matter, called by the Cabinet Office.”
Also present on the call at this time were the General Secretary of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union, Sarah Woolley, and the General Secretary of the Napo trade union for probation and family court workers, Ian Lawrence.
The matter of reparations in respect of the historical slave trade was also discussed on the call, with Ms Holbourne describing this policy as “crucial”.
It comes after the Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch, attacked the endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement in a speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday. She said the Government was “against the teaching of contested political ideas as if they are accepted fact”.
She continued: “I want to speak about a dangerous trend in race relations that has come far too close to home, to my life, and it is the promotion of Critical Race Theory. An ideology that sees my blackness as victimhood, and their whiteness as oppression.
“I want to be absolutely clear: this Government stands unequivocally against Critical Race Theory. Some schools have decided to openly support the anti-capitalist Black Lives Matter group, often fully aware that they have a statutory duty to be politically impartial.
“Black lives do matter – of course they do – but we know that the Black Lives Matter movement … is political.”
Later in her speech, she said: “We do not endorse that movement on this side of the House. It is a political movement, and what would be nice would be for Members on the opposite side to condemn many of the actions that we see [from] this political movement, instead of pretending that it is a completely wholesome, anti-racist organisation.
“There is a lot of pernicious stuff that is being pushed, and we stand against that.”
But the revelation would seem to cast doubt upon whether there is full harmony between Westminster and Whitehall on the matter.
The PCS trade union had previously written to the Cabinet Office, asking to work with them to “take decisive action to eradicate racism from the Civil Service”.
The union also announced in July that it had held two meetings with the Cabinet Office thus far, along with other trade unions, saying that “the meeting was called by the Cabinet Office to discuss Black Lives Matter and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME workers and communities”.
However, this announcement did not suggest that the talks had been “headed up”, as Ms Holbourne mentioned, by the Black Lives Matter movement itself.
The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment, but their responses did not directly address the nature of our question. A spokesman twice refused to deny that there was any foundation to Ms Holbourne’s claim.
Unbelievable. Whitehall needs to be cleared out.
Reparations? Talk about collective punishment along racial lines. Reminds me of something unpleasant.
Reparations for the slave trade?
What slave trade? Britain banned the slave trade around the world and enforced it at gun point using the Royal Navy?!
Also, since when was it acknowledged that colonialism was a dirty word? This isn’t settled history. The colonies, and the UK’s colonial history is a point of pride, with the Empire being one of the greatest achievements and advancements for the world in history.
I heard that the abolition of slavery in the British Empire cost so much that the money borrowed to enact it was only completely repaid in the early years of the 21st Century. Everyone who paid tax in those years directly contributed to the costs of the abolition of slavery.
The Royal Navy lost over 17000 men to disease, accidents and in battle on the anti-slavery patrols.
The PCS is led by the extremist left and is hardly representative of its members, most of who joined for the monthly lottery or the legal assistance offered by membership. It’s worth noting that Serwotka was re-elected as General Secretary, last year by less than 10% of his members. He and the PCS could hardly be less relevant.
This is pathetic, why are they even speaking with a group that has broken the law, The Public Order Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. 6) banned the wearing of political uniforms in any public place or public meeting, yet these wore it on a march. They are talking about money how many of those people in this activist group had ancestors that were slaves. Can I ask for that from Italy?, mine were slaves in the lead mines of Derbyshire and were slaves of the Roman Empire.
Enough is enough, the UK are not the same as the US, we had no segregation, and if anything with positive discrimination people described as BAME are actually over represented in many fields, Media Politics etc blm should be banned they have set race relations in the UK back by decades.
Well said. Never mind the fact that slavery was illegal in England forever; there has never been any statute, law, or rule of common law which allowed slavery to exist, and whenever it was challenged, as it was in Somerset’s case of 1772, Smith v Brown (1702), or Cartwrights case of 1569…
We are not the United States. Our history on slavery is a proud one which should be the envy of the entire world.
Utterly ridiculous chatting to an urban terrorist movement. Whats next inviting Baader Meinhoff and the IRA over for tea and crumpets?
Whatever do they hope to achieve by “holding talks” with BLM and their apologists? Why give them a legitimacy they don’t merit? They are a bunch of anarchists who make no secret of their agenda.
Tell BLM Britain was the first country to ban the practice, and sent the Royal Navy out to shoot up the slavers. If they want they can make a voluntary donation of cash to the Treasury in gratitude for this.
Yes, racism is wrong.
Yes, slavery was and still is wrong (I include 20th/21st century slavery in that).
All slaves and their descendants should be offered the opportunity to return to their land of heir roots. However, I suspect that many, often descendants, are so comfortable in their surroundings that they will decline the offer and would object very noisily if it were to be made compulsory.
Incidentally, who was it who sold most of the slaves sent from Africa to the slavers?
Do we all get the right to move to Africa then?
More whites were sold into slavery in North African than blacks were ever sent to the New World as slaves. Communities around my home town were pillaged, with the entire villages being captured and sold into slavery on the Barbary coast. Even as far north as Iceland this happened.
No one is asking for reparations for this.
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