The Monitoring Group (TMG) is an anti-racist charity in the UK. It was established in
Southall in the early 1980s, and originally known as the Southall Monitoring Group. Its director is
Suresh Grover.
[Jasbinder S. Nijjar]
Building from the base, starting from the streets
Institute of Race Relations, 22 October 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
History
Meetings to establish the Southall Monitoring group began in December 1981, after the racist murder of
Gurdip Singh Chaggar in 1976, the police killing of
Blair Peach in 1979, and confrontation between skinheads and local young people in summer 1979. The concept of a monitoring group was taken from the
Black Panthers
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. New ...
.
[
The Southall Monitoring Group was active in campaigns for justice by several families: that of Kuldip Sekhon, killed in 1989; that of Stephen Lawrence, killed in 1993; that of Ricky Reel, killed in 1997; and that of Michael Menson, also killed in 1997. After the Macpherson Report the group created a national network, and renamed itself The Monitoring Group.][
]
Recent activity
In 2015 the Monitoring Group petitioned the UK Home Secretary to guarantee that police whistleblowers would not face punishment for revealing the extent of their undercover spying on UK political groups. The group joined with the Awaaz Network to demonstrate against the visit of Narendra Modi to the UK in November 2015. After the 2016 Brexit referendum
The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...
, The Monitoring Group reported a rise in racist violence, and two years later confirmed that there had been a rise in race hate crimes.
The group continues to call for an inquiry into the death of Blair Peach, They criticized the secrecy surrounding Hampshire Police's internal investigation into homophobia and racism at the force's Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
investigation centre. They have supported the mother of Christopher Kapessa in her complaint against South Wales Police's inaction after her 13-year-old son's death. In 2020 the group urged attention to COVID-19-related race hate against Chinese communities, as well as other groups. The group participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, and supported a teenager injured by far right
Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...
protestors, who was then stopped and searched by a Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
officer whom he had asked for help. In August 2020 the Monitoring Group criticised the appointment of Tony Sewell
Cleveland Anthony Sewell, Baron Sewell of Sanderstead, (born 1959) is a British educational consultant and founder and chair of the educational charity Generating Genius. In July 2020, Sewell was appointed chair of the Commission on Race and ...
, who had earlier minimised the effect of institutional racism, to chair a new Government Commission tasked with looking into racial inequality.[Kevin Rawlinson and Vikram Dodd]
Race equality chief faces legal challenge over appointment
''The Guardian'', 11 August 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
References
External links
The Monitoring Group: Tackling Racism since 1981
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monitoring Group, The
1981 establishments in England
Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom
Southall
Black British culture in London
Non-profit organisations based in London