Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE) is an anti-racist organisation founded by the
Committee for a Workers' International
The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an international association of Trotskyist political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI.
History Founding
The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of ...
(the international network of the
Militant tendency
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) it campaigns among young people in 16 countries in Europe. YRE was launched by an international demonstration of 40,000 people against racism, in Brussels in October 1992.
It was a
wave of racist attacks in Germany and the success of the ''Blokbuster'' Belgian youth movement, opposing the far-right
Vlaams Blok
''Vlaams Blok'' ( en, Flemish Block, or VB) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independen ...
, which convinced the
Committee for a Workers' International
The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an international association of Trotskyist political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI.
History Founding
The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of ...
, to work to launch an international youth organization along the same lines.
In 1994, YRE organised an anti-racist camp in Germany of 1,500 young people from all over Europe.
The charity
Show Racism the Red Card
Show Racism the Red Card (SRTRC) is an anti-racism education charity, established in England in January 1996 to harness the high-profile nature of footballers as anti-racist role models to educate against racism throughout society in the United K ...
, founded by Ged Grebby, was inspired by his work and involvement with YRE, particularly the concept of educational packs for schools.
Britain
In the UK, YRE was launched in 1992, at a time of rising racist violence and electoral support for the far right. YRE was formed by
Militant Labour as an alternative to the rival
Socialist Workers Party (UK)
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party co ...
's
Anti-Nazi League
The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups i ...
(ANL), relaunched the previous year, and the
Socialist Action-favoured
Anti-Racist Alliance
The Anti-Racist Alliance (ARA) was a British anti-racist organisation formed in November 1991. It was formed mainly by black activists in the Labour Party.
Context and formation
In the early 1990s, the far right, in particular the British Natio ...
, was founded a few months earlier in 1991, the black activists involved offering the SWP seats on its steering committee, which they refused.
In Britain, YRE's activity has focused around opposition to the
British National Party
The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...
. In 1987 the BNP moved its headquarters to
Welling
Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent.
E ...
, in south east London. In the next six years there were four racially motivated murders in south-east London, including that of
Stephen Lawrence
Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
in April 1993. The following month, on a demonstration called by YRE and others, including Panther, the black socialist organisation, over 8,000 people marched past the BNP headquarters in protest at the murders and the far-right party's presence in the area. Subsequent larger demonstrations were called, co-organised by YRE, numbering 60,000 and 50,000 respectively. A demonstration in October that year met with heavy police presence, leading to
violent clashes between police and protesters.
In 2010, the group was at the centre of controversy over undercover policing in Britain, following revelations that YRE had been infiltrated by the
Metropolitan Police and accusations that the police sought to discredit the anti-racism movement through the use of
agent provocateur
An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, th ...
tactics.
France
YRE launched in France in 1993, with a month-long speaking tour by one of the founders of Panther UK. The speaking tour took place against the background of the recently released
Malcolm X film and drew parallels between the US civil rights struggles and the continuing need for black youth to continue to organise today. YRE gained considerable popularity amongst French youth through notable campaigns in defence of immigrants without working papers and the rights of girls wearing the
hijab in
Mantes-la-Jolie
Mantes-la-Jolie (, often informally called Mantes) is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subprefe ...
. YRE's participation in an anti-deportation campaign whose goal was to mobilize the passengers of flights departing from Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport against deportations, earned the organisation the ire of the Minister of the Interior of the time,
.
Greece
The Greek YRE has organised demonstrations with immigrants in support of immigrant workers' rights, as well as campaigning for the provision of facilities for Gypsies in the country.
In recent years, it has worked to oppose the extreme right-wing
Golden Dawn, which won its first municipal council seat in 2010 and entered parliament for the first time in 2012. This has included calling for the shutting down of the organisation and its weekly newspaper on the grounds that "they propagate violent messages of hate".
References
External links
*
International Socialist Alternative website{{International Socialist Alternative
Anti-racist organizations in Europe
Committee for a Workers' International