Anna Lo - the UK’s only parliamentary politician of Chinese origin - has said she will not seek re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016. One of the reasons she cites is racism.
Anna Lo – the UK’s only parliamentary politician of Chinese origin – has said she will not seek re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016. One of the reasons she cites is racism
In recent days, I’ve been thinking about Nelson Mandela, who once said “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Mandela has particularly been on my mind because just a few days ago, Anna Lo – the UK’s only parliamentary politician of Chinese origin – has said she will not seek re-election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016. One of the main reasons she is stepping down is the racism that she is so often and continuously confronted with.
The type of racism Anna referred to was encapsulated by Pastor James McConnell, a born-again Belfast preacher, who told his congregation “Islam is heathen. Islam is satanic. Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.” If that language isn’t teaching people to hate, I don’t know what is.
Yet, when leadership in a different direction was required – Northern Ireland’s first minister Peter Robinson, who represents every community of Northern Ireland, including the Muslim community, actually defended what Pastor McConnell said.
Anna was scathing about Robinson’s support for Pastor McConnell, being very clear that this wasn’t the example that should be expected of a first minister. Since speaking out, she has herself been the subject of intense verbal abuse to the point where she fears for her life and safety.
Despite our political differences, Chinese for Labour stands firmly together with Anna Lo. In a country that has known so much hate over the decades and suffered so much for it, it is desperately disappointing that the first minister leads towards hate and division. We need leadership in a different direction – from intolerance to tolerance; then beyond tolerance towards respect and appreciation towards one another.
It is of course not a trend isolated to Northern Ireland. The British Social Attitudes Survey found the proportion of Britons who admit to being racially prejudiced has risen since the start of the millennium.
The findings come as political leaders struggle to deal with the rise of the UKIP, which campaigned on an anti-immigrant, anti-EU platform and has sent shockwaves through the political establishment and put pressure on mainstream parties to toughen their stances on immigration.
Even more significantly, UKIP topped the poll despite the fact a number of their candidates made unsavoury comments in the run up to the election: branding entire nations as undesirable neighbours, expressing discomfort at foreign languages spoken in public spaces as well as deeply homophobic statements.
The UKIP leadership may cry foul when confronted with this inconvenient truth, but the question is – if UKIP aren’t racist, how come so many racists seem to like them?
What UKIP have done – relatively subtly bar a few of their candidates – is introduce the teachings of hate into our politics. As with all of history’s successful ideologues, they have pointed out a few things people will have noticed changing in their community, they distort them and point the finger of blame.
That is not to say we don’t need a debate about immigration. We do. But UKIP don’t want a debate. They want to blame.
That type of rhetoric and racial hostility have no place in a modern open Britain. Anyone condoning or encouraging such hostility and differences, be they politicians, comedians or television presenters should be exposed and made to pay the price. Myths have to be dispelled, the roots of racism have to be tackled, barriers that divide us broken down and racism exposed.
We must be confident and empowered to challenge racism as soon as it rears its ugly head, because each time we ignore it, the racists feel emboldened. We will never expose every act of racism but we can make it clear that it will not be tolerated using the tools available to us – laws and policies.
We need people like Anna to stand up against racism and racists. We must challenge any person or party who tries to lead us towards hate and division, rather than tolerance and unity.
That is what the future of our country should be about: how people contribute. To see the unique strengths and talents of every person in our country as a source of potential. Yes – new migrants and naturalised Brits need to learn English and engage with the culture of this wonderful country.
However, their deep connections to other parts of the world shouldn’t be seen a as a cause for concern, but rather an incredible opportunity for Britain as a whole.
And as people have been taught to hate, so they can be taught to love. That is the leadership we now need, with a vision of our future built on the contributions of people of every walk of life, of every colour or creed, and very talent and ability.
Sonny Leong is chair of Chinese for Labour
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4 Responses to “Standing together against hate – we stand together with Anna Lo”
Dave Roberts
Hostility has come from the loyalist community primarily because she is in favour of a united Ireland. Let’s have some of the Sinn Fein responses.
Dave Roberts
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/30484
Dave Roberts
I wonder if the writer of this article would like to comment on the fact the hostility as come from the Loyalist community. The article at the moment is totally one sided biased.
John Gardiner
Anna Lo has been racially abused because she is Chinese. Just like hundreds of other people in Northern Ireland have been attacked because of their ethic origin. It is far too simplistic – and potentially dangerous – to think that protestants and more racist than catholics. Irish people in general are notoriously racist. Look at the treatment of black people by Irish Americans for example.
Anna Lo’s comments on a united Ireland have nothing to do with the abuse. To credit these morons with any political savvy is way off the mark.