Cities across the UK are taking part in a day of action against Donald Trump and hate speech (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
As a national day of action gets underway today, focusing on challenging hate, celebrating immigration and calling on the government to ban Donald Trump from visiting the UK; organisations across Birmingham are joining forces to make their voices heard on these issues.
Leading with the anti-Trump movement, coalitions of several anti-racism organisations are meeting in the city this evening to express their opposition to the rhetoric of the US President and his administration’s targeting of immigrants, refugees, Muslims, Mexicans and minority groups.
Coinciding with a mass demonstration in London, a Stand Up To Trump rally will be taking place outside the Birmingham City University’s (BCU) city centre campus at 4pm, before a march from outside Waterstones in High Street at 5pm, followed by a final gathering in Victoria Square at 6pm.
Activities celebrating the contributions of migrants to the UK are also being held, with 1 Day Without Us events taking place in the city.
Right2work, a group of Asylum seekers, refugees and expats living and working in the UK, will be meeting in High Street – outside the former Pavilions shopping centre – between 1pm and 3pm, before heading to the Ort Gallery in Kings Heath for a music and food celebration at 4pm. This event is supported by ASIRT, Hope Not Hate, Celebrating Sanctuary and the Real Junk Food Project.
1 Day Without Us will also be having a large national protest throughout the day in London, which will merge with actions against Trump, which are being organised by the Stand Up To Trump and Stop Trump coalitions.
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Birmingham ‘Day of Action’ events
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1pm – 3pm | 1 Day Without Us – Gathering
High Street, Birmingham B4 7SL
Details: www.facebook.com/events/1377807772259627
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4pm | 1 Day Without Us – Celebration
Ort Gallery, 500-504 Moseley Road, Birmingham B12 9AH, UK, Birmingham B12 9AH
Details: www.facebook.com/events/1377807772259627
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4pm | Stand Up To Trump rally
Outside Birmingham City University (BCU), The Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan St, Birmingham B4 7BD
Details: www.facebook.com/events/320983508297177
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5pm | Stand Up To Trump rally
Outside Waterstones, High St, Birmingham B4 7SL
Details: www.facebook.com/events/320983508297177
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6pm | Stand Up To Trump rally
Victoria Square, Birmingham B1 1BD
Details: www.facebook.com/events/320983508297177
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Who’s behind the national ‘Day of Action’?
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Hundreds of thousands will be standing up and celebrating immigration and sanctuary today, while calling on Donald Trump to be banned from visiting Britain. But who’s behind the protests?
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Stand Up To Trump
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A Stand Up To Trump poster featuring a ‘Ghostbusters’ style Trump design (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Stand Up To Trump is a coalition of organisations including Stop the War, National Union of Teachers (NUT), Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Black Lives Matter Movement, Unite the Union, Stand Up To Racism, Momentum, Muslim Voices, Unite Against Fascism, Muslim Council of Britain, the People’s Assembly, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) and Black Pride. The organisation is not lead by any one individual or gorup, but supporters include Jeremy Corbyn, Salma Yaqoob, Tariq Ali, Maz Saleem, Shappi Korsandi, Kevin Courtney, Talha Ahmad, Malia Bouattia, David Rosenberg and Phyllis Opoku-gyimah.
Stand Up To Trump previously called the mass demonstration in London on February 4, which was attended by over 40,000 people. The umbrella group has chapters across the country.
Although separate organisations, many of the coalition’s supporters and affiliations overlap with the Stop Trump campaign.
Stand Up To Trump demonstration in London (Photograph: Stand Up To Trump)
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Stop Trump
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Owen Jones is a co-founder of the Stop Trump Coalition (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Stop Trump is co-founded by Guardian journalist and activist Owen Jones, and is a coalition of organisations including the Council of Europe, the London Black Women’s Project, Left Unity, Podemos, Muslim Council of Britain, War on Want, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants and Friends of the Earth.
The organisation is also supported by Bianca Jagger, Clive Lewis, Tim Farron, Ed Miliband, Paloma Faith, Salma Yaqoob and Rushanara Ali.
Stop Trump was formed after Owen Jones jointly called an early demonstration in London following the inauguration of Donald Trump. Currently London-centric, the group is slowly branching out across the country.
Most of the organisations affiliated with Stop Trump are also affiliated with Stand Up To Trump, creating a much broader but unofficial UK collective against Trump.
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1 Day Without Us
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1 Day Without Us is a national campaign celebrating the contribution of migrants to the UK (Image: 1 Day Without Us)
1 Day Without Us is a campaign group formed in October 2016 following an online discussion. One of its founders, Matt Carr, writes:
“It’s more than four months since One Day Without Us first emerged as a Facebook discussion, and now, somewhat to our own astonishment, February 20 is at hand. When we first formed an ad hoc group to prepare for this event last October, most of us had never met.
“We all shared the same sense of urgency and common purpose. All of us were galvanised by the alarmingly xenophobic drift of UK politics over the last 12 months. We had had enough of seeing migrants and foreigners – or simply people who looked and sounded foreign – being abused and harassed in our streets and denigrated by politicians.”
The organisation doesn’t appear to have a central committee but is supported by partner organisations including Migrant Voice, Unison, Undoing Borders, Hope Not Hate, Global Citizen, Amnesty International, Global Justice Now, People and Planet, War On Want and Right To Remain.
The movement is also working with Stand Up To Trump and Stop Trump during today’s national day of action.
The organisation is celebrating the contribution of migrants to the UK on Monday 20th February, having organised events across the country, and will be continuing this mission of awareness in the future.
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