FURNESS community groups and sports clubs, including AFC and the Raiders, are banding together to take a stand against racism. Groups, which also include Ormsgill Residents and Tenants Association and Furness Multicultural Forum, have organised an event, aimed at stamping out racism and celebrating the Ormsgill public’s unity and opposition to it.
The “Unity in the Community” celebration will include soccer skills sessions and competitions, run by Barrow AFC community officer Neil Doherty, as well as rugby coaching by Barrow Raiders coach Dave Clark. Other attractions will include basketball, an MC-ing competition, art work, dancing and a climbing wall.
Mr Doherty, a Wembley FA Trophy winner with AFC in 1990, said: “We’ve been running Kick Racism Out of Football at Barrow AFC for four years now, and I think we’ve been at the forefront of challenging racism in the community.
“We’re all keen to show that diversity is a good thing within communities. I don’t think the BNP would support that too much but we are working to show that we believe in that.”
There will also be food tasting from around the world, multi-cultural dancers and an audio-visual exhibition by Sedbergh artist Trevor Avery, called “From Auschwitz to Ambleside”, which tells the story of young Jewish boys who fled to Cumbria from the Nazis.
The festival will take place at Ormsgill Community Centre on Sunday April 13, between 2pm and 4pm, with music from 4pm-6pm.
Alec Proffitt, of Barrow’s Unison branch, said: “We deplore all forms of racism and the politics of hate and will actively seek to eradicate it from the workplace and the communities of the borough.”
Mike Ashburner is standing for the British National Party in the Ormsgill ward in May. The party opposes mixed race relationships and believe all immigration into Britain should be stopped, but Mr Ashburner insists neither he nor his party are racist.
North-West Evening Mail
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Mr Ashburner insists neither he nor his party are racist.
Rubbish! Check out the following Lancaster Unity article on him.
http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2007/03/barrow-bnp-reveal-their-true-fascist.html
Barrow: BNP reveal their true fascist face
Fascist BNP activist Mike Ashburner has revealed the real racist face of the BNP
Further proof that the BNP is a racist party is shown by a recent complaint by prospective BNP candidate for Barrow, Mike Ashburner, to the Standards Board for England, against Barrow Borough Councillor Jim Hamezeian. Ashburner tried to claim that Jim Hamezeian could not hold Council Office because Councillor Hamezeian was born in Iran, and that this supposedly contradicted a 300-year old bill.
The fact that the Standards Board rejected Ashburner's claim shows the BNP up for the racists that they are. Standards Board spokeswoman Rebecca Jones has stated "There was no potential breach of the code identified."
To judge someone on the basis of where they were born is racism - and this is the racism which Ashburner and the Fascist BNP, which he represents, are guilty of. We can all reject racism by rejecting Mike Ashburner and the fascist BNP at the elections. Ashburner is no exception. The BNP has stated that "all non-whites must be repatriated" and BNP Leader Nick Griffin said, in 2002, "Our ultimate aim is an all-white society".
Unite Against Fascism, as part of our campaign against the fascist BNP in the run-up to the local elections, will be using this clear example of racism to show that the BNP truly are the racists which they pretend not to be.
[The article from the Evening Mail is reprinted below.]
Barrow and South Cumbria Unite Against Fascism (UAF)
North West Evening Mail, Wednesday March 14, 2007:
"You can't be a councillor, a 300-year-old bill says so."
BNP candidate threatens Iran-born Hamezeian.
Independent councillor Jim Hamezeian says a British National Party activist is "sad" for threatening him using an archaic 300-year-old law. Mike Ashburner - set to stand for the BNP in the Barrow Borough Council elections in May - reported Councillor Hamezeian to local government watchdog, the Standards Board for England.
Mr Ashburner claimed the Iranian-born councillor is breaching the 1689 Bill of Rights. It states: "And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm."
The Standards Board for England decided not to investigate the complaint.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Jones said: "There was no potential breach of the code identified."
Cllr Hamezeian first came to Barrow 35 years ago to work in the shipyard for the Iranian navy. The Ormsgill representative said: "Mike Ashburner must be a sad man to be used and manipulated by the BNP in order to make this childish complaint about me."
Cllr Hamezeian accused Mr Ashburner of "living in a cave". He said: "The BNP is racist and this is a clear example of how racist the BNP is." Cllr Hamezeian says people in Barrow have no time for the BNP and the party will be "totally dismissed" if it tries to fight the local elections. Cllr Hamezeian says his People's Party will be contesting the same Central seat on the council as Mr Ashburner.
But Mr Ashburner says he is "confident" of winning the ballot and he hit back at Cllr Hamezeian's comments. Mr Ashburner said Cllr Hamezeian was wrong to say he was "sad" for making the complaint. And he said: "I can't see how it's childish. It's to do with the law, nothing else." Mr Ashburner denies he is "living in a cave" and maintains that neither he nor the BNP is racist. He says the BNP's views are "very modern".
Mr Ashburner added he had asked the chief executive of the standards board to conduct a review of its decision.
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