‘Racist’ wildcat strikes: could there be more than meets the eye?

The wildcat ‘British Jobs for British Workers’ strikes which took place at the beginning of Febuary were widely publicised in the media as racist demonstrations, run by the BNP and attended mostly by far-right thugs. When I first saw the strikes on the news, as a lefty born from immigrant stock, my initial reaction was one of disgust followed closely by dismissal of the strikers and the motives behind their industrial action.

Keeping this in mind, I was suprised to come accross this article on Indymedia, which got me interested in looking a little deeper into the situation and issues surrounding it.

Of course the politics surrounding the strikes are ‘complicated’, and a quick browse of the many message boards and facebook groups concerning ‘british jobs for british workers’ reveals some very nasty and ignorant xenophobic rantings. However, i think the way this racist angle has been emphasised, and how the strikes were portrayed on the whole in the media is very interesting and a little unsettling.

Firstly a few points about the strikes themselves. These are not strikes which were organized to protest against all foreign workers coming to England and ‘stealing our jobs’. They are strikes around specific contracts, whereby foreign companies ship in whole gangs of workers from overseas, giving the British workers (and this includes foreigners who are permanent residents of the UK) no opportunity to apply for the jobs. They do this because they can pay these workers less and house them in sub-standard conditions, such as in portacabins or on barges. It’s quite blatantly an unfair and exploitative practice which should be protested against. The strikes were not organized by the BNP and at strikes in Staythorpe and Immingham the police were called to eject them from the picket line. The organisers emphasise that the strikes were not about racism and it’s been reported that foreign workers have joined in in some places, but the average person glancing at the front page of a newspaper wouldn’t be aware of these things.

Of course if you want to deter racist elements unfurling the union jack and waving placards with ‘Britih Jobs for British Workers’ all over the place is possibly not the best way to go about it. But if you’ll indulge me a little conspiracy theorizing it seems quite conveniant for the powers that be that some of the biggest industrial unrest since the miners’ strike, with walkouts nationwide in crucial industries such as construction and at power plants, should be presented as the handywork of a small minority of racist thugs. This racist angle will have put off many people, both left-wing and conservatives, who might well have otherwise lent there support to the strikes and caused the movement to lose momentum. Of course no-one can support strikes organised by he BNP, but the majority of these weren’t. Had these strikers gained the popular support of the country much could been achieved for the rights of workers, both British and from overseas, which is not what those in power want to happen.

Check out this video to see how the BBC has used selective editting to misrepresent the view of one striking worker. In the uneditted interview he clearly says “we can’t work alongside them. It’s segregated – they’re coming in in full companies.” Which is referencing the contracts mentioned above. The last sentence was editted out for a BBC News broadcast, making it seem as if the man is simply stating that he doesn’t want to work with foreign people and making him appear racist. This sort of thing is eerily similar to the BBC’s actions during the miners’ strike when they re-editted footage of police storming picket lines to make it look as if the police themselves were being attacked.

I am aware that this is mostly speculation on my part, but it’s all another reminder that in a world where political leaders require Rupert Murdoch’s suport to get into power you should never take the media at face value, as there are always backs being scratched in both directions.

see also: this article by Padrag Reidy about the BBC editting fiasco and why the media likes to paint the British working class as racists.