| Description | Minutes; reports; press statements and policy briefings issued by the Joint Committee Against Racialism, which some members of the Indian Workers Association may have been involved with. Members of the Indian Workers Association (Southall) were certainly active in this organisation. Papers consist of:
/1 Executive Minutes 19 November 1979
/2 Executive Minutes 7 January 1980
/3 Annual Report 1979, including details of income and expenditure
/4 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 21 January 1980
/5-/6 letter to supporters from Gavin Grant, Organising Secretary of JCAR concerning membership of a working group on Race and Housing, enclosing the terms of reference of this group, 28 January 1980
/7 handwritten letter to Avtar Jouhl from Gavin Grant, apologising for not sending him material for the JCAR Annual General Meeting in advance and offering to meet representatives of the Indian Workers Association to discuss involvement in JCAR, 11 February 1980
/8 Memorandum on Public Order submitted to the Home Affairs Committee by the Board of Deputies of British Jews 13 March 1980, concerning the banning of demonstrations inciting racial hatred
/9 circular letter to full members of JCAR giving details about current campaigns and asking for copies of any evidence submitted to the Home Affairs Committee on Race Relations and the 'Sus' Law, 26 March 1980
/10 letter to JCAR Council members giving details about the next Council meeting on 30 April 1980
/11press release on the appointment of new members to the JCAR Executive which also gives details about the organisations making up JCAR and a summary of the organisation's aims, undated
/12 press release on the election of leaders in Britain's Asian community to senior posts within JCAR, including Piara Khabra, President of the Indian Workers Association (Southall) and Tasadduq Ahmed, London Convenor of the Federation of Bangladesh Associations, undated
/13 draft programme of the Joint Committees Against Racialism, undated
/14 JCAR paper on the proposed Youth and Student sections of the organisation, undated
/15 Minutes of the Race and the Law Working Party, held at the British Youth Council
/16 photocopy of Bill for Local Government Grants (Ethnic Groups) 1980 |
| AdminHistory | Joan Lestor, Labour MP and a former editor of Searchlight magazine, was the central figure behind the Joint Committee Against Racialism [JCAR], which was launched in December 1977. The organisation was seen as an alternative, more moderate version of the Anti-Nazi League. It attracted wide support from the Labour Party, Liberal Party, the British Council of Churches, various immigrant organisations, the National Union of Students and the National Union of Conservative Associations. The Board of Deputies of British Jews also supported the group. There were difficulties in getting such a broad-based organisation to agree to policies, and activity focused on the distribution of anti-racist literature. JCAR also lobbied parliament on the issue of racist attacks and harassment of black and Asian people living in Britain. The group produced a wide ranging report on racist attacks in Britain which was presented to the Home Office in 1981 and led to changes in the law on race relations. Gavin Grant was organiser of JCAR, and Joan Lestor and Shelagh Roberts served as the first Co-Chairs. Shelagh Roberts was succeeded by James Lankin, and Eric Pickles was Co-Chairman of JCAR between 1982 and 1987.
Sources: Website of David Renton, historian of the Anti-Nazi League http://www.dkrenton.co.uk/anl/working.html Accessed August 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Pickles Accessed August 2006 |