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	Brexit: Rise in Hate crime and racial abuse reported following EU referendum by London School of Economics, agencies United Kingdom   Oct. 2016   Hate, Hostility and Human Rights in a Post-Brexit World. (London School of Economics-LSE)   Over the last decade hostile political rhetoric has been mirrored by the entrenchment of discrimination in our laws and our policies and a sustained threat to our Human Rights Act. In 2016 politicians entered a race to the bottom on human rights and migration issues. Recent polling has found that more people think there are more tensions between communities than there were six months ago.   Hate crime has spiked. Now more than ever human rights must be our unifying values. As the UK looks to its new future, this talk will reflect on how human rights – and human rights activists - can offer a national identity of tolerance, diversity and equality, and where the battle lines will be drawn in the months to come.   A public discussion with Martha Spurrier, Director of Liberty and Conor Gearty, Director of the Institute of Public Affairs and Professor of Human Rights Law at LSE.   * Access the videocast here: http://bit.ly/2f31iHj   * For the latest videos and podcasts from the LSE: http://bit.ly/1NFmXUX   July 2016   More than 3,000 hate crimes were reported to police just before and after the vote for Brexit. (Metro UK)   In the two weeks from June 16, there were 3,076 incidents reported to forces across the country – a surge of 42% from the same period last year. This is 915 more than during the same period last year, and echoes the 500% rise in hate crime incidents reported to a police online portal before and after the referendum on June 23. ‘We now have a clear indication of the increases in the reporting of hate crime nationally and can see that there has been a sharp rise in recent weeks,’ Mark Hamilton, the National Police Chiefs’ Council hate crimes spokesman, said. ‘This is unacceptable and it undermines the diversity and tolerance we should instead be celebrating.’ The country has been split in two over Brexit, a vote which has proven increasingly bitter and deeply divisive.   Many have accused the Leave campaign of stoking racism and xenophobia by making unsubstantiated claims about immigration. For example, the campaign has been criticised for repeatedly drawing links between immigration and a squeeze on public services. However many public services, such as the NHS, rely heavily on immigration. In the run up to the referendum, Vote Leave also claimed immigration would go down as a result of leaving the EU. They backtracked on this claim two days after the vote. Police said the number of hate crimes peaked on June 25, when 289 incidents were reported across the UK. The most common offences were assault, harassment and other violence, such as verbal abuse, spitting or barging.   British PM David Cameron has also promised to clamp down on hate crime, and the issue has also been raised at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels. And people have also been taking to social media to document instances of racism they witness. The Facebook group Worrying Signs, for example, has been inundated with accounts of race hate and xenophobia since Brexit.   June, 2016   Wave of hate crime and racial abuse reported following EU referendum. (The Independent)   More than a hundred incidents of racial abuse and hate crime have been reported since the UK voted to leave the European Union.   Many of the alleged perpetrators cited the decision to leave the EU explicitly.   One video, purportedly filmed in Hackney on the morning after the referendum, shows a man arguing with someone in a car before yelling: “Go back to your country.”   A Facebook album entitled "Worrying Signs" has been created to document alleged incidents in which people have been targeted with xenophobic comments.   One Twitter post by Kirsty Allan reports one Italian person being assaulted simply for asking someone how they voted in the EU referendum.   Abuse has been documented against those from within the EU - but also those from outside the union and those born in the UK.   Agata Brzezniak came to the UK on a scholarship from Poland when she was 17. She is now studying for a PhD in chemistry.   She has lived in the UK for eight years and told The Independent: "I have made the UK my home, it is where I have felt safe and appreciated.. Like many Polish people in the country I feared the EU referendum result would cause an increase in intolerance, discrimination and racism, but I didn’t think it would become so aggressive and be so immediate."   A few hours after the announcement of the referendum, she says she was approached by a woman who asked her if she was Polish. When she said she was, she said the woman told her to be "scared" and that she must get a visa if she wanted to stay in "her" country.   "The vicious smile and the way she looked at me brought me to tears," said Ms Brzezniak.   In Huntington, Cambridgeshire, there have been reports of signs saying “Leave the EU, no more Polish vermin” posted through the letter boxes of Polish families on the day of the referendum result.   Local media reported the cards were also distributed outside primary schools. One Polish student said he “felt really sad” when he discovered the sign carrying the xenophobic message. The cards were distributed in both English and Polish.   Cambridgeshire Police urged people to come forward if they know anything about the source of the notices.   In west London, the Polish and Social Cultural Association was vandalised with suspected racist graffiti on Sunday morning. The Metropolitan Police are investigating what it has called "racially motivated criminal damage".   The alleged hate crimes occur just as Conservative Party chairwoman, Baroness Warsi, comes out against the "divisive and xenophobic" Brexit campaign.   Ms Warsi, who stopped backing Leave in favour of Remain because of the "lies and hate" spread the Brexit movement, said the campaign had left behind hostility and intolerance.   "I''ve spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it''s time for you to leave.   "And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good."   Labour MP Jess Phillips said she would put forward a question to Parliament to find out how many incidents of racial hatred have been reported over the weekend compared to before the referendum.   Sarah Childs is one of the creators of the Facebook page documenting alleged incidents.   She told The Independent: "We have a lot of people asking us to just move on from the referendum result, but the people affected by these incidents can''t move on while this is happening."   June 2016   There has been a surge in racial abuse in the United Kingdom following its landmark decision to leave the European Union.   The UK voted 52 to 48 per cent to exit the bloc on Friday, with 17.4 million people voting Leave and 16.1 million people voting Remain.   Immigration was a prominent issue raised in the referendum, with some locals worried about the rising number of immigrants settling in Britain and putting pressure on social services and increasing competition for jobs.   But now there are fears the Leave vote has served to validate and vindicate racist views, as a growing number of people report incidents of racial harassment in the wake of the vote.   On social media, people are using the hashtag #PostRefRacism to share their encounters.   Stories tell of people singing "make Britain white again", protesting outside mosques and yelling "Brexit" and "go home" in the faces of foreigners on the street.   After being harassed at a student bar, London resident Karissa Singh set up a Facebook page and Twitter account to document and draw attention to the issue.   "On the Friday following Brexit my brother and I were harassed by a middle-aged white man, who approached us while we were having a drink to tell us that ''we would never be true British'', and that ''he didn''t care if we were here to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever, just go back and do it in your own country," she said.   "This was in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, in a fairly crowded student bar.   "Following this, I heard from several friends who had experienced similar incidents of racism — direct, unashamed and almost righteous in its expression.   Ms Singh, who until recently worked in Bolivia as a human rights activist, voted to remain in the EU and said she was very disappointed with the result. She said all ethnic groups in the UK were reporting being affected by the racism.   "South Asian, Asian, Polish, Black other Europeans — basically anyone who doesn''t pass the ridiculous ''British for generations'' test," she said.   "There have even been cases of violent assault, vandalism, and group intimidation. The police have been involved in several cases."   (www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/reporting-race-hate-crime www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/widespread-inequality-risks-increasing-race-tensions-warns-ehrc) Visit the related web page
	We must actively reject hateful ideology from all corners by Winnie Byanyima Oxfam   June 2016   Jo Cox''s Message to the World: There is more that unites us than divides us   The murder of British MP Jo Cox last month in a politically motivated hate crime jolted the world into looking at itself anew. Many social movements held remembrance events to Jo in many cities across the world.   Members of parliaments everywhere have been asked to "stand together to stem the poisonous rising tide of fear and hate that breeds division and extremism".   We all need to hold ourselves to this same challenge. It feels like the world is entering a frightening new phase. No one and nowhere is immune.   Cox dedicated her life to the struggle against injustice and intolerance. I did not know Jo myself, but so many across Oxfam did and were touched by her.   So many people were inspired by her compassion, commitment and energy for change. She was clearly an incredible woman.   Jo was a passionate feminist, a woman after my own heart. While working in Oxfam she got involved in a discussion about how women can best become genuinely empowered.   "Education", said one person. No, said Jo, the answer is politics. Support women into political power and the rest will follow. Everything I have ever experienced - working with women in Africa and across the world - tells me she is right.   Jo may have been killed because of her views. She is not alone in having paid that price.   On average, three to four people are killed each week defending their lands. A few months ago in Honduras, for example, Berta Caceres, a community leader, was shot dead in front of her children for defending her community''s land rights, having been threatened for years by big business interests.   On average, about 70 journalists are killed each year simply because they are journalists. Women are murdered just for being women, such that we had to invent a new word for it, "femicide", 40 years ago.   In the United Kingdom alone, hate crimes reported to the police rose 18 percent last year to 52,528 - and 82 percent for race hate, 11 percent for sexual orientation hate, 6 percent for religious hate.   This is a global pattern. The mass kidnapping of girls in Nigeria, the murder of tourists on a Tunisian beach, of Parisian concert-goers, the shooting of 49 gay men and women in Orlando - the murder of an MP in a small English town - are among countless examples of hatred unleashed.   This hatred is by carefully planned manufacture. Fearful, hate-filled arguments are winning people''s favour, but they are being stoked by those without any interest in ordinary people.   The rules of acceptable behaviour in society have been mangled towards isolationism, greed and intolerance.   The core values of humanity, as reflected in international law on human rights and humanitarianism, particularly refugee rights at the moment, have been undermined by rich and powerful interests.   Across the world, politicians are playing fast and loose with myths and lies to further their short-term agendas. This is eroding trust and tolerance in our societies.   We have experienced this time and again in Africa, where politicians have whipped up hatred and fear with no care for the cost. The wounds from genocide have not healed and Africans are still dying every day in conflicts fanned by ethnic hatred. Media owners reward pit-bull journalism to sell fear.   Researchers craft arguments to justify economic extremism. Religious messages are warped. Guns and bombs are allowed into the hands of radicalised minds, with predictable consequences.   I think that we feel less safe now to speak our views and stand our ground. No matter which side of the argument one is on, tolerance is in short supply.   No woman or man should be threatened for holding peaceful views, whether these views are from those you agree with or those you don''t.   What can we do? Tolerance comes from respect, from a feeling that those opposed to you are at least as valuable as you, as people.   This is not something that is granted or ceded. It is won by struggle. Fighting racism, tribalism, discrimination and xenophobia means to actively challenge it as unacceptable.   It is won at home when you talk to your children, when you engage with adults especially women, through to public mobilisation and voting at the polls.   Sometimes it might feel uncomfortable, sometimes dangerous. For some, life-threatening. But it is necessary if we want to stop asking ourselves what we have become.   It is easy to laugh or shrug off today''s demagogues, thinking that our values of tolerance and security are somehow immune, that we can''t slide backwards. Nothing could be further from the truth.   Each generation is responsible to defend and renew hard-won freedoms, and extend them to those people who have never had them.   I am proud to be part of that fight, and to work with so many who have been touched by Jo''s desire for a better world free from the hatred and racism that killed her.   We must actively reject hateful ideology from all corners. We must support communities everywhere to replace it with a culture of peace and tolerance based upon social justice.   * Winnie Byanyima is the executive director of Oxfam International Visit the related web page
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