The Fight Against Hate campaign was launched at Delegates Assembly on 7th February 2017 with the following goals:
- engage with Arriva Buses to influence them to display posters raising awareness on hate with “Fighting Against Hate” posters on their buses serving Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas.
- engage with our member schools to run a poster design campaign. This will keep schools engaged; especially as there will be a small prize for the 5 or 6 posters selected for advertising.
- work in partnership with MK Council to host a peer support meeting for victims of hate crimes by July 2017, to which we will invite power holders such as the Thames Valley Police and the MK Equality Council
- meet with Thames Valley Police and MK Council to plan an event on best practice in restorative justice.
Progress to date
- Arriva Buses displayed campaign posters during national Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017 (see poster on bus).
- A Schools Poster Competition was held and winners announced at The Open University. The winning pupil was Noorah Mohammed (see news story).
- A Healing through Hearing event was held on 28th June (see news story.)
- The Area Commander of Thames Valley Police hosted a Restorative Justice workshop (see news story).
Click here for the August 2017 update,
At the 2018 Delegates Assembly, following moving testimony (pictured above), the following goals were formally approved for 2018-19:
- Arriva Buses and Network Rail (MK Central train station) to display ‘Stop Hate’ posters during Hate Crime Awareness Week in October 2018 and conduct evaluation of bus driver responses and rail passenger responses respectively
- Citizens:MK schools and Open University to host school’s song competition to raise hate crime awareness and winning song to be performed at a day of action during the hate awareness week in October 2018
- MK Council to provide rooms and Thames Valley Police to provide referrals for quarterly Healing by Hearing workshops
- TVP to continue with identification of hate crime victims and perpetrators who could potentially use a process Restorative justice to address the issue and bring about a healing process for all those involved.
Pledges made by power-holders at Accountability Assembly 2018
Campaign Team members
- Anthony Okotcha*, Church of Christ the Cornerstone
- Bal Bassral, MK Equality Council
- Fidele Mutwarisibo (chair, pictured above), Church of Christ the Cornerstone
- Jiten Patel*, Open University
- Michael Willis, St. Frideswide’s Church
- Mubasher Maqbool, Ahmadiyya Muslim Association MK
- Sophia Kibirige*, MK Muslim Association.
Reflections of Fidele Mutwarisibo, October 2018
*Campaign Steering Group
If you would like further information, please email fightagainsthatemk@gmail.com.
What is Hate?
A hate incident is where someone has been called names, been bullied or been physically hurt just because they may be from a different country, have a different skin colour, have a different religion or belief, they like boys more than girls or girls more boys, have a disability or are different in other ways. When we fight hate we work to make a safer, kinder world for all of us.