Protesting Operation “Hope & Recovery”: refusing opportunism in the movement

What is Operation “Hope & Recovery”? After the uprisings, a group appeared calling themselves “Black
leaders”, led by Lee Jasper (Co Chair, BARAC) and staged a rally on 19 August 2011. Panel speakers were all men except Diane Abbott (who spoke and then left). Parents – code for single mothers – were blamed for the riots. They spoke as if we don’t care about our children, exactly how the government attacks us. The desperate situation of mothers and other carers, children, young people and others most affected by racist and sexist cuts, and stop-and-search, were hardly mentioned, while
a Tory Lord and other elites were presented as our “Black leaders”.

Download the document in PDF including the petition in full here.