It is no accident that Tyneside and Newcastle united against the attempt of the far right to divide our communities with their racist poison. The North East has a proud anti-racist record.
Memorial for victims of Rwandan genocide
On a beautiful Saturday lunchtime, on 1 June, a sizeable crowd of people assembled outside Newcastle Civic Centre for the unveiling of a memorial stone for the victims of the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.
The stone was the initiative of the North East Rwandan Association (NERA) which does a lot of work telling people about the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and seeks to prevent something similar happening in the future. Chair of the association, Musa Hassan Ali said:
“NERA has been a great help for many Rwandans in the North East. with the help of local authorities, communities and a lot of schools and community centres who want to learn about Rwanda.”
This ceremony followed Newcastle City Council raising the Rwandan flag on 7 April at the Civic Centre to commemorate the atrocities that took place in Rwanda 30 years ago, showing respect from North East people, supporting Rwandans and that people here are mourning with the local Rwandan community. More can be read about that event below. https://northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/remembering/remembering-the-genocide-in-rwanda-1994/
Now NERA, in collaboration with local authorities, has a memorial stone to commemorate the genocide. Ali said:
“It will be somewhere where we can put flowers. People come from London to Newcastle and see that it is a sanctuary city, a welcoming city and where they share the sadness of the Rwandans.”
Roma Holocaust Day
On 2 August, there came another example of Newcastle City Council’s concern for international human rights. with a ceremony to mark Roma Holocaust Day, on what was the 80th anniversary of the cold blooded murder of the last Roma and Sinti at a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland on 2 August 1944. The ceremony began outside Newcastle Civic Centre, with former Labour councillor and member of the Newcastle Roma community, Nicu Ion welcoming people and reminding us of what we were commemorating; the hundreds of thousands of victims of the Roma Holocaust in the Second World War.
This was followed by a flag raising ceremony as the Roma flag was raised outside the Civic Centre. There were then a number of speeches about the pain the Roma had gone through during the Holocaust or Porajmos, as some of the Roma call it, and the discrimination that they still suffer in Europe today. This was contrasted with the good treatment they have had in Newcastle, including the respect of Newcastle City Council.
It was great to see two important anniversaries being marked by Newcastle City Council and it is indeed highly appropriate that they should do so. Newcastle has a proud history of supporting human rights across the world, from its opposition to slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, to the way the organised labour movement stood up to fascism both here and abroad during the 1930s and 1940s.
Support for human rights in Saudi Arabia
An urgent and pending act of solidarity by Newcastle City Council should surely be engaging seriously with human rights organisations to show support and concern for those in Saudi Arabia, who are presently suffering in dark prison cells or from oppression in society in general, such as migrant workers being treated badly under the Kafala System or Saudi women treated as second-class citizens.
Connections with Saudi Arabia
One of the main reasons for the Rwandan and Roma ceremonies was because of the links with the two countries through the communities living in Newcastle and Tyneside. Newcastle is inextricably linked with the communities of the Rwandans and the Roma. But is it not also linked just as closely with Saudi Arabia due to the fact the city’s football club, Newcastle United is 85% owned by the Saudi state?
The Saudi state has been condemned by numerous human rights groups for their treatment of migrants on the Saudi – Yemen border.
Agencies like the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) and others monitoring violations against migrants using the ‘Eastern route’ from the Horn of Africa (primarily Ethiopia) to Saudi Arabia have been aware, for some years, that migrants’ encounters with Saudi border authorities could involve beatings, sexual violations, detention and eventually deportation. But research has indicated an alarming change in recent years.
In August 2022, the United Nations Migration Organization accused the Saudi authorities of committing several massacres on the Yemeni border against African migrants by targeting them for direct killing.
The organisation reported that its teams recorded nine massacres that killed more than 189 African migrants and injured 535 others.
Subsequently, in early October 2022, several special rapporteurs and working groups of the United Nations issued a communication to highlight allegations of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire.
This was allegedly perpetrated by Saudi security forces causing the deaths of up to 430 and injuring 650 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, in Sa’dah governorate, Yemen, and Jizan province, Saudi Arabia, between 1 January and 30 April 2022.
The communication made allegations of “a systematic pattern of large-scale, indiscriminate cross-border killings, using artillery shelling and small arms fired by Saudi security forces against migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking.” Using snipers and mortars, individuals as well as larger groups of migrants were reportedly targeted. Shockingly, it reported the possibility of a “clandestine cemetery” in north Yemen near the Saudi border (Al Raqw) containing the remains of up to 10,000 migrants.
These shocking and documented accusations by a United Nations’ special rapporteur talk about trafficking in persons, especially women and children; violence against women and girls and discrimination against women and girls.
Should not Newcastle City council hold the Saudi state owners of Newcastle United to the same standards as they hold the perpetrators of discrimination and racism against Rwandan and Roma people?
The Kafala system
The Kafala system which is a form of racialised servitude is still practised across the Middle East and in Saudi Arabia. In June the Gulf human rights group, Equidem published a report which exposes labour exploitation by Newcastle United Football Club sponsor, Noon in Saudi Arabia. In the report, a Noon worker Ramesh, a delivery associate from India hired by a subcontractor for Noon in Saudi Arabia, described experiencing a cluster for forced labour indicators, including intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, and unfair salary deductions:”The manager deducted part of my salary for completing less than 20 deliveries. When I protested, he abused and threatened me. After that I talked about leaving the job and said that I need a transfer letter. He told me that you cannot leave the job without my consent, otherwise I will send you to jail. He kept all my documents.”
NUFC players take the field in strips with the Noon logo emblazoned on the left shoulder—an ever-present reminder of their sponsor whose business practices stand in stark violation of NUFC’s statement on modern slavery that claims they are committed “to ensure that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.”
Surely Newcastle City Council and Tyneside MPs should be taking up these serious issues with the club? A failure to do so opens up politicians to the accusation that at best they are inconsistent when it comes to taking up discrimination and racism and at worst the Saudi state is getting a free pass because they own Newcastle United.
Contradictions must be addressed
All NUFC fan groups, anti-discrimination campaigns like Kick it Out and Show Racism the Red Card and fanzine readers oppose racism and discrimination against women and LGBT+ people and support human rights. However, the contradiction of correctly opposing racism and supporting human rights in Newcastle, while having a dictatorship which commits gross human rights abuses against its own people and African people on its border, as the owners of the club do, must be addressed.
Surely it is time for a flag display at St James’ Park in support of Saudi women such as Salma al-Shehab and Manahel al-Otaibi and in solidarity with Noon workers suffering slave labour conditions under the racist Kafala system?
Newcastle Chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan is a minister in the Saudi government which is committing these gross human rights abuses on a daily basis.
As a priority Newcastle City Council and Tyneside MPs should meet with Saudi human rights groups to listen to their testimonies and suggestions as to how North East politicians and institutions can support them.
Trade unions in the North East responded magnificently to the recent threat of the far right and attacks on migrants. That solidarity should be extended to the workers of Newcastle United sponsor Noon who are facing exploitation and modern day slavery conditions.
Prior to the Saudi state-takeover of Newcastle United, commitments were made by Newcastle City Council, MPs and fan groups to “keep talking about human rights in Saudi Arabia”. Those commitments need to be made a reality.
John Hird – NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing
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