Despite the untimely weather on the 3rd of March, students stood in solidarity at the Students Against Racism National Conference.

‘There’s a lot to be frightened about but there’s a lot to be hopeful about’, says Alex Kenny as he opened the panel at the conference.

Representing National Education Union of Tower Hamlets, Alex discussed the issues with racism in schools, especially for Black people and Muslims. ‘We constantly see low expectations of black people - black teachers are discriminated against in progression and profession’, he says.

He continued by talking about how ‘young people aren’t seeing black people and muslim people in their learning’ and how much this underrepresentation has an effect on the youth in their schools, colleges and universities.

Another one of the focuses of the conference was to defend EU and international students, especially due to the current pessimistic stigma towards refugees. Alex expresses: ‘when refugee people come here they’re not coming with blank pages but history and experiences - it’s really important that we recognise that.’ He finished with the chant ‘Say it loud say it clear refugees are welcome here.’ The event was organised by Stand Up to Racism but co-hosted with Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) to help tackle the rising issue of Islamaphobia.

‘That step you take now is the most cautious step – that step you take now is for the next generation’, says Aman Ali representing MEND as a panel member at the conference.

At 17 years old, like the students before him, Aman was involved in an anti-racism movement after an EDL march took place near his local mosque, East London Mosque. He claimed that it rooted from ‘a desire to stand up because you don’t what to see people filled with hate win.’ Now working with MEND, he is one of the leading organisers and panel members of this anti-racism movement, tackling the roots of Islamaphobia. He encouraged the audience that ‘everyone has the capacity to be a leader fighting against racism.’ And he was living proof of it.

Both speakers left the students inspired by their words and created an energetic desire within the students to join in solidarity in the upcoming march against racism, later in the month.

Many other speakers were at the panel such as the well-known rapper and activist Lowkey, and Sabby Dhalu who works with SUTR.

Hafsa Moolla, CandI SFC