The University of Leeds Unite, Unison, and UCU trade union branches express our solidarity with and support of all communities living in fear of targeted violence. We unequivocally condemn the far-right and fascist rallies, lynch mobs, racist, Islamophobic, and anti-immigrant violence and abuse directed at communities, mosques, and hotels and other facilities for refugees and asylum-seekers across the UK. All our members, students, and wider Leeds community are affected, especially those from Muslim, immigrant and racialised backgrounds. We know many of our members and members’ families are living in fear, worried about safety and how to live a ‘normal’ life at home, socially, commuting to work and school, and about the safety of loved ones across the country.

The City of Leeds and our local area have been subjected to and borne witness to racist and violent gatherings currently being instigated by the far right across the UK. We were horrified to learn that the University of Teesside campus was targeted during violent anti-immigration riots, facing enormous violence as windows were smashed. International students have been subject to arson attacks and many staff and students across the country now face calls to stay at home and to be vigilant in the hope of protecting themselves. In Leeds itself, staff have woken up to swastikas daubed on cars in their local area. 

This wave of fascist violence is very much a University of Leeds issue. Our staff and students urgently need support and understanding. We therefore welcome the University’s signalling of well-being resources in a recent statement, but we also ask that the University puts in place and clearly communicates immediate emergency measures for all students and staff members who may not currently feel safe to travel to work or be on campus. Emergency resourcing is also required to support students of colour and international students who may be away from home and their usual support networks. 

We share our employer’s condemnation of the violence and racism taking place, and we call on University of Leeds’ senior management team to recognise and name the Islamophobic nature of this violence and the rhetoric which stokes and perpetuates it. Threats of extreme physical violence and intimidation are targeted at Muslims – especially women wearing hijabs, People of Colour and people seeking asylum, all of whom are being used as scapegoats for inequality caused by the continued failure of those in power to address poverty and inequality. We condemn all those who fund and fan these flames, and the lack of public challenge over increasingly dangerous rhetoric that has brought us to this point. Hate has no place in our society, and as an education institution, the University of Leeds must play a vital role in bringing communities together to challenge it wherever it arises in the public conversation.

As workers in education, we all have a role in responding now and over the long term. Anti-racist work must be understood as integral to all our lives and responsibilities – we cannot assume it is for others to do. We commit to working with our members to keep developing our immediate and longer term anti-racist work, together. 

We will share details of communities coming together to contest any planned racist gatherings. We urge those who are able to come together to take action, collectively. As trade unionists and anti-racists we stand in solidarity with every person of colour in the UK and in our city and on campus.

We ask that the University:

• Recognise the right of staff to work from home without line management approval if they fear violence
• Management to organise safe transport for staff who need to be on campus or fund additional expenses for travelling in a secure manner
• Recognise the violence as explicitly Islamophobic (as well as more broadly racist) and therefore specifically targeted at Muslim staff and students and all community members of colour and put additional supports in place for these groups
• As a HE institution and a major employer in Leeds, commit to support minoritised and vulnerable groups, both in the University and the wider city
• Clearly pledge to anti-racism through education, robust allyship practices, and empowering students and staff to speak up against discrimination and systemic inequalities

University of Leeds UCU
University of Leeds Unite
University of Leeds Unison

This page was last updated on 8 August 2024