Workers Allying to Stand in the Face of Islamophobia and Racism
Over the course of the past two weeks, the city of Edmonton has been subject to a string of violent racist and Islamophobic attacks that have taken place in several areas of the city.
On Tuesday, December 8th, two Muslim women were violently assaulted while in their vehicle in what is being described as a racially motivated attack. A 41 year old man approached two Somali women wearing hijabs who were sitting in their vehicle. He proceeded to begin shouting racially motivated obscenities towards them before punching and shattering the passenger side window. The passenger got out and attempted to run from the vehicle whilst the man chased her before throwing her to the ground and assaulting her. The second woman attempted to intervene before also being pushed to the ground by the attacker. Thankfully other bystanders managed to break it up and stop the attack.
Then again on Tuesday, December 15th, a third Black woman was attacked at Southgate LRT station. As the woman entered through the doors of the station, a 32 year old man tried to strike her repeatedly in the head while showing racial obscenities at her, before a transit officer intervened and called the police.
Finally on Wednesday, December 16th, a 48 year old Black man was walking on a street near his home when he was approached by another man yelling racial obscenities and death threats. The victim of the assault was then pushed by the man before running to his home and into his yard. The assailant gave chase before following him into his backyard and proceeding to assault him. Thankfully authorities who were in the area on an unrelated call saw the incident taking place and were able to follow and break up the assault.
These instances of racists and Islamophobes feeling emboldened enough to commit such heinous acts against innocent people- in broad daylight no less!- speaks to a disturbing trend of the past few years of seeing right wing extremist activities increase across the country. Just four days ago new studies were released which reported on the rising wave of incidents currently taking place across Atlantic Canada. These incidents will not begin to cease until people begin to stand up to them and say enough is enough. In fact, should we sit and do nothing, these incidents will start to become commonplace, to begin to become the norm.
We are speaking, as workers, in support of our Muslim and Black co-workers and community members. We will not stand for this violence and intolerance against our Muslim and Black brothers and sisters in our communities! We will not stand for the discrimination and attacks, based out of fear and hatred, to continue within our neighborhoods! We will no longer sit by and idly watch on as our government does nothing and allows these racists to continue to be emboldened to cause fear and violence!
These are not merely empty words and platitudes set to acknowledge a problem before returning to our own lives, pretending that the problem was somehow solved or went away. We are committed to rooting out these instances of racism and Islamophobia wherever they may lie; to creating a world where all workers and citizens, regardless of race or religion, can stand together on equal ground. Where we can work together to build a society free of violence, hatred, and discrimination.
This is why the Workers Liberation Coalition has allied with the Muslim Association of Canada and A Fight For Equity (both out of Edmonton) going forward to stand together with our brothers, sisters, and fellow workers of all races and creeds in the face of this violence and discrimination in order to fight against it; so we can snuff it out for good. In light of these attacks we are going into our communities across Edmonton on Sunday, December 27th, to hand out flowers and pamphlets to bring light to these attacks and show our Muslim and Black communities that we stand beside them and support them in the face of these disgusting acts. We have also committed to working with them in the future on more events and potential actions such as community patrols and community self-defense training.
Edmond Burke once said; “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We are tired of doing nothing, waiting for the government or some outside force to stop it or put an end to the injustice. Those of us subject these attacks cannot afford for the rest of us to sit and do nothing in the face of such hatred. We will stand up, and we will not allow the seeds of discrimination and violence to be sewed within our communities any longer. We will weed it out wherever it should show its ugly head, and pull it out by the roots.
If you would like to get involved with any of our programs, to join or find out more info about the WLC, or are in need of any sort of community support or help that you think our organization could assist with, please feel free to reach out to us through one of our social media pages or our email: workerspartycontact@protonmail.com
