1. Movement for Justice by any means necessary (MFJ) is building an integrated, mass civil rights and immigrant rights movement to stop the systematic scapegoating of immigrants and demonisation of the Muslim community, and to end the hostile environment of racism in Britain – a movement of and for the poor and oppressed led by youth and immigrants, to unite the struggles against racism and against poverty.
2. MFJ speaks the plain truth about racism, because racism is the most important political weapon that the rich and powerful and their political allies use to divide the poor, oppressed, working class and struggling middle class, so they can continue to exploit us and impose greater poverty.
3. We fight for immigrant rights because the attack on immigrants (including asylum seekers) is the principle focus of racism in present-day Britain, along with attacks on the Muslim community that is treated as the ‘enemy within.’ Immigrants are scapegoated for the failing public services, the daily burden of hardship and the increasing level of insecurity in people’s lives. Fighting the Government’s scapegoating policies is central to building an effective movement against its austerity policies and its attacks on the poor of all races.
4. Our anti-racist struggle is central to the future of British society: firstly, because the struggles for justice, respect and equality waged by black, Asian, Muslim and immigrant youth and workers have been the most dynamic force for progress in this country for at least three decades; secondly, because racism and xenophobia are used to persuade poor and working class white citizens that rights & equality for immigrants and ethnic minority communities must be taking something away from white people.
5. We are the only organisation that is waging a public struggle saying that Brexit is Racist and fighting to Stop Brexit. Anti-immigrant racism is driving Brexit, and Brexit is driving the toxic racism and xenophobia in Britain. MFJ stands unconditionally for the free movement of people, both between Britain and the EU, and between Britain & Europe and the rest of the world. No to Fortress Britain! No to Fortress Europe!
6. Our movement is independent of the current political system and all its parties. We can’t win if we place our trust in the powers-that-be, the Parliamentary system, law courts, elections etc., and we can’t allow any of those institutions to determine how we fight. That system is rigged against the poor and oppressed. It protects the wealth and power of a super-rich ruling class. Our movement must mobilise the social power of our communities, schools, workplaces etc., and above all the immigrant, black & Asian communities and the youth.
7. It’s only on that basis that we can intervene in the legal system and the political system. In a court room, public inquiry, Parliamentary hearing etc., we demonstrate and express the collective power of the oppressed – and we always seek to put the system itself on trial. MFJ’s aim is always to shift the balance of power in favour of the poor and oppressed. That is why we are the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary.
8. That is how MFJ approaches the new, youthful movement in the Labour Party, and why we marched & demonstrated at the recent Labour Party conference, calling on Labour activists to reverse the decision by Jeremy Corbyn and the new Labour leadership to end the free movement of people between the UK and the EU. We call on these Labour activists, who are fighting for progressive policies to replace austerity and rebuild public services, to fight together with us to Stop Brexit, defend & extend free movement, and shut down the Home Office’s whole anti-immigrant system.
9. We have built a movement to shut down the entire detention system that is the heart of the brutal, racist immigration system, a movement in which asylum seekers and former & current detainees are leaders. We build organised groups in detention centres to change the balance of power there – to expose and stop the daily brutality, stop mass deportation charter flights – and make detention unsustainable. Building the leadership of the oppressed has made MFJ’s demonstrations to Surround Harmondsworth and Surround Yarl’s Wood powerful – a power that has been felt by everyone who has been part of those demonstrations.
10. That movement has been crucial to the series of victories against the detention system over the past three years: ending Detained Fast Track in asylum cases; stopping the planned doubling of Campsfield detention centre; the complete closure of three detention centres – most recently The Verne, with 20% of remaining detention capacity. Now MFJ is extending that fight. We have to organise community action to stop immigration raids and make the policies that criminalise immigrants & asylum seekers unworkable, in order to shut down the whole anti-immigrant system.
11. MFJ demands Open the Borders, because that is what immigrants & refugees are doing at the borders of Britain and Europe, to resolve urgent material issues in their lives. The alternative to Opening the Borders is greater barbarism, and a world of tyranny. We demand an unconditional Amnesty for all undocumented immigrants & asylum seekers, as the starting point for dismantling the racist system of immigration controls. We demand an end to the injustice of putting the burden of proof in asylum cases onto asylum seekers. Put the burden of proof on the Home Office!
12. MFJ opposes the imperialist and inherently racist wars waged by the UK and its allies in the Middle East and some of the world’s poorest countries. We speak the truth about racism and imperialism and the connection between them. Our perspective is always, that to fight racist wars abroad we must fight racism at home. In the words of MFJ’s Pledge for young leaders of the new civil & immigrant rights movement: “Winning freedom and justice for all in Britain is not possible so long as hundreds of millions of other people throughout the world live in desperate poverty, battle small and large man-made disasters on a continuous and regular basis, and are forced to accept the dictates of wealthier foreign powers.” (MFJ Pledge)
13. We have a policy of No Platform for Fascists, not just because of their ideas (which are the general backward prejudices fostered by a society that is divided by race and class) but because the fascists pose a real, physical threat to the lives and liberty of immigrants, Muslims, and black, Asian & Jewish people, and to the existence of any struggle for progressive change. MFJ aims to shut down fascist organising by mobilising collective community action, as we did when we stopped the fascist recruiting drive in Croydon earlier this year.
14. In every struggle, MFJ defends and fights for the right of everyone to participate as who we are. We oppose any manifestation of prejudice and discrimination in the movement: against women, against LGBTIQ people, against Muslims, Jews or any ethnic, religious or disadvantaged social group. The movement must be a place where people are free from any of the forms of personal or collective abuse that are fostered by the wretchedly unequal and oppressive society we live in.
15. That policy for our movement is determined by the kind of country and world we want to live in. MFJ is fighting for a New Britain: a society that is integrated on the basis of justice and equality for everyone, as the people we are, whatever our race, religion, nationality, sexuality, gender identity, etc; a country where ALL who live, work and study here have full and equal citizenship rights; an economy that meets the needs of all and enables all of us to fulfil our human potential – rather than providing huge profits for a small minority. We join with every struggle that can bring us closer to that goal, such as the fight for free quality education for all, for workers’ rights, for decent affordable housing for all, for effective action on the climate and environmental crises, and we seek to unite these struggle in a movement for a progressive, optimistic future. In the words of the MFJ Pledge again:
“We can, if we act, create a new society in which the needs of humanity come before the enrichment of a few and for the first time in human history, human beings can finally think, love and socialise as equals while protecting and realising the great potential of both human beings and all that inhabit this earth.”
Adopted by Movement for Justice, 18 October 2017