NEC condemns racists for capitalising on soldier’s murder

Hope will prevail over extremism, UNISON’s national executive council agreed at its meeting in London this week.

 

Condemning the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich and the actions of the English Defence League in using the killing
to promote anti-Muslim sentiment, general secretary Dave Prentis said that on behalf of UNISON he was proud to have signed the open letter from Hope not Hate, which so far has had 35,000 signatories.

The letter says: “We know that the EDL does not speak for all Britain, just as we know that Muslim extremists do not speak for all Muslims. We, the British people, shun the EDL’s message of hate today, because they do not speak for us.

“We are confident that hope will prevail. It will prevail because they are the few and we are, and always will be, the many.”

Mr Prentis stressed that UNISON had worked hard to campaign against BNP candidates in local elections, but that the EDL now
threatened our communities.

President Chris Tansley also read out a statement agreed by the NEC condemning the “murder of drummer Lee Rigby, an
action which has robbed his family of a son, a father and a husband and the repercussions of which have robbed the Muslim community of its peace of mind.”