Into the millennium consolidates and expands on Operation Black Vote's work since its launch in July 1996, taking the campaign to the next anticipated General Election in 2002.

Operation Black Vote began as a collaboration between two organisations: Charter88 (which campaigns for democratic reform) and The 1990 Trust, the only national Black generic policy research and networking organisation, which uses information technology as a primary means of communication.

Its long term goal is to address the Black democratic deficit. It aims to do so by:

• Enabling and encouraging a greater sense of citizenship within the Black community, both locally and nationally;
  
  
• Inspiring the Black community to be politically active in all areas of public life;
• Promoting the benefits of a political and social culture that celebrates difference in the building of new partnerships;
  
  
• Encouraging government, the main political parties and opinion formers to make the ideal of inclusive democracy a reality, and monitoring their progress towards it.

Into the millennium assesses what has been achieved in the last year and outlines a five year project that includes:

• OBV: Citizenship in the community - a long term political education programme;
  
  
• OBV: Young citizens - a long term political education project focussed on young people, Black and white;
  
  
• OBV: Voter registration - the existing campaign continues, monitored to provide empirical data;
  
  
• OBV: Improving Black representation - encouraging Black people to stand for election and to seek public appointment;
  
  
• OBV: The Greater London Authority - ensuring that issues of race and colour are on the agenda in the run-up to the election of the first Greater London Authority, during the election period and in the Authority's first term of office;
  
  
• OBV: A voice for Black women - bringing together women from different communities and with different areas of expertise to ensure that OBV's direction encompasses their concerns, increasing levels of representation and acting as an independent advisor to government;
  
  
• OBV: In cyberspace - Black voices on the Internet, harnessing the IT explosion to communicate OBV's message locally, nationally and internationally.
  
  
• OBV:Academics and Local Authorities - a partnership for the future
  
  
• OBV: Making links with Europe

Background

The years between 1994 and 1996 were bad ones in which to be Black.

There were deaths in police custody for which no one was held accountable. The Immigration & Asylum Bill seemed to many to be a state-sanctioned policy that criminalised Black people looking for sanctuary in Britain. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Condon, took the often uneasy relationship between the police and the Black community to a new low with his comments about targeting young Blacks for street crime. Figures showed that inner city schools had been disproportionately expelling young Black youths, effectively condemning them to the social scrap heap.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch identified Britain as the country with the highest incidence of racial attacks in Europe. Research at Southampton University by law Professor Lawrence Lustgarden showed that Britain jails more Black people per head of population than the USA. Unemployment within Black communities especially in areas with high Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim populations - stood, and still stands, way above the national average: with unemployment among Black graduates three times the national average.

Many in the Black community, young and old, felt a sense of powerlessness. Frustration turned to anger on the streets of Brixton and Bradford as young Blacks protested against authority.

In early 1996, with the last date for a General Election 18 months away, - Black volunteers at Charter88 and activists at The 1990 Trust began exploring ways of using the most important event in Britain's political calendar to raise the concerns of the Black community.

We began by collating political and demographic data in marginal constituencies - and we soon realised that the Black vote was potentially immensely powerful. In over 50 seats the number of African, Asian and Caribbean voters was greater than its marginality. In another 50, our numbers were such that we had the potential to play a significant role in any closely fought contest.

A call to action would have a solid base and an immediate focus - the power of the Black vote at the coming General Election. The challenge was to persuade the Black community to recognise that power and inspire them to participate - and to serve notice on the political parties that they ignored the Black electorate at their peril.

Operation Black Vote was launched in July 1996. In just ten months we held over 100 meetings at schools, colleges, community centres, local party offices and town halls up and down the country. We distributed over 250,000 voter registration cards; 500,000 leaflets in six different languages, and 50,000 posters. Over 200 articles appeared in the national and international press, the Black press, and a host of other journals and publications. 97 radio interviews and 27 television broadcasts spanned every region in the country and eight countries worldwide. An Early Day Motion tabled on OBV's behalf received support from all sides of the House of Commons. Trevor Robinson (of Tango fame) and John Daniels spearheaded a controversial poster and cinema ad campaign. An OBV collaboration with Rock the Vote and MTV saw Linford Christie make time to do an ad specifically for the music channel.

But we knew from the outset that it would be OBV's impact in two specific areas which would determine success or failure: the response of the political parties to Black concerns and of the Black community to Operation Black Vote.

In comparison to any election before 1997, the positive attention the Black electorate received from the major parties was unprecedented. And the party leaders led from the front.

In a speech that he would later make a point of sending to OBV, the then Prime Minister John Major said, "I don't pretend that the prospect for the young Black man in Brixton is yet as open as it is to the young white man in the Home Counties. It clearly isn't. But we must try and make it so." Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown pledged to make the House of Commons more representative, and described it as "a white, male, middle-class club." And Tony Blair emphasised his lifetime commitment "to fight against racism."

At constituency level, MPs and candidates across the country took part in OBV & Question Time & meetings. For the first time in British political history, every candidate we invited came to listen to the Black electorate and argue their case.

We knew that much of this attention was little more than electioneering. But we also knew that promises would be made that would allow us, in the weeks and months after the Election, to insist that they be kept.

There were times, early in the campaign, when we thought that even our minimalist call to the Black community to register to vote - to use the most basic instrument of representative democracy - was a triumph of hope over reality. A pervading cynicism about British democracy had persuaded many Black people that a conscious opt out was the only valid form of expression. But we knew we were onto something powerful. At meeting after meeting we argued that we inadvertently collude with those who view us negatively by not using the political avenues open to us. "We are powerful - and here's the proof," we insisted. "We just have to recognise it." As the months went on, the message began to get through. Operation Black Vote began to establish a platform that gave African, Asian and Caribbean communities in Britain a collective political voice - and those communities began using it. As the local and national press picked up on this emerging political consciousness, a feeling that we were being noticed inspired many more to get involved.

There is little to no quantitative data on how many more Black people registered to vote and/or voted in 1997 as a direct consequence of OBV. In the few constituencies where data is available, it shows that in predominately Black areas voting and registration rose slightly, while in predominantly white areas they fell.

We knew when we began how much there was to do, that a ten month campaign could do little more than give our communities a sense that things could be different, and that OBV existed to help make that difference. Political rhetoric is easy and instant; translating it into reality is the hard work of years. The disillusion of so many people - particularly young Black men - would not and could not be addressed in the few months before the Election.

A long term strategy was the inevitable next step if we were to realise the expectations we had aroused

Into the millennium

Introduction

Operation Black Vote's goal is a fair, just and inclusive democracy - one that offers rights to all and demands responsibility from all, Black and white.

Its vision is of a talented, energetic and creative Black community enhancing British democracy and British society: a celebration of difference in the building of new partnerships. It aims to make that vision real through political education, political participation and political representation.

Operation Black Vote's principal objectives over the next five years are:

• to enable and encourage active citizenship within the Black community
  
  
• to achieve greater Black political participation
  
  
• to achieve greater Black representation in all areas of public life
  
  
• to ensure the concerns of the Black community are high on the political agenda, both nationally and locally
  
  
• to demonstate the benefits of Black participation to society at large

OBV will publish a range of general promotional and educational material using a range of media to promote its vision and objectives.

In addition, it will put in place the seven complementary initiatives which are outlined later in this document. Each initiative is targetted at a particular constituency within the Black community, the political establishment and the wider public: though discrete, they are linked by OBV's mission.

It will develop strategies to monitor its initiatives, and produce an annual, independently 'audited', Report.

These annual reports will be brought together, evaluated and published after the next General Election in a unique record.

OBV: Citizenship in the community

Introduction

Citizenship in the community is the cornerstone on which OBV's other programmes are built.

Citizenship in the community is a political education programme, which targets African, Asian and Caribbean communities at the local and regional level.

Black families' life choices are restricted compared to those of white families. Institutionalised racism and social exclusion are facts of life in modern Britain. Alienation and frustration are exacerbated by the fact that the Black community has little real influence over the hundreds of public bodies throughout the country which make key decisions affecting everyday life national and local government, the courts, tribunals, housing trusts, school governing bodies, charitable trusts and many more.

Citizenship in the community aims to provide political education and so enable and empower the Black community to understand and access the political process fully. OBV recognises that this demands the development of a concept of an inclusive British identity - one that allows all British communities an equal sense of positive ownership.

The objectives

The key objectives of Citizenship in the community are:

• to give people in African, Asian and Caribbean communities a better understanding of how the British political and public appointments system works, nationally, regionally and locally;
  
  
• to encourage involvement in these bodies and in their decision-making processes;
  
  
• to promote a positive concept of a Black British identity and the benefits of greater Black participation to both Black and white communities

The methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• organising a series of regionally based 'road shows', with invited national and local celebrity involvement, that will tour the UK attracting publicity, and holding open meetings, workshops and general talks;
  
  
• researching, writing and distributing a wide range of educational material in the major languages and in a range of media, including leaflets, pamphlets, posters, videos and 'how to become....' guides;
  
  
• building on existing Black networks at regional and local level;
  
  
• promoting and encouraging informal links between Black and white organisations at regional and local level.

Materials and initiatives will include:

• British democracy: the basics - an accessible, informal introduction to the way the political system works
  
  
• Building a better democracy - what needs to change, including the balancing of rights with responsibilities
  
  
• The struggle for the vote - how universal franchise was won
  
  
• The British Black experience - the how, when and why of Asian, African and Caribbean immigration
  
  
• Black, British - and proud? - facilitation notes for use by workshop leaders, to kickstart debate on a concept of Black citizenship.

OBV: Young citizens

Introduction

In July 1996, BBC2's Black Britain commissioned a MORI poll. It found that only 16% of 18 to 25year-old Blacks were certain to vote at the General Election.

Just before the Election, it became clear that this rejection of the political process had little to do with apathy or laziness. A poll in Time Out found that 96% of young Blacks would vote - if they thought there was something or someone worth voting for. Young Blacks are consciously opting out of a system they believe has no place for them and nothing to offer them.

And they are not alone. Young people all over Britain are choosing single issue campaigning and protest in preference to instruments of representative democracy - if they engage with 'politics' at all.

This alienation from, and disillusionment with, the political system should concern us all. At the least, a modern democracy cannot afford to let its future go to waste: at worst, distrust, frustration and anger are the breeding ground for civil disturbance.

Young citizens is a political education programme which targets twelve to 25-year-olds, with a particular emphasis on young Black men. It aims, in particular, to provide young Black people with the knowledge and skills to address political and social problems in order that they may achieve their full potential.

The objectives

Young citizens' key objectives are:

• to give young people a basic understanding of how the British political system works, nationally, regionally and locally;
  
  
• to counter the cynicism towards the democratic process felt by many young people, with a particular emphasis on young Black men;
  
  
• to encourage involvement in the political process;
  
  
• to promote a positive concept of a Black British identity and the shared experience and benefits of greater participation to both Black and white young people;
  
  
• to encourage Black youth collaboration.

The methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• organising a series of regionally based 'road shows', with invited national and local celebrity involvement, to tour schools, colleges, universities and youth centres throughout the UK attracting publicity, and holding workshops, debates and general talks;
  
  
• researching, writing and commissioning a wide range of educational material in a wide range of media, focussing on the visual, IT and music video, CD ROM, audio cassette, posters and leaflets,
  
  
• encouraging debate and dialogue between Black young people and others nationally through the Young, gifted and Black newsletter;
  
  
• facilitating debate and the sharing of experience internationally through a new section of OBV's Web site;
  
  
• accessing existing networks to establish a Black youth 'Democracy Day'.

Materials and initiatives will include:

• British democracy: the basics - an accessible, informal introduction to the way the political system works, how it developed and what needs to change, on video and CD Rom, fronted by a young Black celebrity
  
  
• Black, British - and proud? - facilitation notes for use by workshop leaders, to kickstart debate on a concept of Black citizenship for the millennium
  
  
• A special youth section on OBV's Web site, to enable debate, dialogue and information spread
  
  
• The Young, gifted and Black newsletter, published nationally on paper for free distribution, and on the youth section of OBV's Web site
  
  
• Promotional leaflets, posters and merchandise
  
  
• A competition for young musicians, Black and white, fronted by a young Black music business celebrity, on a broad theme of citizenship, the winning entries to be released and promoted on CD and cassette

OBV: Voter Registration

Introduction

If the African, Caribbean and Asian communities are to impact on the political process, voter registration levels must increase. Twenty-four per cent of the Black community are not registered to vote compared with 6% of the white community. The level of non-registration among young Black men is significantly higher.

Operation Black Vote has found that independent monitoring of voter registration is crucial. It believes that in those areas that OBV targeted in 1996/97, both voter registration and turnout levels increased significantly, but this cannot be proven. With the exception of Lewisham, no empirical data is available

OBV was very active in Lewisham. The available data suggests that in wards where between 50% and 70% of the electorate is Black, registration increased by approximately 5%; and in predominately white wards it fell by approximately 5%.

OBV is relaunching the registration drive, with a short-term focus on the Metropolitan Borough elections and the referendum on the Greater London Authority in May 1998 and the European elections in 1999.

OBV: Voter registration will target Africans, Asians, Caribbeans and other people of colour

The objectives

The key objectives of the voter registration programme are:

• to demonstrate to the Black community, through an education programme, that registration is an important instrument of representative democracy;
  
  
• to highlight how Black participation can influence the political process;
  
  
• to increase levels of participation by 10% -15% over a two year period;
  
  
• to monitor levels of Black voter registration in key targeted areas (see Appendix A, partnership for the future).

The methodology

OBV aims to achieve these objectives by:

• holding, and facilitating the holding of, meetings, seminars and workshops throughout the country, with a short-term focus on the Metropolitan Borough elections;
  
  
• distributing information, educational materials and registration cards in the major languages;
  
  
• encouraging local Race Equality Councils, religious centres, community groups and individuals to set up local OBV units to increase voter registration;
  
  
• working with academics and local authorities on setting up registration programmes within the administrative system

Materials and initiatives will include:

• 400,000 voter registration cards and explanatory leaflets in the major languages
  
  
• promotional posters and leaflets
  
  
• making Citizenship in the community materials generally available

OBV: Improving Black representation

Introduction

Operation Black Vote believes there is only one way to combat institutionalised racism: to institutionalise multi-racialism, Unless there is greater Black political representation at all levels of public life, British democracy can never truly address the aspirations of African, Asian and Caribbean communities.

The government has recognised the concept of democratic deficits in principle and in practice. Before the election the Labour Party introduced all-women short lists in an effort to overcome the House of Commons' gender imbalance. The result is an unprecedented number of female MPs. Within weeks of taking office, the government announced a ministerial Department for Women, to ensure that the concerns of women were reflected throughout government policy-making.

There have been no such positive initiatives for the Black community. The need for better Black representation is pressing, particularly in government, the judiciary and the senior ranks of the public service.

There are:

• only nine Black MPs out of 651 (only two women);
  
  
• only five Black circuit judges, (none women);
  
  
• two Blacks in senior Civil Service positions, out of 805 (grade 4 and above)

There are also severe shortfalls in other key public services.

Particularly worrying in view of the poor relations which exist between the police·and the Black community, there is only one high-ranking Black police officer (a male assistant Chief Constable).

Black people make up less than 2% of public appointments generally.

The UK's system of governance relies heavily on public appointment. Appointees sit on many 'quangos' - quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations - which perform functions that were at one time the responsibility particularly of local government. Quangos spend public money and are involved in decision-making in areas as diverse as education, employment, National Heritage and the NHS. The magistracy, the cornerstone of the criminal justice system, is a quangocracy. The National Audit Office has estimated that there are more public appointees in the UK than there are elected councillors.

Improving Black representation is an enabling campaign, which targets the African, Caribbean and Asian communities nationally, regionally and locally.

The objectives

The key objectives of Improving Black representation are:

• to increase the number of Black MPs from nine to 25 by 2007;
  
  
• to increase the number of Black councillors from 100 to 200 by 2007;
  
  
• to increase the number of Black MEPs from one to five by the European elections of 2009;
  
  
• to increase the overall percentage of Black appointees to public bodies from two to six percent by2002;
  
  
• to achieve gender parity.

Methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• promoting its Citizenship in the community programme;
  
  
• holding, and enabling and encouraging the holding of, meetings and seminars on the importance of civic responsibility, regionally and locally;
  
  
• building links and joint initiatives with specific interest groups such as The Association of Black School Governors; encouraging members of African, Asian and Caribbean communities to stand for election to government nationally, regionally and locally;
  
  
• encouraging members of African, Asian and Caribbean communities to apply for membership of and take up public positions on, public bodies, nationally, regionally and locally;
  
  
• lobbying selection boards in government bodies and others involved in the public appointment system on their recruitment practices, and monitoring and publishing outcomes;
  
  
• lobbying the political parties on their recruitment and candidate selection practices, and monitoring and publishing outcomes.

Materials will include, in the first phase:

• Researching, publishing and distributing nationwide a series of user-friendly guides to accessing the public service, beginning with How to become a Councillor;... School Governor;... Magistrate and ... National Health Service Trustee;
  
  
• Collating a National Register of able and committed Asian, African and Caribbean people, which will be made available and promoted to selection boards in government departments and others involved in the public appointment system.

OBV: the Greater London Authority

Introduction

The prospect of a Greater London Authority offers a unique and timely opportunity for the Black community both to influence and help formulate its structure and ways of working, and to claim its proper share of representation. It is also an unprecedented opportunity for the government to demonstrate its willingness to ensure genuinely inclusive democracy - one that will recognise the right of Black Londoners to a strong political voice.

According to the London Research Centre, ethnic minorities account for over a quarter of the capital's population. Translate this into representative democracy, and it becomes clear that, for the first time in British history, Black communities could be central to a democratic, decision-making process.

Furthermore, if the Black community successfully achieves political representation within the Greater London Authority, it will have a positive knock-on affect nationally, within both Black and white communities. Black people will have positive proof that their concerns can be addressed by political participation, and the white community of the benefits of that participation.

The Greater London Authority is an enabling campaign which targets the Asian, African and Caribbean community and other people of colour in the Greater London area.

The objectives

The key objectives of The Greater London Authority are:

• to highlight the potential for the Black community in London of a Greater London Authority;
  
  
• to enable and encourage Black Londoners to take part in the referendum to be held in May 1998;
  
  
• to ensure that the Greater London Authority recognises and takes account of the cultural diversity of the capital;
  
  
• to ensure that African, Asian and Caribbean Black communities have an equitable voice within the GLA.

Methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• promoting its Citizenship in the community programme;
  
  
• promoting its voter registration campaign;
  
  
• encouraging and enabling Black people to vote in the May 1998 referendum; ·
• providing information on voting systems;
  
  
• touring the capital with an OBV road show, involving local and national celebrities and others, which will attract publicity and target key areas;
  
  
• holding, and enabling the holding of, a series of seminars, debates and general meetings;
  
  
• building links with Greater London Race Equality Councils, the Black business community, Black voluntary organisations and other organisations which campaign for representative democracy;
  
  
• encouraging and enabling Black people to stand for election to the first CLA in 2001, if appropriate;
  
  
• encouraging and enabling Black people to vote in the 2001 GLA election, if appropriate.

Materials and initiatives will include:

• Promotional leaflets, posters and merchandise
  
  
• Educational materials
  
  
• A & Black Londoner & section on OBV's Web site

A voice for Black women

Introduction

Many cultures pay lip service to the concept that women and men are equal. The reality is that women around the world are marginalised from centres of power.

Black women's invisibility in UK public life is marked - and contrasts with their active role in grassroots organisations and leadership within Black communities. There are now 121 women MPs, but only two of them are Black - Diane Abbott and Oona King.

Levels of political participation and representation are a useful yardstick for measuring the degree of real equality in a society. Apply these criteria, and it is clear that Black women are underrepresented at all levels of British public life.

Some practical strategies for addressing this are outlined in the objectives below, but it is clear that the first step towards equality must be a reassessment of the UK's style of politics and culture of political leadership. Traditionally, politics has been male-dominated, adversarial and inflexible. It is a political style that militates against the use of the social and organisational skills that Black women have shown they possess in abundance. Women generally tend to seek partnership and consensus and to use delegation more effectively. That the problem lies with the political system rather than Black women is clear from their visible presence in commerce, housing, health, non-governmental organisations, the media, sport and the entertainment industry.

The effective waste of Black women's skills, creativity and energy is a loss to society as a whole. There is no lack of talented, intelligent, articulate and committed Black women. Operation Black Vote could not have made the impact it did in 1996/97 without the central contribution made by Black women from a broad cross-section of the community and a wide variety of public and private organisations, working as volunteers, activists and speakers.

A voice for Black women is an enabling campaign which targets women in Afican, Asian and Caribbean communities nationwide.

The objectives

The key objectives of A voice for Black women are:

• to create a forum within which Black women from a variety of organisations can work to develop strategies for better representation;
  
  
• to provide a platform to ensure that the collective voice of Black women is heard in the formation of government policy, and thus,
  
  
• to act as an independent advisory body to the government of the day; · to encourage and enable Black women to stand for selection and election at all levels of government, and for appointment to public bodies;
  
  
• to achieve gender parity within Operation Black Vote's Increasing Black representation programme.

Methodology

A voice for Black women will achieve these objectives by:

• influencing OBV's Citizenship in the community programme;
  
  
• initiating a national debate about the underrepresentation of Black women in public life;
  
  
• building links with organisations and individuals with similar aims and objectives;
  
  
• consulting with local and national women's organisations;
  
  
• holding, and enabling the holding of, debates and seminars around the issue of greater participation in and representation of Black women in public life,
  
  
• researching, publishing and distributing targetted promotional and educational materials;
  
  
• launching and maintaining a Black women's forum on the OBV Web site.

OBV: in cyberspace

Introduction

The Internet is becoming an increasingly popular and important means of communication worldwide. It gives access to a a wide range of people and communities, and already plays an important role in OBV's campaigning. Users can access and respond to up-to-date information in minutes.

The primary purpose of OBV: in cyberspace is to provide a means through which information educational and enabling - is made widely and easily accessible to all sections of the Black community, and to the wider community. OBV's site on the world wide web will provide an arena in which individuals and organisations - locally, nationally and internationally - can come together to address the Black democratic deficit.

The OBV web site is an integral part of its campaigns to increase voter registration, political participation and representation of the Black community. OBV's Young Citizens programme will also be available on the web site, and a special section will be devoted to Black women.

The site will also carry information on forthcoming events, iniatives, roadshows and literature linked to the overall campaign objective of encouraging greater Black political participation in Britain. It will also feature up-to-date information on politics and other issues which affect the Black community in a European context.

OBV: in cyberspace targets primarily Asian, African and Caribbean communities. It will also prove of interest to individuals, non-governmental and other organisations, community groups, and national and local government.

The objectives

The key objectives of In cyberspace are:

• to increase communication and interaction between individuals, organisations and other groupings, nationally and internationally;
  
  
• to provide an easy-access, interactive environment to facilitate dialogue among Black individuals, organisations and other groupings;
  
  
• to provide independent, reliable and up-to-date information and educational materials;
  
  
• to raise levels of voter registration and increase political participation within the Black community in Britain;
  
  
• to provide information on forthcoming campaign events, OBV's political education programme, and on new initatives.

Methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• publicising the existence of the web site through all relevant media;
  
  
• publishing and maintaining the political education programme, and up-to-date information on campaigns, events and other OBV initiatives;
  
  
• contacting schools, colleges and universities in the UK, with the help of the NUS and relevant bodies, to increase awareness of and use of the site among young people;
  
  
• publicising the site and its facilities to Black groups in mainland Europe;
  
  
• providing an online, easy-to-use voter registration form and supporting materials, including details of electoral registration offices nationwide.

The OBV Website will also be linked to the Black Information Link Site (BLINK). BLINK offers a wide range of information on issues affecting the Black community and also welcomes input from individuals, organisations, and other groupings. The OBV web site address is: http://www.obv.org.uk

OBV:Academics and Local Authorities

A partnership for the future

A partnership for the future will begin with a pilot scheme collaboration between Professor Mohammed Anwar and his team at the Department of Ethnic Minority Studies, University of Warwick and six local authorities.

The aim is to build a fully monitored voter registration programme which can be offered to local authorities as an inexpensive blueprint for future initiatives.

The programme has been developed to encourage registration within Black communities, but is capable of adaptation and targetting at any under-represented section of society.

Drawing on its experience in 1996/97, OBV believes that a number of relatively simple dynamics, once in place, not only increase voter registration levels, but also facilitate and encourage positive action within communities.

These dynamics are:

• the widespread distribution of simple-to-use registration cards in English and other appropriate languages;
  
  
• the widespread distribution of leaflets which explain and promote political participation in English and other appropriate languages;
  
  
• the distribution of posters to places where members of the target community or communities gather;
  
  
• the presence of multi-racial voter registration teams in areas of low voter registration to advise and encourage;
  
  
• a FREEPHONE advice hotline;
  
  
• the holding of informal talks and 'teach ins' on the importance of political participation and civic responsibility;
  
  
• the holding of high profile, well-publicised open public meetings with candidates standing for election.

The programme

The University of Warwick team will visit households in an area of low registration after local authority registration forms have been sent to households and before their due return date of October 10.

Using questionnaires, it will gather basic voter registration and other data. It will aim to discover any specific social factors that might lead to low registration levels. The questionnaires would cover:

• whether individuals are registered to vote;
  
  
• if not, what initiatives or information would encourage them to register to vote;
  
  
• voting patterns;
  
  
• voter turnout;
  
  
• unemployment rates;
  
  
• other local community concerns.

Once the questionnaire has been completed, Professor Anwar's team will offer to help fill in a registration form with the person questioned.

After 10 October, a multi-racial team will target community centres in low registration areas with information and promotional materials which will aim to answer the concerns raised with the research team, and encourage and enable people to register. Once the register is closed, the research team will return to see if registration levels have increased.

It is planned to pilot the project in the run up to the May 1998 local elections. The first round of analysis will be reported to a small seminar in March/April 1998. A full report will be published in autumn 1998.

OBV: Making links with Europe

Introduction

The current political climate in Europe seriously concerns the Black community.

Tight budgetary controls, introduced by EU member states to help them meet the convergence criteria for monetary union, have had the effect of slashing social services provision. Those most vulnerable and most needy, and with the fewest guaranteed rights - people of colour, migrant workers, and Romany people - have suffered most.

Simultaneously, some member states have appeared to use the issue of immigration and asylum to fuel an increasingly xenophobic outlook within their populations. As sophisticated right-wing networks distribute racist literature and racially-motivated attacks on Black people increase, many Black and other minority communities feel under siege and unprotected in Fortress Europe.

Operation Black Vote believes that the most effective means of combatting racism and xenophobia is to collaborate with our European partners to ensure that ethnic minorities have a say in the political decision making process. It will also call for legislation to confer equal rights and statutory protection against racial discrimination.

During the campaign for the European elections in 1999, OBV will focus on raising awareness, and will campaign for a more inclusive, pluralistic Europe, one that offers equality of opportunity and respect to all.

The objectives

The key objectives of Making links with Europe are:

• to increase public awareness in Europe of the benefits of the contribution Black communities have already made, and can make in future,
  
  
• to increase Black political participation;
  
  
• to gain greater Black political representation in the EU;
  
  
• to raise public awareness of the dangers of far right activity within Europe;
  
  
• to see legislation enacted which bans the publication or distribution of racist literature within all member states.

Methodology

OBV will achieve these objectives by:

• using and building on the existing network of organisations with similar aims, to collectively campaign for the above objectives;
  
  
• promoting OBV's campaigning model of political education and education for citizenship; voter registration; political participation; and proper representation of the Black community within European institutions and public life,
  
  
• increasing the number of ethnic minority candidates standing for election to the European Parliament in 1999 and subsequent elections in the UK;
  
  
• lobbying other European governments and political parties to ensure equitable numbers of ethnic minority candidates are put forward;
  
  
• making its campaigning materials available to European organisations with similar aims;
  
  
• campaigning for the anti-discriminatory clause within the Maastricht Treaty to be amended to include national and social minorities;
  
  
• lobbying to ensure that there are effective legislative safeguards to prevent the publication and distribution of racist literature within Europe;
  
  
• lobbying for existing British race relations law to be used as a model for Europe-wide legislation.

Initiatives will include:

• A two day conference with partner organisations and other NGOs to which MEPs and prospective candidates will be invited to share their knowledge and experience. The conference will serve as a launch platform for agreed objectives, and will be held in the run up to the European elections of June 1999.