Newham Monitoring Project

Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) is a grassroots community based anti-racist organisation in East London that works with the community against racial discrimination /violence, police misconduct and civil injustice issues. It provides advice, support and advocacy to members of the black community, a 24-hour emergency helpline, community outreach /educational projects and campaign work around issues arising from it cases pertinent to the black community.

Since its foundation it has always pursued one simple aim - the right to a life free from harassment, safe from attack.

NMP's roots

NMP's was founded by, and was at the forefront of, the movement in the early 1980's in the UK fought by the black community against racism.

NMP was formed in 1980 from a campaign against the racist murder of teenager Akhtar Ali Baig in East Ham in east London, after statutory agencies failed to respond adequately. NMP's founding purpose was to monitor both racist attacks and statutory response to them in order to campaign effectively around the resultant issues for justice and change.

The high level of harassment experienced by the black community by the police at the time, and still today, meant that before long the issue of police racism and the criminalisation of black people also became central to its agenda. In particular, it fought for the right of the black community to self defence against racist attacks.

As part of its response to the high level of racial violence faced by the black community and the repeated failure of the statutory organisations to respond quickly and effectively and without discrimination, NMP set up a 24-hour emergency helpline in 1983.

NMP always extended its fight against police and state racism to include fascism, rather than divorcing anti-fascist struggles from the experiences and self-organisation of the black community. Although this is central to NMP's ethos, it involves and works closely with principled white anti-racists that respect the black experience, for NMP has never seen the fight against racism in isolation from wider demands for social justice.

NMP today

NMP believes that racism still remains rooted in the very fabric of British society, as shown by recent anti-terrorism legislation and stop and search powers, disproportionately affecting working class black communities.

NMP continues to build community campaigns from out of its casework. It believes these have a real base within the black community and are able to mobilise support in a way that high profile media campaigns or other initiatives cannot.

In recent years, NMP has been active in the campaign for justice by the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent brazilian man shot to death by police in 2005 during an anti-terror operation for which no individual officer has ever been charged.

NMP has also publicly supported the families involved in the Forest Gate Raids in June 2006, standing alongside the local community in condemning the actions of the police and calling for a full and fair independent investigation and for officers to be held accountable and face criminal charges for any failure in duty. The Forest Gate raids were part of a police anti-terror operation during which the police shot one man and injured others whilst entering their houses merely in order to detain them for questioning. Following questioning, all charges against individuals were dropped.

[External Links]http://www.nmp.org.uk/