News / Racism
Anti-racism task force and society launched
The CEO of an anti-racism campaigning organisation has launched a task force across the UK as well as a Social Diplomacy student society at the University of Bristol.
Aké Achi, who heads up Black Europeans, wants to raiser awareness of the struggles Black Europeans face in the UK after Brexit.
He launched the Anti-Racism Task Force in London on June 22 and 23, marking 10 years of Brexit, with plans to establish relations between racialised EU citizens and member states.
The student society will educate students on racial justice and make the world of diplomacy more accessible to them.
Having struggled to find diplomatic opportunities himself, and thinking he was “not going to make the cut” as a racialised minority, Achi said: “I want my children to think differently, to have a different perspective.”
The birth of the task force and society follows the organisation’s Social Diplomacy Summit, which took place at Bristol City Hall in May.
After months of planning and communication with authorities, the event boasted attendance from high-level officials from Spain, Austria, Portugal, Ireland and Romania.
It hosted panels and workshops exploring themes like racism in tech and flaws in international migration law.
The Social Diplomacy Summit was the catalyst for the new schemes – photo: Lenny Osler
As a former child labourer in the Ivory Coast, Achi’s life changed when he was sent to France at 11 years old on a study visa.
He didn’t resent the work, though. On the contrary, he is a critic of the United Nation’s blanket ban on child labour, recalling long but happy days working on plantations with his family as well as a means of survival.
Achi found it difficult to remain in France after his studies – photo: Emilia Ibarguen Donoso
Achi’s interest in migration and racial activism began when he reached the end of his study cycle and found it difficult to legally remain in France. He feared deportation to a country he had not returned to until after its two civil wars.
Despite French citizenship law requiring a minimum of five years living in France, it took Achi nearly 20 years to acquire his.
Unable to work in France due to his migrant status and left waiting for citizenship for nearly 20 years, he began to education himself on “this conflict between immigration and employment law”, gaining multiple degrees in the field.
In 2018, he established Migrants At Work, which helps vulnerable migrant workers who have been exploited by employers but have little freedom in leaving due to visa restrictions. His success in challenging traffickers resulted in death threats against him and his family.
Having already done work in Liverpool, the European capital of the transatlantic slave trade, Aké chose to pursue further work in Bristol due to its slave and colonial history. He says he aims to reach many more UK cities in the future.
Aké hopes to continue to bring awareness to under-researched issues and act on them in the future.
Read next:
- New course looks at overcoming systemic racism in the workplace
- Call for University of Bristol to do more to tackle racism
- ‘Three years of trying to work out how we’re going to do Brexit has caused enough damage’
Main image: Lenny Osler
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