Opinion
Letter: Remembering Mick Gosling
Reader letters
Mick Gosling is remembered at a great friend of Hackney Stand-Up to Racism - Credit: Courtesy of Kathryn Johnson
Mick fought hard to build a world without racism
Sasha Simic - on behalf of Hackney Stand Up to Racism, writes:
Thank you for publishing Cllr Ian Rathbone and Des Burkingshaw’s tributes to Mick Gosling who passed away last April.
We also want to pay tribute to Mick whose life-long commitment to anti-racism was unshakeable – that is not just a figure of speech.
In his tweet lamenting Mick’s passing, Jeremy Corbyn reminded us that Mick was involved in some of the earliest mobilisations against organised racists: “Mick was a fantastic anti-racist campaigner. He was instrumental in organising the 1977 ‘Stop the NF’ demonstration in Wood Green along with Bernie Grant, Phil Marfleet, me, and many others. He spent his life opposing racism in any form.”
That devotion to anti-racism and anti-fascism never wavered.
Unite Against Fascism saw Mick as a “greatly respected....real ally”.
One full-timer at Stand-Up To Racism recalled that Mick would always ensure that they got an annual donation from Hackney Trade Council and that Mick would phone the office to check the money had got through.
Mick Gosling with sewing machinists and trade leader Ron Todd in 1984 - Credit: Courtesy of Kathryn Johnson
Most Read
- 1 Polio virus found in Hackney as vaccine rollout announced
- 2 Man in 'life-threatening' condition after Hackney shooting
- 3 Hospital trust bucks national trend by recruiting more UK medical staff
- 4 Mogwai added to All Points East after King Gizzard pull out for health reasons
- 5 Ongoing gas leak after fire and explosion in Shoreditch
- 6 Biggest 'shooting star' meteor shower to peak this week
- 7 'Risk of injury' - Aldi recalls product due to safety fears
- 8 From college student to stage performer: How All Points East Festival is helping young artists
- 9 Siegfried: 'An epic of loneliness and self-doubt'
- 10 Hundreds of children strip searched by Met Police
Mick fought to build a world without racism.
He took to the streets to stop fascists marching.
He stood in solidarity with immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
He was an important part of our work supporting groups like Care4Calais.
There is a famous poem written by Bertolt Brecht from his play The Mother and it goes:
There are those who struggle for a day and they are good.
There are those who struggle for a year and they are better.
There are those who struggle many years, and they are better still.
But there are those who struggle all their lives:
These are the indispensable ones.
Mick Gosling was one of the indispensable ones.
Rest in Peace.
