Celebrating multiculturalism in Dorset

The Unite Tolpuddle Branch set up its stall at the Dorset One World Festival on Saturday (10th) in Dorchester’s Borough Gardens.

With far right unrest across the country it was an ideal time to remember the benefits of the country’s multicultural history. Members from the Dorset branch joined the annual free event which celebrates the diversity of cultures in Dorset through world music, dance, food, and activities.

The festival is being hosted by the South West Dorset Multicultural Network and Dorchester Town Council and featured a programme of traditional and modern music involving local communities. The music ranged from the moving sounds of the sitar to traditional Ukraine, Syrian and Kurdish songs. It all wrapped up with reggae band We Afro Tallawah, who got the crowd dancing. 

There was a Global Food Village offering a wide selection of fresh food and drinks from around the world, along with workshops, stalls and activities for children.

The Unite stall provided information on the unions work around equalities and highlighted the benefits of being a member. The branch was joined by Andy Mitchell who has been campaigning around the impact of Universal Credit changes on working people.

Unite Branch Treasurer, Alan Daniels said: “The branch had a great day. We met lots of people of all ages and backgrounds that were interested in finding out more about Unite, both at work and in the community.”

“Having a stall gave us a chance to have conversations about the benefits of being a member, and a lot of people took membership forms. It also gave us the chance to hear the concerns of workers, the interests of young people and the stories from members of Dorset’s diverse communities.”

“The Festivals organisation was fantastic, the music, food and stalls drew in people from across Dorset and the Borough Gardens were packed. We will definitely be coming back next year.”

Andy Mitchell from Unite’s “Social security is a trade union issue” campaign has done a few of these types of events recently, and found that Unite has been welcomed at all of them, he said, “We had a steady flow of visitors throughout the day.”

“The children love the free merch, the adults do too. We had good conversations with people curious about both our equalities work and the social security campaigning. 

“With what’s been going on with the far right recently, celebrating multiculturalism feels like it has added importance.”

After the success of this stall the branch is exploring the idea of attending more community events in the future, both to highlight the work of Unite and recruit new members, but also to bring existing members from across the branch together.

Words and pictures by Keith Hatch