Dear IRR News subscriber,
This week, the IRR News Service considers policies and practices at the hard-end of the criminal justice and immigration systems, from the policing of ‘gangs’ to the harsh conditions within immigration removal centres and the death of refugees during deportation attempts.
It’s now four years since Mark Duggan was shot dead in Tottenham during a police operation led by the Metropolitan police’s Trident unit, and a few weeks ago the IPCC exonerated the officers involved. Betsy Barkas’s analysis of internal IPPC documents, showing the misinformation and turmoil within the IPCC and the Met at the time of the shooting, lends credence to the Duggan family’s view that the IPPC investigation was a ‘whitewash’. Professor Lee Bridges, in a timely examination of the Met police’s ‘gang database’, examines the processes by which racial bias becomes entrenched and institutionalised within police practices.
In Sweden, an Iraqi man has died during a deportation attempt from Stockholm Arlanda airport. Providing the background to the news, Liz Fekete reminds us that deportation is an ugly and violent process. Meanwhile, in the UK, an All-Party Parliamentary Group report recommendation, that immigration detention in the UK be severely curtailed, has raised expectations amongst campaigners. But Frances Webber, in a comment piece, cautions that ‘celebration may be premature’.
Finally, and on a totally different theme, media experts Scott Poynting and George Morgan warn of the dangers of a globalised Islamophobia, as moral panics against Muslims travel across international borders.
Our regular calendar of racism and resistance, a fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlights key events in the UK and Europe.
And it is now possible to buy advance copies of Catching History on the Wing, a short film of A. Sivanandan, Director Emeritus of the IRR and advisory editor of Race & Class, in conversation with Colin Prescod, during which he discusses the impact of the technological revolution on class struggle, globalisation and the development of the market state.
The final few places are still available for the conference Catching History on the Wing, which will premiere this film on 18 April. A full timetable is now available and this, along with details of how to book, can be viewed here. Please note, this event will start at 1pm (half an hour earlier than initially advertised).
IRR News team