Dear IRR News subscriber,

Following his election victory, David Cameron was quick to promise a return to One Nation Conservatism, claiming that it was a ‘mantle that [his party] should never have lost’. But as IRR News reveals this week, this government is set to introduce a most divisive politics set to exclude people from rights, protections and ultimately justice. A three-part series on the threats to civil liberties is introduced here by Frances Webber, who analyses the plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. As she argues, human rights are set to be effectively de-universalised. The second and third parts in this series, to be published in the following weeks, will focus on the Immigration Bill and the proposed counter-extremism measures respectively.

This One Nation rhetoric clears the ground for new forms of demonisation and the criminalisation of those deemed undeserving of legal protections. Jon Burnett discusses the ‘war’ on welfare that has been ramped up over the last few and is now set to intensify. Aspects of it are beginning to mirror the parallel ‘war’ on asylum seekers. But with criminalisation, comes resistance. And – in a different context – Betsy Barkas reports here on a recent solidarity vigil at the US Embassy linking the policing of black communities in the US and UK.

The latest Race & Class radio broadcast, available here, features Victoria Brittain discussing the legacy of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Eddie Bruce-Jones discussing institutional racism and police brutality in Germany. And finally, 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.

IRR News team