Dear IRR News subscriber,

In the week in which the Counter Terrorism and Security Act came into force, teachers’ and lecturers’ unions have warned that the vast and intrusive nature of the new statutory duty to prevent non-violent extremism has a potential to corrode trust between teachers and pupils, transforming educators into de facto adjuncts of the police. Criticism of the government’s approach also comes from Quakers in Britain which, this week, released a five-minute online film to kick-start a national conversation about the militarisation of education, in the context of the £45 million earmarked by the government for the military to use to target young people.

Such misuse of state (and corporate) power is the focus of a new book reviewed on IRR News, which examines how the neoliberal project embeds corruption in Britain. The need to challenge the abuse of power, in a different context, is highlighted in two videos now made available on ‘the past and present of the IRR’. These films – of the IRR’s April conference ‘Catching History on the Wing’ – cover the IRR’s transformation in 1972, and the issue of deaths in custody in the UK and of asylum seekers and migrants in Europe. Eddie Bruce-Jones reflects on the themes of this second session, in an article entitled ‘Why do we count the dead?’

The July issue of Race & Class, now available, takes up three topical themes: the monetarisation of private information, the politics of film and the demonisation of anti-racism. And Jerry Harris’ lead article ‘Transnational capital and the technology of domination and desire’ is free to download here for one week.

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