28 April – 12 May 2026 Who gets to define what racism is and isn’t, and what sorts of anti-racism are publicly acceptable to the gatekeepers of the public space? As hundreds of celebrities sign an open letter defending Southbank Centre Chair Misan Harriman from what is described as a ‘dishonest’ media ‘smear campaign’, the need to defend free speech against racism in all its forms has emerged as the defining struggle of our times. It is a struggle that necessitates bringing together all communities affected in a principled stance that, while recognising differences in racisms’ effects, builds a positive and
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ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY See section on anti-terrorism and national security for more information on the Golders Green attack 30 April: In the wake of an antisemitic knife attack in Golders Green, treated as a terrorist incident, Downing Street says new powers are needed to protect the Jewish community. A further £25 million is pledged
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The April issue of Race & Class leads with a multi-layered and tightly-argued exposé by three academics of the supposedly green, empowering, and pro-women’s safety UNHCR Refugee Environmental Protection (REP) Fund’s project to use refugee labour in the Global South to generate carbon credits to be traded on global markets. On the face of
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14 – 28 April 2026 This year sees the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the pathbreaking play Destiny by David Edgar, describing the rise of neo-fascism in the 1970s. He discusses its context and resonance for today in IRR News. Join a discussion on 3 May at the Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone, London on what the play has to
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ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY As anti-migrant, anti-equalities, anti-abortion, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQI rhetoric in electoral campaigning are increasingly interlinked, we reflect this in the coverage below. 14 April: An investigation by Byline Times finds that the government funding arm of the former Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán channelled hundreds of thousands of pounds into the network surrounding
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Half a century after David Edgar’s pathbreaking anti-fascist play ‘Destiny’, linking empire, racism and industrial struggle, he examines its 1976 context and resonances in nationalist populism today. Fifty years ago this year, the National Front came to public attention, winning 20% of the vote in the Leicester local elections and over 12% in Bradford.
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1 – 14 April 2026 Anyone who doubts the intensity of political policing today should just read our calendar of racism and resistance, where the highly ideological attempt to counter and contain the Palestine solidarity movement is laid bare in reports of arrests, prosecutions, protest restrictions and the ‘cumulative disruption’ amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. Indeed, over 100 celebrities, trades unionists and others have recognised the dangers of
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ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 31 March: A statutory inquiry into group-based sexual exploitation of children in England and Wales (dubbed the ‘Grooming Gangs inquiry’) announces its terms of reference, including to ‘directly examine whether ethnicity, culture or religion influenced offending and whether they shaped the institutional response’. (Herald, 31 March 2026) 31 March: Liz Truss
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ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 19 March: After the sixth annual celebration in Trafalgar Square organised by the Ramadan Tent Project and attended by the London mayor, Reform’s leader calls for a ban on public prayer for Muslims in the UK. Farage describes the prayers as ‘an attempt to overtake, intimidate and dominate our way of
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ELECTORAL POLITICS| GOVERNMENT POLICY 4 March: The home secretary announces a suspension of study visas from 26 March for students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and of Skilled Worker visas for Afghan nationals, saying a high proportion of those claiming asylum after arriving through a ‘legal’ route are from these countries, which amounts to
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