Dear IRR News subscriber,

Earlier this week, Lord Justice Pitchford opened an inquiry into undercover policing and the infiltration of groups and campaigns, including the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and other grieving families. The inquiry ‘provides a unique opportunity to right the wrongs and to develop new thinking on police accountability’, says Suresh Grover of the Monitoring Group, in a statement which IRR News reproduces. For, as he continues, ‘The very core of our democratic society is under threat from police spying of legitimate activities…’

The opening of this inquiry comes a few days after the launch in Scotland of the Justice for Sheku Bayoh campaign – who died earlier this year after contact with the police. And we publish a ‘round-up’ of news on deaths in custody in the UK. Policing is part of the focus of an article in Race & Class by Professor Mark McGovern, now available to purchase, examining the collusion between the British state and loyalist paramilitary organisations during the conflict in Northern Ireland.

IRR News also focuses on events in Europe. Liz Fekete reports on a worrying political precedent in Austria. As local mayors oppose the dispersal of asylum seekers, Burgenland, Social Democrats have entered into a coalition with the extreme Right. And we also document the rising death toll in Calais – the human cost of the crisis which is rarely touched on by a media which concentrates on the hardships facing holiday-makers as traffic grinds to a halt at the port. A new report by Le Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (CCIF), which documents the intensification of violence against Muslims following the Paris attacks in January 2015, is reviewed.

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 we also reproduce a review first published in the Voice of a new exhibition, ‘No Colour Bar’, which ‘breathes life into a story of struggle and activism that is truly home-grown.’

Please note, IRR News will be taking a break until September.

IRR News team