Dear IRR News subscriber,

When the President of the most powerful nation on earth can retweet extremist anti-Muslim videos from a hard-right UK group, the time for alternative news, especially about racism and migration, from the point of view of the least powerful and the most stigmatised, has never been greater.

We concentrate in this week on news from the UK’s asylum communities. Sophia Siddiqui reports on a demonstration at Yarl’s Wood where a recently released woman told those assembled: ‘We are human beings, we should not be locked up like animals.’ Conditions in detention are so frightful and frightening that they also lead to deaths. The IRR, which has been recording deaths in immigration detention, finds 2017 to be the most deadly year with six deaths so far this year. John Grayson continues his investigation in to what is happening to non-detained asylum seekers. He examines the market for asylum seekers’ housing in the UK as the government announces a tendering process for £4 billion worth of contracts over the next ten years.

On a lighter note, we also have a review of We are the Lions Mr Manager a play of tribute to the valiant Grunwick industrial strike led by newly arrived Asian women immigrants some thirty years ago. 

And finally, our regular calendar of racism and resistance, a fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, is available here.

IRR News Team