Dear IRR News subscriber,
How do we build on communities of dissent, asks veteran Black activist A. Sivanandan in a short film released by Sage Publications this week. A selection of Sivanandan’s key writings in Race & Class have also been made available to download for free. The latest Race & Class Radio is also available to listen to, with discussions on Northern Ireland and Palestine.
In the week in which David Cameron argued that abolition of the Human Rights Act was a fitting celebration of Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary, Arun Kundnani ends our three-part series on threats to civil liberties in the UK with a look at the doublespeak and deception behind the language of ‘extremism’ deployed in recent and promised legislation. With teachers required by law to monitor students for signs of extremism, and with the prospect of more state surveillance, bans and censorship, the values of free expression and healthy debate – and the right of dissent – risk irretrievable damage, all in the name of ‘British values’. Needless to say, the targets of the measures will be overwhelmingly Muslims.
Luk Vervaet interviews Jean Casella of the US-based Solitary Watch on the over-use of solitary confinement, which is rampant in the US and not unknown in Europe and the UK. While Ryan Erfani-Ghettani reports on the Scottish Police Federation’s use last month of the time-honoured tactic of blaming the victim, in response to the death of Sheku Bayou following his arrest. A round-up of deaths in custody cases also includes news on the recent misconduct hearing for the five officers involved in the death of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah and the criminal trial of the ex-police officer who shot Azelle Rodney ten years ago.
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