Dear IRR News subscriber,

A snap election has been called by a government seeking an electoral mandate for an anti-immigration, hard Brexit, of which Theresa May’s adamant refusal to guarantee long-resident workers’ and families’ rights is an emblem. The nativist ‘take back control’ political rhetoric that has hardened since Brexit means that anti-foreigner, anti-migrant themes will dominate in the June 2017 general election in ways unparalleled for decades. This week, on IRR News, migration expert Sue Conlan takes the long view on post-war immigration policies, showing just how ruthless successive British governments have been in bringing in and then ejecting different groups, first from Europe, then from the Black Commonwealth. The pursuit of the national economic interest has always been shaped by a willingness to exploit and then demonise different racialised groups.

The April 2017 issue of Race & Class is now available, tackling two key current themes: the impact of Fox News in (mis)representing news and creating racist discourses, and the way in which Canadian ‘neoliberal multiculturalism’ is marginalising Arabs, Muslims and those in solidarity with Palestine. We would also like to congratulate Joseph Parrott, who recently won the 2017 Farrar Award in Media & Civil Rights History for his article published in the July–September 2015 issue of Race & Class: ‘A Luta Continua: Radical Filmmaking, Pan-African Liberation and Communal Empowerment’.

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

IRR News Team