Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, in a pathbreaking polemic, A. Sivanandan analyses how neoliberalism has transformed the state from serving the nation to serving global capital. Ryan Erfani-Ghettani continues in his work examining the media and assesses the latest attack by the Daily Express on EU migrants. Frances Webber reports on the recent award
News Service
Poetry prize for Talha Ahsan
From a prison cell, Talha Ahsan, fighting extradition to the US, has produced award-winning poetry. Talha Ahsan is already know as a formidable poet as well as one of the men fighting unjust extradition to the US because of the location of a computer server. Recognition of his talent came this month from the Koestler Trust
Collectively opposing stop and search
A collective of sixteen organisations has launched a campaign against current stop and search policy. The groups have sent an open letter to Home Office ministers Theresa May and Nick Herbert, and Bernard Hogan-Howe (the present Commissioner of the Metropolitan police). It highlights the racially discriminatory character of the implementation of recent stop and search
FA must lead in tackling racism
Below we reproduce a statement from Kick It Out in response to the findings of a report by the Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) select committee. With the One Game, One Community weeks of action beginning a month today, the CMS Select Committee has announced more needs to be done to tackle discrimination in
Express attacks EU migrants
The Daily Express’ goes on the attack against EU migrants who are destitute (and therefore criminal) or housed (and therefore benefit cheats). Last week saw the Daily Express carry on its crusade against migration from the EU, in two front-page stories aiming to show that EU migrants are criminal, and taking advantage of an easily-manipulated
IRR News 7-13 September 2012
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, the IRR’s Ryan Erfani-Ghettani assesses a new publication from the rightwing think-tank Civitas. The IRR’s council of management have been busy too, our chair, Colin Prescod ‘waxes lyrical’ about the Robinson Institute exhibition which looks like a must-see. And our vice-chair, Frances Webber, has finished her book, Borderline Justice: the fight for refugee and
When apologies are not enough
What are the implications of the ground-breaking report of the Hillsborough Independent Panel for the families of those who die in police, prison and psychiatric custody? Yesterday, David Cameron issued an apology to the families and victims of the Hillsborough tragedy: ‘With the weight of the new evidence in this report, it is right for
Remembering Josephine
The life and work of a dynamic anti racism campaigner was recently celebrated in Dublin. Anti racism and refugee rights campaigners, past and present, gathered on 6 September in Dublin to celebrate the life and work of Josephine Olusola Olapeju Olajumoke Amuwo, whose untimely death occurred in London this August. Although she had been based
Did Macpherson manacle the police?
A recent publication on policing from rightwing think-tank Civitas extends its attack on anti-racism into a ‘white victimhood’ thesis. Civitas’ latest pamphlet, Mind-Forg’d Manacles by ex-Labour Councillor Jon Gower Davies, is an attempt to bury once and for all Macpherson’s finding of institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police Service. It argues that this finding has
An oasis space at the Robinson Institute
I found myself in a tearful state on my first visit to ‘The Robinson Institute’ exhibition, curated by artist Patrick Keiller in the main hall at Tate Britain – moved to tears, but wearing a big grinning smile on my face. I’ve been back several times now and I’ve had that ‘tears of joy’ moment