The IRR’s European Race Bulletin examines the criminalisation of solidarity and protest. The extended feature article in the latest issue of the European Race Bulletin (No 65, Autumn 2008) documents both the increasing resistance against the inhuman treatment of asylum seekers across Europe and European governments’ further criminalisation of solidarity and protest. Building on an
News Service
‘Papers Please’
A new report finds that exploitation of vulnerable undocumented workers continues despite new laws. Jack Dromey (deputy general secretary of Unite) estimates in the foreword to ‘Papers Please’, a new report by the Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN), that there are half a million undocumented migrants in the UK, pointing out that they are among the
A new take on Michael X
A new play on Michael X provides a thought-provoking night out. I had concerns that the new play by Vanessa Walters entitled Michael X might dwell on Michael X’s rather insalubrious past as the flyer for it suggests: ‘Who was Michael X? Black Power activist and political icon? Liar, pimp, murderer?’ Michael X, the play,
Two families unite for justice
Last week two grieving families gathered outside Brixton police station to extend solidarity to one another. A weekly vigil outside Brixton police station for Sean Rigg, who died in police custody on 21 August 2008 after being arrested by local police (read an IRR News story: Two suspicious Black deaths in south London), was also
End the ‘don’t give a damn’ culture
Lord Ouseley* addresses IRR’s fiftieth birthday celebration conference on the connection between the lacks in political leadership and public morality and the crisis of youth out of control. ‘The event today is a reflection of past struggle and continued struggle. And I think it’s very important to acknowledge that just to be here today after
Remembering Grunwick
A superb DVD on Grunwick’s recalls not just the details of that long dispute but also the flavour of workers’ solidarity. There was another powerful political lady with a handbag other than Thatcher in the 1970s. A tiny woman, usually swathed in a bulky cardigan, almost always seen with a megaphone. An Asian lady in
New Black history DVD
Four seminal Black films on Tiger Bay, Leicester, Ladbroke Grove and Southall have been reissued in a new DVD by the Institute of Race Relations. The four films, Struggles for Black Community, made for Channel 4 at the beginning of the 1980s, chart the milestones in Black people’s fight for justice – ‘race riots’
Catching History on the Wing
Below we reproduce the speech by the IRR’s director, A. Sivanandan, at the IRR’s fiftieth celebration conference on 1 November 2008. ‘History tells us where we came from and where we are at. But it also should tell us where we should be going. I’d like, therefore, to look at past struggles to see what
Detention centre confiscates torture survivor’s guide on detainee rights
A Kenyan asylum seeker held at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre had a vital self-help guide confiscated by staff days before a crucial deadline for her case. Mercy Wanjiku [1], who fled from torture in Kenya, had three days in which to prepare and submit papers for an oral judicial review and, without a lawyer,
The Irish dimension to the case against ID cards
A new briefing paper from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on the British National Identity Scheme highlights the dangers of the ID cards project. Ever since the government proposed in 2005 the introduction of a national identity card scheme, civil liberties, human rights and anti-racist groups, and international NGOs have raised powerful and cogent