An important new drama by Neil Biswas, to be broadcast on Channel 4 next week, shows how the lives of members of the Pakistani community of Mannigham were defined and destroyed by the Bradford riots of July 2001. The riots were the worst outbreak of street violence on mainland Britain in a generation and involved
News Service
Racism beneath the surface
A new booklet published by the Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice (CCRJ) draws some shocking conclusions about the state of race relations in America and raises troubling questions about the role of religion in politics. In May last year, twelve church leaders and members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s racial justice committee spent
Report on woeful asylum support
A new report, by the London-based Migrants Resource Centre into the effects of current asylum laws on the living conditions of asylum seekers, is a much-needed tool for those working in the field. Researchers, who questioned fifty asylum-seeker users of the London centre about their living conditions, provide a snapshot of the daily humiliations would-be
Demonstration and hunger strike against immigration detention
On Saturday 8 April, over 250 people converged on Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration removal centres to voice their concerns about the detention and deportation of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants in the UK. Following this, a hunger strike by detainees began – and continues – inside Colnbrook. The demonstrators gathered at the two centres, which
Making history fit the multicultural script
A government pamphlet about the upcoming bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, published last month, interprets history in a way that serves government concerns. On 25 March, the government published the pamphlet Reflecting on the past and looking to the future: the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the
Matter of ‘life and death’ in Roma deportation case
A 23-year-old disabled asylum seeker is in hospital after the threat of deportation led her to self-harm. Enkeleda Berisha, known as ‘Eda’, suffers with spina bifida (SB), a spinal disease which can result in varying degrees of paralysis of the lower limbs. In addition to the physical and mobility difficulties associated with this illness, most
A picture of ‘injustice’ in Iranian deportation case
A talented 18-year-old art student and his family are being threatened with deportation to Iran where, protestors argue, they will face torture and imprisonment. They say a picture tells a thousand stories. Behind the publicly acclaimed beauty of 18-year-old Behnam’s paintings lies private turbulence and instability, based on his recognition of an uncertain future. Perhaps
Free service for asylum seekers and refugees
The Apostolic Church of God has opened the doors of its branches in Brixton, Wembley and Shepherds Bush to offer free advice and support to asylum seekers and refugees. It also offers a small Christian fellowship and meal service every Saturday at the Church of St Michael and St George in Shepherds Bush between 1
Family and friends demonstrate outside Plumstead police station
On Saturday 1 April, over 200 people gathered for a demonstration outside Plumstead police station in south-east London, to protest against the death of Nuur Saeed, a young Somali who died during a police raid. On 24 January 2006, 22-year-old Nuur Saeed died in hospital from head injuries. He had been found on the ground
Unions working against racism?
A new pamphlet, co-produced by the Working Lives Research Institute and the TUC, is directed at reinvigorating the anti-racist struggle in the workplace. With Black workers set to make up an increasingly large proportion of the low-paid labour market, the pamphlet argues that Black trade unionists need to hold leading positions, that Black self-organisation needs