The war on Iraq is the opening salvo in a war to redesign the world to the needs of corporate America. The plans for it were already in place long before 9/11 – in the September 2000 report of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), for instance, which mapped out a strategy for
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‘Accidental death’ during immigration raid, says inquest jury
On Friday 7 March, the inquest into the death of 39-year-old Ghanaian Joseph Crentsil recorded a verdict of accidental death. The verdict meant that the jury decided Joseph came by his death ‘unintentionally or unexpectedly’. Joseph died on 25 November 2001 after falling from a third floor balcony of a block of flats in Streatham,
Kurdish journalist victim of mob attack in Islington
A prominent Kurdish journalist has been the victim of a racist attack in London, while covering a story for his newspaper. The journalist, who has asked not to be named but is well known among North London’s Kurdish community, was the victim of an unprovoked assault by a gang of white youths on Thurday evening,
Black Caribbean pupils at the bottom in GCSE league
New official figures reveal a disturbing gap between the performance of black Caribbean pupils in GCSE exams and pupils of other ethnic backgrounds. The annual pupil census, implemented in 2002, makes it possible, for the first time, to monitor the achievement of black and ethnic minority pupils in a consistent way, locally and nationally. The
Analysis: Asylum figures – behind the headlines
The release, last week, of the asylum statistics for 2002 was greeted by politicians and media alike as ‘bad news’. But a closer examination of the numbers reveals a more complex picture. ‘Asylum up 20%’ and ‘Record levels of asylum seekers’ were the headlines proclaimed across last week’s news-stands. And, since the government, earlier this
The hate industry
Britain’s tabloid media has become obsessed with ‘scrounging’ asylum seekers, out of control immigration, foreign ‘plagues’ and Muslim terrorists. The emerging politics of hate, fear and hysteria is set to dominate Britain in 2003. Following the anti-terrorist raids in Wood Green, north London, and the death of Detective Constable Stephen Oake during an anti-terrorist raid
Terror policing brings many arrests but few charges
British police have made 304 arrests under anti-terrorist legislation since 11 September 2001. But only forty of those arrests have led to charges being brought. And only three have so far resulted in convictions, none for involvement in Islamic terror groups. The three successful convictions were related to membership of banned organisations rather than any
Doreen Lawrence accuses Blunkett of burying Macpherson report
David Blunkett lost interest in the fight against institutional racism following the riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, says Doreen Lawrence. Speaking at yesterday’s Unite Against Racism conference, organised by the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR), with UNISON and the South-East Region TUC, Doreen Lawrence won a standing ovation before and after her speech. She
Asylum seekers win temporary reprieve from impending destitution
In denying the right to food and shelter, Blunkett’s new benefit rules breach the European Convention of Human Rights. Mr Justice Collins, sitting at the High Court, has blocked the implementation of Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, which denies ‘late claimants’ for asylum the right to state-funded shelter and food.
Yarl’s Wood, one year on
Today is not only Valentine’s Day, but also the day, one year ago, that Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre, the government’s flagship, was burnt, almost to the ground. The government’s asylum policy of ‘faster, firmer, fairer’ was dealt a severe blow. Now, the victims of British asylum policy, those asylum seekers who were locked up