Dear IRR News subscriber, Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal doctrine of joint enterprise had been wrongly interpreted for thirty years: a decision that campaigners Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA) say could be a ‘major turning point in British justice’. And this week on IRR News, Patrick Williams and
News Service
Calendar of racism and resistance (12 – 25 February 2016)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 8 February: Protests occur across Greece against the construction of registration and screening centres, or hotspots, for migrants. In Kos, after three days of protests, residents blockade an army camp earmarked for conversion into a migrant
The Corporate Greed of Strangers
John Grayson reveals the spread of corporate involvement in the provision of asylum housing in the UK and northern Europe, and how outsourcing and private companies are tarnishing Europe’s ‘welcome’ to refugees. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to two families in G4S housing[1] in Sheffield who arrived in the UK in September last
Dangerous Associations
Following a Supreme Court judgment that the joint enterprise doctrine has been applied incorrectly for three decades, Patrick Williams and Becky Clarke reflect on their groundbreaking research on joint enterprise, racism and criminalisation. Dangerous Associations: Joint enterprise, gangs and racism highlights the complex relationships which contribute to the collective punishment of young Black, Asian and Minority
IRR News 29 January – 11 February 2016
Dear IRR News subscriber, At the beginning of February, the government announced an inquiry to be carried out by Tottenham MP David Lammy to ‘investigate evidence of possible bias against black defendants and other ethnic minorities’. A good place to start would be the application of ‘joint enterprise’. This week, we reproduce an article (originally
If the government wants to tackle racism in the justice system, ditch joint enterprise
Below we reproduce an article[1] by Gloria Morrison of the Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association Campaign (JENGbA) on joint enterprise (JE) convictions. If the government seriously wants to tackle racism in the justice system – and they are genuinely concerned about the disproportionate number of black men locked up in British prisons – then
Calendar of racism and resistance (29 January – 11 February 2016)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum & migration 27 January: The EU issues a draft anti-smuggling law which experts say could criminalise volunteers providing help to refugees and equate rescue with smuggling. Other proposals would require volunteers to register. (Statewatch, 27 January 2016)
History, agency and the representation of ‘race’ – an introduction
Below we reproduce an excerpt from the introduction to the January issue of Race & Class, a special issue on ‘Reparative histories’. The ‘balcony scene’ during which the out-of-time drugs baron, Avon Barksdale, and his modernising partner, Stringer Bell, reminisce about their errant childhoods is often hailed as one of the most compelling dramatic moments
IRR News 15 – 28 January 2016
Dear IRR News subscriber, In a week when the Prime Minister has been widely criticised for his dehumanising description of refugees living in squalid conditions in Calais as a ‘bunch of migrants’ and the stigmatisation of Muslim women, the IRR considers the dangers inherent in government policies which might curtail open debate. In a press
Calendar of racism and resistance (15 – 28 January 2016)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum & migration 13 January: Refugees including children are walking through Russia to Finland in temperatures of minus 30 degrees, according to reports. (Independent Barents Observer, 13 January 2016) 14 January: The Solicitors Regulation Authority announces a review