Veteran campaigner Martha Osamor talks to IRR News about her experiences in political struggles. Martha Osamor, now 75-years-old is one of the many unsung heroes of Britain’s black community, yet she has spent almost all her life fighting to better the position of people in Tottenham and beyond – in the community, through the unions, women’s
Jenny Bourne, long time anti-racist campaigner and editor of the IRR’s journal Race & Class, writes about the 1965 Race Relations Act and assesses the fifty years since it was passed. How should we be evaluating the impact of the race relations acts, the first of which became law fifty years ago? Fifty years ago,
Chris Searle introduces Return to Streets of Eternity, a book of poetry by the late Guyanese writer and activist Jan Carew. On 27 November, the life and works of Jan Carew – writer, activist and scholar – will be commemorated in London with the release of two new books. Episodes in My Life: the autobiography of Jan Carew
Dear IRR News subscriber, Over three thousand refugees from war, persecution and globalisation have drowned in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas so far this year. And as the militarisation of the EU’s borders intensifies, so too does the internal policing of those seeking security. In March 2015, the IRR published a report highlighting the role
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 15 October: The Home Office announces the closure of Dover immigration removal centre, Free Movement, 23 October 2015) 19 October: The Hope Project publishes: Destitute and asylum-seeking women in the West Midlands: Immigration issues and
Daniel Holder from the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) reflects on the recently introduced Counter Extremism Strategy and the scenario which we would see if the strategy was applied in Northern Ireland. Margaret Thatcher famously claimed Northern Ireland was as British as her own constituency, Finchley. Apparently however we are officially no longer
As borders become militarised zones, and internal policing of refugees and migrants intensifies, the IRR continues to monitor asylum- and migration- related deaths. Across Europe the humanitarian crisis continues as refugees continue to flee war-torn countries such as Syria. Front-line volunteers, who have witnessed the suffering first-hand over the summer and autumn, have now sent an
A new report by Medical Justice, ‘A Secret Punishment’, highlights the human damage caused by the use of segregation in immigration detention, as well as its political purposes. Arriving at Heathrow Airport in 2011 on a family reunion visa, 24-year-old ‘MD’ expected to be reunited with her husband – a refugee whom she had not
Dear IRR News subscriber, In the week that the government announced new counter-extremism measures, the IRR publishes contributions from its seminar on ‘Securitisation, Schools and Preventing Extremism’, held at Garden Court Chambers on 7 October, amidst concerns that the new duty could undermine the Equality Act. Leading education consultant Bill Bolloten discusses how the new
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 7 October: Leaked EU plans reveal proposals to deport thousands of failed asylum seekers by threatening countries refusing to take back their migrants with withdrawals of aid, trade deals and visa arrangements. The documents show
