We unpick Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘fighting crime is a Labour cause’ speech of 23 March and link his failure to use the term ‘institutional racism’ with the Met Commissioner’s disavowal of the term to the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee the day before. Given the long history in the UK of racialised cannabis
Geography: Northern Ireland
Attacks on asylum housing: fighting the weaponisation of gender-based violence
Sophia Siddiqui investigates what is underpinning the violent targeting of accommodation housing asylum seekers in Ireland and across the UK and how feminists, anti-racists, migrant solidarity and trade union groups are fighting back to resist the weaponising of gender-based violence. The eruption of violence in Knowsley, Merseyside – where supporters of the far Right
Ratcheting up the hostile environment
IRR News 17 – 31 January 2023 This week, tough new rules came into force under the Nationality and Borders Act, potentially denying ‘foreign criminals’ sentenced to over 12 months access to modern slavery protections. At the same time, amendments made to the online safety bill will, if passed, lead to the criminalisation of social
Calendar of Racism and Resistance (13 – 27 April 2022)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. ASYLUM | MIGRATION | BORDERS | CITIZENSHIP Asylum and migrant rights 13 April: A private Home Office visa service apologises for a data breach after copying over 170 email addresses of visa applicants into a message detailing a
Weaponising violence against women: from Ireland to Poland
Sophia Siddiqui investigates how the murder of Ashling Murphy in Ireland was used by the far Right to push a racist and misogynistic agenda, and how this follows an all-too familiar pattern across Europe, now replicated at the Polish border, that grassroots groups are pushing back against. On 12 January, 23-year-old primary school teacher
Social mobility, ‘geographic inequality’ and a new culture war
As a new head of the Social Mobility Commission is appointed and the government pursues its ‘levelling up’ agenda, IRR researcher Jessica Perera debunks simplistic and racialised messages around ‘geographic inequality’. Discussion about social mobility is all the rage in government circles, but only if it is linked to its programme of ‘levelling up’, with educational attainment emerging
Calendar of Racism and Resistance (29 January – 11 February 2021)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION Asylum and migrant rights 27 January: NHS leaders warn the post-Brexit immigration system will result in a huge shortfall of care staff, with the NHS Confederation appealing for ministers to show ‘flexibility and pragmatism’
Calendar of Racism and Resistance (3 – 16 December 2020)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION Asylum and migrant rights 3 December: The Home Office is failing potential victims of modern slavery, rules the High Court, as an ‘unlawful lacuna’ in existing immigration policy means they are stripped of immigration status. (Independent, 4 December 2020) 10 December: The
Calendar of Racism and Resistance (19 November – 2 December 2020)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION Asylum and migrant rights 19 November: The UNHCR urges the UK to restart its refugee resettlement programme, warning that fewer than a quarter of the 63,726 refugees resettled globally in 2019 have been resettled this year. (Guardian, 19
Calendar of Racism and Resistance (3 – 18 November 2020)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION Asylum and migrant rights 9 November: Following a second Commons defeat, Lord Dubs withdraws his amendment on family reunion rights for child refugees in the Lords as the government offers a review. (Independent, 5 November; Hansard