As petitions are launched to stop the criminalisation of humanitarians, calls for the European Commission to intervene to change the law intensify. The continuing threat of jail hanging over three Spanish fire-fighters, arrested in January 2016 on charges of attempted human trafficking and weapons possession, has led to the launch of at least two petitions,
Issue: Briefing Papers & Reports - UK
Black, Brummie and British
IRR Chair, Colin Prescod, reviews a collection of poetry, Beginning With Your Last Breath, by Roy McFarlane. Roy McFarlane’s reputation goes before him – Birmingham Poet Laureate, Starbucks Poet in Residence, poet in residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, just some of the accolades garnered. Beginning With Your Last Breath (Nine Arches Press, 2016) is
Who will defend the space to protest?
An insightful TNI discussion paper is a must read for anti-racist and social justice campaigners. Are you working for a human rights NGO or part of a social justice movement and are you worried about increasing restrictions, overt political interference and government de-legitimisation of your work? A short pithy discussion paper, the result of a
Calendar of racism and resistance (21 April – 4 May 2017)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration April: Statewatch publishes a ‘Viewpoint’ by Chris Jones: Hindering humanitarianism: European Commission will not ensure protection for those supporting sans-papiers. Download it here (pdf file,127kb). 20 April: Doctors of the World launches a campaign, #StopSharing,
Breitbart: global politics and fake news
A new report by HOPE not Hate, Breitbart – A rightwing plot to shape Europe’s future, explores Breitbart’s influence on global politics, the creation of fake news and its expansion into London. ‘It’s easy to see why the KKK views Trump as their champion when Trump appoints one of the foremost peddlers of white supremacist themes
Will a sanitised history be launched with Mayflower 400?
Danny Reilly of the newly formed Mayflower Mavericks Campaign examines emerging issues around the plans to celebrate the 400th anniversary in 2020 of the pilgrims’ voyage to the US in Plymouth. Mayflower to Seaflower In the autumn of 1620 the ship Mayflower, with 102 passengers, landed in North America and started the colonisation of the
Whose freedom? Whose movement? Whose rights?
A new book on Brexit and freedom of movement raises more questions than answers. The corporate venue, the glitzy offices of Bloomberg LP’s European headquarters in the City of London, speaks of a lifestyle a million miles removed from lives now lived in Labour’s old working-class heartlands. But it was here, in a location that
Calendar of racism and resistance (7 – 20 April 2017)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 6 April: A new immigration skills charge comes into force, requiring employers to pay a £1,000 annual levy for hiring certain skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area. It is feared the charge could
Stop feeding the beast! A review of ‘My Country: A work in progress’
A play built around seventy long interviews with ‘leavers’ and ‘remainers’ about their feelings after the Brexit vote, inadvertently, provides insights into the immigration debate. The liberal consensus on immigration has broken down. That’s what Brexit has taught us, or at least that’s what the establishment tells us that Brexit has taught us. The Conservative
To Birmingham with love
A Birmingham resident fiercely objects, in the wake of the recent deadly terror attack at Westminster, to the depiction of her city as the hotbed of extremism. According to the Daily Mail (‘So how DID Birmingham become the jihadi capital of Britain?’, 24 March 2017), I live in the ‘jihadi capital of Britain’, Birmingham. ‘Birmingham. Birmingham.