More and more voices are speaking out against the annual spectacle of blackface ‘St Nicholas helpers’. We have written before about the Dutch blackface tradition of Sinterklaas’ (St Nicholas’) ‘helper’ Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). This year, though, the debate about Zwarte Piet — dressed in a golliwog-style wig, pronounced red lips and gold earrings —
Entering the anti-extremism debate
Today, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) enters the debate on how best to combat extremism by publishing two thought provoking pieces on IRR News. Anti-racism and anti-fascism should be core values of a liberal and democratic society. But what if the contrary happens? What if anti-racism and anti-fascism are treated in policy and law
Anti-extremism or anti-fascism?
Anti-extremism frameworks, popular in policy and academic circles, are masking the multi-dimensional and pan-European nature of contemporary fascism and the role of the state. Not since the early 1990s, and the pogroms at Hoyerswerda and Rostock have Europe’s far-right movements posed such a tangible threat to the safety of racial and religious minorities. In truth,
IRR News 15-21 November 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber, As anti extremism frameworks become increasingly influential in policy and academic circles, Liz Fekete exposes how these are masking the multi-dimensional and pan-European nature of contemporary fascism and the role of the state. Also, an activist comments on the implications of recent arrests of anti-fascists at demonstrations opposing the English Defence
Is anti-fascism being criminalised?
An activist comments on the implications of recent arrests of anti-fascists at demonstrations opposing the English Defence League and the British National Party. In the space of just over three months this year, police made upwards of 340 arrests of anti-fascists in London. Of the arrests made over two occasions, less than a dozen will
Systematic Greek border abuses exposed
‘Pushed back’, the new report by migrant and refugee rights group ProAsyl, exposes the systematic abuses and human rights violations of the Greek border control regime. Greece’s abject failure to comply with international and European legal standards regarding the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees is a well-known and well-documented issue in the EU. However,
May plans to make British citizens stateless
Is Theresa May’s threat to make British citizens stateless just an expression of frustration at the recent Supreme Court decision, or does she really intend to do it? Press reports that Theresa May plans to change citizenship law to allow her to remove British nationality from anyone who, in her view, does not deserve it,
IRR News 8-14 November 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, we report on a session at the 2013 Historical Materialism conference that was devoted to the work of A. Sivanandan and ongoing work of the IRR; read Avery Gordon’s interview with A. Sivanandan here and read Colin Prescod’s speech here. In news from across the UK, the inquest into
Celebrating an anti-racist institute
A key session at an international conference in London at the beginning of November on ‘Making the world working class’ was devoted to the work of A. Sivanandan and his legacy in the ongoing work of the Institute of Race Relations. Activists and scholars, contributors and would-be contributors to Race & Class packed into a
‘Groundings of the IRR’
Colin Prescod, the long-term Chair of the Institute of Race Relations, explains, in a speech to the Historical Materialism Conference, 2013, how, as a Black activist, academic, and film-maker, he gravitated to the IRR. We thought that it might be useful to this reflective forum if I spoke about ‘how and when’ I came to