Below we reproduce a submission to a current government consultation by Frances Webber, a retired immigration barrister. Response to consultation document ‘Controlling immigration – regulating migrant access to health services in the UK’. I am responding as a recently retired barrister specialising since the early 1980s in immigration casework. I do not believe that a
The lobbying bill: a minefield for anti-racist groups
Legislation currently going through parliament which was supposed to address parliamentary corruption scandals may end up gagging community groups, including anti-racists, instead. In the wake of a rash of corruption scandals which revealed the ubiquity and dominance of corporate interests at Westminster,[1] the government was forced to take action to regulate corporate lobbying. It used
IRR News 23-29 August 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, we highlight demonstrations taking place across Europe in protest at continuing violence against Roma communities in the Czech Republic. And news from across the UK, Tower Hamlets Council has apologised unreservedly for failings in the care of 15-year-old Alex Kelly who ‘wanted to be white’. He was found hanged
Who will be next?
Below we reproduce a call from Ladislav Balaz (Chair of Europe Roma International) for protests across Europe following attacks on the Roma in the Czech Republic. We are calling for a protest next week outside the Czech Embassy in London in response to the spate of neo-Nazi pogroms organised recently against Roma through the Czech
IRR News 16-22 August 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber This week, John Grayson argues that the rhetoric on migrants shows how politicians and the media have created, and embedded, racism in British politics. Filmmaker Ken Fero, director of Who Polices The Police?, discusses the making of the film that examines the complicity of state institutions in deaths in custody and
The shameful ‘Go Home’ campaign
The rhetoric on migrants shows how politicians and the media have created, and embedded, racism in British politics. Recent controversy over the Home Office ’Go Home’ campaign on ‘illegal’ immigrants highlights the way in which politicians try to outdo each other to win over the ‘racist’ electorate in Britain – an electorate they and the
Dealing with the legacies of Dutch slavery
How, asks a Dutch anti-racist, is slavery dealt with in the Netherlands? 2013 marks 150 years since the abolition of slavery in the former Dutch colonies. It’s worth mentioning that the Dutch abolished slavery a while after the British (1833) and French (1848), and only after much resistance. One of the efforts to mark the
Pat Guerin: an anti-racist pioneer
On 13 June 2013 our comrade Irish anti-racist activist Pat Guerin died aged 56. Born in Dublin, Pat was second eldest in a family of four. Pat grew up in a caring family giving help and support to his mother who suffered with arthritis and who spent a lot of time in hospital during his
Graham Usher 1958-2013
The staff of the Institute of Race Relations were very saddened to learn of the death of Graham Usher on 8 August. He was, for two decades, one of the most stalwart of contributors to our quarterly journal, Race & Class, illuminating for our readers the struggle in Palestine and the machinations of the ‘peace
‘Who Polices The Police?’
Ken Fero, director of Who Polices The Police?, discusses the making of the film that examines the complicity of state institutions in deaths in custody and the struggle of one family for justice. Nearly a year ago, an inquest jury at Southwark Coroner’s Court gave a damning verdict about the death of Sean Rigg in