Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, the IRR publishes a briefing paper by Liz Fekete on the growing tide of hostility against Europe’s Romani communities. We also have a review of a new book of Peter Blackman’s poetry, Footprints, which ‘gives this forgotten black British campaigner his due’. Two historic ‘unlawful killing’ verdicts have been
A culture of casual racism
No one should be surprised at the death of Jimmy Mubenga at the hands of three G4S officers. Twenty years ago, in 1993, a ‘specialist’ squad of deportation police – SO13, arrived at the home of Joy Gardner in Crouch End, London, to arrest and deport her and her 5-year-old son to Jamaica as overstayers.
From pillar to post: pan-European racism and the Roma
This week, we publish a briefing paper which documents a growing tide of hostility against Europe’s Romani communities. Europe’s Roma face a double victimisation both as Roma and as migrants and are fast becoming the number one scapegoat for the economic crisis, argues IRR’s Director Liz Fekete in this hard-hitting review of anti-Roma hate campaigns
Restoring Peter Blackman
A new book of Peter Blackman’s poetry gives this forgotten black British campaigner his due. I met Peter Blackman over forty years ago, when he was my age now. It was by accident, at Willesden Junction railway yard where we both worked. I remember I offered to sell him a socialist newspaper, interrupting him getting
IRR News 28 June-4 July 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, concerns have been raised over school accountability in helping the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, who are disproportionately from BME communities. We also report on a protest against police treatment of racial violence in Brent, and a 59-year-old Indian Sikh man is in a serious condition in hospital after sustaining
Disquiet over ‘shameful’ policing of racial violence in Brent
A protest was held outside Wembley police station last week, after CCTV evidence of a brutal attack was ‘lost’ by the police. Early in June, a Moroccan man in Willesden, north London, was beaten in an unprovoked violent attack. A car pulled up next to him as he was walking down the street with his
Indian man suffers head injury after police called
A 59-year-old Indian Sikh man is in a serious condition in hospital after sustaining a head injury. The man suffered the serious injury following a ‘domestic incident’ on 26 June 2013 in Hockley, when two police officers arrived following an emergency call and were later joined by two other officers. The man ‘was restrained, he
Equalities and accountability – the pupil premium
This article has been republished from LeftCentral. The pupil premium grant (PPG) is a flagship government scheme for schools. Next week it will be praised and celebrated at the 2013 pupil premium awards ceremony organised in partnership with the Department for Education (DfE). An independent panel of experts has judged which schools have best used
Black History – Black Politics
The July 2013 issue of Race & Class examines Black Power, Garveyism, the co-option of black music and the work of radical poet Peter Blackman. In the July 2013 issue of Race & Class – ‘Black History – Black Politics’ – Jonathan Fenderson argues that the idea of Black Power is being gentrified by US
IRR News 21-27 June 2013
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, we have reports on new Medical Justice research on the mistreatment of pregnant asylum seekers and a forthcoming vigil to mark the fifth anniversary of the death in police custody of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah. And you can now listen, in full, to the first ever Race & Class radio