A selection of events taking place in celebration of Black History Month 2011. London wide Black History Month – a wide range of poetry readings, musical performances, documentaries, workshops and more. More information available here. Black History Month Southwark, London – a series of free literary events, film screenings, musical performances and more. More information
Tamil returns: ‘UKBA is not aware of any difficulties’
The deportation of up to fifty Tamil refused asylum seekers to Sri Lanka on a charter flight on 28 September once again focused attention on what happens to those returned to torturing states, and who monitors them. The charter flight went ahead in the teeth of warnings of torture from organisations including the Sri Lanka
Stoking racism fears
Unpicking one tabloid story shows how the campaign against the Human Rights Act works by stoking fear, racism and jingoism. ‘Nigerian rapist can’t be deported because of EU judges’, screams the Mail headline[1], managing to resurrect a fearsome folk devil (the image of the big black sexual predator was a potent stereotype a generation ago),
Exhibition tells truth about Broadwater Farm
An exhibition on the history of the Broadwater Farm estate should be compulsory viewing for all Londoners, young and old. ‘The story of a community, 1967-2010′, tells the history of the Broadwater Farm estate and the Broadwater Farm Youth Association, from their inception and construction to the struggles for better conditions by the black and
Mikey Powell’s family struggle on
On 16 June 2011, the West Midlands Police Authority was directed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to record a complaint made by the mother of Mikey Powell, who died in police custody in September 2003. The family have only now been able to release this information due to reporting restrictions. Mikey’s mother, Claris Powell,
Small victory for ESOL learners
A cut in ESOL funding which would have prevented the poorest from learning English has been reversed. In December 2010 we reported on drastic cuts to funding for the teaching of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), to take effect in September. The cuts would have meant vast numbers of people on income-related benefits
Black history – Black struggle
Race & Class October 2011 examines hitherto neglected areas of black history by unknown black strugglers across the last century. The story of the 1975 Spaghetti House siege is, for the first time, told from the inside, by protagonist Shujaa Moshesh drawing on his letters and poems from prison. From across the Atlantic, Stephen Jones
Human rights: the assault continues
The government is poised to cut down the reach of human rights law, paving the way for easier deportation of foreign national prisoners. The government’s announcements in the wake of the riots that non-British citizens convicted of riot-related offences will be deported ‘at the earliest opportunity'[1] is part of a new attempt to strip foreign
Breivik, the conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre
A thorough analysis and full documentation of the context and background to the Oslo massacre is published today by the Institute of Race Relations. The IRR examines in this Briefing Paper the background and context of the extreme and aberrant actions of Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of a gruesome massacre on 22 July which claimed
The spotlight is back on black deaths at the hands of police
IRR News examines the recent killing of Mark Duggan by armed Met police officers in the context of similar deaths. The IRR has monitored black[1] deaths in custody since the 1970s as young black men tend to die at the hands of police and prison officers in disproportionate numbers. Our monitoring is also in response