Young People Seeking Safety (YPSS) is organising a week long nationwide event for the purpose of raising awareness about the hardships met by unaccompanied young people seeking asylum in the UK. YPSS Week will take place between 28 March and 3 April 2011 where community groups will host events and exhibit music, film, and photography
In a time of war – the strange case of racism and politics in Barnsley
Does the selection of ‘war hero’ Dan Jarvis to fight the Barnsley seat signal a shift in Labour tactics? The imprisonment of disgraced politician Eric Illsley has forced a by-election on 3 March in one of Labour’s safest seats, Barnsley. For the first time since 1938 Labour has chosen a candidate who is neither local
German counter-extremism programme – a ‘spying charter’
As we await Lord Carlile’s much trumpeted review of the Prevent strategy, anti-racist groups are revealing the sinister danger in Germany’s new counter-extremism strategy The Berlin group ReachOut is amongst a number of victim support organisations which have refused to sign up to new grant conditions announced by the German federal government. Under a clause
G4S whistleblowers confirm detainees’ allegation
The Guardian reported last week[1] that whistleblowers within G4S, the private company contracted to carry out forced deportations, say that staff warned management of inappropriate use of force. Yet, after the death in October 2010 of a deportee[2] who had been restrained and complained he couldn’t breathe, a top G4S manager claimed he was ‘not
Coming to terms with multiculturalism
The Institute of Race Relations reprises the succinct analysis of multiculturalism made by A. Sivanandan after 7/7. In his Munich speech, Cameron blamed the ‘state doctrine of multiculturalism’ for creating ‘segregated communities’. But as this Institute has pointed out time and time again, it is important to distinguish between multiculturalism as policy and multiculturalism as
LSE’s provocative German Symposium under attack
We reprint an open letter signed by over one hundred UK-based German students and academics critical of the format of the ‘LSE German Symposium 2011 – Integration Debate’ – in particular the invitation extended to Thilo Sarrazin and Henryk Broder. Integration instead of a Clash of Cultures? An Open Letter Regarding the ‘LSE German Symposium
Racial violence and the night-time economy
Research by the Institute of Race Relations reveals the continued prevalence of racial attacks, abuse and harassment occurring late at night and, frequently, fuelled by alcohol. In 2010, The IRR’s report, Racial violence: the buried issue, showed how people working in certain professions – often those working alone at night – were disproportionately at risk
Get Up! Stand Up!
Colin Prescod, the IRR’s chair, addresses the sixth Huntley Archives conference ‘Get Up! Stand Up!’ This year’s conference centres on struggles for Black community in Britain, waged over three decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s. For Caribbeans, in particular, these local UK struggles were at first part and parcel of a broader politics of
Cameron’s Munich speech marks securitisation of race policy
Cameron’s speech signals a fundamental departure in British race relations. Why did British prime minister Cameron choose to attack ‘the doctrine of state multiculturalism’ and indicate the parameters of the government’s new counter-terrorism policy at an international security conference in Munich? The Munich International Security Conference was founded in 1962 and focuses on transatlantic relations
Detention by another name
Campaigners have issued a warning about another private company that is seeking to profit from the detention of asylum-seeking families which was meant to have ended. Earlier this week, it was revealed that plans had been submitted to Crawley Borough Council by the Home Office to convert a building in the area to detain asylum