The anti-racist movement has lost one of its foremost fighters. Steve Cohen was not the easiest of men or the least controversial of campaigners, but he has left behind him a host of tangible achievements that few can rival. Unusually for today, he extended his notion of personal oppression, as a Jew, into an understanding
The case of Hicham Yezza
On 6 March 2009, Hicham Yezza, a university PhD student, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment after being convicted of ‘securing avoidance of enforcement action via deceptive means’. Hicham who was a university administrator, underwent a six week detention ordeal after being arrested in May 2008. The case raises many issues about civil liberties and
Week of protest against detention centres
This weekend will see protests taking place across the country against detention centres which hold asylum seekers. Saturday 21 March has been marked a nationwide day of action largely organised by the No Border network, a national network of locally-based groups campaigning ‘for the freedom of movement for all’. Two detention centres, Yarl’s Wood in
Pro-Palestinian campaigners arrested after racism allegation
On 12 March, police raided the homes of activists in Swansea and arrested two people on suspicion of ‘conspiring to commit racially aggravated criminal damage’. This was no racial attack in the conventional sense and was not an attack on any person. The two people arrested are members of Swansea Action for Palestine. And their
The ‘criminals’ who aren’t: getting the record corrected
Unknown numbers of asylum seekers, who were wrongly convicted of criminal offences, are unaware that they can apply to have their convictions quashed, but the government is doing nothing to help them, according to a group of migrant and refugee organisations. In the 1990s, as part of the drive to stop asylum seekers from coming
Faith schools survey follows report criticisms
Ofsted has been ordered to carry out a survey of some faith schools, weeks after a critical, right-wing report was published on Muslim schools. Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has ordered Ofsted to carry out a survey of a small selection of independent faith schools to examine how they
Exposing the new McCarthyism
A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe deserves a slow and careful reading. Liz Fekete reaches into the unique archives of knowledge that she has personally accumulated together with the Institute of Race Relations over decades and provides a clear, detailed and insightful road map for those who want to navigate and understand
Building for deportation
The government is creating more ‘spaces’ at removal centres as part of its drive to deport more asylum seekers. In March 2009, giving oral evidence to a Commons Public Accounts Committee, Lin Homer, Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), said that a ‘higher proportion’ of deportations occurred of those in detention centres rather
Europe’s shame – deaths linked to racism on the rise
As concern mounts that the economic downturn will lead to a surge in racism, a report from the IRR suggests that EU states are already pursuing policies which place vulnerable minority communities at risk. The IRR’s investigation into 105 deaths in the EU in 2007 and 2008 uniquely includes not only deaths due to direct
The minister versus the judges
The recent intervention of the Home Secretary in the dealings of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) shows a worrying disregard for the rule of law. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, had been battling with judges at the SIAC (the court which hears appeals against national security deportation) at the end of February 2009, when