In February 2008, the House of Lords upheld an Appeal Court ruling made last summer in favour of the anti-fascist Searchlight magazine, which has important implications for anti-racist campaigners. ‘Searchlight’ had carried articles throughout the spring and summer of 2003 reporting with some glee on the faction fighting within the BNP and allegations and counter-allegations
Shame on the BBC
Below we reproduce a letter of complaint from a historian to the BBC about its programme Rivers of Blood – part of the BBC 2 ‘White season’. ‘I write to complain in the strongest terms possible about last night’s Rivers of Blood documentary shown on BBC 2. The documentary’s position on Enoch Powell was irresponsible,
Rehabilitating Enoch Powell
This week, BBC 2 begins a controversial ‘White season’ which asks ‘is white working class Britain becoming invisible?’ and includes a programme by Denys Blakeway on Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood intervention forty years ago. IRR’s director, A. Sivanandan, contributed to the programme ‘Rivers of Blood’ due to be shown on 8 March at 9pm
Southall Black Sisters threatened by withdrawal of funds
Southall Black Sisters (SBS), a long-standing domestic violence support group serving BME women, is facing possible closure after having key funding withdrawn from the Conservative-run, Ealing Council. Despite the fact that SBS has received national and international recognition for the support it has given Black and Asian women in West London over the course of
A human rights framework and the fight for race equality
After a Human Rights Awareness event which included discussion with the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) the director of Oldham Race Equality Partnership was provoked into making observations about the implications of a human rights framework in the fight for race equality. There is an enormous momentum at the moment towards submerging local race
Cultural cleansing?
As concern mounts about the rise of Islamophobia in Europe, the Winter 2008 issue of the Institute of Race Relations’ European Race Bulletin provides a snapshot of the mosaic of campaigns against Muslim places of worship and religious symbols across Europe. Issue no. 62 of the European Race Bulletin includes information on: Over thirty local
European Race Bulletin issue no.62 – Cultural cleansing?
Download a copy of issue no.62 of the European Race Bulletin at the links below. Related links Download a copy of issue no.62 of the European Race Bulletin – Cultural Cleansing (pdf file, 257kb)
Indefinite detention of four Algerian men unlawful
Four Algerian men, each detained for between eleven and seventeen months whilst they awaited deportation, have been released following a landmark ruling which found that their detention was unlawful. This case has significance for those large numbers of detainees who continue to remain detained unnecessarily, and possibly unlawfully, for long periods. This form of indefinite
Campaigners celebrate acquittal of Harmondsworth 4
Last Friday, 22 February 2008, campaigners celebrated outside the London offices of Kalyx,[1] the firm that runs the Harmondsworth detention centre, after four men were acquitted of charges in connection with a disturbance at the centre in November 2006. The jury at Southwark Crown Court, after deliberating for days, found the four men not guilty
Celebrating 50 years of the IRR
This year, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) will be 50 years old. It is the longest established race body in the UK. Over its fifty years, the IRR has pioneered research into racial violence, policing of Black communities, school exclusions, deaths in custody, xeno-racism and, through Race & Class, set new parameters for understanding