One year after the 7/7 terrorist attacks, Tahir Abbas looks at how the marginalisation of Muslims continues to contribute to their radicalisation. One year has now passed since the tragic events of 7 July 2005 in London. For the first time in European history, ‘home-grown’ suicide bombers were implicated in a number of terrorist attacks
‘Defending the defenceless’: churches working on asylum issues
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) has produced a document entitled Asylum Principles: a Statement for Churches Working on Asylum Issues. The group recognises the duty of churches to help those facing social alienation and hardship. Asylum seekers are seen by CTBI as occupying an especially weakened position, as they are being targeted and
Help return Abiy to Ethiopia for a dignified burial
On 5 July 2006, Abiy Fessfha Abebe, an Ethiopian asylum seeker, was found hanged in Liverpool following news that his claim for asylum in this country had been refused. UPDATE 1 AUGUST 2006: ABIY’S BURIAL HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE. Abiy was in the UK for less than three weeks before his sad death and lived
First death under new community fast-track system
Last Wednesday, on 5 July 2006, a 35-year-old Ethiopian asylum seeker, Abiy Fessfha Abebe, was found hanged in accommodation in Liverpool, after recently being told his asylum claim had been refused. His death is the 25th such death of an asylum seeker in the last five years. Other asylum seekers who were housed at the
Racism and Islamophobia in France: the far Right and the grassroots
In debates surrounding the complex social, political and economic situation that France is facing, the far Right has continued to exercise its political voice. Yet young people from the banlieues (suburbs), many of whom are affected by racism and discrimination as part of their everyday lives, suffer from a dearth of political representation and are
The ‘Mediterranean Solution’: rescinding the rights of boat people
In May, a ‘ghost ship’ with eleven petrified corpses washed up in Barbados. The Africans onboard the sea-battered yacht had set sail four months previously from the Cape Verde islands – and had been heading for Europe. As the EU draws on Australia’s ‘Pacific Solution’ to further militarise its sea borders, and enters into new
What next for Europe’s boat people?
As EU leaders and their North African counterparts host a series of immigration summits, the European Race Bulletin seeks to establish what is really going on behind the scenes. In The Mediterranean Solution, Liz Fekete argues that under cover of combating human trafficking, EU countries are rescinding the rights of boat people travelling from Africa
Coalition to stop deportations to Iraq
A recent conference called by a coalition of groups and organisations against the deportation of asylum seekers to Iraq, called on the government to stop deportations. It also wants the government to grant protection to all Iraqi asylum seekers and recognise them as victims of war and allow them the right to work or to
No escape
According to a recent report, discrimination on the basis of caste is one of the most insidious and unacknowledged forms of discrimination in the UK today. It may well come as a shock to those who associate racism in Britain with White views of racial or ethnic superiority that an older form of discrimination within
Birthday wish for freedom
Coventry Refugee Centre is fighting to keep a Congolese asylum seeker in the UK, claiming that she could face danger and sexual violence if deported. Birthdays have traditionally been seen as an annual celebration, offering us release from the monotony of the everyday and providing us with an opportunity to laugh and enjoy ourselves with