During the course of 2004/2005, many small extremist parties made significant breakthroughs in regional and local elections across Europe, while other bigger electoral parties, such as Austria’s Freedom party, have experienced substantial losses. New European alliances With the next European Parliament elections due in 2009, anti-immigration parties are attempting to unite under one banner. The
Immigration, integration and the politics of fear
The EU needs migrant labour, particularly skilled labour, and this is reflected at a member state level in the increasingly public debate over ‘managed migration’. Politicians of all political persuasions are advocating that legal routes for migrants be opened up for the highly-skilled. The same politicians, however, promise the electorate a package of reform to
‘Speech crime’ and deportation
Throughout Europe, immigration reforms are being introduced which build in to citizenship and residence rights measures which constrain freedom of speech. If those constraining measures are breached, the punishment could be deportation. There can be no reasonable objection to the deportation of a foreign national who incites violence and hatred, if a court rules that
The racist backlash to the London bombings continues
Across the UK, serious violent racial attacks are still on the increase, as are incidents of persistent ‘low-level’ harrassment – of people, their homes, and businesses. 10 August 2005: A Muslim woman tells BBC Wales how a man abused her and her family and threw stones at her home; breaking a window. (BBC News 10.8.05)
Sahara: last journey of the damned
The EU is advocating the creation of refugee regional processing centres in North African countries. Foremost amongst countries being recruited to enforce European border controls is Libya. A report that first appeared in the Italian newspaper L’Espresso on 24 March 2005 looks at how Libya treats refugees and documents the grim fate awaiting those returned
Anti-Muslim backlash goes on
A month after the London bombings, police forces across the country are reporting rising levels of racial incidents. 4 August 2005: Police in Scotland report a rise in racial incidents by nearly a third; Tayside police report the largest increase of 70 per cent. (Scotsman 4.8.05) 4 August 2005: Metropolitan police announce that religious hate
Forty-seven race murders in Britain since Macpherson
Figures released today by the Institute of Race Relations show that there have been forty-seven murders with a known or suspected racial element since the publication of the Macpherson report in February 1999. With its similarities to the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the racist murder of Anthony Walker in Huyton, Liverpool, on 30 July 2005
Doctors question their role in human rights violation of asylum seekers
Doctors met recently to discuss the right to health of detained asylum seekers and their invidious role as gatekeepers to health care. The conference held on 25 June 2005 on the right to health of detained asylum seekers and migrants, organised by Doctors for Human Rights, focused primarily on a report produced by Médecins Sans
Obituary: Basker Vashee 1944-2005
A. Sivanandan pays tribute to Basker Vashee of the Transnational Institute who died on 18 July 2005. He has gone too soon, but his smile remains. All his life he was suave, elegant, charming – and he brought those gifts to his politics and made radicalism appear the most natural thing in the world. I
Anti-Muslim backlash intensifies
The anti-Muslim backlash has intensified in the three weeks following the London bombings. Muslim organisations monitoring attacks report that the numbers are increasing rapidly. According to the Islamic Human Rights Commission they have risen thirteen-fold since 7 July. The Muslim Safety Forum reports that ‘faith-related’ attacks in London have risen by 500 per cent since