Dear IRR News subscriber, It’s just under two weeks since the horrific suicide bomb-attack in Manchester, and the IRR, like others, has been struck by the dignified and united response of Mancunians to an onslaught which left twenty-two people dead and scores seriously wounded. But not everyone has responded positively to calls by Greater Manchester’s
How right-wing media undermined Manchester’s message of ‘coming together’
Some media responded to the Manchester suicide-bomb attack by attacking liberals, while other extreme-right news outlets and personalities ridiculed the value of coming together in the face of terrorism. On 22 May, twenty-two people, mostly young people, died and scores more were seriously injured in a suicide-bomb attack at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester
Calendar of racism and resistance (18 May – 1 June 2017)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Post-Manchester 22 May: Following a suicide-bomb attack at the Ariana Grande concert in the Manchester arena, which left 22 people dead, many young people, and hundreds injured, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham tells BBC News that Mancunians will not
Archives, race, class and rage
Below we publish an excerpt of a commentary in the April 2017 issue of Race & Class, in which Colin Prescod (IRR Chair) examines the challenges of black heritage facing archivists today. This is an edited version of a keynote speech to the annual conference of the Archives and Records Association 2016 in which a leading
Honouring Chris Searle: an afternoon in poetry
The unique contribution of teacher Chris Searle to education in London’s East End was celebrated at the launch of his autobiography, Isaac and I: a life in poetry, on 20 May. There is some archive footage of Chris Searle, long-haired in corduroy jacket walking head, shoulders and torso above a sea of milling children, trying
IRR News (5 – 17 May 2017)
Dear IRR News subscriber, The IRR is carrying out research and collecting case studies of prosecutions of humanitarian workers across Europe for ‘crimes of solidarity’. This week, Anya Edmond, reports on the case of three Spanish fire-fighters who answered a call to help save lives in the Mediterranean, only to find themselves charged with human
Calendar of racism and resistance (5 – 17 May 2017)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 2 May: The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) publishes a report: Racism and discrimination in the context of migration in Europe: ENAR’s Shadow Report, 2015/2016, download it here (pdf file, 3.6mb). 6 May: Two reception
Spanish fire-fighters who saved lives at sea must not be criminalised
As petitions are launched to stop the criminalisation of humanitarians, calls for the European Commission to intervene to change the law intensify. The continuing threat of jail hanging over three Spanish fire-fighters, arrested in January 2016 on charges of attempted human trafficking and weapons possession, has led to the launch of at least two petitions,
Black, Brummie and British
IRR Chair, Colin Prescod, reviews a collection of poetry, Beginning With Your Last Breath, by Roy McFarlane. Roy McFarlane’s reputation goes before him – Birmingham Poet Laureate, Starbucks Poet in Residence, poet in residence at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, just some of the accolades garnered. Beginning With Your Last Breath (Nine Arches Press, 2016) is
Who will defend the space to protest?
An insightful TNI discussion paper is a must read for anti-racist and social justice campaigners. Are you working for a human rights NGO or part of a social justice movement and are you worried about increasing restrictions, overt political interference and government de-legitimisation of your work? A short pithy discussion paper, the result of a