Institute of Race Relations

IRR: Sewell report seeks to sideline structural factors attached to racism

The IRR responds to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report From what we have seen, both the findings and the recommendations of the government-commissioned Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report fit neatly with the government’s attempts, post-Brexit, to portray the British nation as a beacon of good…

Roots of Racism is now free to download

  In response to the increasing demand from young students to re-evaluate Britain’s true ‘Island Story’ and the growing politicised opposition to the objective (re)telling of slavery and colonialism, we are delighted to release a digital version of our pioneering educational booklet, ‘Roots of Racism’ for free download. Originally published almost…

Cover of special issue on race, mental health, state violence

‘The violence of the system’: race, mental health, state violence

  At a time when mental health is often decontextualised from the structural violence experienced by the most vulnerable in society, this special issue of Race & Class shows how race, mental health and state violence intersect – in places of detention and incarceration, on the street, in mental health…

Shrinking the space for human rights - A look back on 2020

Shrinking the space for human rights: A look back on 2020

  A raft of new laws, Home Office measures and government proposals attempt to restrict the legal accountability of state actors, including ministers, while removing legal protections from those who need them most. In this IRR News long read, Frances Webber examines the various threats to human rights over the…

Deadly Crossings and the militarisation of Britain’s borders

  Military-style solutions won’t solve humanitarian problems, argues our new report that details the nearly 300 border-related deaths in and around the English Channel since 1999. Deadly Crossings and the Militarisation of Britain’s Borders reveals the human tragedies caused by inhumane border enforcement at a time when the UK Home…

Race & Class: A Watershed Moment

A watershed moment

  The October issue of Race & Class contains key articles that make sense of the crises we are in – of COVID-19, of racist state violence and of global capitalism – and asks, is this a watershed moment? This year, the COVID-9 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter anti-racist…

Metropolitan police

IRR: Local authorities must probe police use of data analytics to map communities

For immediate release Local authorities and other partners in police safer neighbourhood teams should further probe possible racial profiling in policing, says the IRR today, after it emerged that five police forces, including the Metropolitan police, have used software that can be deployed to help identify whether different ethnic groups…

Covid 19 – time for taking stock

  Covid 19 has, asserts the July issue of Race & Class, thrown into relief so many key issues: the essential frailty of advanced capitalism, the potential for the state to control the life and death of citizens, the nature of human solidarity and the way in which we desecrate…

‘It Happens Here, Too’ – Resourcing struggles for racial justice

The Institute of Race Relations – a radical voice against racism for over forty years – draws attention to its varied resources that give context and specificities to the declaration of Black Lives Matter that, ‘It Happens Here Too.’ Resources on policing and deaths in custody In UK and the…