IRR News reveals how alcohol-related racist attacks and far-Right graffiti have increased over the summer months. During July and August, certain types of racial attacks have become very prevalent, with takeaway workers, those using public transport and those of a ‘Muslim’ appearance being especially vulnerable. Our research shows that these attacks often take place in
Theme: Climate
Poland: Anti-Roma mob attack legitimised
In July 2010, an angry crowd launched a terrifying attack on a Roma family in Limanowa, southern Poland. But why were no arrests made? And how come no one has condemned the violence? In October 1990, a crowd set fire to thirty-six Roma homes in the Romanian town of Mihail Kogalniceanu. No one was arrested
Racial violence laid bare
Ongoing research by the Institute of Race Relations exposes the reach of racial violence that continues to spread across the county. Following the publication of a briefing paper, Racial Violence: The buried issue in June 2010, the IRR has continued to monitor racist violence in its various guises across the country; the list reproduced below
How violence impacts on young lives
A reader tells of day to day racism in Glasgow. After reading the IRR’s report Racial violence: the buried issue, ‘it struck a chord with me … I am white but my partner is African, my child mixed race. We live in Glasgow. We encounter a lot of threatening abuse even when just waiting at
Poland: Reflections on the death of a street vendor
A Nigerian street vendor was shot dead following a police identity check in an open-air market in Warsaw. But is anyone asking the right questions? On 23 May 2010, Maxwell Itoya died in Warsaw after being shot by police in, as yet, unexplained circumstances. Itoya, a 36-year-old Nigerian, had lived in Poland for eight years.
Racial violence – the buried issue
Research from the Institute of Race Relations reveals that, on average, five people per year are being killed in racial attacks in the UK since the death of Stephen Lawrence. The Institute of Race Relations, the only research body in the UK to monitor racial violence, has found that a total of eighty-nine people have
Fighting anti-Muslim racism: an interview with A. Sivanandan
IRR News spoke to one of the foremost analysts of racism and Black struggle as to how to meet the contemporary challenge of anti-Muslim racism. Should we look at Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism today as something new and apart, or as a continuation of the racism we have known in the UK? A. Sivanandan: Every
Germany: freedom to speak on racism under threat
In Germany, an anti-racist academic faces prosecution for questioning whether court negligence could have been a contributory factor in the case of Marwa al-Sherbini, who was stabbed to death in a Dresden courtroom in July 2009. Some of Germany’s foremost academics, journalists, peace campaigners, trades unionists and politicians have formed the Action Group Against Racism
Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime in London
A new centre for research into anti-Muslim hate crime has published its first report. For the first time, academics are taking the issue of anti-Muslim attacks in the UK seriously. A recent report by Jonathan Githens-Mazer and Robert Lambert on Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: a London Case Study shows how ‘contexts of fear and
Swiss youth erect Geneva’s first new minaret
The Network of Genevan Youth Associations (GLAJ) immediately registered its shock at the result of the Swiss referendum on the banning of minarets by erecting a minaret made of cardboard, wood, paper and tissue in Geneva’s New Square. The site of the symbolic minaret was deliberate; it was placed at the feet of the statue