A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Asylum and migration 15 January: The Independent recounts the story behind the death of Pawel Koseda, a homeless Polish migrant, who was found dead impaled on the railings of a church in Kensington in October 2014. (Independent, 15
Theme: Education
Recent news on deaths in custody
An overview of news on recent deaths in custody, upcoming inquests and a failed prosecution. Adrian McDonald: first black taser victim On 22 December 2014, 34-year-old Adrian McDonald died after being tasered by police officers in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. According to the IPCC, which investigates deaths in police custody: ‘Police attended an incident at a flat
The state of children’s rights in England
The British government is still failing to uphold UN conventions in its treatment of asylum-seeking children and child refugees, according to the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE). On 19 November 2014 – the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – CRAE published its
Say No to Immigration Street
A demonstration against Channel 4’s series Immigration Street, set to be screened in the run up to the General Election. Saturday 31 January 2015, 11am Channel 4 Headquarters, 124-126 Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2TX For more details of the series and the campaign against it, click here. RELATED LINKS Southampton Communities Alliance
Campaign against ‘Immigration Street’
A national campaign has been launched against a new Channel 4 series, Immigration Street. The programme, by the makers of Benefits Street, a controversial series aired in January 2014, is based on the residents of Southampton’s Derby Road. The series is due to be screened in the run-up to the General Election, leaving residents of
Calendar of racism and resistance (24 December 2014 – 15 January 2015)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe. Policing and criminal justice 23 December: 34-year-old Adrian McDonald dies in Staffordshire after being tasered by police in the early hours of 22 December. (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 23 December 2014) 30 December: A Freedom of Information request reveals that
Farewell Magna Carta: the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill
The Bill currently going through Parliament, with virtually no opposition, impinges on basic freedoms and seems calculated to entrench the treatment of British Muslims as non-citizens. The Bill is being rushed through parliament with no pre-legislative scrutiny or public consultation on most of its provisions – a speed justified by the increased terror threat posed
Crime and Punishment
The January 2015 issue of Race & Class explores poverty, ‘race’ and criminal justice. Eddie Bruce-Jones, in ‘German policing at the intersection: race, gender, migrant status and mental health’, shows how a cultural defence, of ‘legitimate’ fear of the violence and unpredictability of the ‘other’, is used to justify the recent controversial shooting dead of black
Anti-racist witchcraft
The question of loyalty to British traditions was already under attack thirty years ago in relation to the work of the Institute of Race Relations. As Britain reels from the fallout from the the Paris killings, the question of British values – who belongs to the nation and how that should be expressed – have been placed centre-stage.[1] Those
Edge Fund fundraiser
A fundraising event for Edge Fund with stories from those who have had victories in their campaigns. Saturday 31 January, 6-10.30pm Ringcross Community Centre, 60 Lough Road, London N7 8RH Speakers include: E15 Mothers Nina Power – Defend The Right to Protest Jeremy Corbyn MP Andy Greene – Disabled People Against Cuts Hilary Wainright – Red Pepper Shareefa