A resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key news stories in the UK and Europe over the past fortnight. Asylum seekers & refugees 5 September: Migrants and activists rally in Calais for human rights and an end to police violence, as Sauvons Calais announce they will rally on 7 September to ‘say no to
Theme: Employment
Sweden’s counter-extremism policies fail the accountability test
The Swedish model of countering far-right extremism is deeply flawed and should not be followed by other EU countries. The European Commission has recommended that EU member states set up special programmes for those at risk of radicalisation and the Swedish Ministry of Justice is already working to export its model of countering far-right extremism
Major accountability gap within Europe’s far Right deradicalisation programme exposed
In a timely report published today, the IRR cautions against the importation to the UK of Scandinavian-style Exit programmes for dealing with far-right extremists. It was one of the big news stories of October 2013 and something of a coup for ‘counter-radicalisation’, when Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll quit the EDL – and think-tank Quilliam
Welcome home Talha summer rally
A rally to celebrate the homecoming of Talha Ahsan and the resilience of his family-led campaign. Sunday 17 August 2014, 5pm Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF Speakers include: Bruce Kent Mark McGowan – Artist Taxi driver Marium Begg – daughter of Moazzam Begg Sheila Coleman – Hillsborough Justice Campaign AL Kennedy Father
Hatred, hysteria and a Trojan Horse
A leading educationalist argues that the report by Peter Clarke into the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair, embraced by the new education secretary, is in fact a grave disservice. On Tuesday 22 July 2014 the new Secretary of State for Education in the UK, Nicky Morgan, made a statement in the House of Commons about the Trojan
The ‘Guantánamisation’ of Belgium
A new book on Belgium, Guantanamo chez nous?, is an important contribution to the analysis of racism and the war on terror in Europe. It would be hard to find anyone in the UK who has not heard of Abu Qatada. But how many people know that he was recently acquitted of terrorist charges in Jordan?
Dangerous surveillance
A public meeting on Dangerous Surveillance: Drones, Data and Deprivation of Citizenship, including a screening of Dirty Wars and a discussion. Tuesday 5 August 2014, 7-9.30pm Council Chamber, Camden Town Hall, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE Speakers include: Kat Craig – Reprieve and Vice-Chair of Haldane Society Alastair Lyon – Birnberg Peirce & Partners Mohamed
Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan and the evidential approach to justice
A racialised justice system providing second-class protection to Muslims can be challenged. So rare is it to encounter a human, non-racist attitude to Muslims accused of support for terrorism, that a judge’s reasonable and evidence-based approach to the sentencing of Babar Ahmad and Talha Ahsan took everyone by surprise. On 17 July, Connecticut chief judge
Race & Class Radio: murals in Palestine; US Homeland Security
The latest broadcast of Race & Class Radio is now available to download. In the current broadcast of Race & Class Radio, Avery Gordon and Elizabeth Robinson are joined by guests Bill Rolston, discussing the mural paintings of Gaza, and Sabrina Alimahomed on the revolving door between public order and private profit in the US. Bill
Justice vanishes: the erosion of the rule of law
The ability to secure justice has been irrevocably damaged by the combination of secret trials, trials involving secret evidence, and the continuing legal aid cuts – affecting the rule of law itself. The ‘Trojan Horse’ affair has given us a definition of ‘British values’ – in a document for school governors issued by the Department