The leader of the far-Right Sweden Democrats wants to portray himself as the victim of anti-white racism. A televised interview on 23 February with Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the far-Right Sweden Democrats (SD), has generated much controversy over the alleged claims made by Åkesson with regards to his childhood in Sölvesborg. The interview is
Theme: Health
Tackling racism through education
At a time when anti-racism in education is often being reduced to ‘cultural awareness’ projects, Show Racism the Red Card’s direct tackling of racism is welcome. In the early 1980s, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) produced a series of educational booklets on racism in Britain starting from the premise that, at that time, the
Family campaigns – fighting every step of the way
The saying goes that time heals all wounds. The families of Cherry Groce and Jimmy Mubenga would probably disagree. Cherry Groce Last week, it was announced on Channel 4 News, that the Met police had made public their 2013 apology to the family of Cherry Groce, who was shot and paralysed during a police raid
Taking a stand for human dignity
This week, IRR News teams up with the Border Crossing Observatory at Monash University, Melbourne, and with the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at Kings College, London, to bring new insights and an international perspective to bear on the Global North’s callous mistreatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Spanish civil guards shoot rubber bullets at
The globalisation of indifference
The director of the Institute of Race Relations calls for the arts to take a stand for human dignity. Europe is divided, split between its image of itself as the continent of the Enlightenment and humanitarian values, and its shadow-image as the ‘Fortress Europe’ which sets its face like flint against migrants and refugees. In
‘No one can be left without hope’: Breathing life into global action for asylum seekers
Australia’s inhuman anti-asylum policies may survive the many protests at Reza Berati’s offshore detention death, but change can come through global solidarity in pursuit of justice for asylum seekers, says Leanne Weber of the Border Crossing Observatory at Monash University. On 23 February Melbourne’s Federation Square filled with people who had come to commemorate the
Death at Europe’s frontiers: foreseeable result of state policy?
European states are morally responsible for deaths at the EU’s borders, argues the International State Crime Initiative. ‘This is the main feature of contemporary border politics. It exposes the border transgressors to death rather than directly using its power to kill.’ Khosravi (2010), ‘Illegal’ Traveller: an auto-ethnography of borders (p. 27) On 6 February, fifteen
‘We are our own educators!’: Buzz Johnson, people’s publisher
A tribute to Buzz Johnson (1951–2014), who created in the UK one of the most important and prolific black publishing houses on and for Caribbean peoples. I feel that I met Norris ‘Buzz’ Johnson nearly a decade before we actually met, human to human. In 1968, I found my first school teaching post in Scarborough,
Swiss referendum: flying the flag for nativism
Swiss nativist parties have drawn a new line in the sand, winning the admiration of those campaigning to end EU free movement rights. Anti-immigration and nativist movements across Europe are increasingly turning their ire on eastern European workers exercising free movement rights under EU foundational treaties. UKIP’s position – that ‘unfettered free movement from the
Law overridden to penalise refugees
Fifteen years after the High Court condemned the prosecution of refugees for using false documents in their quest for a place of safety and parliament provided a statutory defence, they are still being wrongly convicted and sent to prison. The 1951 Refugee Convention is quite clear: penalties must not be imposed on refugees (including asylum