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: Health
Immigration detainees failed by system
An important new report from Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), A nice judge on a good day: immigration bail and the right to liberty, reveals the systemic failures within the Home Office and the legal system which consign detainees to oblivion for months or years. Liberty is regularly proclaimed as one of the most important
Macbeth goes to jail
The Educational Shakespeare Company, which worked with prisoners at Belfast’s Maghaberry prison, has finally released the DVD Mickey B, a powerful adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Macbeth which could prove an important resource for use with young people. Mickey B, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, shot in Belfast’s Maghaberry Prison (where adult male long-term prisoners provided
Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia – new enemies, old patterns
Two German scholar activists argue why it is important for German anti-racists to examine contemporary Islamophobia as well as anti-Semitism. Across Europe activists and certain academics are struggling to get across an understanding in their governments and their countries at large that anti-Muslim racism/Islamophobia is now one of the most pernicious forms of contemporary racism
Remembering Sean Rigg – two years on
On Saturday 21 August 2010, sisters Marcia Rigg-Samuel and Samantha Rigg-David were joined by family, friends and members of the public in marking the second anniversary of the death of their brother Sean Rigg, killed during an altercation with police in Brixton on 21 August 2008. A vigil was held outside Brixton police station where
Who defends whom?
An anti-racist student organiser discusses, in the light of the upcoming English Defence League (EDL) event in Bradford, what anti-fascists can learn about recent state interventions and particularly the policing of anti-fascist demonstrations. The upcoming English Defence League (EDL) demonstration in Bradford on 28 August had been described as ‘the big one’ by EDL spokesman
Asylum battles: two victories and one setback
The rights of asylum seekers were upheld in two recent court judgments – but those facing deportation on national security grounds were denied justice in a third. In the first case, the charity Medical Justice (MJ) challenged the UK Border Agency (UKBA)’s practice of snatching refused asylum seekers, including children, and removing them from the
Nottingham asylum seeker jumps to his death
Campaigners are desperately trying to raise the necessary funds to send the body of 27-year-old Osman Rasul Mohammed, an Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker who jumped from the seventh floor of a Nottingham tower block, back home. On Sunday 25 July 2010, according to the Guardian police officers talked to Osman as he was perched by
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
Stop and … spy?
Are the security services in the UK so desperate to recruit spies and informers that they stop random travellers coming to the UK in order to recruit them? IRR News has heard that a Sri Lankan man, visiting London was stopped as he passed through the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras and asked to spy