Baroness O’Loan’s report to the UK Border Agency uncovers casual brutality and callous neglect in detention centres. O’Loan’s report in March 2010 was commissioned following allegations of systemic abuse of detainees by detention centre and immigration escort staff made in the 2008 report, Outsourcing Abuse by Medical Justice, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns and solicitors
Theme: Health
Open season on Palestine protesters
Open season seems to have been declared on people protesting about Palestine and Israeli action in Gaza. In a case due to be heard in Edinburgh on Monday 29 March, five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) face trial on charges of racially aggravated conduct. The charges follow a protest on August 2008,
Young people’s film on women who changed the world
A fantastic new DVD about four women who made an impact by changing society (with accompanying website and magazine) has been made by young filmmakers. The DVD, Hidden Herstories: Women of Change, consists of four 15-minute films, each on a woman whose contribution to society has been hidden from history by the passing of time.
‘This country I came to for refuge for peace …’
Victoria Brittain’s touching new play ‘Waiting’ is based on the hitherto unheard testimonies of women suffering as a result of the war on terror. The verbatim play, shown recently at the Southbank, is based on interviews and conversations carried out by Victoria Brittain over many years with eight women whose lives (and those of their
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
Gaza Protesters Defence Campaign launched
A defence campaign is being mounted against the lengthy sentences handed to young Muslims who protested a year ago about Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza. Twenty-two young people are in prison, convicted of public order offences, as a result of taking part in demonstrations in London in December 2008 and January 2009 following the Israeli
Protests follow deaths in Glasgow
Campaigners are calling for a public inquiry following the deaths of three asylum seekers at the weekend in Glasgow. On Sunday morning, 7 March 2010, the bodies of three Russian asylum seekers were found below a block of flats in Glasgow, all three apparently having taken their own lives by jumping from the fifteenth floor.
All men are created equal?
Below we reproduce a story based on real events, written during the second world war by a serving US chaplain*, about the repercussions of racial segregation, an issue so sensitive, the story never saw the light of day – till now. According to the author, this story was written ‘on a rainy weekend in the
£280,000 raised for families of Morecambe Bay victims
The Morecambe Bay Victims Fund recently celebrated the success of its sponsored walk, which raised £280,000 for families of the Morecambe Bay victims. The sixty-mile walk, which took the group from Liverpool to Morecambe Bay over the course of two days in February, was organised by Sir David Tang and his family. Other walkers included
Segregation policy for foreign national prisoners condemned
The policy of concentrating foreign national prisoners in a small number of prisons, away from home prisoners and from their families, implemented in the early summer of 2009 (read an IRR News story: ‘Segregating foreign national prisoners’), was conducted without regard to its impact on race equality or the provision of legal advice to those