To erase the political bedrock of people’s beliefs from the telling of their history is to distort their life’s work. The rewriting of history and reputation to chime with what the white-media-middle-class is ‘comfortable’ with does not just apply to Nelson Mandela,[1] it has for some years been applied in this country to Black revolutionary
Looking for a Christmas gift? This month, the IRR offers Catching History on the Wing for a discounted price, plus a free issue of Race & Class relating to the work of A. Sivanandan, in celebration of his ninetieth birthday. The IRR is offering for £10 (plus P&P) Catching History on the Wing, a collection
The latest broadcast of Race & Class radio is now available to download. On 28 November 2013, Avery Gordon interviewed Professor Phil Scraton for the latest broadcast of Race & Class radio. Phil Scraton, author of Hillsborough: The Truth, was a member of the Hillsborough Independent Panel and the primary author of its ground-breaking report
More and more voices are speaking out against the annual spectacle of blackface ‘St Nicholas helpers’. We have written before about the Dutch blackface tradition of Sinterklaas’ (St Nicholas’) ‘helper’ Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). This year, though, the debate about Zwarte Piet — dressed in a golliwog-style wig, pronounced red lips and gold earrings —
A ‘masterclass’ on the use of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests as a research method. Wednesday 4 December 2013, 1pm Seminar Room 10, Rendall Building, Bedford Street South, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA Speakers: Harmit Athwal – Institute of Race Relations Graham Smith – Information Commissioner’s Office David Whyte – University of Liverpool Stuart
Today, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) enters the debate on how best to combat extremism by publishing two thought provoking pieces on IRR News. Anti-racism and anti-fascism should be core values of a liberal and democratic society. But what if the contrary happens? What if anti-racism and anti-fascism are treated in policy and law
The AGM of the Redbridge Equalities and Community Council with a talk on the work of the IRR. Thursday 28 November 2013, 7.30pm Gants Hill United Reformed Church, 39 Woodford Avenue, Gants Hill, Ilford, Essex IG2 6UH Speaker: Harmit Athwal – Editor, IRR News RELATED LINKS Redbridge Equalities and Community Council
A key session at an international conference in London at the beginning of November on ‘Making the world working class’ was devoted to the work of A. Sivanandan and his legacy in the ongoing work of the Institute of Race Relations. Activists and scholars, contributors and would-be contributors to Race & Class packed into a
Colin Prescod, the long-term Chair of the Institute of Race Relations, explains, in a speech to the Historical Materialism Conference, 2013, how, as a Black activist, academic, and film-maker, he gravitated to the IRR. We thought that it might be useful to this reflective forum if I spoke about ‘how and when’ I came to
A gripping book on Paul Robeson not only shows up the greatness of the man but underscores the dangers of state surveillance – a lesson to heed today. When I lived in Brixton, South London in the early 1970s, I used to drink in an Acre Lane pub named after an imperial admiral, the favourite
