Students have taken action after nine cleaners, who campaigned for a ‘living wage’ whilst working at a top London university, were detained in a dawn raid by immigration officers dressed in full riot gear. Six of the workers have since been forcibly removed to South American countries, including Colombia, where gross human rights abuses against
Theme: Managed migration
France: academic freedom under threat
A campaign to safeguard intellectual freedom has been formed in France to support a researcher who faces disciplinary action in connection with his work on Islamophobia. Vincent Geisser, a researcher who has worked to dispel anti-Muslim prejudices and authoritarianism, is to appear on 29 June before the disciplinary commission of the government’s National Centre for
Universities must not ride the wave of xenophobia
We reproduce below a statement by a number of UK-based academics. ‘We called for labour power’, playwright Max Frisch once said, ‘and human beings came’. The British government has called for higher education fees, and is discomforted by the actual arrival of non-EU students along with their overseas students’ fees. Apparently, it cannot tell the
Racism: a beginner’s guide
A short, accessible and jargon-free introduction to theories of racism. If, even nowadays, one of the objectives of undergraduate study is to make sense of one’s own experience, how effective are the relevant UK university courses in giving students a framework for understanding racism? To begin with, the word ‘racism’ itself jostles for attention in
Academics refuse to police immigration
IRR News reproduces a collective letter by academics who ‘decry the insidious way in which [they] are being used to monitor foreign students and staff’.[1] ‘We are among the growing number of academics across the UK voicing our concern about being drawn into playing a key role in an ever-tightening system of immigration control. Many
Free anti-racist training workshops for community groups
The IRR is running a series of training workshops for community groups. Community-based and other voluntary groups working with refugee, BME and newly-arrived migrants are invited to apply for places at a series of afternoon workshops organised by the Institute of Race Relations starting in May. These are practical workshops on the media, immigration and
Excluded pupils’ group on brink of collapse
A vital community group working with excluded BME children faces closure because of funding shortfalls. The Communities Empowerment Network (CEN) was established in 1999 in response to the growing demand from BME parents and children for help, support and advice concerning school exclusions and reintegration. Since then it has established a small but effective caseworking
Remembering Blair Peach: 30 years on
A friend and colleague remembers Blair Peach, killed by a member of the Special Patrol Group in Southall during a demonstration against the National Front (NF) on 23 April 1979. Blair Peach was born in New Zealand in 1946. After earning his degree at Victoria University and periods of work as a fireman and hospital
Growing academic campaign against immigration rules
Thirty-seven academics have begun a boycott of government immigration rules on students, labelling them as discriminatory. Under the new points-based immigration system, universities require academic and administrative staff to monitor the attendance of international students and to check the ID of students and colleagues. The thirty-seven academics involved in the boycott, who describe themselves as
Faith schools survey follows report criticisms
Ofsted has been ordered to carry out a survey of some faith schools, weeks after a critical, right-wing report was published on Muslim schools. Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has ordered Ofsted to carry out a survey of a small selection of independent faith schools to examine how they