The new crime of ‘glorifying’ terrorism, recently introduced under the Terrorism Act 2006, will lead to the suppression of legitimate debate on the causes of terror. Since 13 April 2006, it has been a criminal offence to directly or indirectly encourage terrorism; those convicted face up to seven years imprisonment. ‘Direct encouragement’ is largely the
Theme: Violence and harassment
Racism beneath the surface
A new booklet published by the Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice (CCRJ) draws some shocking conclusions about the state of race relations in America and raises troubling questions about the role of religion in politics. In May last year, twelve church leaders and members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s racial justice committee spent
Making history fit the multicultural script
A government pamphlet about the upcoming bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, published last month, interprets history in a way that serves government concerns. On 25 March, the government published the pamphlet Reflecting on the past and looking to the future: the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the
What future for unaccompanied children?
The government is considering returning unaccompanied children, whose asylum claims have failed, to Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But what can be learnt from existing initiatives in countries such as the Netherlands and Spain? It could be that the UK government is seeking to emulate the lead set by other European governments which
Labour’s love lost?
A new book on London’s East End blames multiculturalism, and especially the sharing of welfare benefits with ‘newcomer’ Bengalis, for white working-class racism. Let’s face it, the Left just doesn’t know what to do about working-class racism. From that doyen of working-class history, E.P. Thompson, who praised the bloody-mindedness of the English jury that acquitted
Disastrous cuts planned for helplines
A decision to cut funding for specialist legal support is likely to have dire consequences for new immigrants and asylum seekers across the country. On 16 January the Legal Services Commission (LSC) announced that it intends to abolish, as from July, one of its most successful schemes for providing specialist legal help to the most
Return to Kirkuk
In this interview, Karzan Sherabayani, a Kurdish actor and filmmaker, says why he returned to the Kurdish region of Iraq to make his latest film and what he and other Iraqi Kurds think about the recent forced deportations to Iraq. Tim: When you made Karzan’s Brothers – Escape from the Safe Haven in the mid-1990s,
‘Life Without Fear’
A new campaign for the rights of Iranian asylum seekers in the UK has been launched. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees in the UK has launched a campaign against the British government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Iran. The organisation believes that Iran is unsafe for return and an immediate stop should be
No justice without equality
Lord Herman Ouseley, the former chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, explains his misgivings about the new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights. The Equalities Bill has just been through parliament and will be enacted shortly. Its main provision is to create a new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights (CEHR) and abolish the
Understanding the riots in France
Excerpts from ‘France: the riots and the Republic’ an article which will be published in Race & Class, April, 2006. It is France’s Hurricane Katrina. The recent uprising (November 2005) of disenchanted youths that swept across France left parts of the country damaged and shocked. The government saw fit to invoke a state of emergency