The latest issue of Race & Class assesses popular debate around issues involving the far Right in Europe. In ‘The weight of words: the freedom of expression debate in Norway‘, Sindre Bangstad, an affiliate researcher at the Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo, explores the philosophical and political underpinnings of the freedom of expression debate
Theme: Violence and harassment
Another preventable death in immigration detention?
On Sunday 30 March, Christine Case a 40-year-old Jamaican woman died at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre near Bedford. According to reports in the press[1], Christine Case was heard calling for help and had complained of chest pains shortly before she suffered a heart attack. The emergency services were called around 8am but she was
Medical Justice training day
A one day course for medics who visit or assist immigration detainees. Saturday 29 March 2014 10.30am-5.30pm Garden Court Chambers, 57-60 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ RELATED LINKS Full details on the Medical Justice website
Family campaigns – fighting every step of the way
The saying goes that time heals all wounds. The families of Cherry Groce and Jimmy Mubenga would probably disagree. Cherry Groce Last week, it was announced on Channel 4 News, that the Met police had made public their 2013 apology to the family of Cherry Groce, who was shot and paralysed during a police raid
Taking a stand for human dignity
This week, IRR News teams up with the Border Crossing Observatory at Monash University, Melbourne, and with the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at Kings College, London, to bring new insights and an international perspective to bear on the Global North’s callous mistreatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Spanish civil guards shoot rubber bullets at
The globalisation of indifference
The director of the Institute of Race Relations calls for the arts to take a stand for human dignity. Europe is divided, split between its image of itself as the continent of the Enlightenment and humanitarian values, and its shadow-image as the ‘Fortress Europe’ which sets its face like flint against migrants and refugees. In
‘No one can be left without hope’: Breathing life into global action for asylum seekers
Australia’s inhuman anti-asylum policies may survive the many protests at Reza Berati’s offshore detention death, but change can come through global solidarity in pursuit of justice for asylum seekers, says Leanne Weber of the Border Crossing Observatory at Monash University. On 23 February Melbourne’s Federation Square filled with people who had come to commemorate the
Death at Europe’s frontiers: foreseeable result of state policy?
European states are morally responsible for deaths at the EU’s borders, argues the International State Crime Initiative. ‘This is the main feature of contemporary border politics. It exposes the border transgressors to death rather than directly using its power to kill.’ Khosravi (2010), ‘Illegal’ Traveller: an auto-ethnography of borders (p. 27) On 6 February, fifteen
Swiss referendum: flying the flag for nativism
Swiss nativist parties have drawn a new line in the sand, winning the admiration of those campaigning to end EU free movement rights. Anti-immigration and nativist movements across Europe are increasingly turning their ire on eastern European workers exercising free movement rights under EU foundational treaties. UKIP’s position – that ‘unfettered free movement from the
Public lecture on migrants, the media and the law
A public lecture hosted by the Haldane Society on how the political and media demonisation of migrants affects the rule of law. Thursday 13 March 2014, 6.30pm University of Law, 14 Store Street, London WC1E 7DE Speakers include: Frances Webber – honorary Vice-President of the Haldane Society and Vice Chair of the IRR Jon Burnett – assistant