The bitter fruits of racism and imperialism
We comment on the recent attack on Charlie Hebdo. The attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo is something no one can justify. But, if we don’t understand the roots of these events, we risk being pulled ever further into a spiral of increasing violence. Let’s not forget, then, that within France, racism against Muslims […]
‘Shoot As Well As Cook’: the Black Panther Party, sexism and the struggle today
We need to remember the contributions of black women to past struggles if we’re to take forward the fight for justice today, writes Shanice McBean.
The roots of American racism 4: state racism and the new black resistance
In the last of four articles, Bill Crane looks at “colourblind” racism and mass incarceration since the Civil Rights movement – and how they have contributed to the police racism and violence that has sparked the current protest movement. So far this series has described how racism has existed as part of the United States from its […]
The roots of American racism 3: Civil war to civil rights
In the third of four articles, Bill Crane examines the origins of racism in the United States. Here he looks at how the racist segregation of Jim Crow was implemented in the 1890s and then abolished by the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. In the second article in this series on the origins of American racism, we […]
Here to Stay, Here to Fight – Home Office protest for Migrants’ Rights Day
International Migrants’ Day on Thursday 18 December happened only two days after G4S guards were acquitted of the murder of Jimmy Mubenga. Sophie Williams of DocsNotCops reports from a protest outside the Home Office. This year’s Migrants Right’s Day saw scores of demonstrators take to the streets outside the Home Office. Called by NUS International […]
The roots of American racism 2: The Civil War and after sees racism undermined, then reimposed
In the second part of a four-part series, Bill Crane examines the origins of racism in the United States. Here he looks at how in the Civil War of the 1860s and the Reconstruction which followed it racism was fundamentally weakened and then restored. In the US, racism operates in a way that is fundamentally […]
“All you people are watching them kill me”
Jimmy Mubenga was killed as he was forcibly deported from the UK in 2010. The guards who were found guilty of unlawful killing at the inquest have now been cleared of manslaughter at the Old Bailey.
The roots of American racism
Why is America so racist? In the first of four articles, American socialist Bill Crane explains how today’s struggles around Ferguson and police racism have their roots in a history of slavery and dispossession. It’s often difficult for me, as an American socialist, to explain many things about my homeland to comrades and friends in […]
On the march against police racism and violence: report from California
Protests against police violence and racism have continued all week in America, with the biggest marches on Saturday. rs21 member Amy Gilligan reports from California. Tens of thousands of people in cities across the US took to the streets on Saturday afternoon as part of continuing protests against police killings and racism. Organisers estimated around 60,000 participated in […]
Westfield protest – part of a growing movement
Last night’s protest at London’s Westfield shopping centre was part of a movement against police racism and violence that’s growing internationally, reports Peter Norman. In solidarity with the growing anti-racist movement developing in the USA, a die-in was held for Eric Garner last night in West London, organized by London Black Revs, the NUS […]
Break Prison: a look at incarceration
Mitch Mitchell shares his experience of prison in the 1970s, and looks at the way the system continues to be used as a method of oppression against the working class and people of colour.
ACAB from Warwick to NYC
Whether it’s killing black people in America or London, or attacking peaceful student protesters at Warwick University with CS spray, cops worldwide are racist and violent. Rob Owen looks at why that is. You have the emergence in human society Of this thing that’s called the State What is the State? The State is this organized […]
Media roundup – protests across America against police racism
Protests are taking place in cities and colleges across the US – and striking fast food workers are linking the fight against police racism with their struggle for a living wage. We’ve brought together pictures from dozens of marches and die-ins, and more protests are planned for the next few days. Protests have continued across the […]
The New Jim Crow – how America’s rulers boost racism
How can we understand racism in America? Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow, published in 2010, examines how mass incarceration and the “war on drugs” has institutionalised racism in US society. American racism does not operate as it did in the 1960s and before, when “Jim Crow” laws designated separate black and white restaurants, train […]
Historical Materialism 2014: Migration, the Labour Market and Social Reproduction
The second of three articles by UNITE union activist Ian Allinson, reporting from four very useful sessions[1] on learning the North American Labour movement at this year’s Historical Materialism conference. We’re all busy fighting to stop “blame the migrants” arguments from politicians from UKIP to Labour and from the press getting a hold in our […]
London protesters show solidarity with Ferguson, bringing traffic to a halt
Amy Gilligan reports from last night’s #LondonToFerguson rally Around 2,000 protesters – young, black and white, people of all genders, lead by women – raced through the streets of central London last night to demand justice for Michael Brown and show solidarity with demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri. The London protest came in the wake of Monday’s decision against indicting Darren Wilson, the police officer who […]
Ferguson solidarity protests across the US: Photos and videos
After the decision not to indite Darren Wilson, people across the US people have taken to the streets to demand justice for Michael Brown. Join the protest tonight in London, 7pm, outside the US Embassy, organised by London Black Revolutionaries, NUS Black Students campaign, BARAC and Defend the Right to Protest. Washington DC: The protest […]
The results are in
An open letter from protesters on the Grand Jury decision. 24th November 2014. In Ferguson, a wound bleeds. For 108 days, we have been in a state of prolonged and protracted grief. In that time, we have found community with one another, bonding together as family around the simple notion that our love for our community compels us to fight […]
Ferguson – Darren Wilson has got away with murder
People who suffer under police brutality and racism have a right to fight for justice, write Nicole Colson and Alan Maass in this report from the US – and that fight will go on. Darren Wilson has gotten away with murder – and the American injustice system sent the message once again that black lives don’t matter. It was […]
Theresa May on terrorism – ramping up failed, racist policies
Theresa May has unveiled new and extended anti-terrorism measures. As an rs21 member writes, this is a continuation of policies which have failed in the Middle East and are encouraging racism here. Today, in a bizarre move, Theresa May made an announcement for “Counter Terrorism Awareness Week”. My initial thoughts were, why now? It hasn’t […]
A bigger fight is taking place below the radar: the movement to end detention
This article is reposted from the Right to Remain blog. On Saturday 8th November at 1pm Movement for Justice has called the fifth demonstration at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration detention centres. Details here. [vimeo http://vimeo.com/110608994] When we write about immigration detention, we tend to comment on the inhumanity and the injustice. We write that detention […]
Who killed Blair Peach? Call for new inquest into antifascist protester’s death
Defend the Right to Protest and the NUT teachers’ union have teamed up to launch a pamphlet about Blair Peach, the antifascist protester killed by police in 1979. Anindya Bhattacharyya reviews it in the latest issue of rs21 magazine. One of my earliest memories of TV news was watching footage of Anti Nazi League protesters demonstrating […]
How can we defeat UKIP? 5 points to consider
Anti-racists are protesting outside the UKIP conference in Doncaster later today. Here are five suggestions on how best to take on the far right party. 1. UKIP is a hard right reactionary party that stokes up bigotry and preys on people’s insecurity. But it is not a fascist organisation like the BNP. Under Griffin the […]
New terror laws – nothing but racist propaganda
Civil liberties are eroded and Muslims scapegoated – and all without evidence writes Lois JC On Friday the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre or JTAC upped the UK’s terror threat level to ‘severe’. This is the second highest risk level based on their own measurements, and means that the chance of a terror attack on UK […]
The Climate of Concealment
Why do the police always respond so defensively when misconduct is revealed?
Ferguson Latest: Mourning, Still Fighting
When a family invites the public to come share their grief at a funeral service for their young son, they’re sending a message: We must not forget his murder.
#Ferguson: protests, policing, propaganda
Aamna Mohdin takes a look at the role played by web publications and social media in challenging the official narrative around the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Assata Shakur: the world’s most dangerous woman?
Estelle Cooch reports on a lively launch of Assata Shakur’s autobiography at the recently opened Black Cultural Archives in Brixton It may be forty years since Assata Shakur, still the FBI’s most wanted woman, went on the run and sought asylum in Cuba, but the debates and controversy that surrounds her arrest doesn’t look to […]
Border barbarism: the case of Tilbury Docks
Meet Singh Kapoor and his travelling companions are the victims of a barbaric system of border controls, argues Matthew Carr. On 16 August a 40-year-old Afghan Sikh named Meet Singh Kapoor was found dead in a container at Tilbury Docks. Kapoor was travelling with his wife and sons with a group of 35 migrants, including […]
London protesters stand in solidarity with Ferguson
At the London vigil those attending chanted “hands up, don’t shoot”, following Ferguson protesters.