Antisemitism row – the real target is Jeremy Corbyn
The media is full of claims about antisemitism in the Labour Party. Jewish members of rs21 set out our view. Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone have been suspended from the Labour Party over accusations of antisemitism. Condemnation of Shah and Livingstone is part of a wider claim – that the Labour Party and the […]
‘Angry White People’, a review
David Renton reviews Hsiao-Hung Pai’s Angry White People: coming face-to-face with the British far right. He finds an ‘exemplary account’ of the rise of the English Defence League and bemoans the left’s failure to contest the same terrain.
rs21 podcast, episode 1: refugees and the rise of the far right
Episode 1 of the rs21 podcast is finally here! Duncan Thomas introduces the show. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/250534323″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Charlie Hebdo is racist, not anti-racist ‘satire’
Charlie Hebdo’s latest cartoon is ‘satire’ that does nothing to satirise. In uncritically reproducing racist tropes, it can be considered as nothing other than racist itself. Kavita Krishnan explains… The latest Charlie Hebdo (CH) cartoon suggests that the refugee baby Aylan Kurdi would grow up to be a bestial man groping women, like the immigrants allegedly involved […]
France: How close is fascism?
Already stressed by economic stagnation since the onset of the banking crisis in 2008, and by the interminably threatened, but repeatedly averted, collapse of the Euro, Peter Fysh asks can the French political system survive racist exploitation of the refugee crisis and the shock of deadly terrorist attacks at each end of 2015? In the […]
Sorry! An apology from Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims) to humanity
We’re pleased to be able to republish a poem by the Syrian Kurdish poet Amir Darwish with permission of publishers Smokestack books. A collection of Amir Darwish’s poetry can be found in the book Don’t Forget the Couscous. Sorry! An apology from Muslims (or those perceived to be Muslims) to humanity We are sorry for […]
After Paris: no to imperialist wars, no to Islamophobia, no to attacks on refugees
We are horrified by the attacks in Paris: we join in mourning the dead, and send our condolences to the loved ones of those who have died. These attacks are part of the war raging across the Middle East, including the deaths of 40 people killed in Beirut and 17 killed in Baghdad on Friday […]
PREVENT: protecting the vulnerable?
Emily Cousens looks at what’s behind the language of ‘vulnerability’ in the government’s PREVENT strategy. Spying and suspicion are now legally required as public sector workers are being trained to look for signs of vulnerability to radicalisation (such as a desire for adventure or political change) in those they work with. More and more of […]
The fear of Islamism and the terror of the state
Peter Hill on the ‘power of nightmares’ from Syria to India and the UK. The ‘war on terror’ has seen a revival since the rise of ISIS, aka Da’esh, in Iraq and Syria, and now beyond. Like the original ‘war on terror’ against al-Qaeda several years ago, it has also provided a pretext for authoritarian […]
One man’s terrorist…
Differing reactions to the violence perpetrated by white supremacists and Islamist jihadists reveal how racism is mobilised to advance projects of state domination, writes Duncan Thomas. “You look like a terrorist”, a woman once said to me. Of course, it was just a joke – she didn’t think I actually was a terrorist, but […]
The Labour right: smearing Corbyn, not fighting racism
The Labour right is trying to smear Jeremy Corbyn as an associate of anti-Semites – when they should be looking at their own lousy record on racism and war.
10 years on: Timeline of anti-terror legislation since the July bombings
There has been an almost constant ramping-up of anti-terror legislation in the UK since the 9/11 bombings in 2001. Legislation passed that year set the context for subsequent laws. In the wake of the 7/7 bombings, 10 years ago today, the New Labour government introduced a new wave of legislation. This timeline tells the story […]
Fighting the Prevent agenda
The Prevent agenda is an Islamophobic policy framework that pushes forces racist policing into teachers’ classrooms.
After Dylann Roof: What is fascism?
After Dylann Roof’s racist massacre in Charleston, we republish an article by Anindya Bhattacharyya written in response to Anders Behring Breivik’s massacre on 22 July 2011. The following article was originally a contribution to the ebook On Utøya edited by Elizabeth Humphrys, Guy Rundle and Tad Tietze. The reporting of Anders Behring Breivik’s massacre on […]
5 things Londoners can do to help Rabina Khan get elected in Tower Hamlets
In Tower Hamlets, following the removal of the last elected mayor from office in very worrying circumstances, Independent candidate Rabina Khan is running for Mayor. It will be either her or the Labour opposition that wins. Sybil Cock and Andrew Ward explain what you can do to help a left-of-Labour candidate win the first election […]
Twelve reasons why the Lutfur Rahman judgment should worry you
The mayor of Tower Hamlets in east London was removed from office last Thursday by an election court on multiple charges of election fraud.
No nazis in Stamford Hill!
Charlie Hore reports On Saturday afternoon (18 April) a number of small nazi groups tried to hold an antisemitic rally in Stamford Hill, Hackney. They failed, managing nothing more than walking a couple of hundred metres along the pavement, and then back again to their starting point, barracked every step of the way by a […]
The new grand alliance in the Middle East
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale explain the changing international alliances in Middle Eastern politics, and how this is connected to rising Islamophobia in Europe. This was originally published as part of a series on Feminism and Islamophobia on their website. In most of Europe and North America now there is only one acceptable form of racism: […]
Trevor Phillips and the ideological battle over racism
Anindya Bhattacharyya discusses anti-racist responses to Trevor Phillips. “Trevor Phillips needs to shut up right about now,” read the Facebook update of a friend of mine on Thursday night. The former head of the Commission for Racial Equality was presenting a heavily trailed programme on Channel 4 that purported to state certain “truths” about race […]
Gang abuse in Oxford
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale argue we need to prevent racists from exploiting the suffering of victims of abuse but we also need to go on the offensive against the cover-ups. The article includes distressing descriptions of sexual abuse. It was originally posted on their Sexism Class Violence website. Last year seven men from Oxford were […]
Malcolm X in the Midlands
On the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X, Zakir Gul examines a visit he made to a small town near Birmingham, and his enduring legacy.
Real free speech is subversive, not about defending the status quo
Colin Wilson discusses recent controversies about freedom of speech. The last few months have seen a number of discussions about “free speech”. After the Charlie Hebdo killings, the magazine’s supporters frequently justified its publication of Islamophobic and racist cartoons by reference to free speech. When protesters in January opposed Marine Le Pen speaking at the […]
The toxic hate behind the Chapel Hill murders
Nicole Colson looks at the background of bigotry behind the killing of three Muslims. This article was originally posted on the US website socialistworker.org. On the evening of 10 February, Craig Stephen Hicks murdered three of his neighbours in Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad […]
Statement of the Party of the Indigenous of the Republic
The Movement of the Indigenous of the Republic in France, PIR, began in 2005 in the context of the ludicrous calls for introducing a positive focus of colonial history in the French educational system and general rethinking of France’s colonial legacy. It was also a product of the mini-Intifadas that erupted in the banlieues in 2005 in response to police violence and systematic racism against […]
I have been very quiet online since the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices and here’s why
Sadia Jabeen discusses the experiences of being Muslim in the face of rising Islamophobia following terrorist attacks. It was originally published on Make Tea & Cake, Not War. As events unfolded on Wednesday I felt a real sense of dread. I haven’t felt like this since just over 13 years ago, on September 11th 2001, and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Terrorism with British characteristics
The government and mainstream media are up in arms about returning Islamic State fighters. But what of the British mercenaries fighting in the region? Peter Hill examines a double standard with troubling implications. The government has recently enacted new anti-terror measures aimed specifically, it claims, at returning Islamic State fighters from Syria and Iraq. 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 […]
Review: The Muslims are Coming!
Hsiao-Hung Pai reviews Arun Kundnani’s latest book The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) In a period when racism is on the rise and the far right is growing across Europe, ethnic minority and migrant communities are feeling increasingly under attack. This timely and important new book by […]