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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Morris dancing, black face paint and racism: why it’s time to stop and think
Folk traditions should not be treated as fossils that are too brittle to evolve, argues Emma Rock. David Cameron found controversy and divided opinion this week by posing in a photograph with a Border Morris side wearing traditional black face paint in Banbury, near his Oxfordshire constituency. Many in the folk world will have greeted this latest gaffe […]
Why a university finally stood up to misogyny
Last week the men’s rugby club at LSE was closed down for a year after producing a sexist and homophobic leaflet. Lois JC considers why the university finally took action, after years doing nothing to oppose the club’s racism and bigotry. As a former student of the London School of Economics (LSE) I was, unfortunately, […]
The Climate of Concealment
Why do the police always respond so defensively when misconduct is revealed?
Nine years since Hurricane Katrina: has anything changed?
Nine years on from the devastating Hurricane Katrina, Lois JC, who visited New Orleans last year to see how the city had changed, writes on the lasting impact of the disaster.
How the rulers of Rotherham betrayed their children
The report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham documents appalling abuse. But even more shocking is the failure of councillors, council managers and police to do anything to address a problem they have known about for the last twenty years.
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.
Nein, Nyet, No: a brief history of jazz, rock & roll, race and repression
Mitch Mitchell takes a look at the music that made racists and rulers come out in hives.
Duggan family launches fresh appeal for witnesses on anniversary of Mark’s death
The Justice for Mark Duggan family campaign is launching a fresh appeal for witnesses to Mark’s death at the hands of police three years ago today. The only independent witness to the shooting to come forward so far was “Witness B”, who described Mark’s killing as an “execution”. The Justice for Mark campaign hopes a […]
Antifascists arrested at Oxford demonstration against the National Front
Police arrested four anti-fascists at a demonstration against the National Front in Oxford on Saturday. The National Front had called a national mobilisation against “Asian grooming” and antifascists had gathered to prevent them from marching through Oxford. Two of the arrested antifascists are now facing charges. Sophie Williams and Nick Evans report. (pic of anti-NF […]
Panic on the streets of Birmingham?
Andrew N, Birmingham NUT executive member (personal capacity), argues that the left needs to stand against Islamophobes and reject media scapegoating Photo: Paul Clarke If you were to believe the headlines in certain Tory papers recently, you would think that schools in Birmingham were being seized by Muslim radicals on a daily basis.”Gove declares war […]
rs21 Political Weekend: Racism, old and new
Mitch Mitchell reports on a discussion at rs21’s political weekend on contemporary racism and the dynamics of Islamophobia and anti-migrant politics.
Surge in support for fascists in French elections
Iris Cohen analyses the background to the the recent gains made by the far right in France in advance of today’s second round of voting.
Policing the system: racism, violence and the crimes of the cops
Studies carried out in the aftermath of the riots confirmed that large numbers of rioters took to the streets for revenge – against a political system that marginalised them.
Fighting oppression is at the heart of socialism
The fight against oppression needs to be fully integrated into the fight against capitalism and for socialism.
Racism: old, new and neoliberal
Anindya Bhattacharyya reflects on the changing nature of racism under neoliberal austerity, and its lessons for activists today, UN anti-racism day, 22 March 2014.
Subdued anger as hundreds gather at Mark Duggan vigil
Around 1,000 gathered today outside Tottenham police station in north London at 2pm for a vigil to remember Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police on 4 August 2011.
“Mark Duggan was executed. We still believe that.”
A wave of shock and fury swept across the country today as news broke that Mark Duggan’s inquest jury had delivered a verdict of “lawful killing”.