Anti-Racism

The only time I appeared on television was way back in 1976, as a representative of the Merseyside Anti-Fascist Committee. I helped to organise a programme on “racialism”, as racism was termed then, which purported to ask the question: “has the existence over 50 years of black communities in Liverpool led to a decline in racial conflict?” Whatever the opinions of those taking part, the question was answered with a resounding no by the civil unrest in Toxteth five years later, provoked by long standing tensions between the police and the local black community. Our programme was an episode in...

The row about Cambridge professor Jason Arday moved fast from reasonable questions to reckless vilification. “Black Leaders in Higher Education” , a group of Black professors, university managers, etc., has produced a measured statement, pointedly avoiding implied calls for new state controls on the media. Black Leaders in Higher Education extend our deepest condolences to Professor Jason Arday’s family, friends, colleagues and all those who knew and loved him. We are deeply saddened by the loss of a Black academic and colleague and we recognise that this feeling will be shared across our...

Sara Pochin, Reform MP for Runcorn, said that the sight of "too many" black and Asian people on TV “drives me mad.” Yet strangely she hasn’t said the same about black and brown faces amongst the leadership of Reform.

The labour movement and anti-racist movement need to wake up to the threat of Rupert Lowe and his party, Restore Britain.

In the early seventies I had a clerical job at County Hall in London. During a lunch break one day, I nipped out to the shops and got stopped by two plain clothes coppers. My long hair had aroused their suspicions and their hope of improving their arrest rate on the off-chance I had some wacky backy on me. “What you got in that bag?” demanded the older of the two, whilst his younger oppo, who looked like a plod learning the job, stood pen and notebook at the ready in the expectation he’d be writing down evidence of a good collar. Brandishing the only item in my bag, I declared “A book, officer...

The subject of women’s health and what shapes our understanding of it is complex. Healthcare systems are shaped by the societies that create them, and historically those societies have not treated everyone equally – particularly when it comes to women. This article will look at: • the history of how women’s health has been understood • the role the National Health Service has played in improving women’s health • and the challenges we face today through inequality, privatisation and distrust in health systems. We can only briefly touch on some of the themes, but I hope it encourages people to...

A tragic knife attack on a man in Belfast on Monday 8 June 2026 is being exploited by the global far-right and loyalist paramilitaries to fuel racist pogroms against migrants in the North of Ireland.

Nigel Farage, Rupert Lowe, J D Vance, and Elon Musk are seizing on the 3 December 2025 death of Henry Nowak, and the 14 May to 1 June trial of his killer Vickrum Digwa, to whip up race-hate. The far rightists rallied on 2 June outside a police station in Southampton. The fascist group Britain First will use the case to fuel its 20 June rally in Birmingham for “mass deportations”. What are the facts? • Police are biased against Black people. Police stop and search Black people four times as often as white people, and Asian-background people 1.4 times as often as white people. • Despite that...

Sectarian or communalist tension is nothing new in Ireland. What is novel, and worrying, however, is the rise of generalised anti-migrant sentiment and activity in recent years. Localised and scattered protests against the housing of refugees in temporary shelters took place in several localities in Ireland in late 2022. According to the Irish police, there were over 300 such protests in several counties throughout that year. Since then, the protests have developed into a more organised and connected movement, with a substantial cross-border and transnational dynamic. There were further...

Q Reform did well in the 7 May elections. Doesn’t this show that people are upset at soaring immigration and want something done about it? A. Reform did well at capturing the “fed up” vote. But more so in areas with fewer migrants, where migrants can be portrayed as a remote but powerful danger, a scapegoat for all ills, than in areas where migrants are real people, neighbours and workmates. Immigration does not pose a threat to British workers. London, with lots of immigrants, is not a worse place to live than Clacton, with hardly any! On the contrary. Reform’s platform is one that spreads...