25 October 2018 — Institute of Race Relations
Institute of Race Relations weekly digest – Against Racism, for Social Justice
This week, we learned that the Home Office is facilitating the exploitation of migrants working in the construction of the £2.6bn Beatrice windfarm off the Scottish coast, by granting an immigration waiver to employers bringing in non-EU workers, who in many cases have been paid a fraction of the UK minimum wage. Next weekend, Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 November, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, sitting at Friends House in London, will be putting on trial the government policies which have allowed the exploitation of migrant and refugee people in fields as diverse as agriculture, logistics and care, pushing them into destitution and ill health, and will also hear of migrants’ self-organisation and resistance. The IRR is a co-convenor of the hearing. Register to attend here.
Anti-migrant policies to be examined by the PPT include indefinite detention, which causes huge distress and exacerbates pre-existing trauma – and as we note in the calendar, suicide attempts among immigration detainees have risen at a frightening rate. This week on IRR News, Aisha Maniar discusses the importance for detainees’ welfare of professional interpreting facilities in immigration removal centres, in the context of Stephen Shaw’s 2018 ‘progress report’ on the Home Office’s implementation of the recommendations he made in his 2016 review of vulnerable adults in immigration detention.
As Eliane Edmond-Pettitt reminds us, the hostile environment extends to Calais, where she describes continuing police harassment of the refugees and displaced people there, as well as the volunteers helping them stay alive.
Our regular calendar of racism and resistance chronicles the alarming growth in the confidence of far-right, anti-migrant movements in the UK and across Europe, which makes it ever more vital to stand with migrant and refugee people. And finally, the October issue of Race & Class is now available, and includes pieces on #Grime4Corbyn, C. L. R. James and memorial tributes to A. Sivanandan.
IRR News Team
Publications
Race & Class, October 2018
The October 2018 issue of Race & Class brings together pieces on racialising domestic violence, #Grime4Corybyn, the rebranding of C.L.R. James for a neoliberal era and memorial tributes to A. Sivanandan.
Latest News
Calendar of racism and resistance (10 – 24 October)
A fortnightly resource for anti-racist and social justice campaigns, highlighting key events in the UK and Europe.
Forthcoming Events
Rescue the Rescuers – Awareness Raising
An awareness-raising event in solidarity with Humanitarian activists Seán Binder, Sarah Mardini and Nasso Karakitsos who have been detained, while doing voluntary work, saving lives in Lesvos, Greece.
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Commentary
Language and vulnerability: interpretation in Immigration Removal Centres
Aisha Maniar discusses Stephen Shaw’s follow-up report on the detention of vulnerable people from the perspective of interpreting facilities for detainees.
Calais two years after the ‘Jungle’
Eliane Edmond-Pettitt describes how the situation in Calais has changed for volunteers on the ground since the Jungle came down in 2016.