Racism & fascism - new material (60)
01 January 2008
Trouble at the Court of Mad King Nick, Nick Lowles and All the king's men, Sonia Gable. Searchlight no. 389 (November) 2007, pp. 4-9. Lowles article examines recent developments in the higher echelons of the British National Party which include resignations, defections and personality clashes. Sonia Gable looks at party leader Nick Griffin, and his "trusted lieutenants", most of whom are not members of the party.
"Bussing" in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s, Vicki Butler. Runneymede Trust Quarterly Bulletin September 2007, pp. 8-9. "Bussing", the government policy of dispersing migrant children from schools where their numbers reached 30% of the population, was a common procedure in parts of Britain - such as west London and Bradford - during the 1960s and 1970s. This degrading and abusive practice was imported from the United States and was justified as based purely on "educational needs"- however, it has more in common with the "virginity tests" imposed on Asian women arriving in this country during the 1970s and 1980s. This article is part of a wider study which will attempt to unearth this secret history.
Shame on Us, Ronan Bennett. The Guardian 19.11.07. Bennett's article is a response to the the novelist Martin Amis. As Bennet observes in his conclusion: "He [Amiss] got away with as odious an outburst of racist sentiment as any public figure has made in this country for a very long time. Shame on him for saying it, and shame on us for tolerating it."
European Race Bulletin no 61 (Autumn) 2007, pp. 32. This bulletin contains country summaries on anti-terrorisn and civil liberties issues across Europe and a feature article by John Higham on "Austria: an examination of the Freedom Party's election campaign material", which analyses the far-right party's calls for tougher restrictions on immigration during the 1999, 2002 and 2006 general election campaigns.
Independent investigation into complaints following "The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence". Independent Police Complaints Commission October 2007, pp. 32. This IPCC report into the 2006 BBC documentary that investigated allegations of a corrupt police officer who contributed to derailing the police investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence concludes that there is no evidence to support the programme's allegations. Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in 1993 and his killers have never been brought to justice. The police investigation was the subject of the McPherson Inquiry which concluded that it was riddled with racism and incompetence, but to many observer's the "elephant" in the inquiry room was the allegation of police corruption through a financial arrangement between Detective Sergeant John Davidson and the father of one of the main suspects, Clifford Norris. Following the publication of the IPCC's report the BBC said "We stand by the journalism of the programme" and many of those involved in the campaign for justice for Stephen question why, nearly 15 years after Stephen's murder, this issue still remains unresolved, and despite this report, uninvestigated.
Available at: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/stephen_lawrence_final_report.pdf