The ugly online abuse targeted at members of the England football team following the Euros final, and then at Lewis Hamilton after the British Grand Prix, was not only hateful to the individuals concerned, but divisive for the UK more broadly.
More needs to be done to regulate online platforms to avoid the spread of such abuse at scale. Online platforms are making increasing efforts to ‘self-regulate’ in order to tackle online abuse. Over the past year, Facebook and Twitter have strengthened their policies on hateful speech and conduct, such as Facebook’s policy banning Holocaust denial. Both have become more vigilant at deplatforming those who violate their terms of service, such as Donald Trump, and at removing online abuse using a combination of machines and humans.… Seguir leyendo »
When Harry and Meghan walked down the aisle, surrounded by examples of #BlackExcellence, and being serenaded by a gospel choir on May 19, 2018, it was meant to mark a new era in race relations. Even the royal family was being "modernized", dragged into the 21st century showing just how far we have come. Right wing papers like the Daily Mail even heralded the Markles' remarkable achievement of going from "cotton slaves to royalty" in just 150 years. The only surprise is how quickly this post-racial fantasy unraveled, culminating in Sunday's tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, revealing the harrowing time Markle says she endured as a serving royal.… Seguir leyendo »
In the third of our new series of interviews, we move to Bristol, the English port which was one of the principal hubs of the transatlantic slave trade. Safia Sangster, a graduate at the University of Bristol, interviews the award-winning poet Lawrence Hoo who lives in the city and is known for his activism in favour of disadvantaged communities.
Black Lives Matter went global in 2016. What is different about this time around?
In 2016 people’s engagement disappeared after a couple of weeks. That was painful, because of course the racism and racialized violence never stopped. This is what Black Lives Matter should have addressed four years ago: the environments that children grow up in believing there is no chance for them in this world.… Seguir leyendo »
On Tuesday, London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a review of the capital's landmarks, with a view to remove any with links to slavery. Khan's decision follows the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston by Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol, in the wake of worldwide outrage after the death of George Floyd in police custody. It has already sparked some backlash in a country which habitually romanticizes its past at the expense of progress -- and maintains a veneer of denial about the crimes committed by its historic heroes.
Pressed about where the review of London landmarks should draw the line -- given that a statue of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was recently graffitied with the accurate statement "Churchill was a racist" -- Khan said the many great historical figures were not perfect.… Seguir leyendo »
The British press has succeeded in its apparent project of hounding Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, out of Britain. The part it perhaps didn’t bargain for, however, is the loss of Prince Harry — a much loved Royal and a key part of the family’s global brand — along with her.
In a statement released this week, the couple said they want to “carve out a progressive new role” within the royal family and will “step back as ‘senior’ members, and work to become financially independent”.
The British press reacted with surprise at the “shock move abroad”, described variously as “seismic”, “selfish”, “rogue” and “an atrocious lapse of judgment”.… Seguir leyendo »
Il y a quelques années, je faisais du lobbying dans le salon des délégués, aux Nations unies (ONU), pour l’adoption d’une résolution qui devait débarrasser Maurice et l’Afrique d’un dernier vestige du colonialisme britannique : l’archipel des Chagos.
Notre principal adversaire, le secrétaire britannique aux affaires étrangères, se révéla malgré lui être le meilleur avocat du continent. Beaucoup de diplomates gardaient en mémoire l’article qu’il avait rédigé quelques années plus tôt [en 2002, lorsqu’il était simple membre du Parlement] traitant les résidents d’un pays africain de « négrillons » [picaninnies] au « sourire de pastèque » [watermelon smile].… Seguir leyendo »
On June 19, the day after a forty-seven-year-old man from Wales, Darren Osborne, drove a van over a group of Muslims near a mosque in Finsbury Park, north London, leaving one person dead and nine injured, I went for a swim in a municipal pool a few miles from where the attack took place. The pool is a popular amenity in my community, and the diversity of those who frequent it—all races, ages, and backgrounds seem somehow represented—reflects the world city that London has become.
Arriving a few minutes before the doors opened, I fell in with four regulars, all of them non-Muslims, just as the conversation turned to the attack.… Seguir leyendo »
Hasard de l’histoire ou bien donnée inévitable d’une ségrégation résidentielle corollaire de la multiculturalité en Grande-Bretagne et ailleurs, le lycée Burnage, à 6 kilomètres au sud du centre de Manchester, a plusieurs fois défrayé la chronique ces trente dernières années. Appréhender les faits divers qui y ont été associés et leur lien au récit national et à l’actualité internationale éclaire de manière originale certaines évolutions au cœur du débat qui anime l’Angleterre de l’après-attentat du 22 mai (Manchester) comme celui dans la nuit du 3 au 4 juin (Londres).
Le 17 septembre 1986, dans ce qui était alors appelé «Burnage High School», Ahmed Iqbal Ullah, 13 ans, est tué par un garçon du même âge, Darren Coulburn, qui proclame : «J’ai tué un sale Paki» («I killed a fuckin’ Paki»).… Seguir leyendo »
Violence isn't always physical -- and UK Home Secretary Theresa May's recent announcements on all things extradition fell one after another as devastating blows to an already beaten and broken Muslim community.
The extraditions of five Muslim men to the United States on October 5 followed by the blocking of computer hacker Gary McKinnon's extradition this week has made the Muslim communities of the UK wake up to a glaring reality many tried hard to avoid.
It is something other communities in the UK have lived and understood for decades. Some Muslims have taken the beatings, repeated anti-terror laws, stops and searches, detentions without charge, demonization of beliefs and values, denigration of the personalities and principles most loved by us, and unrelenting social discrimination -- often believing that by showing more love they will somehow change the attitude of their aggressor.… Seguir leyendo »
On Wednesday September 20 Corporal Donald Payne became the first Briton to admit to a war crime. Payne, 35, is accused of repeatedly banging the head of Baha Mousa, a 26-year-old Iraqi hotel worker, against a wall and floor until Mousa died - an accusation he denies. Payne called his Iraqi prisoners in the jail in Basra "the choir", because he liked to invite friends to hear them shriek with the pain he inflicted. "Corporal Payne enjoyed conducting what he called the choir," Julian Bevan QC told the court martial, which is taking place at Bulford Camp, in Wiltshire, and is expected to last for 16 weeks.… Seguir leyendo »
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