In August 2015, National Public Radio (NPR) – a partially state-funded national American broadcaster – anointed a handful of activists to speak as leaders of #BlackLivesMatter, and offered them a platform to release a set of policy recommendations that claim to address the issue of police violence. The stated goals […]
I was heartened by the United Families and Friends Campaign against deaths in custody (UFFC) annual march in October 2014, even though it was still small. In 2013, around 100 people marched on Whitehall, whilst one year later there was a much improved number of around 300. The 300 came together […]
Why Every Struggle Is Now a Struggle Against the Police It should have come as no surprise when the grand jury in St. Louis refused to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who murdered Michael Brown last August in Ferguson, Missouri. Various politicians and media outlets had laboured to prepare […]
The most significant changes in mental health legislation in a generation were made with the introduction of the 2007 Mental Health Act. At the time, Black Mental Health UK (BMH UK) publicly stated that the new measures within this law would be a matter of life and death for black […]
We shouldn’t be surprised by the tactics a desperate political class use to retain control, courtesy of advances in technology and the creation of discursive threats (traitors, communists, drug cartels, terrorists, foreigners, workshy). Tantalising insights have always surfaced intermittently around surveillance in the US and the UK. Yet people were shocked as […]
The logic of punishment in democratic states Crime pays – especially in the public debate. These days, almost everybody seems to be concerned with how best to fight crime. While there are divergent approaches, many believe in the need for punishment and for the state to use force (where would we […]
The cell door opened for slop out to discharge the piss bucket. Bang, bang and bang again. The sound of an unwieldy wooden scrubbing brush clubbing me in the head. Two much older lads decided that I was responsible for doing a “Borstal Whistle” during the night. This was one […]
Feel as though nobody cares if I live or die So I might as well begin to put some action in my life – Judas Priest, Breaking the Law At midnight on the 1st September 2012 it became a criminal offence to live or intend to live in a residential building […]
Gary Wagaman vs. Anita Alvarez and The State of Illinois On 6th June, 2012, Chicago resident Gary Wagaman was arrested along with nearly a dozen protesters during a peaceful march in solidarity with Quebec’s striking students. Gary sustained ligament damage during the arrest and wore a hard splint on his right […]
The Court of Protection (CoP) is a ‘specialist’ court in English law which hears cases concerning adults deemed to be lacking the capacity to make decisions for themselves. The court passes down judgements which cast aside an individual’s right to legitimate political protest. Through the use of expert testimony from medical […]