In this guest post, Bernadette Hyland reviews Michael Herbert’s biography on Manchester’s black middleweight boxing champion and communist, Len Johnson. When my parents moved to Clayton, a working class suburb of Manchester in 1963, it was a large sprawling council estate surrounded by engineering and manufacturing factories and dominated by two busy main roads, Ashton […]
William Cuffay, black pioneer of the Chartist movement
Working class radicals from our past are very rarely remembered within our public sphere – there are few monuments to their feats and their personal collections feature little within the official archives. William Cuffay was one of these working class radicals, preserving no diary, autobiography or papers and his lack of wealth and power leaving only faint traces of his life to explore
‘That could have been me’ – Desmond Ziggy Mombeyarara on George Floyd’s death and police brutality in the UK
The man Tasered by Greater Manchester Police in front of his terrified child speaks about George Floyd’s brutal death in police custody in the US. Floyd’s death has seen the US gripped with riots and peaceful protests, with many demonstrations in the UK showing solidarity with the civil rights movement in America. A man who […]
Far right mobilise in Manchester following damning child sex abuse report
Far right protesters gathered in St. Peter’s Square brandishing banners with racially charged slogans, following the publication of a report into Operation Augusta – an investigation of child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester. Katy Preen reports on who we really need to hold accountable for the failures to properly investigate and prosecute child sex abuse. […]
There’s a reason why you don’t see many black and ethnic minority faces in cultural spaces
Roaa Ali, a research associate at the University of Manchester, investigates the issues around ethnic inequalities in the arts, where BAME people are underrepresented in the creation and consumption of artistic work. Guest article from The Conversation. Have you ever been to the theatre, looked around, and thought about how predominantly white the audience is? […]
Can degrowth steer us towards a sustainable future?
Vincent Liegey is a spokesperson for the degrowth movement, which is investigating and promoting alternatives to our current unsustainable global economic model. A model which is proving disastrous for our climate and environment while creating growing inequality, instability and misery in societies across the world. On a recent visit to Manchester he discussed the myriad […]
Letter: We stand with Jeremy Corbyn – just as he always stood with us
Organisations and individuals including Kehinde Andrews, Hanif Kureishi, Ahdaf Soueif, Gillian Slovo, Robert Del Naja and Anish Kapoor urge BAME and migrant communities to vote for Labour and Jeremy Corbyn. Guest article from Red Pepper. As BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) representatives, organisations, anti-racist activists and individuals involved in local, national, and international campaigns, […]
Peterloo and Protest at the People’s History Museum
A new exhibition opened last Saturday at the People’s History Museum in Manchester to mark two hundred years since the Peterloo Massacre. Featuring artefacts never displayed before, as well as a short film giving the whole history, Peterloo is brought up to date with a Protest Lab, where people from Salford and beyond can put […]
Unite Against Fascism urges opposition to Tommy Robinson rally attacking the BBC at Media City
The racist graffiti on the home of a Salford family has been condemned by Unite Against Fascism (UAF), which is jointly organising the protest against far right Tommy Robinson at Media City this Saturday, 23 February. “Worryingly, we are seeing a number of racist attacks, such as the disgraceful graffiti on this family’s Salford home” […]
The UK Border Regime: the ‘hostile environment’ dissected
Like many other UK citizens, I owe my existence in this country to family members who migrated here. My father and his family sailed here from India in 1948, escaping the horrors of partition, to settle in Farnworth. My maternal grandmother migrated from Ireland to Salford, seeking to escape the grinding poverty she grew up […]