BEN TURLEY reports on the implications of a House of Lords’ ruling in the school uniform court case In my article, ‘Beggars Belief’, in the last edition of Democratic Socialist, I reported on the Court of Appeal case of Begum v Denbridge High School. The court decided that the school had infringed the right...
It’s the end of the world as we know it
The British National Party won its fifth local council seat in a matter of months in Halifax in January, attracting a brief flurry of national media comment and political hand wringing. BEN TURLEY looks at what happened. “Halifax is a wonderful place and its people are not racist,” Alice Mahon MP said the day...
The Travellers’ tales
Gypsies have become the object of increasingly racist, anti-immigration demonology over the last few years. As MATTHEW BROWN reports, they have been the one of the most victimised groups in society for centuries. It could be any day in modern London. A tube pulls into King’s Cross underground station. The doors slide open and...
Gone but not forgotten
JEAN WOOD reports on the plight of Kosovan refugees sent back from Leeds to their own country and a very uncertain future. Just over a year ago, Serbian forces – intent on cleansing their region of Albanian people – drove thousands from their homes. Many of the luckier ones, who escaped the shootings, rapes...
Towering success
The east end of London used to be one the BNP’s electoral targets. MATTHEW BROWN reports on how the policies and priorities of one local borough has improved community relations. Juneha Chowdhury is nearing the end of her first year as a newly qualified teacher. It hasn’t been easy but, at 27, she’s finally...
“Mavis Grimett is out”: The rise of fascism in the north
BEN TURLEY looks at some of the social and political roots of the BNP’s success in northern and midlands towns, and offers some suggestions for how they should be tackled in the future. The local council election results on 1 May 2003 confirmed the BNP as a significant electoral force in some northern and...
Racisms, multiculturalisms and fascisms
BARRY WINTER argues for more plural ways of thinking, if we are to meet the challenges posed by racism and the far right. The title of this article, ‘Racisms, Multiculturalisms and Fascisms’, may at first, appear perverse. But it is not meant to be. The reason for adding an ‘s’ to the three terms,...
Valley Fever
Ben Tullett reports on the battle to beat back the BNP in Halifax during the latest round of local elections Outside London, the June 2004 council elections were particularly significant. Following boundary changes, in large swathes of the country all seats were up for election, meaning that instead of having just one vote, many...