by Siana Bangura Have you heard of Sheku Bayoh? Sheku Ahmed Tejan Bayoh, a Sierra Leonean man who worked for British Gas and had two young children, died on 3rd May 2015, after being arrested by police in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He had been detained, handcuffed, pepper-sprayed, and put in leg restraints following an alleged altercation… Read More
Media Diversified Experts Directory launch event a success!
Last night, Media Diversified was proud to join with the London Press Club and ESI Media to co-host the launch of the new Media Diversified Experts Directory, a searchable and managed database of BAME experts and professionals from a variety of fields, all of whom have experience in media settings. The launch was marked with a drinks… Read More
To the organisers of the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction:
We, the undersigned, add our names to this letter to highlight our anger and sense of betrayal at the 2015 judging panel for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction: a panel which includes Grace Dent and Cathy Newman, two prominent journalists who have both recently contributed to the creeping rise of Islamophobic vitriol in mainstream… Read More
Desperately Seeking Equality and Justice
by Pragna Patel What would a set of key asks from Southall Black Sisters (SBS) look like? We can start by looking at a snapshot of the issues that SBS has faced in just the first two months of 2015; we find new and recurring themes and concerns which, taken together, encapsulate the enormity of… Read More
The Salvation Army campaign: black erasure and white dominance
by Huma Munshi At first glance, the Salvation Army’s campaign to raise awareness of violence against women seems a bold move — turning on its head the dress that broke the internet and the often transparent marketing tricks that large advertising campaigns deploy. It sheds light on the horror of domestic violence. 1.2 million women in… Read More
Introducing The Malcolm X Movement
Building towards a new wave of Global South decolonial anti-imperialist Resistance in Britain by Sukant Chandan Malcolm X is esteemed as a towering figure in the history of Resistance against the ‘Western’ capitalist-colonial order for, in the main, two reasons: he and those he worked with took inspiration, leadership and positive examples from actually existing global ‘Third… Read More
Around London in 9 Breakfasts… No. 1 Ackee and Saltfish
It’s National Breakfast Week! via MyVoucherCodes This map explores the cultural diversity within the city by looking at some of the breakfasts people from lots of different cultural backgrounds eat. It also links to recipes for each of the meals, so you can try your hand at making something a little different for breakfast, too.… Read More
Some Notes From a Discussion of the “Network for Social and Political Rights in Athens”
To comrades by Bernd Kasparek, Athens, 28th of January 2015 just after the election… Even if you might consider them largely symbolic, it is the small things that matter, and that make the difference. The police, who had for many years been stationed at the main streets leading into the Athenian neighbourhood of Exarchia, has… Read More
#DontLetThemDrown: This is not a border enforcement issue, it’s a humanitarian crisis
by Kiri Kankhwende ‘Just over a month ago, 500 people drowned off the coast of Malta. As the International Organization for Migration describes, “two survivors reported that smugglers deliberately rammed and sunk their ship when migrants refused to board a less seaworthy vessel…there were only 11 identified survivors; witness reported that as many as 100… Read More
The Takedown of a Pick-up Artist
Anyone remember the character Tom Cruise played in the Paul Thomas Anderson film, Magnolia? For those who don’t, Cruise played Frank T.J. Mackey, a brash, loathsome motivational speaker, hiding personal trauma. Arguably the finest performance of his career, he is an abhorrent distillation of patriarchy. He runs classes on how to “conquer women” to a rapt male audience, opening the seminar with the mantra, “Respect the c*ck! And tame the c*nt!” Read More