Racial violence in the UK

Jon Burnett is, with the aid of IRR’s ongoing multi-faceted database on racial attacks in the UK, undertaking a 3-year project into racial violence to raise the political importance of the problem, particularly through the media, and influence policy makers on the issue. In addition to publishing ongoing reports through IRR News, he briefs journalists and commentators.

New geographies of racism - An additional short-term project examining, Plymouth, Stoke-on-Trent and Peterborough, notes the changing characteristics of racial violence throughout the UK – how geographies of racism are altering in a wider climate of economic austerity, shifting patterns of migration and settlement and against the backdrop of new forms of racism exacerbated by national policies.

 Recent publications and reports include:

  • Racial violence: facing reality: A report on how racial violence is shaping the UK (February 2013). The report can be downloaded here (pdf file, 177kb).
  • New geographies of racism: Peterborough: A report focusing on racial violence in Peterborough, where the city’s migrant workers have been demonised and vilified by the tabloids in recent years (July 2012). The report can be downloaded here (pdf file, 384kb).
  • New geographies of racism: Stoke-on-Trent: A report focusing on racial violence in Stoke-on-Trent, which has been devastated by deindustrialisation, and where the proportion of the city’s Black and Minority Ethnic population has doubled in two decades (November 2011). The report can be downloaded here (pdf file, 440kb).
  • New geographies of racism: Plymouth: A report focusing on racial violence in Plymouth which is based on detailed research into the history and political economy of the city (June 2011). The report can be downloaded here (pdf file, 198kb).
  • Racial violence: the buried issue: An IRR report on dangerously high levels of racial violence in the UK – a violence which is spreading into new areas (June 2010). The report can be downloaded here  (pdf file, 300kb).
  • Counting the cost: An IRR report on how institutions have responded to incidents of racial violence (March 2001).  The report can be downloaded here (pdf file, 120kb).

The IRR’s research on racial violence is supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust.