After Trump, let’s fight for all the great and simple things that make us human

Like many others in the US, I gathered with friends last weekend to try to come to terms with the re-election of Donald Trump as president. None of us were surprised by his victory but, with his winning every swing state, the Senate, and, as seemed likely, the House, we were all depressed at the…

The “war on terror” is the ghost haunting this year’s election

Trumpism is the war on terror coming home. Meanwhile, Biden’s war on terror mentality is distorting his policy on Gaza. No one ever announced that the “war on terror” was over. But the rushed withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan in 2021 was the closest the U.S. came to an official end point. There was no…

Islamophobia in the US is rooted in its unconditional support for Israel

Tracing the rise of Islamophobia, from the 1973 oil embargo to Trump’s election to Hamas’s attack, Arun Kundnani argues that support for Israel is central. But Americans are finally starting to see through the smokescreen of anti-Muslim propaganda. Anti-Muslim racism rests on a simple truth: to justify US foreign policy in the Middle East – in particular,…

Thirty-seven migrants died while attempting to cross the border from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Melilla on 24 June 2022.

There are two kinds of antiracism. Only one works, and it has nothing to do with ‘diversity training’

While liberal antiracists argue over vocabulary, radicals take direct action – which is the only way to change the system In news that ought to please antiracist campaigners everywhere, just recently everybody seems to be talking about antiracism. Chief executives such as Larry Fink of BlackRock, one of the most powerful financial companies in the…

Placards wait ahead of an anti-racism march in London, in which speakers expressed anger at the Illegal Migration Bill.

The hidden class politics of the UK’s immigration debate

Liberals preach cultural tolerance to the working classes while inflicting death-by-policy on migrants Government ministers warned of an influx of migrants overwhelming public services. Newspaper headlines declared war on imagined armies of welfare cheats invading Britain through easily penetrated borders. Plans to build accommodation centres for asylum seekers were abandoned in the face of local…

Deepa Kumar: The racist roots of the War on Terror

In this fascinating conversation, Arun Kundnani interviews Deepa Kumar who traces the longer historical and racist roots of the War on Terror that in the last 20 years has killed at least one million people. They discuss how Arab and Muslim communities were racialised and targeted well before 9/11 and what interests this dehumanisation served.…

Training is the Graveyard of Struggle: An Anti-Racist History

The following is the text of a talk given at Goldsmiths College’s Department of Media, Communication, and Cultural Studies on December 11, 2020. Anti-racist training should not be part of the demands we make because it’s the easiest way for our struggles to be co-opted and defanged. Training as a solution implies theories of racism…