Tendayi Bloom (@TendayiB) In December 2018, the Global Compact for Migration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The headline of the fourth of its 23 objectives is as follows: ‘Ensure that all migrants have proof of legal identity and adequate documentation’. Considering this objective in detail indicates that it is often documents (or... Continue Reading →
Black Lives Matter — Is This A Turning Point?
By Nicholas Bailey (@imnickbailey) and Nando Sigona (@nandosigona), University of Birmingham https://www.facebook.com/unibirmingham/videos/310858256686260/ BLM became something very different from its previous incarnation on the day George Floyd died. It transitioned from social organisation to symbolising a societal ideal. By any definition, 2020 has been a dramatic year. It was already the year of Australian bushfires, the... Continue Reading →
My escape from COVID-19: Turkey’s emergency return programme for Turkish citizens abroad
By Bircan Ciytak (PhD student, University of Birmingham) On April 15, 2020, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that, as part of the Covid-19 return program, around 25 thousand Turkish citizens from 70 countries, the majority of whom are students, were flown back to Turkey and kept in quarantine upon arrival for 14 days... Continue Reading →
The banality (and lethality) of racism
Black lives matter and we stand united against racism. We understand that racism is systemic and structural in our society and works because so many are complicit with it. And we all have a part to play in ending it. We understand that undoing that complicity means listening, respecting, learning, mobilising and making space. And... Continue Reading →
George Floyd, Amy Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery and the banality of structural racism
Lucid and powerful analysis by Trevor Noah on George Floyd, Amy Cooper, Ahmaud Arbery and the banality of structural racism in US today against the backdrop of Covid-19 and widespread protests across the country. https://youtu.be/Jb4Bg8mu2aM The New York Times has reconstructed how George Floyd was killed in 8 minutes and 46 seconds of police custody.... Continue Reading →
Social justice, accountability and the politics of crisis
In this episode of Conversations with Iris, Lyndsey Stonebridge, professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham, talks to Daniel Trilling, former editor of the New Humanist, journalist and author of Lights in the Distance. Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (2018) and Bloody Nasty People. The Rise of Britain's... Continue Reading →
What Hannah Arendt can teach us about work in the time of Covid-19, Lyndsey Stonebridge in The New Statesman
According to the government, we are now supposed to be getting back to work. But what does “work” mean in the time of Covid-19? Lyndsey Stonebridge asks in her latest contribution in The New Statesman.
London is the EU’s most ‘Europolitan’ capital – what its EU families feel about Brexit
Valeria, Shahadat and Leonardo – an EU family living in London. Francesca MooreNando Sigona, University of Birmingham London is one of the capitals of the EU, home to over 1.1m non-British EU citizens, including a large number of families and children. This, according to my team’s ongoing analysis of data from across the EU, is... Continue Reading →
How faith can help refugee and migrant women to heal from sexual and gender-based violence
SEREDA Researcher, Sandra Pertek, shares her learning about how faith can help refugee and migrant women to heal from Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Southern Tunisia.
Thinking Through Policy Alternatives for Addressing the Needs of SGBV Survivors
Dr Saime Ozcurumez , a SEREDA Project Researcher from Bilkent University, Turkey, discusses policy alternatives for addressing the needs of SGBV survivors.