For the past 50 years the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has been at the cutting edge of research and analysis around racial injustice in Britain, Europe, and the rest of the world. Join us for the 'New Circuits of Anti-racism' - an IRR50 conference on racism, imperialism and new lines of resistance.

Programme for the day

Doors open at 09.45

10.00 - 10.30: IRR50 and the revolutionary act

A conversation on the transformation of the IRR and what the work has entailed since.

Jenny Bourne, joint editor of Race & Class, Colin Prescod, chair of the council of the IRR, Chaired by John Narayan, King’s College London

10.30 – 11.30 - The influence of A. Sivanandan’s ideas

A panel on the influence and the continued relevance of A. Sivanandan’s key works, including ‘From resistance to rebellion’, ‘RAT and the degradation of black struggle’, ‘New Circuits of Imperialism’ and 'When Memory Dies'

Suresh Grover, director of The Monitoring Group, Miriyam Aouragh, University of Westminster School of Media Arts & Design, John Narayan, King’s College London, Priya Guns, fiction writer and actor who is doing her PhD on A. Sivanandan. Chaired by Jenny Bourne

Tea and coffee break 11.30 – 11.45

11.45 – 13.00 - Radical internationalism and shifts in the global order

This panel charts some of the shifts that are happening to the global world order – the decline of western hegemony, war and imperialism, crises in capitalism – and asks what is the impact of such changes, and what does it mean to be a radical internationalist today?

Rafeef Ziadah, King’s College London, Akram Salhab, PhD student at Queen Mary University of London, Liz Fekete, director of the IRR. Chaired by Avery Gordon, Birkbeck School of Law

Lunch 1pm – 2pm

14.15 - 15.30 - A keynote conversation with Barbara Ransby and Derecka Purnell

Barbara Ransby, historian, writer and long-time activist based in Chicago and Derecka Purnell, human rights lawyer and social justice organiser based in the US. Chaired by Surviving Society’s Chantelle Lewis and IRR’s Sophia Siddiqui

15.30 - 17.20 - Anti-racist organising today

A roundtable discussion with key anti-racist organisers who have recently co-written an important new book on anti-racism, abolition, feminism and the role of the academy.

Azfar Shafi and Ilyas Nagdee, co-authors of Race to the Bottom: reclaiming antiracism (Pluto Press, 2022)

Remi Joseph-Salisbury and Laura Connelly, co-authors of Anti-racist Scholar Activism (Manchester University Press, 2021)

Shanice McBean, co-author of Abolition Revolution with Aviah Sarah Day (Pluto Press, forthcoming)

Chaired by Jasbinder S. Nijjar

NB: We are exploring options to live stream this event for those that cannot attend in person.