While Covid-19 highlighted and exacerbated longstanding racial and ethnic inequalities in the UK across a range of social arenas, the ensuing crises in living standards and the criminalising of protests could further entrench these inequalities. As the pandemic wanes, we are thrusted deeper into a confluence of crises: Governmental inertia in response to the cost of living crisis and climate change, and a coordinated attack on the civic right to protest by the state’s Policing, Crimes, Sentencing and Courts Bill. While Covid-19 threw existing inequalities into sharp relief, these crises continue to disproportionally impact the lives of society’s most vulnerable people.
Racial Inequality in Times of Crises was a week-long online conference exploring the impact of present-day crises on ethnic minority people in the UK. The event took place online each day at 5pm from Monday 31st October to Thursday 3rd November, and was hosted in partnership between Stuart Hall Foundation and the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE).
We invited researchers and practitioners working across the fields of sociology, history, art, media, activism, politics, and healthcare to take part in a series of live online presentations and discussions that focused on a number of areas impacted by Covid-19 and ensuing crises: Education and Policing, Activism, Housing, and Healthcare.
PANELS
Day 1: Education and Policing
Monday 31st October, 5 – 6.30pm
This panel thought through the connections between education and policing, the expansion of prevent, and ideas around alternative curriculums.
• Zahra Bei, No More Exclusions
• John Holmwood, People’s Review of Prevent, University of Nottingham
• Remi Joseph-Salisbury, University of Manchester, CoDE
Chair:
• Bridget Byrne, University of Manchester, CoDE
Day 2: Activism
Tuesday 1st November, 5 – 6.30pm
This session focused on the state of queer activism in the UK, coalition building in times of crises, and queer class politics.
• Omie Dale, UK Black Pride
• Jason Okundaye, The Guardian
• Saskia Papadakis, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants
Chair:
• Ruth Ramsden-Karelse, ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry
Day 3: Housing
Wednesday 2nd November, 5 – 6.30pm
The panel focused on responses to the cost of living crisis and the housing crisis, impact on low-income communities, and resistance to the crisis.
• Nigel de Noronha, University of Nottingham
• Stuart Hodkinson, University of Leeds
• Samir Jeraj, The New Statesman
Chair:
• Ruby Lott-Lavigna, openDemocracy
Day 4: Healthcare
Thursday 3rd November, 5 – 6.30pm
The panel discussed the legacies of covid, draw connections between cost of living crisis and healthcare, and the impacts of privatisation on low-income communities.
• Laia Bécares, Kings College London, CoDE
• Jabeer Butt, Race Equality Foundation
• Dawn Edge, University of Manchester
Chair:
• Dharmi Kapadia, University of Manchester, CoDE
For full speaker biographies, visit the event page.
ABOUT CoDE
The Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) is an ESRC funded research centre providing theoretically informed, empirically grounded and policy-relevant research on ethnic inequalities in the UK. They bring together expertise from a range of disciplines including sociology, demography, economics, history, geography, political science, cultural studies and seek to communicate their research to a wide range of audiences.
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