Description

Is racism explained by ‘white privilege’? Is oppression ultimately a systemic problem or one that emanates from ‘biased’ individuals? And, how is racism connected to wider questions of inequality and power in society?

The new wave of Black Lives Matter protests in Britain and across the world have posed these questions and many others sharply. On the streets and online, millions of people are grappling with how to turn the burning desire for change into concrete demands, and how to finally win freedom.

The essays in this pamphlet critically examine some of the best known concepts in contemporary anti-racism. The authors challenge some of the liberal orthodoxies regularly regurgitated by mainstream politicians and media pundits.

But they also ask searching questions about ideas promoted by some within the movement—ideas which, if taken to their strategic conclusion, would rob the struggle of its radicalism. The essays presented here critically examine the ideas of ‘privilege’, ‘unconscious bias’, ‘identity’ and ‘intersectionality’ and offer a socialist strategy for building a movement capable of confronting and defeating racism.