Siraj Izhar

Siraj Izhar is a London based social activist & artist. Recent writings include articles in the New Left Project (on the riots of 2011), Occupied Times of London, Low Impact, the Hermeneutic Circular (on activism and RD Laing). He blogs occasionally at amplife​.org
Soft Power and Hotspot Life: The Lessons of Lesbos 2015–18

Soft Power and Hotspot Life: The Lessons of Lesbos 2015–18

A hotspot, to explain, is the idea of detaining arriving migrants and refugees at one spot for processing, the hotspot RIC (Reception and Identification Centre). It is another instrument to add to a growing collection for a common European asylum policy. But that is a...

The Workerant

The Workerant

In the unfolding drama of work in the digital age, new circumstance demands new language. Gig economy, on-demand work, sharing economy, precarious work, automation, zero-hour contracts, outsourcing, workfare. Whilst the entire stage set changes, the central character...

The Republics of the Jungle

The Republics of the Jungle

The Jungle is not just a camp for the undocumented, it is also a social body and above all a political subject; the way it has evolved gives us insights into how the political problems that produced it can be resolved. On the 26th of September 2016 the President of...

Shut it Down #YarlsWood

Shut it Down #YarlsWood

Reading the migrant detention centre within a global economy of violence through new formations of resistance and solidarity. Yarl's Wood IRC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1t3DFLplo On a wet windy November day in Bedfordshire, outside the notorious Yarl's Wood...

One Piece at a Time

One Piece at a Time

On work, theft and the age of automation through a reading of Johnny Cash's classic song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cW_yHo3PY Johnny Cash's One Piece at a Time is a song about how he makes his own dream Cadillac by smuggling out all the parts from the factory...