Developing an Independent Anti-Racist Model for Asylum Rights Organizing in England

Since the mid-1990s third-sector professionals and organizations have come under increasing pressure to help enforce restrictive and punitive policies towards refugees and asylum seekers. This paper presents one response, using an empirical case study to develop an Independent Anti-Racist Model for asylum rights organizing. This combines data from a three-year study comparing four organizations in a major city in England and reflections on the author's experience as a member of the case study organization, contextualized in the literature. The paper identifies a related set of features distinguishing this model from other types of organization and the conditions making it possible, and concludes that it offers wider lessons for work with groups in a conflictual relationship with the state