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Roundtable Book Discussion: The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line (Dr Kojo Koram)

When:
Venue: Birkbeck 30 Russell Square

No booking required

Roundtable Book Discussion: The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line (Dr Kojo Koram)

Dr Kojo Koram, Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck presents his edited collection 'The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line'.

About 'The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line'

The War on Drugs has led to millions of people dead, displaced and incarcerated. Disproportionately enforced on oppressed races, international drug prohibition has reinforced the colour line across the globe.

While laws prohibiting the production, sale and use of particular drugs are presented as politically neutral and objective, this collection reveals the racist impact of the war on drugs across multiple continents and in numerous situations. From racialised drugs policing at festivals in the UK to the necropolitical wars in Juarez, Mexico and from the exchange of drug policing programs between the United States and Israel to the management of black bodies in Brazil, this collection proves that the regulation of drugs and race is an international, and intentional, disaster.

Pushing forward the debate and activism led by groups such as Black Lives Matter and calling for radical changes in drug policy legislation and prison reform, both nationally and internationally, this collection cuts deep and rings true for all people fighting racism today.

Find out more here.

The event will be a roundtable discussion on the books featuring the following speakers:

Niamh Eastwood is Executive Director of Release. Release is the national centre of expertise on drugs and drugs law. The organisation, founded in 1967, campaigns directly on issues related to drug use and to drug laws. Release is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, as well as being part of the Vienna NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs (VNGOC) and the New York NGO Committee on Drugs (NYNGOC).

Imani Robinson is a London-born, writer, curator and facilitator. In 2018 she organised RE:GENERATE festival, a Black-centred UK arts festival focused on the intersections of drug policy, racial justice, and liberation.

Dr Ashley Bohrer is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College. Her research focuses on the intersections of capitalism, colonialism, racism, and hetero/sexism in both the early modern period and in the contemporary world.

Dr Oscar Guardiola-Rivera is a Professor in Law at Birkbeck, University of London and author of What If Latin America Ruled the World?

This event is supported by the Centre for Research on Race and Law.

This event is free to attend however booking is required via this page.

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