I’m a somnolent member of Advisory Board of Red Pepper http://www.redpepper.org.uk/ magazine, which, along with the journal Soundings http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/reviews.html pretty well expresses where I stand. I continue to support local, radical campaigns when they emerge, and I am on the committee which organises the Taking Soundings discussion group in Leeds http://takingsoundingsleeds.blogspot.com/. I have been active in campaign to build a memorial to David Oluwale, commemorating his tragic death, thinking about those who are still condemned to destitution in Leeds, and searching for social justice in this cities which seems to shine until you scratch beneath its surface. Watch out for a new educational charity we are currently forming called The David Oluwale Memorial Association. I work with Together for Peace in Leeds (See http://www.t4p.org.uk/ ) and I am one of its Trustees. I support the Abraham Path Initiative in the Middle East (See http://www.abrahampath.org/about ) and I am a Trustee and Board member of the UK Friends of Abraham’s Path (Masar).
Public sociology
I support Michael Burawoy’s advocacy of ‘public sociology’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_sociology In this spirit, I have helped organise events and conferences on the theme of new migrants, refugees and asylum in the UK. Proceedings of two of the conferences I co-organised can be downloaded here:
Can there be such a thing as a good asylum system?
Refugees Migrants Conference Proceedings
