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OBV would like to congratulate Maurice Price who was the winner of our Black History Month book competition.

Mr Price wins a signed copy of Remi Kapo's Reap the Forgotten Harvest, labelled as one of the greatest novels of slavery which covered all aspects of life on a slave ship.

Mr Price gave the correct answer to the first question of what is an Astrolabe, which is a navigation instrument to work out the position of a ship at sea. He also gave his hero from the slave trade period, writing about John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace.

Founder of Prospect Magazine criticised.

Whether you are Black or White most people know what the BNP Leader Nick Griffin stands for. The fascist boot boys that follow him around, along with his own putrid rhetoric, ‘ Sink those ships full of Africans that try to come to Europe’, ensures that Griffin is about as transparent and as honest, in his rabid racism as he could possibly be.

Very often, racially inflammatory comments are made in the British press against the Black community. Despite the outrage that often occurs after these comments are made, these racially offensive comments still persist. The prevalence of these attacks in the British media are starkly illustrated in two famous race rows; David Starkey's comment on 'the Whites are becoming Blacks' and Shilpa Shetty's race row in Celebrity Big Brother.

For over two weeks, protestors have set up camp outside St Paul's Cathedral, London as part of the "Occupy London" movement. London is just one of a number of cities around the world to be "occupied" with similar protests taking place across 951 cities in 82 countries.

The movement emphasises the flaws of capitalism and a turn towards global democracy. The protesters also support ending corporate greed, respecting the earth, and moving towards socialism, which they believe will give everyone a better future and life.

According to the New York Times, the USA economic crisis is also a 'racial crisis'. We could go one step further and equally say this global economic crisis is becoming a chronic racial crisis too.

Why? Because the same dynamics that are occurring in the USA: African Americans and Latinos being hit disproportionately hardy than white Americans, is very much the same here in the UK, and one suspects across wider Europe too. The data is compelling: in the USA unemployment rates in July were 8.2 %for whites, 16.8 % and 11.3 % for Latinos.

American OBV interns Oksana Trofimenko and Danny Mucinskas examine how one organisation in America has started a protest against "racist" Halloween costumes.

A student organisation at Ohio University is challenging some Halloween costumes as racist. Students Teaching Against Racism in Society (STARS) have initiated a poster campaign targeting racist costumes. The posters depict five minority students holding photographs of costumes related to their respected races, with the slogan “This is not who I am, and this is not okay.”

For 13 years the families of those who have tragically suffered the death of a loved one in custody have gathered together to make their annual sojourn from Trafalgar Square to 10 Downing Street. Dressed in black, they make their march silently with no placards or chanting as they hand in their letter on behalf of the families requesting that the Prime Minister hear their cries for justice. They have done so without incident or arrest during that time.

It has been two months since Birmingham became a host of cities which were hit by the riots which gripped the nation.

In a bid to try and inflame further violence, the English Defence League decided to hold their rally in the city this weekend, probably hoping to spark off the same kind of troubles which took place two years ago when they last visited Birmingham.

Back in 2009, there were running battles between EDL supporters and anti-facist protestors who were holding counter-demonstrations.

The defender at the centre of the racism row which has engulfed the front and back pages this week has spoken to the media about the allegations.

But QPR's Anton Ferdinand has said nothing about the allegations that England captain John Terry had shouted 'you ******* black ****’ during QPR's clash with Chelsea in the Premier League last Sunday.

The alleged incident is now being investigated by the Football Association while the police have made enquiries.