It looks like those nice people at Arora Hotels, not having learnt their lesson from the Mercure Hotel farce, still have the hots for getting in to the business of locking children up. Yes, they are in the process of submitting plans to turn Crawley Forest School, a residential school for children with behavioural & learning difficulties, into one of the new so-called 'Pre-Departure Accommodation facilities' that have been cobbled together as a sop to their Lib Dem Coalition partners as part of the lie of ending "child detention for immigration purposes".
Having put forward a speculative planning application in 2009 to turn what was a less than profitable Crawley hotel (the Mercure) into a much more lucrative secure detention centre (i.e. prison, or even more accurately, internment camp) to hold refugee children and families, despite the Home Office and UK Borders Agency not being in the loop, it seems that their efforts have put them on the map for future Home Office plans. So, as the Home Office rushes to find premises for these detention centre-lite facilities and save face on Nick Clegg's behalf, Arora appear to have seen yet another opportunity to join the big table of Prison Industrial Complex companies by fobbing off another of their failed enterprises, namely the Crawley Forest School [1], onto the Borders Agency and finally make a killing in the detention centre game.
At least Arora are claiming that the Crawley Forest School is a failed enterprise as there are currently only 8 residential pupils despite the school being opened to house 35 residential pupils (and 35 day pupils) [see the circular]. The school itself apparently disputes this assertion, claiming that it was only ever equipped to accommodate 12-18 pupils. Clearly someone is being more than economic with the truth. The school (which, up until being contacted by local objectors, was total unaware of the plans for the detention facility) has also been given a rather precipitous deadline of 1 April this year to pack its bags and leave, in order to all time to convert the buildings into this 'Pre-Departure Accommodation facility' by the Coalition's self-imposed deadline of 11 May. [2]
Another 'less than correct statement' apparently contained in the circular is that "[t]he children will be relocated to alternative school accommodation for the start of the Summer term". According to the school again the residential pupils are in fact merely being returned to the care of their local councils and families rather than being found alternative accommodation by The Crossroads Childrens Education Services Ltd., as the circular clearly implies. It seems that you can't trust anyone when a quick buck is to be made from imprisoning children, especially where the Arora Group and its minions are concerned.
No Borders Brighton says: No To 'Pre-Departure Accommodation' facilities and No To Child Detention in any form. Not in Pease Pottage or in Anyone's Back Yard!
[1] Run by The Crossroads Group [registered company name: The Crossroads Childrens Education Services Ltd. and not to be confused with the US hedge fund!], a wholly owned subsidiary of the Arora Group, it occupies the old BAA training centre in Pease Pottage at the southern end of the M23.
[2] The date they promised to end the detention of children by - yet how this can be equated with the ending of the detention of children completely escapes the author. Admittedly some children will be "permitted to leave the facility for short period such as to visit the shops or cinema, subject to a risk assessment and suitable adult supervision to ensure their safe-guarding and welfare are protected", but their parent's will still be held 'hostage' as guarantee against their safe return.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Denise McNeil Freed On Bail
Denise McNeil was released from Holloway prison on Tuesday evening. She said, "After 28 months, 1 week and 5 days I am finally reunited with my family and supporters. We're going to keep campaigning for Sheree and Aminata and all the people in Yarl's Wood until it's closed."
In February 2010, refugees and migrants held at the Yarl's Wood immigration prison organised a hunger strike, demanding an end to indefinite imprisonment and abuse. Their courageous protest lasted five weeks, despite violent attacks by Serco's private security guards, who manage the detention centre. Their action was "for everyone in detention."
Over 70 women of colour participated in the hunger strike which forced the authorities to release many of them. In retribution, several people involved in the hunger strike were singled out and moved to prisons. The effect of this is also to intimidate other detainees from speaking out about their experience of the immigration system. After Denise was released two women targeted in this way are still behind bars: Sheree Wilson and Aminata Camara. They are being held without charge and a court order. They have been away from their families, friends and communities for far too long. Supporters say that the campaign to free them would continue.
'We are delighted that Denise has been released from prison today' one of her supporters said. "We will continue to fight for Sheree and Aminata to be granted bail and for Denise to stay in Britain with her children. When they try to silence people by putting them in prison we will fight back."
Supporters packed the court today to show solidarity with Denise. A letter from Denise's youngest son was also given to the Judge. Denise said 'Tre's letter touched the heart of the Judge'. Several groups were represented including No One is Illegal, No Borders, Crossroads Women's Centre, Communities of Resistance, Stop Deportation Network and members of the RMT.
Sheree Wilson will have a bail hearing on Tuesday 1st February.Your support is very welcome. If you would like to come to the court to show support for her or to get involved in the campaign contact: freedenisenow@gmail.com.
More information on Free Denise McNeil: http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html
Read the recent article in the Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/denise-mcneil-yarls-wood
Stay in touch with the campaign: freedenisenow@gmail.com
Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Denise-Now/174533002581566
In February 2010, refugees and migrants held at the Yarl's Wood immigration prison organised a hunger strike, demanding an end to indefinite imprisonment and abuse. Their courageous protest lasted five weeks, despite violent attacks by Serco's private security guards, who manage the detention centre. Their action was "for everyone in detention."
Over 70 women of colour participated in the hunger strike which forced the authorities to release many of them. In retribution, several people involved in the hunger strike were singled out and moved to prisons. The effect of this is also to intimidate other detainees from speaking out about their experience of the immigration system. After Denise was released two women targeted in this way are still behind bars: Sheree Wilson and Aminata Camara. They are being held without charge and a court order. They have been away from their families, friends and communities for far too long. Supporters say that the campaign to free them would continue.
'We are delighted that Denise has been released from prison today' one of her supporters said. "We will continue to fight for Sheree and Aminata to be granted bail and for Denise to stay in Britain with her children. When they try to silence people by putting them in prison we will fight back."
Supporters packed the court today to show solidarity with Denise. A letter from Denise's youngest son was also given to the Judge. Denise said 'Tre's letter touched the heart of the Judge'. Several groups were represented including No One is Illegal, No Borders, Crossroads Women's Centre, Communities of Resistance, Stop Deportation Network and members of the RMT.
Sheree Wilson will have a bail hearing on Tuesday 1st February.Your support is very welcome. If you would like to come to the court to show support for her or to get involved in the campaign contact: freedenisenow@gmail.com.
More information on Free Denise McNeil: http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html
Read the recent article in the Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/denise-mcneil-yarls-wood
Stay in touch with the campaign: freedenisenow@gmail.com
Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Denise-Now/174533002581566
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Countrywide Hunger Strike In Greece
A hunger strike by 300 migrants across Greece begins today. It is the latest in a long line of hunger strikes by refugees denied asylum by a regime that currently only approves 0.6% of all applications it receives, that has been regularly criticised by the UN and the rest of the EU for the appalling conditions in its detention centres and its general abuse of foreigners and that now seeks to join the ever-growing list of states that think that building a wall to keep 'them' out is a reasonable solution to a 'problem' that steadfastly refuses to go away. The European Court of Human Rights has also recently criticised Greece (along side Belgium) for its mistreatment of Afghan asylum seekers and 6 EU countries (UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Finland and Denmark) have suspended Dublin II returns of refugees to the country until Greece can guarantee asylum seekers' their human rights and due process in asylum cases.
Hunger Strikers' Statement:
Jan. 25, 2011 Contra Info
We are immigrants and refugees from across Greece. We came here persecuted by poverty, unemployment, wars, and dictatorships. Western multinational companies and their political servants in our countries, left us with no choice but to risk our lives ten times to get to the door of Europe. The West which robs us of our home places to achieve far better standards of living, is our only hope to live like humans. We entered Greece (normally or in other ways) where we work to feed ourselves and our children. We remain at the indignity and the darkness of lawlessness, for the benefit of employers and the State’s agencies by the wild exploitation of our work. We live by our sweat and with the dream to have equal rights with our Greek colleagues, at some point.
Lately, things have become very difficult for us. Wages and pensions are reduced; everything becomes more and more expensive; so the immigrants are presented as if they were the culprits, as they are to blame for the misery and wild exploitation of the Greek workers and minor entrepreneurs. The propaganda of fascist and racist parties and organizations has become the State’s official talk about the immigration issue. Their phraseology is being reproduced unaltered by the mass media when they refer to us. Their ‘proposals’ are enshrined as governmental policies: wall at Evros, navigable army camps and European military forces in the Aegean Sea, crackdowns and assault squads in cities, mass deportations. They try to convince the Greek working-class people that we suddenly constitute a threat against them, that we are to blame for the unprecedented attack they endure by their own governments.
The lies and brutality must be answered immediately; we immigrants and refugees will give this answer. We move forward with our lives now to stop the injustice against us. We demand the legalization of all immigrants, equal political and social rights and obligations like the Greek employees. We ask our Greek fellow workers, everyone who suffers from the exploitation of their efforts, to stand beside us; to support our struggle, so that lies and injustice, fascism and totalitarianism of political and economic elites do not prevail in their home place as well. All these have prevailed in our own countries, and forced us to migrate to be able to live with dignity, we and our children.
We have no other way to make our voice heard, our rights to be spread. Three hundred (300) of us begin nationwide hunger strike in Athens and Thessaloniki on 25 January 2011. We put ourselves at risk, because this is no decent life. We prefer to die here, rather than our children to live what we suffered.
Assembly of immigrant hunger strikers in Greece
January 2011
Hunger Strikers' Statement:
Jan. 25, 2011 Contra Info
We are immigrants and refugees from across Greece. We came here persecuted by poverty, unemployment, wars, and dictatorships. Western multinational companies and their political servants in our countries, left us with no choice but to risk our lives ten times to get to the door of Europe. The West which robs us of our home places to achieve far better standards of living, is our only hope to live like humans. We entered Greece (normally or in other ways) where we work to feed ourselves and our children. We remain at the indignity and the darkness of lawlessness, for the benefit of employers and the State’s agencies by the wild exploitation of our work. We live by our sweat and with the dream to have equal rights with our Greek colleagues, at some point.
Lately, things have become very difficult for us. Wages and pensions are reduced; everything becomes more and more expensive; so the immigrants are presented as if they were the culprits, as they are to blame for the misery and wild exploitation of the Greek workers and minor entrepreneurs. The propaganda of fascist and racist parties and organizations has become the State’s official talk about the immigration issue. Their phraseology is being reproduced unaltered by the mass media when they refer to us. Their ‘proposals’ are enshrined as governmental policies: wall at Evros, navigable army camps and European military forces in the Aegean Sea, crackdowns and assault squads in cities, mass deportations. They try to convince the Greek working-class people that we suddenly constitute a threat against them, that we are to blame for the unprecedented attack they endure by their own governments.
The lies and brutality must be answered immediately; we immigrants and refugees will give this answer. We move forward with our lives now to stop the injustice against us. We demand the legalization of all immigrants, equal political and social rights and obligations like the Greek employees. We ask our Greek fellow workers, everyone who suffers from the exploitation of their efforts, to stand beside us; to support our struggle, so that lies and injustice, fascism and totalitarianism of political and economic elites do not prevail in their home place as well. All these have prevailed in our own countries, and forced us to migrate to be able to live with dignity, we and our children.
We have no other way to make our voice heard, our rights to be spread. Three hundred (300) of us begin nationwide hunger strike in Athens and Thessaloniki on 25 January 2011. We put ourselves at risk, because this is no decent life. We prefer to die here, rather than our children to live what we suffered.
Assembly of immigrant hunger strikers in Greece
January 2011
Friday, 21 January 2011
Free The Yarl's Wood 3!
*Campaign planning meeting, 6pm-7.30pm, Friday 28 January*
Fin Future, 225-229 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, London, N4 2DA (2 minutes from Finsbury Park tube station - come out main entrance, go past Arsenal shop, turn right down Seven Sisters Rd, go under railway bridge and Fin Future is on your right with big windows and yellow/green window frames or come out Seven Sisters Rd exit, and it's just on your right)
In February 2010, women at Yarl's Wood immigration prison went on hunger strike to demand an end to indefinite and abusive imprisonment. The women experienced violent attacks and abusive treatment in an attempt to end their protest. Six women were accused of being ring-leaders and moved into isolation and prisons. Nearly a year later, three women remain in prison without charge: Aminata Camara, Denise McNeil and Sheree Wilson.
Come along to this meeting to plan how to take the campaign for their release forward. Hear messages from the women and plan how to respond to their requests for solidarity.
The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know [freedenisenow@gmail.com] if you need childcare for the meeting, and we'll arrange a creche.
More information on Free Denise McNeil:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html
Read the recent article in the Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/denise-mcneil-yarls-wood
Stay in touch with the campaign: freedenisenow@gmail.com
Join the Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Denise-Now/174533002581566
Fin Future, 225-229 Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park, London, N4 2DA (2 minutes from Finsbury Park tube station - come out main entrance, go past Arsenal shop, turn right down Seven Sisters Rd, go under railway bridge and Fin Future is on your right with big windows and yellow/green window frames or come out Seven Sisters Rd exit, and it's just on your right)
In February 2010, women at Yarl's Wood immigration prison went on hunger strike to demand an end to indefinite and abusive imprisonment. The women experienced violent attacks and abusive treatment in an attempt to end their protest. Six women were accused of being ring-leaders and moved into isolation and prisons. Nearly a year later, three women remain in prison without charge: Aminata Camara, Denise McNeil and Sheree Wilson.
Come along to this meeting to plan how to take the campaign for their release forward. Hear messages from the women and plan how to respond to their requests for solidarity.
The venue is wheelchair accessible. Please let us know [freedenisenow@gmail.com] if you need childcare for the meeting, and we'll arrange a creche.
More information on Free Denise McNeil:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html
Read the recent article in the Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/16/denise-mcneil-yarls-wood
Stay in touch with the campaign: freedenisenow@gmail.com
Join the Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Denise-Now/174533002581566
Monday, 17 January 2011
300 Refugees To Start Mass Hunger Strike In Greece
We are refugees, men and women, from all around Greece. We came here chased by poverty, unemployment, wars and dictatorships. The multinational companies of the Western world and their political servants in our countries did not let us have another choice than risking our lives for dozens of times to come until the front-door of Europe. The Western countries that loot our places, with an infinitely better standard of living there in West, are our only hope to live as human beings. We came (with an ordinary way or not) and we work here in order to survive, us and our children. We live under the indignity and the darkness of lawlessness, in order to benefit the employers and agencies of the state from the wild exploitation of our work. We live by our sweat and dream one day to have equal rights with their Greek colleagues.
During the last time things have become very difficult for us. As far as the wages and pensions are cut-out, as far as the prices rise up, so far the migrant is presented as the blameworthy, as the responsible for the misery and the wild exploitation of Greek workers and small local companies. The propaganda of racist and fascist parties and organizations has already turned into the formal language of the State about immigration. Their phraseology gets already expressed in the exact same way by the Mass Media when they talk about us. Their “proposals” are already enshrined as governmental policies. Wall at Evros River, floating concentration camps and euro-army in the Aegean Sea, pogroms and assault forces in the cities, massive deportations. They are trying to make the Greek workers believe that we are a sudden threat for them, that it is us to blame about the attack of their own governments against them.
The answer against this lies and barbarity must be given now and we will give it, men and women refugees. We confront, with our own lives as a weapon, now to stop the injustice against us. We demand the legalization of all immigrants; we call for equal civil and social rights and obligations as Greek workers and employees. We ask from our fellow Greek workers from each human being that now suffers from the exploitation of his/her own sweat, to stand in our side. To support our struggle, not to let it prevail in their own place lies and injustice, fascism and totalitarianism of political and economic elites. Namely, what has prevailed in our own countries and forced us to migrate to be able to live with dignity, we and our children.
We have no other way to make our voice be heard, to let you learn about our rights. Three hundred (300) of us, we start a Pan-Hellenic Hunger-Strike in Athens and Thessaloniki on the 25th of January. We set our lives in danger, because one way or another we do not experience living conditions with dignity. We prefer to die here, instead of letting our children experience the same with what has happened to us.
- The Assembly of Refugee Hunger Strikers
During the last time things have become very difficult for us. As far as the wages and pensions are cut-out, as far as the prices rise up, so far the migrant is presented as the blameworthy, as the responsible for the misery and the wild exploitation of Greek workers and small local companies. The propaganda of racist and fascist parties and organizations has already turned into the formal language of the State about immigration. Their phraseology gets already expressed in the exact same way by the Mass Media when they talk about us. Their “proposals” are already enshrined as governmental policies. Wall at Evros River, floating concentration camps and euro-army in the Aegean Sea, pogroms and assault forces in the cities, massive deportations. They are trying to make the Greek workers believe that we are a sudden threat for them, that it is us to blame about the attack of their own governments against them.
The answer against this lies and barbarity must be given now and we will give it, men and women refugees. We confront, with our own lives as a weapon, now to stop the injustice against us. We demand the legalization of all immigrants; we call for equal civil and social rights and obligations as Greek workers and employees. We ask from our fellow Greek workers from each human being that now suffers from the exploitation of his/her own sweat, to stand in our side. To support our struggle, not to let it prevail in their own place lies and injustice, fascism and totalitarianism of political and economic elites. Namely, what has prevailed in our own countries and forced us to migrate to be able to live with dignity, we and our children.
We have no other way to make our voice be heard, to let you learn about our rights. Three hundred (300) of us, we start a Pan-Hellenic Hunger-Strike in Athens and Thessaloniki on the 25th of January. We set our lives in danger, because one way or another we do not experience living conditions with dignity. We prefer to die here, instead of letting our children experience the same with what has happened to us.
- The Assembly of Refugee Hunger Strikers
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Defend Dale Farm!
Help Resist Ethnic Cleansing
7pm Wednesday 19th January at Unite House, 128 Theobald's Road, London WC1 8TN
Dale Farm is the last major surviving Traveller site in Essex, following a series of brutal evictions elsewhere over the years. There are around 1000 residents altogether. Those now facing eviction (yet again) took over a scrap yard next door to a long established legal site. The racist local Council is determined to drive all the Travellers they can out of the area. This is to the extent of refusing offers from the government's Department of Communities to provide alternative sites on land it owns. Though the Council continues to demand 10 million pounds from the same government towards policing the eviction!
We'll be getting updates , including a recent short film; discussing the situation; and looking at ways we can help the residents resist the impending eviction.
Denounced as an act of ethnic-cleansing even by the opposition Labour Party, it could cost a whopping £13 million and last up to thee weeks to complete, according to police and local authority estimates.
Answering an appeal first put out by film star Venessa Redgrave hundreds of people have volunteered to create a human shield to protect the children of Dale Farm from the bulldozers.
Many have pledged to join mothers and chain themselves to caravans in order the thwart the notorious Constant & Co bailiffs, the anti-Gypsy security firm hired for the job. They will also defy the movement of heavy plant machinery supplied by H.E.Services and George Moore, both earning themselves a bad name for aiding violent action against the homeless.
Dale Farm is a long established Travellers' community in the countryside near Basildon, Essex. The largest of its kind in the country, it is home to nearly 1,000 people. Half the residents are now under threat of imminent eviction, after being refused permission to live on their own land.
In response to an Urgent Action Appeal from the residents of Dale Farm, including Richard Sheridan, head of the Gypsy Council, the No One Is Illegal meeting will dicuss practical solidarity and non-violent defence tactics that have been prepared in advance of the eviction, expected this spring.
Travellers have been living on the threatened part of the Dale Farm estate for ten years. They have a strong attachment to the nearby catholic church and their children go to local schools.
The community has been resisting forced eviction attempts by Basildon District Council since May 2005 when it voted to clear a large part of the settlement at a costy of £3m. Basildon has refused all attempts to regularise the planning situation and instead have contracted Constant & Co, Both Labour and Liberal councillors have denounced the eviction as ethnic-cleansing.
In March 2010 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued a letter urging the UK Government to suspend the eviction until an positive solution is achieved, with the participation of the community,guaranteeing protection of housing rights through provision of adequate alternative accommodation.
(http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/UK_12.03.2010.pdf).
After a long struggle to register as homeless, some families have been offered substandard council flats. All have refused as they want to keep their community together and continue a traditional way of life. However, county court judge has ruled that they should accept conventional housing and appeal to the high court is now being prepared. It will be argued that an offer of land for the Travellers from the Homes and Communities Agency makes it possible and practical for Basildon to allow development of a new mobile-home park as an alternative for those facing eviction.
Meanwhile, the community-based Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted a planning application to create such a park on HCA land.
After the recent eviction of seven families from Hovefields near Dale Farm the council failing to provide any alternative accommodation. All were left homeless and most were moved on by police under s61 of the Criminal Justice Act wherever they tried to camp.
During the eviction legal observers identified numerous breaches of international human rights law, including the disruption of children's education, and a failure to keep heavy machinery within the safety perimeter.
Two supporters were arrested early in the day, and a seventy-two year old man, John Lee, had his nose fractured after his face was smashed against his caravan.
This eviction tore apart a community and has shown Basildon's complete disrespect for Travellers' right to private and family life and the secure enjoyment of their homes (Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR]).
The new UK Coalition Government has cancelled the duty to provide much needed new caravan parks for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and removed the requirement to designate land for their accommodation.
Many thousands of Traveller families are thus forced to live illegally on land they have purchased but where they have been denied through strict planning laws to set up permanent homes.
Another generation of Travellers are losing the chance of a regular education for their children, while the old and the sick are deprived of care and medical attention.
The stand being made by residents at Dale Farm is therefore vital to the future of Romanies and Travellers in the UK. It should be seen as part of the fight-back by Roma all over Europe following the burning of camps in Italy, deportations from France, murders by neo-fascists in Hungary and Romania, and wholesale ethnic-cleansing from Kosovo, among many other acts of intolerance and racism that have occurred in the past two decades.
The Dale Farm community is seeking your solidarity. Practical support is needed in the form of legal observers and human rights monitors, as well as nonviolent resistance during the planned eviction operation.
Currently, support and solidarity action is called for. In particular opposition needs to be mobilized against the special funding by the Home Office of the Dale Farm eviction. Essex police have asked Theresa May to provide up to £ 10m to cover policing. Without this funding the eviction attempt might have to be abandoned.
Send your email messages to: mayt@parliament.uk
Dear Theresa May,
At a time when cuts are being made to many important services, and homelessness is on the rise, we urge that the Home Office decline to provide the £10 million funding sought by Essex police for policing the Dale Farm eviction operation.
This eviction, the biggest of its kind in UK history, aims at destroying the homes nearly a hundred families. It is being opposed both by the Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors on Basildon District Council as inhumane, disproportionate and an act of ethnic-cleansing, besides being a waste of public money.
To find out more information please come to the information night and discussion, and look at the website below.
Website: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124229427082
Basildon Echo (unfriendly local paper)___________
7pm Wednesday 19th January at Unite House, 128 Theobald's Road, London WC1 8TN
Dale Farm is the last major surviving Traveller site in Essex, following a series of brutal evictions elsewhere over the years. There are around 1000 residents altogether. Those now facing eviction (yet again) took over a scrap yard next door to a long established legal site. The racist local Council is determined to drive all the Travellers they can out of the area. This is to the extent of refusing offers from the government's Department of Communities to provide alternative sites on land it owns. Though the Council continues to demand 10 million pounds from the same government towards policing the eviction!
We'll be getting updates , including a recent short film; discussing the situation; and looking at ways we can help the residents resist the impending eviction.
Denounced as an act of ethnic-cleansing even by the opposition Labour Party, it could cost a whopping £13 million and last up to thee weeks to complete, according to police and local authority estimates.
Answering an appeal first put out by film star Venessa Redgrave hundreds of people have volunteered to create a human shield to protect the children of Dale Farm from the bulldozers.
Many have pledged to join mothers and chain themselves to caravans in order the thwart the notorious Constant & Co bailiffs, the anti-Gypsy security firm hired for the job. They will also defy the movement of heavy plant machinery supplied by H.E.Services and George Moore, both earning themselves a bad name for aiding violent action against the homeless.
Dale Farm is a long established Travellers' community in the countryside near Basildon, Essex. The largest of its kind in the country, it is home to nearly 1,000 people. Half the residents are now under threat of imminent eviction, after being refused permission to live on their own land.
In response to an Urgent Action Appeal from the residents of Dale Farm, including Richard Sheridan, head of the Gypsy Council, the No One Is Illegal meeting will dicuss practical solidarity and non-violent defence tactics that have been prepared in advance of the eviction, expected this spring.
Travellers have been living on the threatened part of the Dale Farm estate for ten years. They have a strong attachment to the nearby catholic church and their children go to local schools.
The community has been resisting forced eviction attempts by Basildon District Council since May 2005 when it voted to clear a large part of the settlement at a costy of £3m. Basildon has refused all attempts to regularise the planning situation and instead have contracted Constant & Co, Both Labour and Liberal councillors have denounced the eviction as ethnic-cleansing.
In March 2010 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued a letter urging the UK Government to suspend the eviction until an positive solution is achieved, with the participation of the community,guaranteeing protection of housing rights through provision of adequate alternative accommodation.
(http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/UK_12.03.2010.pdf).
After a long struggle to register as homeless, some families have been offered substandard council flats. All have refused as they want to keep their community together and continue a traditional way of life. However, county court judge has ruled that they should accept conventional housing and appeal to the high court is now being prepared. It will be argued that an offer of land for the Travellers from the Homes and Communities Agency makes it possible and practical for Basildon to allow development of a new mobile-home park as an alternative for those facing eviction.
Meanwhile, the community-based Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted a planning application to create such a park on HCA land.
After the recent eviction of seven families from Hovefields near Dale Farm the council failing to provide any alternative accommodation. All were left homeless and most were moved on by police under s61 of the Criminal Justice Act wherever they tried to camp.
During the eviction legal observers identified numerous breaches of international human rights law, including the disruption of children's education, and a failure to keep heavy machinery within the safety perimeter.
Two supporters were arrested early in the day, and a seventy-two year old man, John Lee, had his nose fractured after his face was smashed against his caravan.
This eviction tore apart a community and has shown Basildon's complete disrespect for Travellers' right to private and family life and the secure enjoyment of their homes (Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR]).
The new UK Coalition Government has cancelled the duty to provide much needed new caravan parks for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and removed the requirement to designate land for their accommodation.
Many thousands of Traveller families are thus forced to live illegally on land they have purchased but where they have been denied through strict planning laws to set up permanent homes.
Another generation of Travellers are losing the chance of a regular education for their children, while the old and the sick are deprived of care and medical attention.
The stand being made by residents at Dale Farm is therefore vital to the future of Romanies and Travellers in the UK. It should be seen as part of the fight-back by Roma all over Europe following the burning of camps in Italy, deportations from France, murders by neo-fascists in Hungary and Romania, and wholesale ethnic-cleansing from Kosovo, among many other acts of intolerance and racism that have occurred in the past two decades.
The Dale Farm community is seeking your solidarity. Practical support is needed in the form of legal observers and human rights monitors, as well as nonviolent resistance during the planned eviction operation.
Currently, support and solidarity action is called for. In particular opposition needs to be mobilized against the special funding by the Home Office of the Dale Farm eviction. Essex police have asked Theresa May to provide up to £ 10m to cover policing. Without this funding the eviction attempt might have to be abandoned.
Send your email messages to: mayt@parliament.uk
Dear Theresa May,
At a time when cuts are being made to many important services, and homelessness is on the rise, we urge that the Home Office decline to provide the £10 million funding sought by Essex police for policing the Dale Farm eviction operation.
This eviction, the biggest of its kind in UK history, aims at destroying the homes nearly a hundred families. It is being opposed both by the Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors on Basildon District Council as inhumane, disproportionate and an act of ethnic-cleansing, besides being a waste of public money.
To find out more information please come to the information night and discussion, and look at the website below.
Website: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124229427082
Basildon Echo (unfriendly local paper)___________
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Dale Farm Eviction Info Night @ Colwey Club, Brighton
Talk, film and discussion about practical solidarity action to support the Dale Farm Community: Brighton, 8pm, Wednesday 5th January 2011, Cowley Club, London Road.
Dale Farm is a long established Travellers' community in the countryside near Basildon, Essex. This, the largest of its kind in the country, is home to nearly 1,000 people.
Half the residents are now under threat of imminent eviction, after being refused permission to live on their own land.
In response to an Urgent Action Appeal from the residents of Dale Farm, including Richard Sheridan, head of the Gypsy Council, we are holding an information evening in Brighton to gain support for practical solidarity action.
Travellers have been living on the threatened part of the Dale Farm estate for ten years. They have a strong attachment to the nearby catholic church and their children go to local schools.
The community has been resisting forced eviction attempts by Basildon District Council since May 2005 when it voted to clear a large part of the settlement at a cost of £3m.
Basildon has refused all attempts to regularise the planning situation, preferring the enforcement option, and have contracted a notorious bailiff company, Constant & Co, which specializes in evicting Gypsies. Both Labour and Liberal councillors have denounced the eviction as an act of ethnic-cleansing.
In March 2010 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued a letter urging the UK Government to suspend the eviction until an positive solution is achieved, with the participation of the community, guaranteeing protection of housing rights through provision of adequate alternative accommodation. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/UK_12.03.2010.pdf).
After a long struggle to register as homeless, some families have been offered substandard council flats. All have refused as they want to keep their community together and continue a traditional way of life. However, county court judge has ruled that they should accept conventional housing and appeal to the high court is now being prepared. It will be argued that an offer of land for the Travellers from the Homes and Communities Agency makes it possible and practical for Basildon to allow development of a new mobile-home park as an alternative for those facing eviction.
Meanwhile, the community-based Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted a planning application to create such a park on HCA land.
After the recent eviction of seven families from Hovefields near Dale Farm the council failing to provide any alternative accommodation. All were left homeless and most were moved on by police under s61 of the Criminal Justice Act wherever they tried to camp.
During the eviction legal observers identified numerous breaches of international human rights law, including the disruption of children's education, and a failure to keep heavy machinery within the safety perimeter.
Two supporters were arrested early in the day, and a seventy-two year old man, John Lee, had his nose fractured after his face was smashed against his caravan.
This eviction tore apart a community and has shown Basildon's complete disrespect for Travellers' right to private and family life and the secure enjoyment of their homes (Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR]).
The new UK Coalition Government has cancelled the duty to provide much needed new caravan parks for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and removed the requirement to designate land for their accommodation.
Many thousands of Gypsy families are thus forced to live illegally on land they have purchased but where they have been denied through strict planning laws to set up permanent homes.
Another generation of Travellers are losing the chance of a regular education for their children, while the old and the sick are deprived of care and medical attention.
The stand being made by residents at Dale Farm is therefore vital to the future of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. It should be seen as part of the fight-back by Roma all over Europe following the burning of camps in Italy, deportations from France, murders by neo-fascists in Hungary and Romania, and wholesale ethnic-cleansing from Kosovo, among many other acts of intolerance and racism that have occurred in the past two decades.
The Dale Farm community is therefore seeking your solidarity. Practical support is needed in the form of legal observers and human rights monitors, as well as non-violent resistance during the planned eviction operation, which could last three weeks.
In the meanwhile support and solidarity action is called for. In particular opposition needs to be mobilized against the special funding by the Home Office of the Dale Farm eviction. Essex police have asked Theresa May to provide up to £10m to cover policing. Without this funding the eviction attempt might have to be abandoned.
Send your email messages to: mayt@parliament.uk
To find out more information please come to the information night and discussion, and look at the website below.
Website: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124229427082
Dale Farm is a long established Travellers' community in the countryside near Basildon, Essex. This, the largest of its kind in the country, is home to nearly 1,000 people.
Half the residents are now under threat of imminent eviction, after being refused permission to live on their own land.
In response to an Urgent Action Appeal from the residents of Dale Farm, including Richard Sheridan, head of the Gypsy Council, we are holding an information evening in Brighton to gain support for practical solidarity action.
Travellers have been living on the threatened part of the Dale Farm estate for ten years. They have a strong attachment to the nearby catholic church and their children go to local schools.
The community has been resisting forced eviction attempts by Basildon District Council since May 2005 when it voted to clear a large part of the settlement at a cost of £3m.
Basildon has refused all attempts to regularise the planning situation, preferring the enforcement option, and have contracted a notorious bailiff company, Constant & Co, which specializes in evicting Gypsies. Both Labour and Liberal councillors have denounced the eviction as an act of ethnic-cleansing.
In March 2010 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued a letter urging the UK Government to suspend the eviction until an positive solution is achieved, with the participation of the community, guaranteeing protection of housing rights through provision of adequate alternative accommodation. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/UK_12.03.2010.pdf).
After a long struggle to register as homeless, some families have been offered substandard council flats. All have refused as they want to keep their community together and continue a traditional way of life. However, county court judge has ruled that they should accept conventional housing and appeal to the high court is now being prepared. It will be argued that an offer of land for the Travellers from the Homes and Communities Agency makes it possible and practical for Basildon to allow development of a new mobile-home park as an alternative for those facing eviction.
Meanwhile, the community-based Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted a planning application to create such a park on HCA land.
After the recent eviction of seven families from Hovefields near Dale Farm the council failing to provide any alternative accommodation. All were left homeless and most were moved on by police under s61 of the Criminal Justice Act wherever they tried to camp.
During the eviction legal observers identified numerous breaches of international human rights law, including the disruption of children's education, and a failure to keep heavy machinery within the safety perimeter.
Two supporters were arrested early in the day, and a seventy-two year old man, John Lee, had his nose fractured after his face was smashed against his caravan.
This eviction tore apart a community and has shown Basildon's complete disrespect for Travellers' right to private and family life and the secure enjoyment of their homes (Article 8, European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR]).
The new UK Coalition Government has cancelled the duty to provide much needed new caravan parks for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and removed the requirement to designate land for their accommodation.
Many thousands of Gypsy families are thus forced to live illegally on land they have purchased but where they have been denied through strict planning laws to set up permanent homes.
Another generation of Travellers are losing the chance of a regular education for their children, while the old and the sick are deprived of care and medical attention.
The stand being made by residents at Dale Farm is therefore vital to the future of Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. It should be seen as part of the fight-back by Roma all over Europe following the burning of camps in Italy, deportations from France, murders by neo-fascists in Hungary and Romania, and wholesale ethnic-cleansing from Kosovo, among many other acts of intolerance and racism that have occurred in the past two decades.
The Dale Farm community is therefore seeking your solidarity. Practical support is needed in the form of legal observers and human rights monitors, as well as non-violent resistance during the planned eviction operation, which could last three weeks.
In the meanwhile support and solidarity action is called for. In particular opposition needs to be mobilized against the special funding by the Home Office of the Dale Farm eviction. Essex police have asked Theresa May to provide up to £10m to cover policing. Without this funding the eviction attempt might have to be abandoned.
Send your email messages to: mayt@parliament.uk
To find out more information please come to the information night and discussion, and look at the website below.
Website: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124229427082
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