No Borders Brighton

Au Revoir Marie-Noelle

2011-09-20T09:53:00.001+01:00

http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/09/484838.html?c=on#c273232

Dale Farm Evictions 'Infringe Rights'

2011-09-14T12:10:00.000+01:00

Listen to the BBC Today programme interview with Professor Yves Cabannes, chair of the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, where he outlines his concerns about the Dale Farm evictions and the double standards in its treatment of travellers in the UK.

Basildon Council Sunk Secret Group Appointed To Solve Dale Farm Crisis

2011-09-14T12:05:00.000+01:00

The Homes and Communities Agency offer of land and funding for alternative sites had been rejected by Basildon.

In letters from the Homes and Communities Agency, made public today, it is revealed that Basildon District Council withdrew from the official group tasked to find a housing solution for the Dale Farm community. This left no plan for the Travellers’ welfare following any eviction.

The ‘Alternative Sites Working Group’ met from November 2009 to August 2010 and included Basildon District Council, Essex County Council, the Government Office for the East of England, plus the former leader of Reigate and Banstead Council and chairman of the Local Government Association Task Force on Gypsies and Travellers (As confirmed in a letter from Homes and Communities Agency to local MEP Richard Howitt, 31 August 2011). They met in secret at the request of Basildon Council. Basildon District Council withdrew in October 2010 and refused to deal with group, over “an alleged breach of confidentiality on details of sites being discussed by the Working Group” (As stated in an email from Homes and Communities Agency to Dale Farm Support Group, 12 Sept 2011). This stopped its work in finding alternative Traveller sites.

Dale Farm resident Kathleen McCarthy said, “This is shocking, Basildon Council have put their prejudice above finding a solution to the needs of the Dale Farm community.”

The Homes and Communities Agency, noted that, “[w]e are willing to place any of our land in Basildon at the Council’s designation as a Gypsy and Traveller site(s). We are willing to identify and invest capital to establish the pitches on such land.”

However, one planning application on HCA land near the current Dale Farm site has already been rejected by Basildon Council on the stated grounds of road safety.

Dale Farm resident Kathleen McCarthy continued, “The behaviour of Tony Ball, leader of the Council, makes life for us impossible. He pulled out of the official process to find a new fully legal site, and when we try ourselves, he blocks our proposals for new sites, even when we have full HCA backing. Next weeks’ eviction is about prejudice, pure and simple.”

The revelations coincide with open letter to the government and Basildon Council that the Council must suspend the eviction and find an alternative culturally acceptable solution to making Dale Farm residents homeless. It was signed by the Chief Executive of the Children’s Society, Director of Liberty, and MPs Andy Slaughter and Andrew George plus 59 others. (Guardian, 13 September 2011, P33)

Questions have been raised about the motivations for pushing for the eviction as plans are revealed for 900 homes on greenbelt land in the neighbouring district to Basildon. Plans for homes on Jotmans Lane Benfleet have the support of Tory councillors, and face a final vote on the 27th September, after a report by a government inspector highlighted the need for more homes.(Basildon Echo, 13 September 2011, P7)

[Repost]

The Whole World Is Watching

2011-09-12T11:30:00.002+01:00

International support for Dale Farm residents as hundreds march in protest at their threatened eviction, planned to begin from the 19th September

Hundreds, including a Member of the European Parliament, political and human rights groups and supporters from the local area, all over the UK and beyond marched from Wickford Station to Dale Farm on Saturday in solidarity with the beleaguered residents of the former scrapyard, how home to 100 families under threat of eviction by Basildon Council.

The campaign to save Dale Farm, initially supported by local church groups and friends of the community and long given the vocal backing of figures such as Lord Avebury and Vanessa Redgrave, has been receiving messages of solidarity from Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia, with supporters travelling from mainland Europe to stay at Camp Constant, a resistance and solidarity camp on the site. Residents were visited last week by Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood and Bishop Stephen Cottrell of the Diocese of Chelmsford, and residents have outspoken support from the Jewish community. Protests are planned at British Embassies in Berlin and Dublin to show support to the families facing eviction.

Kathleen McCarthy, a resident of Dale Farm, said, 'there are people here from all over the world, I just met a girl from America who supports us. It's great to know people are listening, and people are hearing our voices, even if our own Government isn't.'

Richard Howitt, Labour MEP for the East of England, joined the march and spoke afterwards as supporters enjoyed lunch and a cup of tea with residents:

'Their rights are not just for Traveller families to have a home, and for their children to have an education. But for their culture to be respected. To be able to live according to the Traveller lifestyle.... As a Member of the European Parliament I am deeply ashamed that action here in this community is bringing international opprobrium against our country. That Britain's international reputation for tolerance, fairness and justice is being damaged at what may happen next. And that the time to listen to the criticism is now not later.'

Kartik Raj, speaking on behalf of Amnesty International, which recently sent out an Urgent Action to its members on behalf of Dale Farm, said, 'hundreds of people are writing to Basildon Council from all over the world to express their horror at the evictions.'

The South East Region Trades Union Congress (SERTUC), No Borders, No One Is Illegal, No Sweat, and Unite Against Fascism also sent representatives who spoke out against the eviction.

International pressure on the British Government is growing, with concern expressed by two different UN Special Rapporteurs, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racism and Discrimination and the Council of Europe, and news of the planned UN visit later in September. Mr Howitt has repeatedly called for the British Government to release the Council of Europe report, to no avail. Next week the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna will debate the evictions.

The UN has spoken out strongly against the evictions, with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination writing several times to the UK government expressing concern and calling for protection of the human rights of the families. A statement of the 2nd September called on the UK Government to suspend the planned eviction, which would disproportionately affect the lives of the Gypsy and Traveller families, particularly women, children and older people.
Dale Farm is home to the largest Traveller community in the UK, a former scrapyard which was purchased by the community thirty years ago. The residents of Dale Farm have pledged to leave if alternate sites can be found, and two planning applications have been lodged which are due to be heard in October. 90% of Gypsy and Traveller planning applications are turned down, compared with 20% overall. Government inspectors have noted that Basildon has a “dire shortage” of Gypsy and Traveller sites, and have placed pressure on the Council to provide 62 pitches. Because no alternative sites have been approved, families will be forced to stay at Dale Farm or become homeless.

-Press pack available at http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/press/
-Interview, comment and photos available from savedalefarm@gmail.com, 07583 761462
-For directions to get to Dale Farm, see: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact/
- The £18 million cost of the eviction includes £10 million for policing- £6 million of which was granted by the Home Office

At the request of residents, members of the press are asked to restrict their visits to the hours of 11am-12pm and 3pm-4pm, unless by prior appointment. To make an appointment, call 07583 761462.

Hypocrisy In Basildon Council’s Approach To Planning Regulation

2011-09-11T14:13:00.000+01:00

PRESS RELEASE: SEPT 10th, 2011

In a move described as ‘totally undemocratic’ by local Councillor Geoff Williams, Basildon Council suddenly cancelled last night’s general council meeting, avoiding discussion of contentious plans for a major housing development – 500 houses – on environmentally sensitive green space, at Gloucester Park.

Citing inexplicable ‘public safety reasons’ and ‘exceptional circumstances…at Dale Farm’ for the last minute cancellation, it appears Basildon Council fears exposure of blatantly hypocritical planning decisions.

The council meeting was intended to focus on the controversial development of green space at Gloucester Park, a designated nature reserve, which was donated to the council on the condition that it would not be developed. A meeting planned to discuss selling off this green space for housing threatened to expose the inconsistent and discretionary nature of the Council’s planning decisions. The Council is attempting to justify making 90 families homeless to save a former scrap yard classed as ‘green belt’, while selling off valued green spaces for a major housing development project.

Councillor Williams said that as a result of the cancellation of this meeting “local people have been denied the right to protest, challenge, and scrutinise”. The Councillor added that this cancellation is on top of the complete closure of council offices from next week, with further meeting cancellations announced on 20th Sept, expressing concern that ‘so much will have to be caught up with…[and] some issues have time constraints’. However, the cancellation of the Gloucester Park meeting is being viewed particularly cynically.

Dale Farm resident and mother Mary said: "The council are prepared to agree to build on Gloucester Park, yet insists on evicting us from an old scrap yard. The council are prejudiced against us. It's one rule for settled people and another for travellers."

A supporter from Dale Farm, Jane Trevellion, added “the prejudicial nature of the council’s planning decisions are really obvious if you look at the history of the council’s planning decisions. There is no consistency: at Vange school, greenbelt was sold off under the direction of the government Planning Inspector, without much fuss from the council…before that there was a huge Homebase Development on the greenbelt. There are other developments proposed on highly valued green spaces at Kent View and Northlands. In the case of Dale Farm the ‘greenbelt’ was concreted and used for 30 years as a scrap yard and the council didn’t make any fuss. It is only since the Travellers arrived that the council has suddenly become protective of the greenbelt land at Dale Farm. The council’s claims of fairness under the law are entirely false. This is clearly about prejudice against the Traveller population and this kind of racial intolerance is totally wrong. The law is not applied equally and there is no fairness in that.”

According to the Commission for Racial Equality, more than 90% of Traveller planning applications are initially rejected. This compares to less than 20% of rejected applications for everybody else¹. Gypsies and Travellers in the UK are trapped in a web of overlapping, systemic failures to respect their customs and preferences.

Councillor Linda Williams for the Nethermayne ward added that the “Greenbelt is not sacrosanct, it was designated by people and people have the right to reconsider its boundaries.” Councillor Geoff Williams has also released a statement contesting the forced evictions at Dale Farm and saying that the green spaces and green belt of Basildon are far more threatened by the local authority and the planning inspectorate than by any incursions by Travellers. He described the use of public funds to forcibly evict families at Dale Farm as ‘mind-boggling’. He stated that “The council’s unremitting desire to protect the dubious qualities of the greenbelt at Dale Farm stands in stark contrast to its reluctance to pursue the designation of recognised wildlife sites as green belt, or to defend other existing pristine designations”

The Council is pursuing hugely costly forced evictions when suitable alternative plots have been identified by the Travellers at Church Road, Laindon which is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency and at Gardiners Lane South. A public enquiry is due on 22nd November to consider the Church Road site.

“In pursuing these forced evictions at this time Basildon council is taking unnecessarily brutal and overly hasty action, when a possible solution is just around the corner. Crucial meetings are due to take place which have a strong chance of finding alternative appropriate sites for the Travellers to move on to safely and without the associated costs of forced eviction” said Ann, a local resident and supporter of the Dale Farm community.

Helen, another supporter at Camp Constant added “this just shows the council doesn’t want a peaceful solution, they just want to hound the Travellers out of Basildon.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission reported² recently on these issues, saying that ‘Few local authorities have a policy for identifying, and dealing with, objections to planning applications that are or may be racist. This means racist representations are reaching planning committees, in breach of guidance from the Royal Town Planning Institute.’

The Localism Bill puts more power in the hand of deeply flawed local planning processes, further threatening both valued green spaces and reducing the chances that adequate suitable land will be found for Gypsies and Travellers.

On Saturday, 10th September at 1pm supporters of the Dale Farm community are gathering at Wickford train station and marching to Dale Farm. MEP of the East of England Richard Howitt will attend the rally, as will members of the Public and Commercial Services Union. Notifications on the Dale Farm Solidarity website are asking supporters coming to the demo on 10th Sept to “bring a sleeping bag and a toothbrush and stay for as long as you can.” Adding: “Our ability to stop this ethnic cleansing is now almost entirely down to numbers- so come on down!”

Footnotes:

1. http://www.journeyfolki.org.uk/Community/HelpResources/CommissionForRacialEqualityCRE/tabid/832/language/en-US/Default.aspx

2. http://www.equineteurope.org/2384_gypsy_travs_summary.pdf

United Nations Anti-Racism Committee Calls On UK To Suspend Dale Farm Evictions

2011-09-03T14:15:00.000+01:00

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Friday expressed deep regret at the insistence of authorities in the United Kingdom to proceed with the eviction of Gypsy and Traveller families at the Dale Farm in Essex before providing culturally appropriate alternative accommodation to them.

“We call on the Government to suspend the planned eviction, which would disproportionately affect the lives of the Gypsy and Traveller families, particularly women, children and older people,” the Committee members said.

“We urge the authorities to find a peaceful and appropriate solution, including identifying culturally appropriate accommodation, with full respect for the rights of the families involved,” the Committee added.

The Committee reviewed the combined 18th, 19th and 20th reports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at its current session in Geneva. The Dale Farm issue was extensively discussed with the United Kingdom’s delegation.

In March 2010, the Committee sent a letter to the United Kingdom under its Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure on the matter, expressing its concern, seeking clarification and calling for protection of the human rights of the families.

The evictions may breach articles 2 and 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and are inconsistent with the Committee’s General Recommendation No. 27 (2000) on Discrimination against Roma.

“Travellers and Gypsies already face considerable discrimination and hostility in wider society and the Committee is deeply concerned that this could be worsened by actions taken by authorities in the current situation and by some media reporting of the issues,” the Committee noted.

The Committee will today issue its concluding observations on the United Kingdom as well as Albania, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Kenya, Maldives, Malta, Paraguay and Ukraine. The documents will be accessible on the Committee’s website on http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/cerds79.htm.

To read the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, please visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cerd.htm

To access the Committee’s Early-Warning Measures and Urgent Procedures, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/early-warning.htm

To see General Comments issued by the Committee, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/comments.htm

[Repost]

Dale Farm Under Seige...

2011-08-25T09:16:00.029+01:00

As the launch of Camp Constant [http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity/] on August 27th approaches, the authorities appear poised to blockade Dale Farm.

ROAD BLOCK WARNING

Notices have gone up along Oak Road, adjacent to Dale Farm, saying that the road will be closed to all but residents from Friday, Sept. 2nd. [See http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact for details]. Both ends of Oak Road will be blocked (blocking access via both Hardings Elm Road and Gardiners Lane North). Additionally, the lay by on the southern end of Oak Lane (leading on to the A127; by the white ‘Basildon onion’ water tower) will be blocked. There will be a no stop zone on the footpaths on the A127 between A176 at Billericay and A132 at Wickford. Residents are feeling under siege, with children asking how many more nights they are going to be able to sleep in their beds. Dale Farm is a big site, so it should be possible to find routes in, but be advised that after Sept. 1, it will be harder to get in, and likely impossible to get vehicles in.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY TO BE CUT

The Council have released information that they intend to cut water and electricity supplies from Dale Farm after the eviction notice period expires on midnight 31st August. This will leave sick, elderly, young, and pregnant residents without access to water or electricity. Amnesty International [http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR45/013/2011/en/0faf8cdd-f5a1-4024-af41-5a26f21d51a5/eur450132011en.html] have condemned the removal of vital water and electricity in these circumstances, and asked their supporters to put pressure on the council to cease this action which represents a serious violation of human rights. An injunction has been sought in consideration of two residents who are dependent upon a constant electricity supply for nebulisers, without access to which their lives are placed in serious jeopardy. See Amnesty’s Kartick Raj speaking to BBC Essex this week [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-1463580].

CAMP CONSTANT

On Saturday, 27th August, we will launch CAMP CONSTANT [http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity/] a solidarity and resistance camp for supporters of the Dale Farm community. JOIN US. See http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity for more information, the long weekends schedule of workshops and a welcome pack.

INDEPENDENT MEDIA:

Any independent media people planning to come on to the site (with video, cameras, etc) please read this [http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26043573/IND%20MEDIA%20CALL%20OUT.odt] first and make contact…

DESPERATE PLEA TO UN

*Richard Sheridan as president of the Gypsy Council has been involved in eleventh-hour negotiations with the UN Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva; the Special Raporteur has already entreated the UK Government to cease the evictions and to ensure the families at Dale Farm are offered viable culturally appropriate alternative sites. Lord Avebury will accompany Dale Farm residents to 10 Downing Street [http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/dale-farm-petition-to-no-10-and-meeting-with-union] Thursday, 25th August to present a petition to the PM calling for the eviction to be called off.

DONATE:

use this paypal link to donate some money to the camp.

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS:

Workshop, Sunday Sept. 4th, 2pm, Camp Constant, Dale Farm. Freedom of Movement and the Right to Stay!* This is the rallying cry for Roma, Gypsies and Travellers and of migrants throughout the world. A common thread of persecution, of forbidden lands, eviction and deportation connect the struggles for migrant rights and the rights of Gypsies and Travellers. These realities have met dramatically in the crack-down and deportations of Roma people from France and Italy. Come to the Workshop organised by No One Is Illegal and London No Borders including speaker who is an activist in Amnesty International's campaign against the persecution of Roma in Europe.

TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE DEMO

Sat, 10th Sept, 1pm, see here [http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/2011/07/27/demo/] for more information and email: savedalefarm@gmail.com to add your group’s support to the list…

RISE UP!

We cannot stand by and do nothing while the UKs largest Travellers site, home to hundreds of families, including many children, elderly and sick residents, is brutally evicted. Travellers should not have to live in constant fear of eviction with their lives and communities under constant threat. They should not have to be forced out of their homes and off their land by bulldozers and police. This constant hounding, marginalisation, and lack of provision is how rural England does ethnic cleansing. It is time for a resurgence of support for Gypsy and Traveller communities. Time to stand against the extreme racial discrimination faced by Gypsies and Travellers. Time to defend the right of Gypsies and Travellers to land, life, respect, and dignity.

[Repost]

'Barnardo’s! Please quit the child detention business'

2011-08-09T11:46:00.000+01:00

Back in March, almost a year after the government had promised to end what Nick Clegg called the “shameful practice” of locking up asylum seeking families in conditions known to harm their mental health, Barnardo’s stunned children’s advocates by revealing that it had agreed to work with the UK Border Agency and security giant G4S at the new immigration detention centre for families with children at Pease Pottage near Gatwick that’s opening later this Summer.

Frances Webber, vice chair of the Institute of Race Relations, accused Barnardo’s — Britain’s biggest children’s charity — of providing “a cloak of legitimacy to the continued detention of children”. Former children’s commissioner for England and internationally renowned paediatrican Sir Al Aynsley-Green wrote in OurKingdom that this “worrying development” sparked the question: “are the big children’s organisations effective advocates for children, or are they friends of government?”

Stung by such criticism Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie last month made comments widely reported as a tough-talking “ultimatum” to UKBA, saying the charity would pull out of the working partnership if children and families were not treated properly. But can we trust Barnardo’s to stand up to the government?

We, being students and members of SOAS Detainee Support who visit immigration detainees and offer them support, have campaigned hard against child detention. In May last year we picketed G4S’s annual meeting, argued with the company’s chief executive Nick Buckles (who, by the way, is paid almost £5000 every day), and landed a picture in the Daily Telegraph’s city pages. In June last year, we ran the Release Carnival, bringing together campaigners and child refugees to march on Downing Street.

When this past March Barnardo’s threw in its lot with Nick Buckles and the UK Border Agency we felt utterly dismayed, let down, betrayed. When we visited Barnardo’s HQ at Barkingside in Essex to express our disappointment. We were sent away and told to study Barnardo’s website so we’d understand what they were doing. We read. It still looked wrong. We made a second visit, intending to distribute a leaflet outlining our objections to staff as they left work. Barnardo’s diverted workers to a rear exit.

Lately we’ve scrutinised Barnardo’s “ultimatum”. Here’s what we make of it.

Barnardo's says:

Barnardo’s seeks to support the most vulnerable children. The families and children held in this accommodation are at their most vulnerable and desperately need our support. Barnardo’s will always help the most vulnerable children in the UK and will work to ensure that asylum seekers are treated humanely throughout their time in the UK.

We say:

In May 2010 the coalition government pledged to end the detention of children for immigration purposes – finally recognising the lasting psychological harm it caused. Former Barnardo’s chief exec, Martin Narey, slammed the imprisonment of asylum-seeking families as “unnecessary” and “shameful”. But another ConDem u-turn has meant child detention continues, simply rebranded as “family-friendly pre-departure accommodation”.
As many as 4,445 children could be jailed each year at de facto prisons run by G4S (who may face corporate manslaughter charges over the death of Jimmy Mubenga on a deportation flight). Barnardo’s involvement has already given this sham a fig leaf of legitimacy with councillors who granted planning permission at Pease Pottage reassured by Barnardo’s involvement. Rather than offering a new face to the same agenda of abuse and degradation in immigration detention Barnardo’s should urge the government to keep its pledge and end child detention.

Barnardo's says:

Under new immigration processes families will be given every opportunity and help to leave voluntarily. If they choose not to then an independent return panel, which includes child psychologists and medical experts, will oversee the most appropriate method of return and any specific safeguards which need to be in place.

We say:

The ‘independent’ return panel is to provide advice or offer amendments to UKBA on the method of removing the family from the UK. They do not decide the method of removal. UKBA does not have to accept the Panel’s advised amendments. Disagreements will be referred to the immigration minister who will decide how to proceed. Information given to the Panel is kept secret from the family who are unable to contest it even if the information given to the panel is wrong, out of date or fresh evidence has become available. The advice the Panel gives the UKBA is kept secret. There is no built-in external scrutiny and the panel cannot be considered independent due to many members being UKBA and governmental staff.

Barnardo's says (about the Government’s new immigration processes and UKBA’s pre-departure accommodation):

All this adds up to a system which has ambitions to be fundamentally different — which seeks to safeguard children and treat families and children with compassion.
That is why one of my first decisions as chief executive was to agree that Barnardo’s provides the welfare and social work services within the accommodation.

We say:

But how can Barnardo’s talk of ‘a system which has ambitions to be fundamentally different — which seeks to safeguard children and treat families and children with compassion’ when the UK has lately lost its two largest providers of legal aid representation to migrants and asylum seekers and more reputable voices tell us tens of thousands of the most vulnerable in our society are at the mercy of the UK Border Agency's arbitrary and often unlawful actions?

Barnardo's says:

As a last resort, a short stay should include expert family support to ensure humane treatment. Barnardo’s accepts that, as a last resort and after consideration by an independent panel, children and families may need to be kept in secure pre-departure accommodation for a very short period of time. Barnardo’s wants to ensure that these families are treated humanely with respect and dignity, and are given the correct support through access to welfare and social work services ahead of their departure. It is critical that families and children have someone to turn to during this extremely stressful and difficult time.

We say:

It is critical that, after an analysis of all the medical evidence, families and children are not detained at all. Barnardo’s saying they are making the situation better by being there is like someone agreeing to be a hangman because they can make the death less painful than another. The families detained will be those who — except in ‘exceptional circumstances’ — have not complied with any of the other attempts at removal. This might very well be because they are terrified to go back, and being locked up will be extremely frightening and traumatic. The presence of Barnardo’s will not ease this fear as long as they are still locked up and facing deportation.

Barnardo's says:

We see an important part of our role as shedding light on the whole immigration process to ensure it supports those children within it. We are absolutely clear that if policy and practice fall short of safeguarding the welfare, dignity and respect of families, then Barnardo's will raise concerns, will speak out and ultimately, if we have to, we will withdraw our services.

We say:

The “red-lines” set down by Barnardo's are no use at all. The research (and common-sense!) shows that even one week in detention is long enough for a child to be severely affected. As a children's charity Barnardo's should not help the UKBA detain and deport people, it should speak out against child detention FULL STOP.

We’re visiting Barnardo’s again today to ask them to stop spinning and start listening to and defending vulnerable children such as this child detainee quoted in the Medical Justice report State Sponsored Cruelty: “I am so scared of the Home Office. It is hard times for me and my mum. She would rather kill herself than go back."

[Repost]

Dale Farm Solidarity Demonstration: Sat, 10th Sept

2011-07-28T08:51:00.000+01:00

Irish Travellers at Dale Farm are about to be brutally evicted from the land they own by bulldozers and bailiffs. The Travellers of Dale Farm, many of whom have lived on the Dale Farm estate for over two decades, are being pushed out of the area, with no offer of alternative community sites in Basildon or anywhere else in England. These Travellers will be made homeless and left at the side of the road, where it will be illegal for them to stop.

This is the enforcement of arbitrary borders within borders. Like all other oppressive borders this enforcement is causing devastation to vulnerable, oppressed, poorly protected people. Thinly disguised racism and deep-seated prejudices are strengthened rather than challenged. Division, protectionism, and hostility reigns while these evictions continue.

Dale Farm Solidarity has formed to stand in solidarity with the Dale Farm community, and is working to resist the Dale Farm evictions through mass protest and civil disobedience. http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

On 10th Sept, Dale Farm Solidarity is calling a demo. Here's the call out - please send this out widely and join us at Dale Farm as soon as you can:

STOP TORIES WASTING MILLIONS BULLDOZING DALE FARM ESTATE

Demonstrate on Saturday Sept 10 against the £18 million eviction of 90 Traveller families from their homes and Eric Pickles's Localism bill. The eviction is likely to happen early in September and if it happens before September 10th, we will march to Dale Farm immediately

The Dale Farm estate is a former scrapyard bought by Traveller families and has existed since the 1970s. Basildon Council has targeting half the community for destruction, and has failed to provide alternative sites for families to move to. Families have been given until midnight on August 31st to abandon their homes or have them bulldozed. Basildon have voted to spend a third of its budget -- £8 million demolishing the estate and turning people out onto the road. The policing of what could be a three-week operation has an additional price tag of £10 million, of which £6 million is being provided by the Home Office.

What's more, Eric Pickles's Localism bill will further destroy the Travelling community, removing the requirement of local council's to provide alternative sites.

Dale Farm Solidarity has called a demonstration starting at 1pm on Saturday Sept 10th. Join us at Wickford Train Station, a mere 30 minutes by train from London Liverpool Street Station. The march will then proceed to Dale Farm and Camp Constant, a base for human rights monitors and those who will engage in civil disobedience to stop the bulldozing.

If the eviction starts before the schedule demonstration, we will march immediately to Dale Farm. To sign up to a txt alert in case of eviction, or to spend a night at Dale Farm so that we have a constant presence there, visit https://smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm/

Buses will also be available. Contact savedalefarm@gmail.com to find or confirm transport leaving from near you.

http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

Saturday 30 July Haywards Heath

2011-07-25T09:24:00.000+01:00

Resist Ethnic Cleansing At Dale Farm

2011-07-22T16:11:00.000+01:00

Resist ethnic cleansing in the UK, fight the eviction of Dale Farm!

First they came for...

From the clearances of Roma camps in Italy and France, to the neo-fascist murders of Roma in Hungary, Romania and the Czech republic, recent events in Europe are becoming increasingly disturbing. Now the UK Government is engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Dale Farm, the largest Traveller community in the country.

On 4th July the residents were told that have until Midnight on August 31st to abandon their homes or face having their community bulldozed. This despite the fact that the families own the land on which they are living and have been offered no viable alternative housing. In the event of an eviction some 90 families will be made homeless, including many elderly, sick, and very young residents.

An astonishing £18M has been allocated for the eviction, being led by Constant and Co, a company notorious for their involvement in brutal evictions of Traveller sites. This eviction is racially motivated. It amounts to ethnic cleansing. It must be resisted.

Camp Constant, a mass gathering of national and international supporters of the Dale Farm community will begin Saturday, August 27th. We want to send the invitation far and wide for people to come and help the community resist the eviction, many of whom are determined to fight to the end. Different people will take different types of action, but we will take the lead from the community in what forms of resistance we use. Remembering the centuries of persecution Travellers and Roma have faced from the settled community since the 1500s, it's crucial we all act with real sensitivity.

After the August 31st, an eviction could happen at any time, and we might not know when. We'll need people to be on standby to come up to Dale Farm in the event of an eviction. See: dalefarm.wordpress.com/hrm for details. We also need people to spend the night at Dale Farm to provide around the clock support. We are looking for groups and individuals to pledge to stay overnight at: smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm

Dale Farm is within easy reach from London Liverpool St. Station. See dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact for directions and contact details.

Please spread this message to your contacts and networks. Resist ethnic cleansing, fight the racist eviction of Dale Farm!

Demo Against New Family Detention Centre In Sussex, 30/07/11

2011-07-22T10:21:00.002+01:00

Croydon NoBorders is calling for a demo in Haywards Heath from 1pm on Saturday 30th July to protest against a new detention centre for children and families which is due to open in late summer at nearby Pease Pottage.

Haywards Heath is the home of Mid Sussex Council which granted planning permission for the former Crawley Forest School to be converted into a migrant prison.

The migrant prison, known euphemistically as a "pre-departure accommodation centre", will be run by the infamous security firm G4S, who are facing charges for corporate manslaughter following the death of deportee Jimmy Mubenga on a BA flight in November. The prison will "normally" hold families for up to 72 hours but they could be held for up to a week in "exceptional circumstances".

"Play facilities" at the prison will be run by children's charity Barnado's. Campaigners have started a campaign against Barnado's for their involvement, disrupting a fundraising event and picketing Barnado's shops and head office.

In May 2010, the coalition government agreed to completely end the detention of children for immigration control purposes. However, now they want to open a new detention centre exactly for this purpose. Barnardo's support will not make a bad situation better for the detainees - it has helped create this bad situation in the first place, because Barnardo's cuddly image was used as propaganda by the Border Agency to get planning permission to build the jail. Whatever excuses Barnardo's give, they know they are making a mistake. As the recession causes financial difficulties for Charities, some abandon their principles and turn to the State for any contracts they can get their hands on.

At a time of savage public spending cuts, it is disgusting how the State finds no shortage of money to expand the military-prison-border complex. It starts a new imperial war "to protect civilians in Libya" - but without shame builds borders to prevent terrified civilians from fleeing war-zones and seeking sanctuary inside Fortress Europe. How soon before the State enforces mass deportations to Libya, in the same way it deports Iraqi and Afghan refugees?

The survival of the State is dependent on how long it can fool its citizens into blaming immigrants for unemployment, hunger and homelessness. This distracts us from recognising that Capitalism is a bankrupt economic system which can only create jobs for bomb makers, prison guards and deportation escorts. The assault against migrants is the sharp end of the knife that is being used to cut back support for vulnerable and poor people, young and old alike.

Another world is possible if people with and without papers struggle together to resist their mutual exploitation by the State and Capitalism.
Croydon NoBorders is part of a transnational network of groups and individuals campaigning for an end to immigration controls and for a world without borders, states and capitalism.

Please join us on Saturday 30th July with banners, placards and instrument to call for an end to detention and deportation. Gather at Muster Green park in Haywards Heath at 1pm.

Barnardo’s: We Believe In (Locking Up) Children

2011-07-16T10:35:00.000+01:00

Britain's largest children charity has become the latest target for anti-detention and anti-deportation campaigners, who argue that Barnardo's involvement in a new 'pre-departure accommodation' facility is legitimising what is, in effect, the government's continued use of detention for children. Following a number of protests, another demonstration has been called by No Borders in Haywards Heath in West Sussex on 30th July (see below for details).

In May 2010, the new coalition government 'committed' to ending child detention for immigration purposes as part of a "new, compassionate approach to family removals." However, while families with children under threat of deportation will no longer be held in normal immigration detention centres, they will instead be placed in new secure facilities, euphemistically named 'open accommodation' or 'pre-departure accommodation'.

One of these new 'family detention centres', as campaigners prefer to call them, will be opened in late summer in Pease Pottage, near Crawley in West Sussex. The converted school, with a 2.5m perimeter fence, will be run on behalf of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) by the notorious security giant G4S, while welfare and social care services will be provided by the children's charity Barnardo’s. (For more on this and other planned family detention centres, see this Corporate Watch article.)

Helping make detention 'acceptable'

In a statement announcing its decision to provide welfare services at the new centre in March, Barnardo's said it “accepts that, as a last resort and after consideration by an independent panel, children and families may need to be kept in secure pre-departure accommodation for a very short period of time,” justifying its involvement with the skewed logic that families and children held at the centre will be “at their most vulnerable and [will] desperately need our support.”

The charity's newly appointed chief executive Anne Marie Carrie added that, “All this adds up to a system which has ambitions to be fundamentally different - which seeks to safeguard children and treat families and children with compassion.” This presumably explains why agreeing to Barnardo's involvement in the project was apparently one of Ms Carrie's first decisions as chief executive. It is also a similar line to that used by the government to justify its new detention plans (see here, for example). Ms Carrie's previous working experience has been in local and national government posts (see here). Speaking at an event in London earlier this month she said, “Barnardo’s decision to provide welfare and social care services to asylum seeking families at the new pre-departure accommodation goes back to our core purpose: supporting the most vulnerable children in the UK.” Setting out the charity’s “principles guiding its provision” at the centre, she added that she was “absolutely clear that if policy and practice fall short of safeguarding the welfare, dignity and respect of families, then Barnardo’s will raise concerns, will speak out and ultimately, if we have to, we will withdraw our services.”

She then went on to outline the charity's “red lines” for involvement in the centre, in what appears to be an attempt to reassure an increasing number of critics. These include withdrawing services if, after a year, more than 10 percent of the families deported are returned through the pre-departure accommodation; if any family has stayed at the centre more than once or for longer than the one week maximum; if Tinsley House detention centre is used as an overflow for families when the Pease Pottage centre is full; or if the level of force used with a family on route to or from the centre is disproportionate to the family's circumstances and if any concerns Barnardo's may have about this, or about the centre's staff's behaviour towards families and children, go unaddressed.

But campaigners say these 'red lines' are not satisfactory. They point out that the government isn't planning to deport more than 10 percent of families through this new centre in any case, so they feel that is simply pulling the wool over their eyes. And if Tinsley House isn't used as an overflow centre they ask, does this mean it is okay to use police stations or short-terms holding facilities, or would Barnardo's prefer their colleagues in the UKBA to simply deport people straight away after snatching them from their homes? Further doubts are raised about what exactly 'proportionate' force is? Was the force used by G4S against Jimmy Mubenga whilst forcibly deporting him, which led to his death proportionate? In the words of one campaigner, all Barnado's is doing is “making this horrible place slightly more acceptable."

Yet, Barnado's is already increasing its capacity so it is ready for its new responsibilities. According to job adverts seen by Corporate Watch, the charity has recruited two project workers and two social workers to work at the centre, on salaries ranging from £22,000 to £29,000 per annum, plus a project administrator on a salary ranging from £17,000 to £19,000. Their roles will include counselling, organising one-to-one and group sessions, providing practical assistance, such as contacting distressed relatives. To show just how compassionate the new approach is, they will also organise play activities for the children.

Protests continue

In response, the campaign against Barnardo's is growing. Over the last three months, campaigners have leafleted staff at Barnardo's headquarters in Barkingside, Essex, and customers at Barnardo's shops, informing them about the organisation's involvement with the detention and deportation machine and urging the customers to boycott the shops until the charity withdraws from the project. Barnardo's also has shops in Chingford, South Woodford, Wanstead, Golders Green, North Finchley, Whetstone, Chiswick, East Sheen, Brixton and Eltham (see here).

On 6th April, activists from groups including No Borders London, All African Women's Group and SOAS Detainee Support walked into the Museum of Childhood in east London during a Barnardo's fundraiser to ask the charity and its guests “how charitable is it to collude with the UKBA in locking up children?” (You can find a video of the protest here).

As a next step, the newly formed No Borders Croydon has called for a demonstration in Haywards Heath on 30th July to protest against the new family detention centre in nearby Pease Pottage. Haywards Heath is the home of Mid Sussex Council, which granted planning permission for the former Crawley Forest School to be converted into a 'secure pre-departure accommodation'

[Repost]

R.I.P. I.A.S.

2011-07-12T12:37:00.000+01:00

The Immigration Advisory Service, the UK’s largest charity providing representation and advice in immigration and asylum law, has gone into administration leaving hundreds of people without access to the legal representation that they are entitled to. Yet another victim it would seem of the pathological desire of the British political class in general, and the Tories in particular, to make it both almost impossible to apply for asylum in the UK, never mind actually gain protection under the various binding international treaties that this country supposedly abides by, and to reign back immigration to a mere trickle. Whilst UK corporations continue to plunder the Third World with impunity (pursuing the Imperial project under another guise whilst at the same time creating a glut of economic refugees) and the west tires to bomb much of the rest of the globe back to the Stone Age (whilst also engineering other refugee crises to complement their economic relatives), the developed world only wishes to admit to its hallowed halls those that will economically benefit it further - the super-rich who can transfer even greater capital from the underdeveloped (sic) world into the developed world's coffers and the skills-rich who can act as the new brain-drained and chattelled wage-slave army, temple slaves in the IMF's House of Mammon. The Big Society? Capitalism with a human face? Just exactly who is it that they think they are trying to kid?

A Flotilla To Stop Deaths In The Mediterranean

2011-07-08T14:50:00.001+01:00

Hundreds of Thousands of people fled Libya since the crisis began in February 2011. As of June 14, according To the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), one million refugees have left the country; more than 500.000 heading off to Tunisia, Egypt More than 300.000 to 70.000 and to Niger.

Every day, refugees arrived in Tunisia to stay in overpopulated camps [ 1 ]. Already the majority are nationals from Sub-Saharan African countries themselves in conflict like Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea or Ivory Coast, it is possible to repatriate them Therefore, as time goes by, their living conditions are becoming more and more difficulty, while the risk that country hosting the may end up being them destabilised as well.

These refugees are caught in a vice-like grip: Gaddafi's regime is using the migration issue as a tool by forcing thousands of people to embark on makeshift vessels, at the same time, many Africans are accused of being mercenaries in the pay of Tripoli and fall prey of the NTC (National Transitional Council) [ 2 ]. Meanwhile, the countries of the coalition forces hand do not seem to establish a single link between their military intervention and people in exile. The European Union still did not take any initiative to host people thesis [ 3 ]. or to save those lost at sea. On the contrary, it is reinforcing border surveillance through the deployment of the Frontex agency in the Mediterranean while the coalition forces do not vessels provide assistance to the boat people. The UNHCR estimates that more than 2.000 people have been reported missing sincere February.

Numerous organisations are now pressuring the European authorities so refugees that can enter the European Union, for support to be provided to the countries where refugees are compelled to stay, and so that measures taken are to stop death in the Mediterranean. To no avail.

The lack of hospitality within the policy of European states has reached such appalling level that year it is our duty to act and to show the possibility of a Euro-Mediterranean area based on solidarity and respect for Human Rights.

Their followings meeting in Cecina (Italy), the Euro-Mediterranean organisations in favour of migrants' rights decided to charter a flotilla which will proceed to maritime surveillance so that assistance is provided to people finally in danger. The participatory organisations would also like to call on the Governments and European bodies on both sides of the Mediterranean for establishing relationships within this common area on the basis of exchange and reciprocity.

This flotilla will embark political figures, journalists, artists, and some representatives of the organisations Involved in the project.

Such an operation, major, would interest only if it engages widely.

Organisations, unions, policy makers, seamen, journalists, artists and anyone interested in this initiative are invited to join the list of information "call intervention Mediterranean" [ 4 ].

Notes

[ 1 ] http://afrique-europe-interact.net/ ...
[ 2 ] See the FIDH report "Double tragedy for Sub-Saharan Africans" http://www.fidh.org/Double-tragedy-for-Sub-Saharan-Africans
[ 3 ] The situation in the refugee camp Located in the South of Tunisia May Strongly destabilises the country, see the attached report of the GADEM and the Cimade - in French - (2011) "Challenges to the borders of Tunisia," p. 50 and Human Rights Watch's releases ( http://www.hrw.org/en/middle-eastn-africa/libya )
[ 4 ] To subscribe to the mailing list, please send an email to migreurop07@yahoo.it

[Repost]

“Without The Necessary Authority”:

2011-07-07T09:46:00.000+01:00

The UK Government’s new compassionate approach to child detention

“You’re a big boy now so I have to search you,” said the immigration officer to the five-year-old, donning latex gloves and patting him down at a Heathrow Airport detention facility run by outsourcing giant G4S.

The child had been booked into Terminal 4’s “short term holding facility” as a “visitor” which meant that his detention would have gone unrecorded but for a surprise visit by two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Prisons on 3rd March this year.

The boy, an EU national, had been returning home to Britain with his father, a non-EU national, after a family visit to the father’s country of origin. The Inspectors noted that the child was detained “without the necessary authority”.

Their “Report on an unannounced inspection of the short-term holding facility at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4”, published today, found that in three months to February 2011 the lock-up had held 78 children, including eight unaccompanied minors. Their average stay was 9.9 hours, twelve children were held for more than 18 hours — the longest detention being 23.9 hours. Not all staff were CRB checked.
This, more than a year after the Coalition Government pledged to end the detention of children for immigration purposes, and six months after deputy prime minister Nick Clegg claimed it had been accomplished.

The five-year-old subjected to the latex “rub-down search” then witnessed his father’s humiliation. The father’s phone was confiscated, but, say the Inspectors, he was not offered the free telephone call to which he was entitled.

Instead of being taken to the family room, which had children’s toys, books and posters (but no natural light nor access to fresh air), the father and child were held in the adult room.

“The father had not been formally interviewed by an immigration officer and was very distressed at the prospect of being refused entry and separated from his son,” said the Inspectors. “When we spoke with him he did not understand what was going to happen to him next. He broke down in tears in front of his child and the other detainees, which was humiliating for him and distressing for the child. After we advised the detainee that he was entitled to make a telephone call, he spoke to G4S who granted his request. The detainee’s distress could have been alleviated had he been able to make the telephone call earlier.”

That these things happened directly under the gaze of HM Prison Inspectors suggests this might be UKBA and G4S on their very best behaviour.

Staff admitted to the Inspectors, “that they had not received refresher training in suicide and self-harm prevention” and “did not carry anti-ligature knives but a knife was attached to the first aid box in their office.” The Inspectors noted: “This could cause unnecessary delay in an emergency.”

The Inspectorate also reported today on Heathrow Terminal 3’s lockup where, over three months to February 2011, 98 children had been held including eight unaccompanied minors. A child’s average stay was 8.3 hours, with twelve children held for more than 18 hours – and one held for 30 hours.

Despite the long periods of incarceration, neither facility had beds. Adults or children could lie across chairs if they wanted to. “And even this did not give room for all to sleep,” said the Inspectors.

Although one third of the detainees at Terminal 3 and a quarter at Terminal 4 were women, there was not always a woman on the staff. “Rub-down searches” took place in an open office, “which was especially inappropriate in the case of female detainees”.

When detainees requested to shower, and if staffing levels permitted, they were put in an escort van and driven to another facility.

One member of staff at Terminal 3 told the Inspectors “of an incident many months previously when a detainee had been banging his head on the table and said: ‘Luckily we were able to put him on the floor and stop him doing it.’”

The Inspectors noted: “The use of three staff to pin the detainee to the floor to prevent possible self-harm seemed an over-reaction.”

Despite the large numbers of children being held, the Inspectors noted that staff had “inadequate knowledge” of the referral system “for identifying victims of human trafficking”.

Although there were some valid legal advice telephone numbers in the holding rooms, the Inspectors found “access to legal advice for non-English speakers was poor. Immigration officers did not always use professional interpreters when necessary, and did not always complete legally required documents correctly. Detainees could not fax a legal adviser freely.” Nor were they routinely offered the free phone call to which they were entitled.

So much for the “big culture shift within our immigration system” and the “new compassionate approach to family returns” prematurely celebrated in December by Nick Clegg.

Today’s reports provoke discomfiting questions, such as:
How many trafficked children miss their one chance of rescue because staff lack proper training?

How many children are detained “without the necessary authority”, misleadingly listed as “visitors”, patted down and patronised by people who may or may not be CRB-checked?

And, if this is how immigration detention works when HM Inspectorate of Prisons is in the house, how do things go when nobody important is watching.

[Repost]

Dale Farm Eviction Notice Served

2011-07-07T09:41:00.000+01:00

Camp Constant to be set up from Saturday August 27th

Activity Days at Dale Farm, starting on Saturday July 9th, at 1 pm

Today, some 90 families at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Traveller community, were hand-delivered a final notice of eviction giving families until midnight on August 31 to abandon their homes, or face their entire community being bulldozed. The central government and Basildon Council have set aside over £18m for the eviction battle that could last three weeks. It will be the biggest clearance of its kind involving the ploughing up of 54 separate plots created on a former scrap-yard purchased by the Travellers ten years ago.

Dale Farm is only a 30 minute train ride from London, and hundreds of people have pledged to join residents in nonviolent resistance to the destruction of Dale Farm. The residents of Dale Farm have encouraged their supporters to establish a base at Dale Farm, Camp Constant, to resist this eviction and house human rights monitors.

Join us on Saturday August 27th and beyond, starting with a weekend of Traveller history & celebration together with practical eviction resistance training. There will also be training for legal observers and human rights monitors, and a bit of a party on Saturday night. Sleeping space is available in caravans or you can bring a tent. The eviction could go ahead right after midnight on August 31st, so we will be staying at Dale Farm before then in preparation. Please check http://dalefarm.wordpress.com for further updates.

Dale Farm is within easy reach from London Liverpool St. Station. See:
http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/contact/ for directions.

You can sign up to our email bulletins here:
http://lists.ucrony.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/dalefarm-solidarity

*Stay overnight at Dale Farm and Alerts - Urgent call for Support*

After the August 31st, an eviction could happen at any time, and we might not know when. We'll need people to be on standby to come up to Dale Farm in the event of an eviction. See: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/hrm/ for details. We also need people to spend the night at Dale Farm to provide around the clock support to the community and resistance to the eviction. We are looking for groups and individuals to pledge to stay overnight.

If you can be on eviction alert, or spend a night at Dale Farm, please sign up here:
https://smsalerts.tachanka.org/dalefarm

Also, please ask your friends to ask their friends to pledge to stay a night: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170414852985935

*Weekend Activity Days*

On July 9th and beyond, we will be building defences to resist the eviction, as well as supporting the community and setting up Camp Constant. We will also hold a meeting there, every Saturday at 1 pm. For more information, and to check the dates of activity days see:
http://dalefarm.wordpress.com/activity

http://dalefarm.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_124229427082

Travellers Given Notice: Dale Farm Eviction Soon

2011-07-05T11:28:00.002+01:00

This morning [4 July] some 90 families at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Traveller community, were hand-delivered a final notice of eviction, giving families until midnight on August 31 to abandon their homes, or face their entire community being bulldozed.

Basildon Borough Council has contracted Gypsy removal specialists Constant & Co to carry out a direct action operation, using heavy machinery and accompanied by riot police. It will be the biggest clearance of its kind involving the ploughing up of 54 separate plots created out of a former scrap-yard purchased by the Travellers ten years ago.

The central government and Basildon Council have set aside more than £18m to meet the costs of an eviction battle that could last three weeks.

"Dale Farm residents are willing to move, at no cost to Basildon, but need the council to identify suitable land," said Richard Sheridan, president of the Gypsy Council. Dale Farm Housing Association has submitted plans for two alternative caravan parks on land belonging to the Homes and Communities Agency. An earlier plan for a site at Pitsea was rejected by the council.

The eviction is taking place despite pleas from two UN bodies and an investigation by the Council of Europe. Lawyers for the Travellers will attempt to challenge the decision to evict through a judicial review application.

Hundreds of people have pledged to join residents in nonviolent resistance to the destruction of Dale Farm. A support-base, Camp Constant, is being set up on August 27h, before the final notice expires, and there will be activity days during the weekend until the notice expires.

"An entire community will be made homeless and we'll see children pulled from their schools and dumped out the roads," said supporter Natalie Fox.

An international team of legal observers are to monitor the conduct of bailiffs and police. For more information, as well as a press pack, visit http://dalefarm.worpress.com and copies of the eviction notice.

Contacts:

Grattan Puxon, Dale Farm Housing Association 01206 523528, 07757533380
Dale Farm Solidarity: 07891854430, 07583621312
Richard Sheridan, president of The Gypsy Council and resident of Dale Farm
07747417711
Mary Ann McCarthy 07961854023, resident of Dale Farm

Rabbis And British Jews Show Solidarity With Travellers At Dale Farm

2011-06-22T09:41:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday 22 June a delegation of Rabbis and British Jews will visit Dale Farm in Essex, the largest Traveller and Gypsy-owned estate in the UK (and a former scrap yard), to express their solidarity with a hundred families that are facing the destruction of their homes by Basildon Council. The Council plans to forcibly evict these families from the land they own and bulldoze their homes in an operation that is estimated will cost £18 million.

The delegation will be met at Dale Farm by the President of the Gypsy Council Richard Sheridan and received in her home by residents' spokesperson Mrs Mary Ann McCarthy.

Rabbi Janet Burden said: "I believe that the history of the Jewish people calls on us to stand up for the vulnerable. I want to see for myself what is happening and to do what I can to help”.

Dan Glass, Jewish social justice activist said: "For many 2nd and 3rd generation Nazi Holocaust surviving Jews in the UK, we are inbuilt with a sense of injustice from a very young age. We are here to stand against the calculated policies perpetuating displacement of people and a breaking of human rights. Throughout our history our eyes have been opened - people have supported us for our freedoms and will will continue to share this solidarity with others."

Dr. Margaret Greenfields, who has long campaigned for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers' rights, is calling out to the Jewish community to help.

With the Rabbis will be members of the Jewish Socialists Group which has issued a statement saying that it believes the persecution, harassment and eviction of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in Britain is part and parcel of what is being carried out by the authorities in France, Italy and some eastern European countries.

It says the Jewish Socialists Group will actively encourage its members to join the Dale Farm Solidarity group and Dale Farm residents in resisting the huge £18m eviction operation at Dale Farm, which is to be funded by Basildon Council, the Home Office and the Department of Communities and Local Government.

The visit by the British Jewish delegation will coincide with the official launch of the website http://jewify.org, which makes the connection between persecuted populations such as Travellers and Jews by substituting the word “Jew” for “Gypsy” and “Traveller” in news articles.

Contacts:

Dale Farm Residents Association tel: 01206 523528 email:dale.farm@btinternet.com

Dale Farm Solidarity tel: 0758 3761462 email: savedalefarm@gmail.com

Jewish Solidarity delegation via Dan Glass tel: 0771 7811747

Notes for Editors:

The delegation will be meeting at Liverpool Street Station at 10:20 am on 22 June, to catch the 10:35 am train to Wickford. Meeting point will be the entrance to platform 10.

Blockade Of Heathrow Detention Centre Helps Stops Iraq Deportation Flight

2011-06-22T09:39:00.001+01:00

Yesterday anti-deportation campaigners blockaded Colnbrook and Harmondsworth detention centres in a last-minute attempt to stop the forcible deportation of Iraqi refugees to Baghdad on a specially chartered flight scheduled to leave London that evening.

30 angry protesters from No Borders, Stop Deportation and other groups blocked the joint entrance to the two detention centres near Heathrow airport. Six of them encased their arms in glass and plastic tubes attached to concrete barrels, while others held banners and shouted slogans against the 'brutal deportation machine.'

Three coaches carrying over 30 of the deportees to the airport were prevented from leaving the complex. Another 30 were supposed to be taken at the same time from Brook House detention centre at Gatwick airport and Campsfield House in Oxfordshire. In total, it was expected that the flight, scheduled to leave an undisclosed airport at 11pm, would carry between 60 and 70 deportees, accompanied by twice as many private security guards and immigration officers.

One of the protesters, who preferred to stay anonymous, said: "Mass deportation flights have become the government's favoured way to deport those who have fallen foul of its inhumane immigration controls. They're meant to save money and keep deportations outside the public gaze. But while every deportation is a violation of people's right to freedom of movement, these charter flights are a particularly sordid way to do that. On top of the trauma and hardship caused by deportation, these flights further undermine the legal rights of the refugees and asylum seekers."

Campaigners claim that many of the deportees had not exhausted all legal avenues available to them and had not had access to adequate legal representation. The emphasis of mass deportations, they argue, is on filling the flight and "getting rid of as many, as soon as possible." Solicitors acting on behalf of the deportees had sought a judicial review in the High Court as to whether the flight as a whole is legal.

Earlier this month, some of the detainees held in Campsfield went on hunger strike in protest at their planned deportation. In a statement they said: "Some of us don't have any homes or nowhere to go in Iraq. If we were returned we would be left to survive for ourselves on the streets with nothing. Some of us don't even know if our family members are alive or dead because we haven't had any contact with them for a long time... We have family and friends here. Being parted from them at this time is very hard and stressful for both sides... Everyone has the right to be able to live in a safe country."

According to media reports and evidence collected by the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), many of those who have been deported to Iraq over the past few years are now living in hiding, in fear of the persecution they originally left Iraq to flee. Some have been assassinated or kidnapped and killed, while others have had mental breakdowns or committed suicide days after being deported. Many more have had to leave the country and become refugees again.

IFIR's secretary Dashty Jamal said: "The UK government is responsible for the tragedy in Iraq. They are playing politics with the lives of Iraqi refugees. They are making a deal with the despotic Iraqi regime, which the Iraqi people are currently rising up against, to send people back."

This is not the first time that Colnbrook and Harmodsworth have been blockaded by anti-deportation campaigners. In May 2009, a similar blockade to try and stop a mass deportation flight to Iraqi Kurdistan ended with six of the activists being violently arrested, only to be found not guilty by a magistrates judge.

The blockade, which started around 4pm, ended at 9pm without any arrests being made after it was learnt that the Immigration Advisory Service had obtained an injunction and the flight has been cancelled.

For pictures and links to an incident on Monday when another deportee on a plane at Heathrow cut his throat in order to prevent his removal and news that one of the G4S guards facing manslaughter charges over the death of Jimmy Mubenga last year has been showing his contempt for other refugees by posting photos on a social media site mocking two other people he had been involved in the deportation of are available here.

Another Indymedia report here.

Emergency Picket Of The Italian Embassy Tomorrow

2011-06-21T09:59:00.000+01:00

The Italian government has approved an emergency decree which foresees the immediate expulsion of all irregular immigrants, and at the same time has extended the detention period from 6 to 18 months. The decree also allows for the forced expulsion of EU citizens. We are talking about a manhunt that is taking place throughout Italy, where the police are rounding up Roma citizens and migrants, while access to the detention centres - where the worst abuses occur - have been forbidden to the press and to everybody else. Continuous protests and riots where already happening inside the detention centres, one of which (Palazzo) had to close down because of a fire.

Join the picket in front of the Italian Embassy tomorrow, Wednesday 22 June, from 4.30 pm - but most people are expected to arrive after 5 pm, with a peak at 5.30.

Bring banners, pots, drums, whistles and everything that makes noise. All welcome!

Contact: 07940 143983

Address: Italian Embassy
14 Three Kings Yard
Grosvenor Square
Westminster
London W1K 4EH
(Nearest tube: Bond Street)

Stop Racism and Xenophobia in Italy

2011-06-19T13:31:00.000+01:00

The Italian government has approved an emergency decree which foresees the immediate expulsion of all illegal immigrants, and at the same time has extended the detention period in the CIEs* to 18 months.

According to hundreds of witness accounts (many of which have been published in the national newspapers) these Centres of Identification and Expulsion are authentic concentration camps. The decree also allows for the forced expulsion of EU citizens. We are talking about a manhunt that is taking place throughout Italy, where the police are rounding up Roma citizens and migrants, identifying them, and charging them with every kind of offence (from begging to insulting a public official, from illegal occupation of public land to resisting police officers).

The magistrates, therefore, basing their sentences on convictions that are often served through “penal decrees” (trials without the right to a defence) or by summary judgement (an immediate trial that does not allow those accused to defend themselves properly, forcing them to negotiate a reduced prison sentence even when innocent) can order expulsions for reasons of "social dangerousness". 18 months in a CIE is harsh punishment, because after a few weeks in detention most of the migrants carry out acts of self-harm and many even contemplate suicide (often seeing their plan through). Poor immigrant families often experience the further tragedy of seeing their children taken away from them, with no opportunity to protest. The children are taken into care, and some are later adopted by Italian families.

The European Union must avoid falling prey to the same indifference that allowed the Holocaust and other persecutions in modern history to take place. We are asking the EU authorities to organize a committee of inquiry to inspect the conditions of persecution that migrants and refugees are living in in Italian cities. The committee should observe the waste of European funds allocated to immigration; the spread of intolerant ideologies promoted by politicians and the media; and the failure to implement programme to combat racism, neo-Nazism, antiziganism,** anti-Semitism and racial ideologies. The new agreements that the Italian Minister of the Interior (a top man in a party that combats foreigners and immigrants without posing ethical limits) is about to sign with Libya, will result in more pushing back of refugees, or the blocking of groups of refugees fleeing from persecution. This is today’s Italy, where the Italian people are becoming accustomed to the serious discrimination taking place against the Roma, poor Africans and migrants, and the many episodes of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia.

* Centres for Identification and Expulsion
** Hostility, prejudice or racism directed at the Romani people.

[Repost]

Update On Hunger Strike & Deportations To Iraq

2011-06-16T10:14:00.000+01:00

In recent weeks the government has detained at least 70 Iraqi asylum seekers, in preparation for a mass deportation to Baghdad and detainees have been given removal directions for 21 June 2011, at 23:00 hours.

Officials from the Iraqi government are currently visiting detainees to confirm their identities so that they can be deported, as part of an agreement between the two governments. 37 Asylum seekers in Campsfield detention centre have responded with a hunger strike. Today will be its fourth day. Supporters have gathered outside Campsfield to protest against the forced removals.

Many of these asylum seekers have been in the UK for several years, making close friends and starting families. Take Adam Aziz Ali, who is due to be removed on a flight to Baghdad on 20th June. Adam is a Kurdish Iraqi. He has been here for five years, living with his partner, Joanne, in County Durham for almost four years. In that time he has become part of her family. They see him as a son, a brother, and an uncle. They cannot understand why a close member of their family should be removed. The Home Office has judged, rather robotically, that Adam has not developed relationships “beyond normal emotional ties”. His human right to a family life is not being affected “disproportionately”.

Iraq is a rocked by civil unrest: sectarian violence, suicide bombings and, more recently, a bloody backlash against civil rights protests.

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees has reported that “many of those who have been deported to Iraq in the past are now living in hiding, in fear of the persecution they originally left Iraq to flee. Some have been assassinated. Others have committed suicide only days after being deported or have been kidnapped and killed, while others have had mental breakdowns. Many more have had to leave the country and become refugees again.”

Like Adam, many of the asylum seekers due to be removed are Kurdish. The IFIR has shown particular concern for the situation in Iraqi Kurdistan – a society maligned by corruption, institutional violence and a poverty of basic services such as hospitals and clean water. While protests have been held outside Campsfield, sister protests planned in Kurdistan have been denied permission by the regional government. In Adam’s case, the Home Office suggested that “there is nothing to prevent Joanne from accompanying Mr Ali”. We disagree.

It is clear that the government plan to carry out the removals imminently, unconcerned by the asylum seekers’ right to a family life or by the dangers they will face in Iraq.

Meanwhile the asylum seekers are determined to fight the decision.

Asylum Groups Warn Jewish Community Over London Citizens

2011-06-14T09:50:00.000+01:00

Campaigners working to end the detention of the children of asylum seekers have warned the Jewish community against collaborating with Citizens UK, the controversial "community organisers" currently running a campaign to win over synagogues and Jewish organisations.

End Child Detention Now has told the Jewish Chronicle that Citizens UK hijacked the campaign to end child detention, and then began working as agents of the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for the removal of families whose asylum claim has failed.

"Citizens UK, the self-styled home of community organising in Britain, has, bizarrely, claimed credit for single-handedly ending child detention, while collaborating with the UKBA, specifically helping to ensure that asylum seekers go quietly," said End Child Detention Now spokesman Dr Simon Parker.

Citizens UK, which grew out of London Citizens, enjoys the patronage of Ed Miliband's guru Lord Glasman, Philip Blond, an adviser to David Cameron, and former Labour Cabinet minister James Purnell.

"They are well known in the sector as a UKBA fifth column and they don't care where they recruit their stage army from," said one campaigner contacted by the JC.

Several activists said they were too scared to speak out because of the influence of London Citizens/Citizens UK.

A letter from the UK Border Agency, leaked to the JC, shows that Citizens UK is working closely with the government on a pilot scheme to provide Home Office-sanctioned "community sponsors" to work with families seeking asylum.

According to the letter from UKBA strategic director David Wood, Citizens UK is developing a pilot for the "community sponsors" who have a "pre-existing relationship of trust with an asylum seeker". These individuals would give "ongoing, pastoral support to the individual/family going through the asylum process which is of benefit to both the applicant and UKBA".

The issue has become an increasing public relations problem since Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made a pledge, immediately after last year's election, to end child detention.

Critics say that working directly with government to facilitate asylum removals goes against the philosophy of community organising, which is supposed to be independent of government.

Two weeks ago the JC revealed that London Citizens deputy chair Junaid Ahmed had celebrated the Hamas leadership as resistance heroes.

In a video entitled Gaza: The Martyrs Meadow, Mr Ahmed paid tribute to Sheikh Yassin, the founder of Hamas, and present leader Khaled Meshaal.

London Citizens issued a statement saying the video did not constitute support for terrorism. Mr Ahmed remains in post as a trustee and deputy chair of London Citizens as a representative of East London Mosque. The community leader is also closely associated with the Islamist organisation, Islamic Forum Europe.

The issue of London Citizens, which brings together grassroots groups and religious organisations, has proved deeply divisive within the Jewish community.

In particular, attempts to affiliate New North London Synagogue to London Citizens hit the buffers when concerns were raised about the organisation's campaigning tactics, especially on the issue of child detention.

Members of the synagogue complained that London Citizens had hijacked the campaign and claimed "victory" when Mr Clegg announced after the election last year that the policy would be scrapped. In fact, child detention has continued, although the government now plans to set up family-friendly "pre-departure accommodation" in a village near Gatwick Airport.

After the vote went against them at the synagogue's council in March, the pro-London Citizens faction in NNLS set up a break-away organisation, the Citizens Group, to affiliate to the community organisers. London Citizens has confirmed that the splinter group is a member. Individuals cannot join the organisation, but groups pay up to £2,000 for the privilege.

One member of NNLS, who has opposed the move to join London Citizens, told the JC: "If the whole £2,000 has been paid, then effectively the whole synagogue has joined, despite the verbal acrobatics to make it sound as if we haven't". The Citizens Group were founder members of North London Citizens when it launched at the end of March and a statement issued at the time said: "It was a hugely inspiring event and set the scene for a new beginning for working with our neighbours on issues of common concern." NNLS Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg also spoke at the event, despite the vote going against membership.

Other organisations which have joined London Citizens include the New London and Finchley Reform Synagogues, the North London Progressive Jewish Community, Masorti youth movement Noam and its organisation for young adults, Marom.

[Repost]

News Release From Dale Farm Solidarity

2011-06-14T09:47:00.002+01:00

A report prepared by Carta Developers for the Gypsy Council has identified that much of the legal underpinning for the proposed £18.5 million eviction operation against Dale Farm in Essex - the UK's largest Travellers’ community - may be flawed.

Residents at Dale Farm this week discovered that on 10 of the 54 properties they have a right to operate a scrap-yard. This means bailiffs Constant & Co., who are expected to be contracted at a cost of £3.5 million to bulldoze these homes cannot legally remove existing hard standing and fencing.

According to the Report the same situation applies to as many as 48 of the properties as enforcement notices issued by Basildon Borough Council are either flawed or have already been declared void by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2003.

This leaves Basildon Council and the present Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, as well as the Home Office - which has agreed to fund policing of the eviction - in an embarrassing situation, the Carta Report reveals. They have planned and are financing an eviction operation which appears to lack legal foundation.

The Gypsy Council expects to raise the issue on Thursday 16 June at 5pm at a meeting chaired by Lord Avebury in Committee Room 4, Houses of Parliament, with members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies and Travellers, and with representatives of the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Notes for Editors/Background

Basildon Council proposes to take action against Dale Farm under section 178 of the Town and Country Planning Act ('TCPA'). The Council has sought and obtained grants from Central Government of about £6 million and proposes to make about £12 million of Basildon Council's money available to fund eviction of half of the estate.

On 1 June the Gypsy Council and Dale Farm Housing Association forwarded a draft report to Basildon Council and ministers in an attempt to secure consensus as to what the Council could take planning enforcement action against at Dale Farm.

The report identifies that in 2003 the then-Secretary of State said that it was lawful to stand caravans at Dale Farm, use the land for the deposit of hardcore and road scalpings and that use of certain areas of the land was formally lawful. The Secretary of State determined that notices 4 and 8 issued by the Council in 2002 were nullified, and that notice 6 issued by the Council should be modified.

Reissue of the enforcement notices first issued by the Council would have enabled the owners and occupiers of Dale Farm to identify that the site was a former scrap yard, and that the majority of the land was covered in concrete when they purchased it in around 2001. The Council failed to reissue notices and denied the travellers a right of appeal to the Secretary of State.

The report identifies that Basildon Council has been proposing to take enforcement action against Dale Farm for the last five years yet has failed to examine its own notices to determine if it actually has the right to do so.

s178 TCPA only allows a council to take enforcement action if it actually has enforcement notices. The Carta Report identifies that Basildon does not have enforcement notices which could enable it to take enforcement action against most of the Dale Farm properties.

s178 TCPA raises significant issues for the Gypsy and Traveller community. Under s178 a Council, if it claims to have enforcement notice, is able to clear land, and determine what costs are reasonable to secure clearance. Local authorities are able to act in this way without supervision.

Dale Farm is the latest example of a council seeking to use powers against the Gypsy and Traveller community, which in reality it does not have. This has involved significant resources to fund clearance of land without supervision being obtained. This time Government ministers have made funds available to clear a site despite having previously determined that the Council's acts would be illegal.

Grattan Puxon, secretary of the DFHA, said, "Issue of an enforcement notice by a council is the same as imposing a mortgage deed on a property. The council is able to foreclose on the mortgage and claim the land without any supervision. We have asked the Council and ministers to identify why they have made about £18 million available to foreclose on enforcement notices that don't exist to evict Travellers from their own land."

"This is a serious matter and we would have expected the Council to have ensured that it actually had mortgage deeds against the land before seeking to dispossess people of their land. The residents find it amazing that government ministers will make millions of pounds available based on lobbying by a council leader and a local MP."

Candy Sheridan vice chair of the Gypsy Council stated: "Dale Farm is the latest example of a council seeking to foreclose on mortgages that don't exist against Gypsies. We have sought to obtain clarification from both government and Basildon Council as to why they have acted in this way. They have failed to reply and we are raising the issue with Parliament. We have examples of other councils that have foreclosed on mortgage deeds that don't exist, and in one case the Council unreasonably stopped Gypsies clearing the site so that they could claim a mortgage and dispossess them of their land. The same Council obtained £200,000 as a grant from Communities and Local Government in 2009 and has not spent the money. It refuses to identify how the funds can be accessed to address pressing needs in the district, that have caused avoidable hardship."

Dale Farm raises major issues for the government as it unambiguously shows that mortgages claimed by Councils need to be better regulated. It shows that Councils will seek to use non-existent mortgages to engage in harassment of people.

Contacts:
Candy Sheridan, vice-chair of the Gypsy Council 0789 9723177
Grattan Puxon, secretary, Dale Farm Residents Association 01206 523528

A copy of the Carta Report can be obtained from Grattan Puxon.

Iraqi Refugees On Hunger Strike

2011-06-09T09:29:00.001+01:00

24 Iraqi refugees held in a detention centre in Oxford have started a hunger strike to protest against the government’s plans to deport them to Baghdad. More than 70 people are currently being held in detention centres around the country. Officials from the Iraqi government are currently visiting them to confirm their identities so that they can be deported, as part of an agreement between the two governments.

The majority of the detainees have refused to meet with the officials in protest at their role in the deportations.

A statement from the group, which consists of Kurdish and Iraqi refugees, says:
"Some of us don’t have any homes or nowhere to go in Iraq. If we were returned we would be left to survive for ourselves on the streets with nothing, which isn’t. Some of us don’t even know if our family members are alive or dead because we haven’t had any contact with them for a long time.

While we have been in England, for all different amounts of times, we have lived here safely and got on with our lives. We have family and friends here. Being parted from them at this time is very hard and stressful for both sides. Some of us are engaged or married, and have wives here in England. We also have children here, some of us more than one. Some of our wives are expecting babies. They need to be together as families.

Everyone has the right to be able to live in a safe country. It is not right if we are returned to Iraq. Our lives would be ended."

Dashty Jamal from the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees says:
"the UK government is responsible for the tragedy in Iraq. They are playing politics with the lives of Iraqi refugees. They are making a deal with the despotic Iraqi regime, which the Iraqi people are currently rising up against, to send people back."

There will be a demonstration outside the Iraqi Parliament in Sulaymania on Sunday 12th June to protest against the deportations.

For more information about how to support the campaign against deportations to Baghdad please go to: http://www.federationifir.com/english/En.file/camping%20against%20deport%20to%20iraq.html

Demo At Barnado's Head Office

2011-06-07T09:28:00.000+01:00

On June 6th 2011, activists visited Barnado's HQ in Barkingside Essex to protest against their involvement with the UK Border Agency. Campaigners gave out leaflets informing Barnado's staff of the work that Barnados will be doing at the soon-to-be-opened "pre-departure accommodation facility" near Gatwick and urging them to express their concerns about this to Barnado's management.

Barnardo's is the UK's largest children's charity. The protesters wanted to raise awareness among Barnardo's' customers about the charity's controversial new involvement with the UK Border Agency (UKBA). Barnardo's has accepted a government contract to run a creche at the soon-to-be-opened "pre-departure accommodation facility" near Gatwick. This is essentially a prison where asylum-seeking families with children will be detained pending a deportation attempt by the UKBA. The security at the prison will be done by G4 Securicor - the notorious firm involved in the deadly deportation of Jimmy Mubenga in October 2010.

The government are claiming to have ended child detention, and introduced a new “compassionate approach to family removals”. Barnardos' support for this process adds a veneer of respectability to the government's deception. Indeed, at the planning application meeting for the new prison, councilors said any concerns they had about the welfare of the children were reassured by Barnardos' involvement.

The protest was greeted by Barnado's' Press Team who attempted to explain away Barnado's' involvement in this new facility, claiming that they were trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

Protests against Barnado's will continue...

[Repost]

Trouble At Brook House IRC

2011-05-31T12:57:00.000+01:00

On Friday evening 27th May at approximately 19:30 a group of 22 to 25 detainees began a protest at the continued holding in segregation of two detainees. According to one detainee, riot police were brought into the removal centre and at 05:30 hours on Saturday morning, 22 to 25 detainees were removed from association.

It is not known if they are still @ Brook House IRC or have been transferred to any of the immigration prisons, that is those removal centres managed by the Prison Service, Morton Hall, Lindholme, Haslar or Dover IRCs.

[http://www.freemovement.org.uk/]

Support Clara Osagiede

2011-05-25T09:34:00.000+01:00

RMT Representative Assaulted And Suspended

Don't Let Initial Get Away With Attacking The Right Of Underground Cleaners To Organise!

Demo this Thursday, 10am, outside the hearing at the Initial Office, 13-27 Brunswick Place, London, N1 6DX (2 mins from Old St station)

Clara Osagiede is an RMT representative employed by Initial Cleaning Services on London Underground. On 4th March 2011 Clara witnessed members being forced to clean graffiti off a tube train in the 'acid shed' at Hainault Depot. Aware that the staff involved had no appropriate training to carry out what could be a very hazardous task she raised concerns with the manager on duty who told her it was none of her business and to get out of his office.

Clara explained she was a Health and Safety rep and that it was her business. The manager became aggressive and shoved her out of the office, slamming a door behind her. She reported the incident to other management and to British Transport Police. The manager was suspended but not for long. A few days later Clara reported for work to find the manager back at work without due internal processes being completed. Terrified she withdrew to a safe place of work locking herself in an office. Clara is now suspended for standing up for vulnerable workers being made to undertake dangerous duties in the acid shed for which they are not trained.

Please come and show support outside the disciplinary hearing this Thursday. Bring banners, placards and noisemakers!

Dale Farm Eviction Will Be Resisted

2011-05-23T09:16:00.000+01:00

The residents of Dale Farm are living on land that they have bought. Travellers throughout the country were encouraged to buy land to live on after the requirement for local authorities to provide caravan sites was removed. But cruelly when they did this voices were raised to ensure that planning permission was not granted. So generations, from babies to grannies, live 'illegally' on their own land with all the uncertainties and dangers that implies.

It is claimed that they are encroaching on green belt land. This might be what appears on maps. But the truth is that prior to the community buying and settling on this land it was a scrap metal yard! The local council and the objectors know this perfectly well. Behind the smokescreen of planning rules and green belt land lies a blatant racism. Basildon Council has not formally replied to the planning applications for alternative mobile-home sites put forward by the Gypsy Council - that could be provided on government agency land at a far lower cost than this act of ethnic cleansing. It is clear that the Tories want Travellers out of Basildon district at whatever cost in human misery and tax payers' money.

On the strength of this dishonesty and bigotry, and despite pleas from the UN, Council of Europe and Amnesty International, the Tory leader of Basildon District Council trumpets the need to "Uphold the Rule of Law". He has committed £8 million pounds of council reserves to the eviction. Up to another £10 million could be spent by Essex police in assisting with the eviction.

The Council has commissioned private bailiffs Constant & Co to carry out the eviction, a company known for its brutal treatment of Traveller families during move-on operations around the country.

The residents of Dale Farm have asked supporters to establish a camp, Camp Constant, to help stop the destruction of their homes.

No Passaran!

Contact:

E: dale.farm@btinternet.com

M: 0788 8699256

W: http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/letdalefarmlive

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_124229427082

UK Retailer Backs Campaign To End Immigration Controls

2011-05-20T14:57:00.001+01:00

Ethical cosmetics company Lush is dedicating all of its 95 UK stores to promoting the cause of open borders and freedom of movement for all, from Friday 20th-Friday 27th May 2011.

Customers will be given a free NOII newspaper and invited to sign the No One Is Illegal Declaration:

“People should be free to live and work wherever they wish,

and enjoy all the same rights as all other residents.

No One Is Illegal.”

… and make a donation to help publicise it.

Lush have produced 50,000 copies of the 4-page tabloid newspaper, and a special passport that any human being can issue to any other human being.

The passport affirms that its owner is a human being, and not an alien (or a corporate entity, or a figment of some racist’s imagination), and should be treated like one.

We hope to test the passport at a national border somewhere in the London area during the next few days.

[Repost]

BESIDES, WE’RE FROM HERE

2011-05-18T16:31:00.000+01:00

AGAINST RACISM

AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT IMMIGRATION POLICIES

FOR THE REGULARISATION OF UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS

         After the victory of Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2007 presidential election, the Ministry for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Solidarity Development was created, the first time in the history of the French Republic. Since then, tens of thousands of undocumented migrants, men, women and children, have been targeted, arrested and deported, including to countries in war, such as Afghanistan. This immigration policy is unacceptable and it violates the elementary humanitarian principles and the international agreements France has ratified. Besides this, there are the disastrous consequences of the “debate” about national identity and thepersecution of the Roma.

         We want this situation, which is undermining fundamental rights, threatening the right to seek asylum and ruining the lives of the targeted foreigners in France, TO STOP. This is why in May 2011, on the anniversary of the creation of the Ministry for Immigration, we are calling for a unified national demonstration. There will be demonstrations happening on the same day all over France, including a demonstration in Calais.

         We demand an immediate stop to the government's repressive policies against undocumented migrants and the Roma and the regularization of undocumented migrants.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

SATURDAY THE 28TH OF MAY

DEMONSTRATION IN CALAIS

Start at 2.30pm at the crossroads of Rue de Moscou and Rue Lamy.

Do we want a National Front mayor in Calais at the next elections?

Does anyone have better housing, because the migrants are sleeping outdoors?

20 years of deportations and destruction:

Is that a solution?

How long will there be border control between France and England?

Are we going to let the government ignore human rights in our name?

LET’S REACT!

A call out by:
AC! Côte d'OpaleAttacBoulonnais, La Belle Etoile (Calais), Europe Ecologie Les Verts, FSU 59-62, GDALE-CGA (Lille), Louis Lecoin nonviolent group of Dunkirk, La Marmite aux Idées (Calais), Ligue des droits de l’homme 62 (Dunkirk), MRAP Nord Pas Calais (with the Dunkirk group), the NPA, the PCF, Salam,Solidaires 59-62, SUD Education 59-62, Terre d’Errance

To sign the national call-out, go to http://dailleurnoussommesdici.org/

WITH OR WITHOUT PAPERS, WE HAVE RIGHTS!

For the past 10 years, undocumented migrants have wandered the streets of Calais, stuck between France and England, both of which didn’t want them. Too often people walk passed them, indifferent or too preoccupied with their everyway worries. Even worse, some use the migrant issue to stir up racism and fear amongst people. This way everyone keeps to themselves, thinking that nothing can change. Let’s not stay in this game of “divide and rule”! Defending the rights of the undocumented migrants means also defending our rights and valuing our solidarity.

A migrant is not an intruder, as they might like to have us believe, but rather someone who is searching for protection in Europe, because in his/her country, his/her life is threatened by war, conflict, famine and poverty. Isn’t it only normal to want to live better? We are trying to the same thing. Yet migrants are tracked down and persecuted daily on the streets of Calais, by the police and the authorities.

This is why it’s time to unite the different struggles and, of the documented or the undocumented (of people with or without papers), and tooprotect our most elementary rights:

*Lets reclaim the right to a decent housing, as well as the right to live in dignified conditions. Migrants often sleep outside, in the summer as well as in the winter, as the state doesn’t fulfil its obligation to house asylum seekers. On the other hand, there are also many “native” inhabitants of Calais, who live in precarious conditions, with respect to their housing and work. A simple question for the sceptics: does anyone have better housing, or a better salary, because the undocumented migrants sleep outdoors and get deported?

*Lets demand an end to the police violence and reclaim the right to peace. Every day the police harasses migrants without mercy, they arrest them for not having done anything wrong. But this omnipresence of police is weighing on the French residents of Calais too, especially in the neighbourhoods where the police and the authorities use only force to respond to the primarily social and economic problems. A baton has never been a solution.

*Lets reclaim the right to freedom of movement and condemn the systematic identity controls. There is freedom of movement for goods and capital, so why couldn’t we have freedom of movement for people? Every year 26 000 migrants are deported from France, while the country proclaims itself to be the cradle of human rights and while big companies make huge profit that only benefits a small minority.

Without a united struggle, the situation in Calais is going to get worse and worse, both for “native” Calaisians and for the migrants. We have to act collectively.

DEMONSTRATION ON SATURDAY THE 28TH OF MAY IN CALAIS

Start at 2.30pm at the crossroads of Rue de Moscou and Rue Lamy
The “d’ailleur nous sommesd’ici” collective is open to everybody, we need to organize the struggled together and united. Contact: dailleurs.dici@laposte.net

Update From Calais

2011-05-16T09:42:00.000+01:00

The last few weeks have seen a stepping-up of the struggle in Calais, after No Borders activists released video footage of police raids and harassment to French national media on 10 April. [Video #1, #2.] With TV and radio attention turned on Calais, migrants got a breath of calm as the border police (PAF: Police Aux Frontieres) seemed to take a week off. But they were soon back with a vengeance with a major raid on 21 April which led to over two dozen arrests, including three No Borders activists who were brutally arrested and now face serious charges.

One video, which received thousands of online views in a few hours, showed border police driving into Africa House (the deserted factory complex lived in by around 100 Sudanese, Eritrean, Afghan and other migrants) in the early hours, dancing and joking as they blasted loud African music from squad cars with lights flashing. Other footage showed police hitting activists and smashing cameras, as well as sexual harassment. But these videos really indicate just the tip of the iceberg of the systematic repression taking place in Calais. Many of the worst incidents of police violence against migrants are unlikely to ever be captured on film. Nor can a few video clips make clear the crushing reality of this harassment that goes on every day and every night: constant and repeated ID controls, arrests, raids, beatings, destruction of shelters and possessions, contamination of food and water, and acts of humiliation and psychological warfare. All as part of a deliberate policy agreed by the French and UK governments to “clear” undesirables from the border zone by making life unliveable.

No Borders have been living and working alongside migrants in Calais since the June 2009 No Border camp, and an important part of their work during this time has been filming, monitoring, and documenting police raids and attacks. Activists have collected maybe hundreds of hours of film, as well as photographs, written testimonies and more evidence. There are plenty more “videos of shame” which could be published in future. At this moment activists are in discussions with lawyers about the best approach to take with presenting this evidence, perhaps as part of a legal challenge against the French state.

Africa House, currently the largest migrant settlement in Calais, is attacked by police pretty much every day, sometimes numerous times in the same day or night. So having a whole ten days off from raids was a real material benefit to residents. CRS riot police did make a small incursion at the back of the squatted complex on the morning of the 13th: but when they found out a Radio France journalist was on patrol with No Borders that morning they soon scurried off, even releasing one migrant without papers whom they had been about to detain. The recent French press coverage has been overwhelmingly positive (a surprise for English activists used to the anti-migration rants of the Daily Mail et al.), not only spotlighting the activity of the cops but giving migrants a rare chance to tell their own stories on national media. Such as one Darfuri friend who told how: “I left my country because of war, expecting to find freedom in Europe, and instead I have found another war.”

Of course the holiday didn’t last long. On 21 April Africa House was raided by five vanloads of CRS riot cops as well as a number of PAF border police, who attacked the building simultaneously from both sides at just after 9 am. More than 20 people without papers were arrested. But in this case the violence was mainly directed at the No Borders activists on the scene — particularly those carrying cameras. Activists were brutally grabbed, dragged on the ground, manhandled and injured. One camera was smashed, another taken and its memory card stolen. Four activists were arrested and held in custody for nine hours. Three of them now face trial on 12 July for charges including “violent resistance in a group” and “illegal occupation”. The former charge is similar to something like “violent disorder” in the UK.

Despite regular No Borders interventions in police raids, if the trial does go ahead it will be one of only a few times the authorities have tried to prosecute activists for serious offences following a squat raid. Such charges have often been threatened, but rarely reached court, perhaps because the police have more to lose themselves from such a trial. Many of these raids, and certainly much standard police conduct during them, are likely to themselves be illegal. With two years’ worth of evidence to make the point, a high profile court case around an Africa House raid could seriously backfire on the “forces of order”.

As one No Border activist commented in a press statement last week: “this trial is no more than a manipulation strategy to try and destroy the image of No Borders, and above all to try and scare us and discourage us from continuing to film and expose the reality of Calais and of its repressive system. We are not afraid: we are ready to go to the courts and seize the opportunity to win this latest political trial.”

As well as this new trial, two other No Borders activists are currently facing charges of “outrage” (insulting a police officer) and assault on a police officer, from separate incidents. These comrades also need solidarity and support, particularly if there are fines to pay.

Meanwhile, with or without media attention and coutroom battles, the struggle in Calais continues. Whether it’s direct action against the border, or simple acts of everyday solidarity such as sharing a cup of sweet tea by the campfire, the No Borders presence in Calais is getting stronger. As our numbers and networks grow, so do our skills and experience, and we become ready to face new challenges and take new steps to move our struggle forwards. New hands, eyes and minds are always welcome: come and join the resistance

[Repost from Calais Migrant Solidarity]

Hunger Strike Ends

2011-05-11T12:01:00.000+01:00

The three Iranian refused asylum seekers who had been on hunger strike outside Lunar House in Croydon for the past 37 days have ended their protest after being granted leave to reapply for asylum based on 'new' medical and legal evidence of abuse in Iran.

Support The Iranian Hunger Strikers

2011-05-03T09:57:00.001+01:00

Demonstration Friday 6 May

Assemble 2:00 pm at Parliament Square followed by march to protest outside the Home Office Marsham Street SW1 3:00 to - 5:00 pm

Six Iranian refugees are now reaching their fifth week of a hunger strike to demand asylum in the UK and protest against mistreatment by the Home Office. This Friday we will march to the Home Office in Westminster to join our voices with their courage in demanding fair treatment for refugees.

Ahmad Sadeghi Pour, Morteza Bayat, Keyvan Bahari, Kiarash Bahari, Mahyrar Meyari and Mehran Meyari were tortured and imprisoned for their involvement in opposition to the Iranian regime. But despite clear evidence of this, the Home Office has refused to let them stay in the UK.

Facing deportation, they decided to take drastic action: four of them have sewn their mouths together in protest; by Friday all will have gone 32 days without food. They have been camping outside the UK Border Agency (UKBA) headquarters in Croydon, and Amnesty International in Clerkenwell.

Their case highlights the rotten state of the UK asylum system. Rather than support refugees, the UK Border Agency operates a systematic policy of disbelief: ignore, confuse, use every legal loophole to refuse asylum claims and keep the numbers down.

Enough is enough. We will not sit and watch the Iranian Hunger Strikers be sent back to torture and death. We welcome them and all refugees, and will fight with them against deportation.

The hunger strikers will be with us in wheelchairs. Bring banners, drums, music, and passion.

Request: does anyone have any spare wheelchair we can borrow???

This demo is called by the hunger strikers and by supporters including members of:

No Border Network
Stop Deportations Network
SOAS Detainee Support
Cambridge Migrant Solidarity Group

Iranian Hunger Strikers Sew Their Lips Together In Protest At UK Deportation

Iranian Refugees On Hunger Strike In London

Iranian Asylum Seekers On Hunger Strike Outside Immigration Centre

Blog:
http://iranianhungerstrikers.blogspot.com/

Solidarity Needed For Iranian Hunger Strikers!

2011-05-02T10:25:00.001+01:00

The situation of the six Iranian asylum seekers currently on day 24 of their hunger strike has become more urgent.

The six Iranian pro-democracy activists have been holding a protest against their deportation by camping outside Lunar House, the Home Office building in Croydon, and outside Amnesty International Offices in Clerkenwell, central London.

BACKGROUND:

The men have experienced brutal torture in Iran for their part in resistance to the authoritarian rulers of that country. While we all know that the Home Office barely glances over asylum applications, what is especially appalling about this case is that not only have the men been subjected to severe personal ill-treatment (as required to be considered a refugee); but they came to the UK with substantial (and often difficult to produce) evidence that was completely disregarded: torture wounds over their bodies, newspaper articles with their photos in identifying them as activists, etc.

Some of the men were then screwed over by an unscrupulous immigration lawyer, who failed to even translate and submit key evidence.

CURRENT SITUATION:

Not having eaten for 24 days has made them ill, and one of them (a 17-year old), is seriously ill and may suffer long term kidney damage, according to a nurse who visited them.

They have refused to go to hospital; the men in Croydon called paramedics when they were unwell but became anxious and mistrustful of medical staff and did not want to get into the ambulance.

The Croydon protesters were also the target of racist abuse, when a man set fire to one of their sleeping bags and ripped up their publicity.
No Borders and Iranian Green Movement activists and other sympathisers have visited and stayed out with them.

This video shows their current situation and gives some background to their cases:
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/04/28/uk.iran.hunger.strike/

These guys have risked their lives to fight oppressive rule in Iran, and have suffered serious consequences as a result. They have been neglected by the government here and ignored by NGOs - it is critical that they get support from grassroots campaigners.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

Raise the profile of their case:

- They have specifically asked that people sign their petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-6-uk-hunger-strikers-from-deportation.html

- Contact the Home Secretary (more details about their names and cases via the link above)

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St
London SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 7035 4745
Emails:
mayt@parliament.uk
Emails: Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk

- Contact the media

- Share it on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Support-the-Iranian-Hunger-Strikers/206206719410578

- Ask Amnesty to take on their case

- Join the demo in support of the hunger strikers on Friday May 6th, 12 noon at the Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, Victoria, London.

http://iranianhungerstrikers.blogspot.com/

Villawood/Australia Update

2011-05-01T17:36:00.000+01:00

The rooftop protest at Australia's Villawood detention centre has ended after 11 days. The riot and protests at Villawood and other Australian detention centres have been accompanied by a number of Serco whistleblowers hitting the airwaves [1, 2, 3], alongside news that 70% of refused asylum seekers have had a decision not to grant them a visa overturned upon appeal. There have also been regular protests by detainee supporters which included a rooftop protest at Immigration Minister Bowen's own constituency office.

News Digest

2011-05-01T13:51:00.000+01:00

Here are some recent migration/racism-related news stories of note that we haven't been able to cover in more detail:

'Eastern European migrants 'add £5bn' to Britain's GDP' from the BBC [unfortunately the FT article on the same subject is behind a paywall and we have been unable to review it so far - it being Sunday, the local Library is closed]. Pity they trotted out that tired old one man pressure group Andrew Green for a comment.

'UN asked to investigate death of Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga: Campaigners are pressing for an examination of Jimmy Mubenga's death during removal on Heathrow flight' - hopefully this wont be yet another death in custody that will be swept under the carpet, though we wont be holding our breath.

'Immigration officials have turned HIV patients into prisoners, claims hospital: NHS consultants say that the UK Border Agency's security measures have turned Hillingdon hospital into a prison' - no surprise here given the long history of prisoners receiving cancer treatment or giving birth whilst still handcuffed between two prison officers or the way Jimmy Mubenga was 'restrained' on his deportation flight.

Whilst we haven't been blogging much recently, the North African refugee crisis and the antics of Tweedledum and Tweedledee [Sarkozy and Berlusconi] have not escaped up and the blatant racism underpinning their Dumb and Dumber actions/policy pronouncements on the subject. [For example: 1, 2, 3, 4]

Equally unpleasant has been the donkey caravan of fellow European politicians backing their calls to introduce increased border restrictions within the Schengen zone:

'France and Italy get backing for changes to EU border rules'

'Athens backs calls for stricter EU border controls'

'National interest comes first' - a review of some news comment across the EU on the same subject

Fortunately, saner voices can be heard off stage:

'Sarkozy-Berlusconi: A border control farce'

'Another project in trouble: First the euro, now Schengen. Europe’s grandest integration projects seem to be suffering' - the Economist's Charlemagne blog

'Reforming Schengen, an absurd gesture' - Berliner Zeitung

'Agnès Poirier: Both leaders are prisoners of a resurgent right wing'

'Fortress Europe? There is a better way'

And for a little bit of light relief, the Daily Flail's view:

'The French mocked Britain for warning that tearing up EU borders would be a disaster. Look who's whingeing now!'

Australia: An Immigration System In Crisis

2011-04-28T18:48:00.000+01:00

What started out as a rooftop protest by 13 detainees (three Kurds, two Iranians and eight Afghans - all having been held for between 13-19 months), three of whom were beginning a hunger strike in protest against the Australian authorities continued refusal to grant them temporary visas, over a week ago quickly escalated into a mass riot that left large sections of Sydney's Serco-run Villawood detention centre in ruins. It also marked the latest episode in an escalating crisis that is afflicting Australia's grossly dysfunctional immigration system, one that unlike say Britain, automatically locks up all asylum seekers and clandestine migrants that arrive in the country without a valid visa until their cases have been determined. And, given the grossly overstretched system, that can mean years spent in limbo, in overcrowded and often temporary accommodation not knowing if your application is going to be granted or not. Is it any wonder that a tidal wave of self-harm, suicide bids and riots is sweeping the Australian detention estate?

The 20 April appears to have been sparked by the assault of at least one of the detainees by Serco security officers in the early stages of the rooftop protest. It quickly escalated to involve more than 25% of the 400 Villawood detainees, most of whom had already had their visa applications rejected at least once and some still with appeal hearing in the pipeline and therefore with much still to loose. Fires were set and much has been made in the Australian press of roof tiles having being thrown at fire crews attending the blazes but the protesters claim that only one of their number was doing this (possibly believing that they were going to turn their hoses on the rooftop protesters) and he soon grew tired left the roof. Whatever the case, the rebellion left 9 buildings gutted, including a computer room, kitchens and the medical centre.

Opposition politicians were not slow in trotting out the inevitable knee-jerk calls for the rioters to be sent back to Christmas Island, for their claims to be suspended for them to be sent to back of queue or even deported. More measure responses came from the likes of the Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young who said, "Long-term detention, indefinite detention, a lack of time limit on detention is... pushing them to breaking point." David Manne, executive director of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, was also quoted as saying that "...what we're seeing unfolding at the moment is a very serious situation which was highlighted and indeed the concerns expressed by these independent experts, including the Commonwealth ombudsmen, about the enormous distress and pressure that people are being placed under, being left incarcerated indefinitely for prolonged periods, does have consequences. It's enormously damaging to people and it's something that in fact this government, two years ago, promised to bring an end to. It's this government that said it was going to fundamentally reform detention policy, as it said, the practice was dehumanising, very harmful, and not an effective or civilised way of treating people. And in fact that people would only be locked up in detention as a measure of last resort, only if it was necessary and only for the shortest possible time."

The two days after the riot, 22 supposed 'ringleaders' were dragged off to the maximum security section of Sydney's Silverwater prison, where they have been held without charge ever since, despite regular complaints to the Commonwealth ombudsman over their treatment. The same day an anonymous ex-Serco guard told the ABC's Lateline program that the privatised detention system was in crisis, and that the security company was largely at fault for throwing poorly trained new recruits in to a volatile job at the deep end.

Whilst the clean-up at Villawood continues and immigration officials tried to talk the 3 hunger strikers down from the detention centre's roof, solidarity demonstrations were taking place outside the fence at Villawood, with 16 protesters being arrest on 24 April, and outside the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia. The following day disturbances broke out at the Christmas Island and Curtin detention centre. At Curtin activists claimed that 150 detainees were taking part in protests and 100 had gone on hunger strike, whilst the Immigration Department confirmed that about 30 asylum seekers at Curtin had received on-site medical treatment because of the food refusal. Refugee supporters also tried to get in to Curtin to see the detainees, but 16 were arrested. On Christmas Island a number of detainees had sewn their lips together as part of the protest and outside Melbourne's Maribyrnong detention centre police pepper sprayed a demonstration of 250 protesters.

Meanwhile, the Gillard government upped their rhetoric, with the immigration Minister Chris Bowen outlining plans to toughen up the immigration character test, allowing him to refuse visas to anyone convicted of any criminal conduct while in immigration detention. The following day (26) Bowen upped the ante further by announcing a return to the Howard-era policy of temporary protection visas. The Council of Civil Liberties also announced that it had filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission outlining their dissatisfaction with the Immigration Department’s rationale for holding the Villawood protesters in prison. 25 asylum seekers had collapsed during a hunger strike at the Curtin detention centre and eight Christmas Island detainees began their own rooftop protest.

On the 27th Christmas Island detainees announced a new hunger strike and the Villawood hunger strikers continued their protests in the face of the government's refusal to countenance any granting of visas to the men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There is something about taking people who have committed no criminal offence and keeping them confined and under the control of other people that eventually breaks them... I think almost all of us, if every part of our day was regulated by some arbitrary authority and we face the threat of being returned to a country where we feared for our lives, we just progressively break down." - University of New South Wales clinical psychologist Dr Zachary Steel, who specialises in refugee mental health.

All these events are taking place against a backdrop of 6 deaths in Australian detention centres in the last 6 months (5 suicides), continued calls for the closure of the Christmas island detention facilities and concerns over the high rates of attempted suicides and self-harm behaviours in detention facilities as voiced by the Australian Human Rights Commission [see for example 1, 2, as well as an interesting article by Dr Tanveer Ahmed], and the December Christmas Island boat tragedy, alongside concerns over the $15 million upgrade to a former army barracks in Pontville, Tasmania to house up to 400 male asylum-seekers.

And the most rational recent response to this crisis? Certainly not the Gillard government or Tony Abbott's opposition tub-thumping; it has been a R.I.S.E. press release laying out the blatant racism backgrounding the long and unsavoury history of Australia's system of mandatory detention for asylum seekers.

Also highly recommended is the Asylum & Refugee Law Project's excellent Frequently Quoted Inaccuracies series, which put the whole 'boat people' question in context and lay bear the inherent racism underlying the whole debate. For example, their table showing the relatively small number of 'unauthorised arrivals' compared to the numbers of visa 'overstayers' who enter the country 'legally':

Calais - The Police Response To The "Videos Of Shame": Still More Violence.

2011-04-25T09:39:00.000+01:00

PRESS RELEASE

April 22, 2011

The Police Response To The "Videos Of Shame": Still More Violence.

Yesterday morning (Thursday, April 21 at 9), during a brutal police raid at the Africa House (Rue Descartes) three activists No Border filming and acting as observers were violently arrested and are to be prosecuted in court. More than 20 Sudanese refugees, mainly living in the squat were arrested. The police physically abused the militants. They destroyed one of their cameras and deleted the videos on the second.

"It looked above all like revenge for the publication of the No Border videos on the Rue 89 and Inrockcuptibles websites denouncing police harassment at Calais," said Martin, an Noborder activist.

Three activists were arrested. Two of them who were filming the raid were caught and thrown violently to the ground by the PAF and the CRS*. They spent nine hours in custody and they have several charges against them: illegal occupation, violent resistance in a meeting ... The trial will take place on July 12 in Boulogne sur Mer.

"Once again, this trial is just a strategy of manipulation to destroy the public image of No Border and to try and scare us, discourage us from contining to film and witness the reality Calais and its repressive system. But we are not afraid, we are ready to go to court to seize the opportunity to win this new political trial, "said Marine an activist.

Two weeks ago NoBorder released several videos that showed violence, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, destruction of cameras. In a video that was widely viewed it showed PAF officers arriving at Africa House in the morning to wake migrants with "Sunday in Bamako."

"The movies are published are the tip of an iceberg of daily harassment by the police in Calais. This violence is systematic and is part of an overall strategy against migrants in this city," said Martin. "Apart from the videos we have many other documents that are ready to be published or used as evidence in legal action against the police. We will not be intimidated by the violent reaction of the authorities, we will stick to our convictions. In Calais repression is the law. "

[* PAF - Border Police / CRS - Paramilitary Riot Police]

Notes to Editors

1) No Borders Calais have maintained a constant presence in Calais since June 2009. The work consists mainly of activists conducting surveillance against police violence and to show concrete support with the migrant communities.

2) The Africa House is an old disused factory in the Rue Descartes, Calais, where a hundred migrant Sudanese, Eritreans, Afghans have sought refuge.

3) The videos are on:

http://www.rue89.com/tag/calais

http://www.lesinrocks.com/inrockstv/inrockstv-article/t/62975/date/2011-04-10/article/a-calais-la-police-et-les-no-border-jouent-au-chat-et-a-la-souris/

see also:

http://www.wat.tv/video/police-sous-objectif-no-border-3lo5r_2exyh_.html

http://media.radiofrance-podcast.net/podcast09/11714-14.04.2011-ITEMA_20279885-0.mp3

Barnado's Telethon 26/04/11

2011-04-21T10:35:00.000+01:00

Phone the UK's latest prison profiteers! Ring them on Tuesday 26th April to protest against their involvement in detention and deportation!

In March 2011 Barnado's announced that they will run the play facilities at the UKBA's new "pre-departure accommodation centre" in Pease Pottage, near Gatwick. We call on Barnado's to stop cashing in on others' misery and have chosen Tuesday 26th April as the day to contact them. Below are the contact numbers for all the regional offices:

London & South East - 020 8551 0011
South West - 0117 937 5500
Yorkshire - 0113 393 3200
Midlands - 0121 550 5271
North West - 0151 488 1100
Scotland - 0131 334 9893
Wales - 0292 049 3387
North East - 0191 240 4800
Northern Ireland - 0289 067 2366

For more info about the pre-departure accommodation see:
http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/search?q=pre-departure+accommodation

You Legitimise Child Detention, We Disrupt You

2011-04-09T09:39:00.004+01:00

On 9 March, Barnardo's announced that it had agreed with the UKBA to provide staff and children's activities for the proposed new immigration prison for up to nine families at Pease Pottage, Crawley Forest.

A group of activists from groups including London No Borders, All African Women's Group, and SOAS detainee support swarmed in to the Museum of childhood during Barnardo's fundraising initiatives panel this afternoon to ask, 'How charitable is it to collude with the UKBA in locking up children?' and 'Why fund that of all things during the crisis?'. Despite some protestations from the crowd, many looked thoughtful and kept quiet during the proceedings. After some leafleting and general interruption the group moved to the front of the museum where banners were laid out and discussions with passers-by took place- all in all a successful stunt.

Watch the video of the protest here.

Taking The Pease

2011-04-03T16:22:00.003+01:00

Private Eye, 31 March, 2011.

Oranges & Sunshine: Children's Charity Barnardo's Must Learn From Past Mistakes

2011-04-03T16:06:00.002+01:00

by Clare Sambrook, co-ordinator of End Child Detention Now.

This isn’t the best of times for Barnardo’s, Britain’s biggest children’s charity. Already under fire for lending its name to the government’s rebranding of child immigration detention, Barnardo’s has a shaming presence in the deeply upsetting film, Oranges and Sunshine, released today.

The film concerns the hard-to-believe scandal of 130,000 children effectively exported from Britain to supply free labour and “white stock” to the Commonwealth. The practice began in earnest in the late 1800s, a collaboration by government, churches and charities including Dr Barnardo’s. In the years after World War II, some 4,500 children in care were despatched, the last landing in Australia as recently as 1970.

Oranges and Sunshine opens in 1986 when real-life Nottingham social worker Margaret Humphreys hears something unbelievable from a client whose brother Jack, lost since childhood when they were taken into care, has got in touch. Now middle-aged, Jack writes from Australia, saying he was sent there as a little boy “in a big ship full of kids”.

“Why have I never heard about it?” asks Humphreys, played with skilful ordinariness by Emily Watson. “Why has no-one ever heard about it?”

The answer, Humphreys finds, is that governments, churches and charities lied about it. The film focuses on child migrants sent to Australia. Oranges and Sunshine — Jim Loach’s debut feature — takes its name from false promises made to children by adults entrusted with their care.

Child migrants were told their parents were dead. Parents who had left children in institutions’ care with every intention of getting them back were told they had been adopted by loving families close to home.

In fact they had been sent thousands of miles away to wretched lives and sometimes criminal abuse in the care of ill-run institutions and child-raping Christian Brothers.

The film reveals how Margaret Humphreys and her husband Mervyn discovered and exposed all this, founding the Child Migrants Trust to help migrants trace their birth certificates, their parents, and their past.

The loss and pain might have been less had governments, churches and charities seen for themselves the errors of past practice and worked urgently to inform and reunite the damaged families. In one of the film’s heartbreaking moments, Humphreys tells Jack — the lost-and-found-again brother in Australia, played by Hugo Weaving — that she has found his mother. Then she pauses.

“We’re too late, she’s dead, isn’t she?” he says. “When did she die?”

“Last year,” says Humphreys.

A 105 minute docudrama written by Rona Munro (of Loach-senior’s Ladybird, Ladybird), the film stays close to Humphreys’s quest, eliciting the children’s stories gently, gathering darkness as it goes. Resisting flashbacks, Lynch lets the childhood horrors play out in the audience’s mind, where they stay. This quiet film provokes a deep and lasting anger.

Barnardo’s — only briefly mentioned: a name check, a scribble in a notebook, a cog in the machine — has tended to bury the past, but the past haunts the latest chapter of Barnardo’s story.

In February 2010, a full twenty-four years after Humphreys first heard of the “big ship full of kids”, Prime Minister Gordon Brown at last apologised to child migrants — paying tribute to Margaret Humphreys and the Child Migrants Trust.

Barnardo’s then chief executive Martin Narey welcomed Brown’s apology, expressed sympathy with the migrants, but resisted apologising for Barnardo’s part. Instead, Narey said: “This policy was well intentioned and many who advocated it before and after the Second World War sincerely believed migration would offer impoverished children the chance of a radically better life.”

He added: “I hope that today’s events give every one of us an opportunity to reflect on past failures and learn from past mistakes.”

This expression of regret, that it seemed right at the time, did not accept responsibility, own up to or challenge what Barnardo’s officials had done. Their sincerity did not help the children, who might have been better served by alertness and scepticism in the adults charged with their care.

New times, new scandals. Has Barnardo’s learned from past mistakes?

Ten months ago the UK’s new coalition government promised to end the “moral outrage” of immigration child detention, which, it is now widely accepted, causes children lasting psychological harm. But instead of ending detention, the government commissioned a review of the “alternatives” led by the Border Agency’s own director of criminality and detention Dave Wood, a man whose false undermining of the medical evidence of harm is a matter of parliamentary record.

In December the “alternatives” were unveiled: detention, rebranded. According to calculations by Professor Heaven Crawley at the Centre for Migration Policy Research the government’s new “family-friendly pre-departure accommodation” could hold 4,445 children every year.

Last week the Border Agency won planning permission for a “family-friendly” facility in the Sussex village of Pease Pottage, complete with 2.5-metre perimeter fences, electronic gates, “control and restraint” — and Barnardo’s charity workers to “help families prepare for their return”.

Objectors who attended the Council planning meeting (noting councillors’ concerns that a “majestic beech tree” should be protected from the children) claimed Barnardo’s involvement “almost single-handedly swung the application in UKBA’s favour”.

The Border Agency is cock-a-hoop, trumpeting public approval from “highly respected” Barnardo's. The charity’s new chief executive Anne Marie Carrie admits: “There will be some who say, ‘Why would Barnardo's be involved with this?’”

Indeed there are. Former Children’s Commissioner Sir Al Aynsley-Green is among those asking what on earth Barnardo’s is playing at.

That others, who privately confess dismay, fear to speak out, is one measure of Barnardo’s clout.

Yesterday, in response to emailed questions, the charity said:

“Barnardo’s will be providing welfare and social care within the new pre-departure accommodation being established for asylum-seeking families in Crawley. The decision to do so was made by the Chief Executive with the support of Barnardo’s Council and goes right back to our core purpose: Barnardo’s seeks to support the most vulnerable children in the UK. We have agreed to play a role because we believe it is critical that families and children are treated with dignity and respect and able to access high quality support services during this time.”

Among the questions Barnardo’s declined to answer: “What potential problems and conflicts might arise from lending the Barnardo’s name to the UK Border Agency?”

And: “Why did Barnardo’s not seize the opportunity of government’s wish for third-party endorsement to push the government to honour its pledge to end child detention?”

In other words, isn’t Barnardo’s helping to create the situation that makes children vulnerable? Won’t it be party to their distress?

Gordon Brown apologised to the child migrants last year on behalf of Britain. Barnardo’s didn’t apologise, but it did pledge to “take the opportunity to reflect on past failures and learn from past mistakes.” Perhaps they should reflect more deeply, in particular on whether Barnardo’s role should be to keep a proper distance from the government and its agencies. Instead of deploying its reputation to legitimise and endorse the new detention regime by contracting to serve it, Britain’s most powerful children’s charity could be leading the fight against child detention.

[Repost]

Pre-Departure Accommodation Planning Application Approved

2011-03-24T20:37:00.004Z

*** PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE DISSEMINATION***

PEASE POTTAGE PRE-DEPARTURE ACCOMMODATION APPROVED DESPITE OBJECTIONS [24/03/11]

Despite noisy protests outside, Mid Sussex Council District Planning Committee today gave a green light to the continued detention of children and families when they approved by 14 votes to 1 the UK Border Agency's application [1] to turn Crawley Forest School in Pease Pottage into a Pre-Departure Accommodation centre.

Opponents of child detention, including SOAS Detainee Support, Brighton No Borders and No Borders London, branded the decision "disgraceful" and vowed to continue the fight against the centre and the companies involved in designing and running it.

From the start of the Planning Committee meeting it was apparent that the majority of councillors were much more concerned about the colour of the internal fences and whether a "majestic beech tree" would be "protected from the children climbing on it " than the exact nature of the regime operating the facility, the level of security and how little it differed from current forms of family detention. [2]

Ian Bros, one of the formal objectors at the planning meeting, says that the involvement of children's charity Barnado's in the centre, which has much been trumpeted by the government, almost single-handedly swung the application in the UKBA's favour. Whilst Barnado's will run play facilities at the centre, the facility itself will be run by global security giant G4S, who are threatened with corporate manslaughter charges for the death of a detainee in their care last year [3]. G4S did not get a single mention in the meeting, Ian noted, and the councillors present "seemingly believed that Barnado's will take charge of the whole centre".

Ends.

Notes for editors:
[1] See: http://pa.midsussex.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LG3751KT04L00

[2] The UKBA has portrayed the Pre-Departure Accommodation Centre as a new form of Planning Use and, as such, should be considered a Sui Generis Use, whereas objectors point out that the facility more closely resembles a Category D Open Prison-style facility. See: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/changeofuse/

[3] See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/16/mubenga-g4s-face-charges-death

[Alec Smart]

Fit To Fly?

2011-03-22T12:23:00.001Z

"Fit to fly" is a short film by Martin Freeth about the work of Medical Justice.

Watch the film

Down And Out In Lampedusa

2011-03-21T14:16:00.002Z

Whilst the situation in Libya has been holding the world's attention, the fall out from the fighting and the uprising in Tunisia earlier on in the year has only, in the form of refugees arriving in Europe, has only intermittently made it into the press. Landfall for most of these refugees, just as it has been for decades, is the tiny island of Lampedusa 130 km off the Tunisian coast and 300 km from the Libyan capital Tripoli. In the past couple of years, since Berlusconi struck a deal with his then close friend Gaddafi to prevent the passage of migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe, the so-called 'push back policy', the flow had dropped to almost zero (the Tunisian authorities had also had a fairly strict policy of preventing the flow of refugees from its territory). Now it has turned into a deluge and Lampedusa is suffering its own humanitarian crisis.

In the wake of the Tunisian uprising in January, 5,600 Tunisian refugees arrived on the Island over the course of a few days in February, an island with a population of only 4,500. And there are currently around 5,000 Tunisian and Libyan refugees on the Island again today, with hundreds arriving each day. Here is a quick run down of some of the events in the past 2 weeks based on news reports and verbal accounts from an activist on the Island:

14 March - 22 landings on the Island with 1623 people arriving in a 24 hour period. Plus another boat is known to have capsized in Tunisian waters - 5 rescued with approximately 35 refugees unaccounted for, presumed drown. Neo-fascists Marine Le Pen, Front National presidential candidate, and Mario Borghezio, an Italian Northern League MEP also turned up to garner a bit of publicity and were greeted by a demonstration of 30 locals, who made it plain to them that they were not welcome.
15 March - 2,500 refugees currently on Lampedusa but no new arrivals due to bad weather.
16 March - Stefania Craxi, the Under-secretary for Foreign Affairs, visited to see the situation at first hand, warning that the rest of Europe would have to help out Italy. Interestingly, she was a prominent apologist for Ben Ali when he fled Tunisia, claiming that Italy should have granted him asylum. She even claimed that he was not a dictator, even though it was her father, then Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, helped Ben Ali seize power in 1987. No doubt she was seeking to return Ben Ali’s favour when he sheltered Craxi Snr. after he fled Italy to avoid criminal charges in 1984?
Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni quoted as saying that 11,200, mostly Tunisian immigrants, had arrived in Lampedusa since the start of this year.
17 March - Lampedusa residents block the landing of 4 boats with around 200 refugees on board in the harbour. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees the refugee facility on the Island designed for 850 is currently housing 2,600. “There are a number of women and many minors amongst the refugees. They sleep everywhere: two in every beds, under the beds, outside, in any space available, so that there is no space even to walk. They do not have blankets. There is no water to shower. They are given a bottle of water to wash themselves. There is not much food. They have to queue up for hours and sometimes the food finishes before they arrive at the end of the queue and when they eat it they immediately want to sleep.”
18 March - Lampedusa's residents again prevent a boat with 116 people on board from landing during daylight hours. Over night 3 boats with 378 people arrived.
20 March - 12 boats with a total of 1,350 refugees arrive, with a further 117 arriving at Catania in Sicily.
"Sunday we woke up around 7 am because someone was shouting from a megaphone on a car telling people to go and occupy the port to stop the arrival of red cross tents, probably for at least 10,000 people. The woman at the megaphone is one of the locals that want to save the [tourist] economy in Lampedusa and want the Tunisian [to be] transferred elsewhere in Italy. We went there to check what was happening. The people of Lampedusa always try to explain to the Tunisians that they are not against them and they just want them to be transferred quickly anywhere else in Italy. They also wanted the Tunisians to join but most of them were too scared to get in trouble."
"In the end they had to let them unload the tents because otherwise the ferry would not leave with their fish and it would have been a problem for the many fishermen on the Island."

Currently there are around a thousand Tunisians sleeping rough in the port area, many with wet clothes and no blankets, almost no food and only 1 litre of milk a day between 5 people. Many are falling ill from being cold and constantly wet (it has also been raining and there is little shelter). Local police have been giving many of them their waterproofs and their lunch too. "A whole family with a small kid, some minors and some very young women arrived. They brought the women and the minors into a building [owned by] the council. I saw them arriving. Many were walking bare foot and were half naked."

Many of the refugees had taken part in anti-government demonstrations and who had been arrested and beaten and are afraid because Ben Ali's cronies are still in charge in Tunisian despite the Jasmine revolution. Consequently they have good asylum cases but there is little legal advice available on their rights to asylum. Many also say they just want to reach their relatives in France or just want a job, both of which will hold no sway with the authorities and is certain to get them locked up in a camp and deported.

More On Barnardo's And The Continued Detention Of Children

2011-03-13T12:15:00.002Z

A repost of a National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns news item:

Children’s charity Barnardo’s have been contracted by the Home Office as a service provider at the new families detention centre at Pease Pottage, Sussex. The secure “pre-departure accommodation” is widely seen as detention re-packaged, and Barnardo’s role in the centre – which could see over 6,000 children a year detained – is controversial.

Chief Executive Anne-Marie Carrie, refused to condemn the practice of child detention on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning, arguing that Barnardo’s are best placed to help in the running of the new centre, described by the Immigration Minister as having “an entirely different look and feel to an immigration removal centre”.

However, Heaven Crawley, professor of international migration at Swansea University, said on the Today programme the that new process is “really something of a repackaging”. Writing for the Migrants’ Rights Network blog today, Professor Crawley claims that to repackage detention as ‘pre-departure accommodation’ is disingenuous. “Families with children will be taken to the facility against their will. Once there, families will not be allowed to come and go freely. The unit is intended to be secure, which in this case means a 2.5m palisade fence with electronic gates surrounding the site, and 24-hour staffing designed to provide ‘an appropriate level of security to protect the occupants of the site and deter them leaving the site’.” She also calls on the government to come clean – if it can’t end child detention then it should say so. In fact, earlier this week in Parliament, the Immigration Minister did let slip that detention of children at Tinsley House immigration Removal Centre would indeed continue for “high risk families”.

Without doubt, the routine use of force and detention of children and families over the years has been shameful. As reported in the Free Movement legal blog, a High Court judgement in January revealed just how disgraceful practice has been. The case of R (on the application of Suppiah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department demonstrated that, despite overwhelming evidence that detention is harmful to children, UKBA officials ignored even their own guidelines on detaining only as a last resort. Alternatives were not pursued, UKBA claims of offering assisted voluntary removal prior to detention were untrue, and excessively long periods of detention were being used needlessly.

Sadly, no officials have been or will be brought to book for the false imprisonment of children and families under the previous Labour government. It is all water under the bridge since the coalition announced plans to reform the detention system for families.

It is yet to be seen whether the involvement of one of the country’s leading children’s’ charities will significantly improve the lot of detained children, or merely serve to help the coalition government with it’s public relations exercise.

The fact remains that children are still to be detained, and force is still to be used against families to remove them from the UK. The asylum system still operates a culture of disbelief, resulting in a high percentage of refugees being sent back to persecution.

And a question remains unanswered: just what do have we to fear from these families that we must hunt them down, lock them up and forcibly deport them? Families who have fled persecution, war or poverty, and come to the UK to make a better life for themselves and their children, should be allowed to live in safety for as long as they want to. Many would return to their home countries when it is safe, others would settle and their children grow to become part of our ever-changing society.

But as for detention, we can leave the final words to the previous Chief Executive of Barnado’s, Martin Narey, speaking in December 2010 in support of the government’s claim to have abolished detention of children:

“Incarcerating [children] simply because they have parents who wish to live here was unnecessary, expensive and more to the point, just plain wrong.” former Barnados Chief Executive, Martin Narey

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barnardo's won't lessen trauma of child detention - Guardian Comment Is Free article.

'Accommodation centre' rebrand fury - Morning Star.

No Borders oppose new deportation centre - Institute of Race Relations.

Promises, Promises - End Child Detention Now.

Barnado's Legitimise The Continued Detention Of Children

2011-03-10T20:10:00.002Z

PRESS RELEASE ***FOR IMMEDIATE DISSEMINATION***

The children's charity Barnardo's is legitimising the continued use of detention for children by agreeing to provide welfare services at a "pre-departure accommodation" centre the government plans to open in Pease Pottage near Crawley in Sussex.

The Home Office and UK Border Agency claim that this facility will be 'open non-detention accommodation' [1] and, as such, they are seeking to persuade the Mid Sussex District Planning Committee that their Change of Use planning application is a sui generis use [2], falling outside of other current planning guideline Classes.

However, careful consideration of the limited publicly available information [3] on how the facility will operate shows that it will in fact closely resemble current Immigration Removal Centres and Short Term Holding Facilities in many facets:
· children and families will be arrested and administratively detained under the provisions of the 1971 Immigration Act when being move to and from this 'Pre-Departure Accommodation'; [3a]
· they will be subject to the Control and Restraint techniques used across the detention estate; and [3a]
· the detained children will only be allowed out of the facility under strictly controlled circumstances. [3b]
Clearly this amounts to the continued use of "the detention of children for immigration purposes".

According to the BBC [4] which has seen an advanced copy of a speech from Barnado's chief executive Anne Marie Carrie, the charity will seek to justify its participation in this controversial project. Ian Bros of No Borders Brighton, who is formally objecting to the planning application, states Barnado's: "may seek to rationalise its proposed work at the facility as helping to hold the Home Office to its commitment to run a more humane removal system, but it cannot escape from the fact that this is a detention centre in all but name. In fact Anne Marie Carrie has given the lie to the government's position that this is not a detention centre by calling it 'secure pre-departure accommodation' in her proposed speech. This is clearly a Class C2A [Secure Residential Accommodation] use, just as all Immigration Removal Centres are classed and as such the Mid Sussex Council should reject this planning application as incorrectly filed."

Ian concludes: "It is bad enough that the Home Office are trying to rush this whole project through the planning process, ignoring EU competitive tendering process, and restricting public access to the planning application itself under catch-all security considerations, but to rope a respected charity in as its PR-patsy must really win some prize in the annals of government spin."

London NoBorders, http://london.noborders.org.uk
No Borders Brighton, http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com

Notes to Editors:

[1] See CgMs Consulting letter to Pease Pottage residents on behalf of the Home Office: http://tinyurl.com/crawleyforest
[2] See the planning application: http://pa.midsussex.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LG3751KT04L00
and http://www.planning-applications.co.uk/uco1.htm
[3] See:
[a] the current UK Border Agency's Enforcement Instructions and Guidance Chapter 45 Family Cases: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/enforcement/oemsectione/chapter45?view=Binary
[b] and the Planning Statement: http://62.189.207.187/pap_msdclive/framepage.asp?dc2=&appnumber=11/00330/COU
[4] See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12690444

Barnardo's To 'Front' New Detention Centre

2011-03-10T15:03:00.001Z

In a surprising PR coup, the Home Office have managed to persuade Barnardo's, the children's charity, to run the welfare side of the new children and families detention-lite centre near Crawley. This facility, as we have steadfastly been arguing, singularly fails to meet the Coalition's promise to end the detention of children for immigration purposes, as the charity's chief executive Anne Marie Carrie concedes when (in the text of a speech today released to the BBC) she describes this pre-departure accommodation as "secure". It doesn't matter what the sign on the facility's fence says, whether it describes it as 'Open Accommodation - As Approved By Barnardo's', it the people held there are detained under the powers contained in the Immigration Act 1971 and are not free to leave the facility at any time, taking their children with them, then it is no better than the Families Unit at Yarl's Wood, no matter how many toys Barnardo's supply the place with.

Latest Greek Travel Advice

2011-03-09T09:08:00.003Z

10th of March: Worldwide solidarity action day with the 300 hunger strikers immigrants-workers in Greece.

Latest Greece travel advice:

You might have heard that Greece is a beautiful country to visit with delicious food and people with great hospitality. Be careful: this is not the whole truth. The reality for hundreds of thousands of visitors is completely different. There is a general threat of human rights’ violations. Expatriates and visitors, who cross the Greek borders, can be departed or transferred in detention centres for 2–4 months or longer. If and when these visitors are released, they are forced to work in agriculture, local industry, organised crime, or as street salesmen, without documents or any civil rights whatsoever. Visitors of Greece are warned about abuse, intolerance, hatred, slander and indiscriminate violence by the Greek State.

Greece is exploiting approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants and refugees to raise the nation’s miserable economics. Last year, nearly 140,000 immigrants crossed the Greek borders in a hope of better life. Most of them are going to remain illegal for years and treated as unwelcome contemporary slaves.

Since the 25th of January, 300 immigrants who work and live in Greece for many years started a nationwide hunger strike in Athens and Thessaloniki. They claim the legalisation of all undocumented immigrants of Greece. Their struggle is a struggle of all immigrants, workers and citizens of the world.

The 10th of March will be the 45th day of their hunger strike, but the Greek State has not yet responded to their rightful claims!

We call people in Greece and throughout the world to carry out civil disobedience actions on the 10th of March in solidarity with the 300 hunger strikers. We ask everyone to target their actions against Greek soft spot-tourism: 15% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product is coming from tourism. In fact, tourism and migration are two sides of the legal right of freedom of movement.
We suggest an easily attainable target that you people can find almost in every country: Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO). You can e.g. demonstrate, blockade, squat, spread leaflets or carry out other creative actions in front, inside or around GNTO offices.

The addresses of the GNTO offices aboard are here: http://internezia.net/addresses.html

If you don't have a GNTO office at your city, you can target your actions against the Greek embassies or enterprises, or simply demonstrate in crowded public places or on media.

300 MURDERS OR LEGALIZATION

More information about the hunger strike of 300: http://hungerstrike300.espivblogs.net

'All Immigrants of the World'

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding To Be Bulldozed?

2011-03-08T09:38:00.001Z

Eviction cost already skyrocketing as groups announce human rights shield.

Dale Farm, Europe's largest Traveller community, and one featured in the TV series ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding’, faces imminent eviction. Traveller representatives have been told that 28 days notice of eviction will be served on them on 14 March. Dale Farm is a former scrapyard in Basildon, and is owned by the Travellers. It consists of 100 family plots, half of which are set to be demolished.

In response, human rights groups have announced that they will be setting up a full-scale human rights monitoring camp at Dale Farm, before the eviction notice expires on 9 April. Hundreds of activists have pledged to form a human shield around the site to prevent bulldozers from demolishing homes.

Costs for the planned eviction are already skyrocketing. Basildon District Council has set aside 8 million pounds for the eviction itself and estimates that another 10 million pounds will be required. Their application to have the Home Office foot the bill has just been turned down. Taxpayers have already contributed £2.5 million to the Council’s legal and other related costs.

Ironically, the eviction costs are being blamed as one of the reasons why Basildon Council is controversially selling off playing fields in the green belt, and allowing developers to build on them to increase their value. The Council also looks set to announce a bank loan to cover the eviction bill at a special council meeting on March 14th. The skyrocketing costs are coming at a time when as many as 100 Basildon Council jobs are likely to be axed to help the borough cope with budget cuts which will leave it £2.3million short. Basildon is also cutting £505,000 to disabled services.

"Dale Farm residents are willing to move, at no cost to Basildon, but need the Council to identify suitable land," said Richard Sheridan, chair of the Gypsy Council. However this seems increasingly unlikely, as Council leader Tony Ball has promised to resign if the Traveller's are not evicted before the 5 May council elections. There is an obligation under international law for government to find suitable alternative accommodation for those being forcibly evicted.

"When we can find £18 million to evict families from their own land but can't find the funds to keep nurseries, libraries and youth centres open, something has gone terribly wrong," said Natalie Fox from Dale Farm Solidarity. The group is organising human rights monitors to stay at Dale Farm should their be an eviction. She called the eviction "ethnic cleansing", noting that 90% of traveller planning applications are initially rejected compared to 20% overall.

The eviction comes at a time of increased repression of Romani and Traveller communities in France and Italy. The eviction, which is expected to last up to three weeks will drive many Travellers back onto the road and their children will be forced to leave school.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights stated that ‘the practice of forced eviction constitutes a gross violation of human rights’. They went on to say that ‘to be persistently threatened or actually victimized by the act of forced eviction from one’s home or land is surely one of the most supreme injustices any individual, family, household or community can face’.

Contacts:

On behalf of
Dale Farm Solidarity: Yoshka Pundrik (07583761462)
Dale Farm Housing Association: Grattan Puxton (07888699256)
On behalf of Dale Farm:
Mr Richard Sheridan, chair of The Gypsy Council (07747417711)
Mary Ann McCarthy (07961854023)

http://dalefarm.wordpress.com

Notes for Editors

[1] Although being a runaway hit, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has been criticised by some in the Traveller community for it's biased portrayal of their lives:
http://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/blog.aspx?n=c6e13428-2329-462b-a0f8-f6ccab22ced7&h=False&c=f1b1c82c-0f3c-4edf-98cd-502ea80ed8fa

[2] 90% of Traveller planning applications are initially rejected compared to 20% overall -- Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) (2006). Common Ground: Equality, good race relations and sites for Gypsies and Irish Travellers: Report of a CRE inquiry in England and Wales. London: CRE.

[3] In order to cover the cost of the eviction, Basildon council is selling off playing fields to cover the cost:
http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/county_news/8461127.__10m_policing_bill_to_evict_travellers_from_Dale_Farm/

Axing 100 staff:
http://www.halsteadgazette.co.uk/archive/2010/12/16/Basildon+News+%28basildon_news%29/8739399.Basildon_Council_to_shed_100_staff_and_cut_services/

and cutting disabled services:
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8792420.Basildon_Council_cuts_target_disabled_services/

[4] For a list of some of the expenditures, see:
http://www.advocacynet.org/resource/1288

[5] UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights General Comment No. 7 on forced evictions, see:
http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/959f71e476284596802564c3005d8d50?Opendocument

UKBA Announce Start Of New Families Removals Process

2011-03-02T12:28:00.005Z

The Border Agency has announce the start of their "radical new process for managing the return of families found to have no right to be in the UK." According to their press release, the 'options' available under this scheme "will include a form of limited notice removal, the use of open accommodation, and - as a last resort where families resolutely fail to comply, family friendly, pre-departure accommodation", the latter being the type of facility the Home Office is currently trying to open in Pease Pottage.

The latter is part of the third and final option available for the removal of the families of refused asylum seekers - an Ensured Return, where the new constituted Family Returns Panel "advise the UK Border Agency on return plans to ensure the welfare of the child is taken properly into account" according to this latest piece of government spin on its policy. This Panel will apparently "provide expert advice to the UK Border Agency on the best method of ensuring the return of individual families, taking into account the specific welfare needs of children."

And just how 'radical' and family-centric is this new policy and how far does it really go in "taking into account the specific welfare needs of children"? Well, according to Immigration Minister Damian Green, "(a)t every stage of the process, we expect families to leave voluntarily" and that the government "will be trying to ensure that families can remain in the community prior to their departure home." Yet if these families fail to agree with any of the voluntary options offered during 'family conferences', it appears almost inevitably that they will end up being detained in a dawn raid on their home by UKBA officials and they will be removed to one of these 'pre-departure accommodation' facilities, in much the same way as they have been taken to other existing Immigration Removal Centres up til now.

Not that this is expressly laid out in the 'Open Accommodation' policy document ['Open Accommodation: Accommodating Families Outside Of Detention'] [1], which appears to essays a never-ending circus of 'non-cooperating' families who fail to take up the Agency's 'offer' at any point ending up facing yet another return to the Family Returns Panel. Thus, a family that has failed to take up a first stage Assisted Voluntary Returns package, will either be given 2 weeks notice to leave the country ('Required Return') or go straight to 'Open Accommodation' [not passing go and not collecting their plane tickets and a helpful escort to the airport] if they are considered unlikely to cooperate i.e. are 'flight risks': "We consider that moving such families out of their existing accommodation and away from community links and ties they have built up will signal to them that they have reached the end of the road and enable them to understand that their removal will happen." This means offering them transport to the 'open accommodation' and, if refused, the Borders Agency ending all form of support including accommodation and vouchers, effectively making them homeless and with no access any other form of transportation, [2] plus a referral back to the Board.

Accepting the move to the 'pre-departure accommodation' is the next stage which the government hope will inevitably end in the family 'voluntarily' removing themselves (something they have obviously failed to do at either of the two previous stages of the process) within 3-28 days. If they have not left the country within 72 hours, it's back to the Panel again. "[T]he overall length of stay at the accommodation will be capped at 28 days" and after that families will apparently be moved back to "section 95/section 4 accommodation" i.e. stage one of the process. "However, there may be circumstances where the family seek to prevent their removal and the resulting delay pushes their case over the 28 days which we consider it reasonable for them to be in open accommodation for. This may be beyond our control." This interestingly contradicts the CgMs letter to Pease Pottage residents about the first such 'pre-departure accommodation' facility which states that "(i)n exceptional cases they might be held for up to one week but linked to a specific date when they will leave the UK." [3]

And just how much compulsion is involved in all this? Well the government has carefully chosen its language and has given a number of mixed messages, such as: "there will be some circumstances where families will be REQUIRED to move to temporary NON-DETAINED accommodation facilities prior to removal" [our emphasis] and claimed that "(o)pen accommodation is a non-detained residence where families will be FREE TO COME AND GO AS THEY PLEASE". [4] Yet careful reading of all the documents and of the plans for the Pease Pottage facility clearly show that compulsion is de facto a central factor in this scheme and that this form of accommodation is far from being 'open' in any meaningful use of the word.

That Sarah Teather, the Minister of State for Children and Families, has the gall to claim that this policy "shows real progress on our commitment to reform the returns process for families", "putting compassion and children's welfare at the heart of these new arrangements", only shows how much the Coalition has swallowed their own propaganda hock, line and sinker.

[1] Chapter45 of the latest version of the UK Border Agency Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, the manual for UKBA immigration operations, has been updated to include the new Family Cases strategy and that continues to expressly states that: "All family members, including children, SHOULD BE ARRESTED AS A WHOLE UNIT and the arrest should be made as soon as practicable, TO ENSURE THAT THE FAMILY IS LEGALLY IN IMMIGRATION CUSTODY FOR CONVEYANCE TO THE PORT OF DEPARTURE OR TO PRE-DEPARTURE ACCOMMODATION. It will normally be that arrests in such circumstances will be under administrative powers contained in paragraph 17 of schedule 2 of the 1971 Act and not under criminal powers." [Section 45.10 Control and Restraint] [our emphasis]
[2] "It may be the case that some families will argue that termination of their existing accommodation support will leave them destitute. However, we are not proposing denying access to support. Accommodation support remains available – but only within an open accommodation facility."
[3] However, the 'Open Accommodation' document only refers to the Thornton Heath pilot scheme, which differs in significant areas such as security and accessibility from the planned Pease Pottage facility.
[4]NB: The CgMs letter to Pease Pottage residents on behalf of the Arora/Home Office consortium planning the first 'pre-departure accommodation' only make reference to children being "permitted to leave the facility for short periods" and that "(s)taffing levels, their expertise and the environment of the accommodation [providing] the appropriate security for the facility."

Help Stop This Coaltion Fudge On Child Detention

2011-02-25T14:32:00.010Z

The Liberal Democrats went into the last election with a manifesto promise to end the detention of children for immigration purposes, something labelled by their party leader as "state-sponsored cruelty". This commitment was enshrined in the Coalition agreement. Initially the Coalition fudged the issue, ending the holding of children at Dungavel IRC in Scotland in May 2010 but continuing to use Yarl's Wood and Tinsley House at Gatwick Airport pending the outcome of a 'review'. Basically they dragged their heels and those of us opposed to the detention of children had to up the pressure on the government.

As a consequence Nick Clegg was forced in December last year to announce the end of the holding of children in immigration detention and the closure of the families unit at Yarl's Wood by 11 May this year. Instead they would be held for a maximum of 72 hours in something called "pre-departure accommodation" or "open accommodation"[Update: UKBA have removed this document but it is available here]. A planning application for the first of these facilities at Pease Pottage near Crawley, designed to hold up to 8 families of up to 6 members at any one time, is currently being rushed through the planning stage to meet this deadline.

Having examined the plans in details, a number of No Borders groups have come to the clear conclusion that this new form of Home Office operation does not in any way constitute a practical solution to the government's promise to end "the detention of children for immigration purposes" and that the Home Office are taking ever precaution to see that this proposed facility is sped through the planning process with the minimum of fuss and opposition.

Firstly, the project has been subject to none of the EU Procurement procedures necessary, with no restricted pre-qualification questionnaires issued or open tendering documents released. When officials were questioned as to why at a recent UKBA stakeholders meeting they claimed there was not enough time to do so. This clearly breached EU Procurement Directives.

Secondly, given that prevailing narrative surround this new type of immigration facility is that it is merely a form of temporary accommodation [see below] and not a new form of detention centre, it is rather strange that the Home Office has invoked paragraphs 24 & 25 of the Memorandum to DCLG Circular 02/2006 Crown Application of the Planning Act (concerning the possibility that an important infrastructure development that may be under terrorist or other threat if planning details were widely available) in order to restrict public access to parts of the planning application itself. Whilst we understand that the invoking of this provision is the norm for many government projects, it still appears a bit 'excessive'.

Then we come to the Change of Use application itself. The current facility is a residential school for children with behavioural and learning difficulties. Under the planning regulations this is classified as Class C2 [Residential institutions - Residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools, residential colleges and training centres]. The Home Office is arguing that the "pre-departure accommodation" falls into this category, rather than the normal Class C2A [Secure Residential Institution - Use for a provision of secure residential accommodation, including use as a prison, young offenders institution, detention centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short term holding centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation or use as a military barracks] classification used for all other immigration detention facilities.

This is patently absurd. All the adults accommodated in this facility, with its 2.5m high security fences, CCTV and electronically-operated gates, will be held under a secure status; they will no doubt arrive (after being detained in dawn raids) handcuffed to a Reliance Secure Task Management security guard (the firm taking over immigration removal escort contracts from G4S at the beginning of May); they will not be allowed to leave the facility and they will leave handcuffed to a Reliance security guard; plus the children will only be allowed to leave the facility "subject to a risk assessment and suitable adult supervision" (effectively another security guard employed by the firm running the facility on UKBA's behalf, even if not in uniform at the time. All these detainees will continue to be held under the provisions of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, exactly the same provisions used to hold them prior to 'ending' of "the detention of children for immigration purposes" and there appear to be no new legislative provisions planned to make statutory provision for this new for of facility in Law.

Additionally, it could in fact be argued (as the Home Office will no doubt chose to when challenged on the substance of this area of objection) that this 'open' "pre-departure accommodation" is a wholly new Class of use and falls outside the current scheme of classification. Again, this is patently absurd for the same reasons.

When the Home Office and UK Border Agency (UKBA) unveiled this "new, compassionate [sic] approach to family removals", the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed that it marked "an enormous culture shift within our immigration system." It clearly is not. The Home Office continues to insist that "open accommodation is not detention", yet these children, all of whom the government readily admits "have committed no crime", will still be locked up for 'immigration purposes", depriving them of their liberty. It therefore follows that these new provisions completely fail to live up to Nick Clegg's promise and the Coalition Agreement's pledge to end "the detention of children for immigration purposes".

You can stick a label saying 'Open' on a closed and locked door, but it does not change the fact that it is still locked.

We urge all concerned members of the public to email either the Council's District Planning Committee which will examine the application or all the 54 Mid Sussex District Councillors listed below with the attached letter to show your complete opposition to this attempt by the Coalition to backtrack from their promise to end the detention of ALL children with this glorified PR exercise. Together we can hold the Coalition to their promise and force them to end the detention of children once and for all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Letter Of Complaint:

I wish to express in the strongest possible terms my objections to the planned "pre-departure accommodation" facility in Pease Pottage. Not only does the proposed facility completely fail to fulfil the Coalition's pledge to end "the detention of children for immigration purposes", the whole planning application and the process so far followed by the Home Office is fatally flawed.

Firstly, in seeking to expedite the project in order to meet the Coalition's self-imposed deadline of 11 May 2001 for the ending of the detention of children in immigration facilities, it has been subject to none of the EU Procurement procedures necessary, with no restricted pre-qualification questionnaires issued or open tendering documents released. When officials were questioned as to why at a recent UKBA stakeholders meeting they claimed there was not enough time to do so. This clearly breached EU Procurement Directives.

Secondly, the planning application for a Change of Use itself is flawed. The current occupant of the site is residential school for children with behavioural and learning difficulties. Under the planning regulations this is classified as Class C2 [Residential institutions - Residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools, residential colleges and training centres]. The Home Office is arguing that "pre-departure accommodation" falls into this category, rather than the normal Class C2A [C2A Secure Residential Institution - Use for a provision of secure residential accommodation, including use as a prison, young offenders institution, detention centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short term holding centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation or use as a military barracks] classification applied to all other immigration detention facilities.

Yet, all adults accommodated in this facility, with its 2.5m high security fences, CCTV and electronically-operated gates, will be held under a secure status; they will arrive and leave in secure transport and they will not be allowed to leave the facility whilst there. Additionally, their children will only be allowed to leave the facility subject to a risk assessment and under suitable adult supervision. All will continue to be held under the provisions of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, exactly the same provisions currently used to hold families and children for immigration purposes, exactly the same form of 'administrative detention' as was introduced in the Immigration Act 1971.

This clearly falls into Class C2A and as such the application should be rejected. Additionally, the provision of "pre-departure accommodation" in no way fulfils the Coalition's pledge to end "the detention of children for immigration purposes" and the very fact that a residential school for children with behavioural and learning difficulties, a much needed community resource, is being closed in order to accommodate this new species of detention centre only adds insult to injury, both to the current child residents and to the potential future residents, none of whom have committed any crime yet will be deprived of their liberty here in Pease Pottage.

I therefore urge you to do all you can to voice opposition to this plan.

Yours

[your name and address]

Downloadable versions with email addresses: notepad version / word doc / open office doc / pdf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mid Sussex District Planning Committee

[Copy and paste into the To: pane]
andrew.macnaughton@midsussex.gov.uk; bernard.gillbard@midsussex.gov.uk; stephen.barnett@midsussex.gov.uk; andrew.barrett-miles@midsussex.gov.uk; richard.bates@midsussex.gov.uk; liz.bennett@midsussex.gov.uk; sophia.harrison@midsussex.gov.uk; sue.hatton@midsussex.gov.uk; janice.henwood@midsussex.gov.uk; chris.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk; anne.jones@midsussex.gov.uk; jane.keel@midsussex.gov.uk; susanna.kemp@midsussex.gov.uk; edward.king@midsussex.gov.uk; graham.knight@midsussex.gov.uk; edward.matthews@midsussex.gov.uk; julian.thorpe@midsussex.gov.uk; mike.watts@midsussex.gov.uk

All 54 Mid Sussex District Councillors:

[Copy and paste into the To: pane]
andrew.macnaughton@midsussex.gov.uk; gary.marsh@midsussex.gov.uk; stephen.barnett@midsussex.gov.uk; susan.seward@midsussex.gov.uk; jacqui.landriani@midsussex.gov.uk; andrew.barrett-miles@midsussex.gov.uk; mandy.thomas-atkin@midsussex.gov.uk; eileen.balsdon@midsussex.gov.uk; julian.thorpe@midsussex.gov.uk; heather.ross@midsussex.gov.uk; mike.livesey@midsussex.gov.uk; sophia.harrison@midsussex.gov.uk; dorothy.hatswell@midsussex.gov.uk; ian.pearce@midsussex.gov.uk; mike.watts@midsussex.gov.uk; robert.salisbury@midsussex.gov.uk; edward.king@midsussex.gov.uk; liz.bennett@midsussex.gov.uk; peter.reed@midsussex.gov.uk; bernard.gillbard@midsussex.gov.uk; andrew.brock@midsussex.gov.uk; chris.jerrey@midsussex.gov.uk; ian.dixon@midsussex.gov.uk; jean.glynn@midsussex.gov.uk; heidi.brunsdon@midsussex.gov.uk; james.joyce-nelson@midsussex.gov.uk; edward.matthews@midsussex.gov.uk; peter.martin@midsussex.gov.uk; sue.hatton@midsussex.gov.uk; gordon.marples@midsussex.gov.uk; richard.bates@midsussex.gov.uk; brian.hall@midsussex.gov.uk; irene.balls@midsussex.gov.uk; garry.wall@midsussex.gov.uk; john.demierre@midsussex.gov.uk; sue.ng@midsussex.gov.uk; jonathan.ash-edwards@midsussex.gov.uk; john.belsey@midsussex.gov.uk; jane.keel@midsussex.gov.uk; chris.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk; simon.mcmenemy@midsussex.gov.uk; anna.defilippo@midsussex.gov.uk; susanna.kemp@midsussex.gov.uk; jack.callaghan@midsussex.gov.uk; margaret.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk; andrew.lea@midsussex.gov.uk; christopher.snowling@midsussex.gov.uk

Do We Look Worried?

2011-02-25T14:26:00.005Z

It appears that the Arora Group/Home Office/UKBA/CgMs Consulting axis is indeed extremely worried that their little plan to convert an insignificant little school in the small sleepy Sussex village of Pease Pottage, where the only excitement is the busy A23 running through it and its more famous Service Station, is about to go pear-shaped. So worried are they that they operated a full court press last night at a meeting of the lowly Slaugham Parish Council and planning meeting, no doubt surprised that their little back door deal, turning a residential school for children with behavioural and learning difficulties into something euphemistically called Pre-Departure Accommodation (i.e. the latest form of immigration detention centre for families and children) [Update: UKBA have removed this document but it is available here], has become so public and that the 13 or so nearby residencies have had the audacity to question their plans.

So, instead of the usual discussions about house extensions, tree cutting and the siting of litter bins, the heavy squad (including Surinder Arora himself and his trusty sidekick Tim Jurdon, both of Mercure Hotel fame) arrived armed with a full set of plans, the very same ones that they are studiously denying the rest of us, the general public, access to under the catch-all of a government infrastructure security directive. In fact, when challenged on this very issue, as to why what they maintain is merely a form of temporary hostel for people waiting to leave the country is being given this degree of security to prevent details of it falling into the hands of terrorists, they had absolutely no answer. Strange that.

Other issues that they failed to adequately address included the key stumbling block as to whether the new facility can genuinely be classified Class C2 under the planning regulations, given that some if not all of those arriving at the centre will be held under what amounts to secure conditions [see: ]. Then there is the time-line for the submission of this project, which appears to be being sped through the planning process with undue haste. Leaving aside the issue of why the Home Office has signally failed to open the process up to any form of public tendering as required under EC legislation, the is the problem of exactly when this course of action was initiated; when the Mid Sussex District Council were first approached about the plans and why the retrospective planning application for the current perimeter fence that the current occupiers of the site Crawley Forest School put up illegally went in only a couple of days before the formal application for the Change of Use.

And the outcome of this attempted damage limitation exercise on behalf of the Arora/Home Office team was that the Parish Council came down firmly against the planning application, submitting 8 formal objections to the proposal. Round one to the objectors.

Celebrate International Women's Day At Yarl's Wood

2011-02-21T14:10:00.001Z

Come and celebrate International Women's Day by showing solidarity with the migrant women imprisoned at Yarl's Wood!

Saturday, 5th March 2011, 1pm

Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, Twinwoods Road, Clapham, Bedfordshire, MK41 6HL

Directions: UKBA website
Please organise your own transport.

The coalition government has skilfully employed he "end" to child detention to avoid talking about the brutal and inhumane detention regime of detention in general. Yet, over the years, countless reports and accounts have documented the plight of women locked up at Yarl's Wood: indefinite detention without charge or judicial oversight, overcrowded cells, mistreatment and abuse by private security guards, lack of privacy, restrictions on visits and phone calls, inadequate medical provision and the lack of facilities to address healthcare issues. And it's getting worse.

In her 2009 inspection report on Yarl's Wood, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers reported that “the focus on improving the environment and activities for children appeared to have led to a lack of attention to the needs of the majority population of women. Provision of activities for them was among the poorest seen in any removal centre. It had been inadequate at the last inspection, and had declined even further. The absence of activity added to the depression and anxiety of women, many of whom were spending lengthy periods at Yarl’s Wood. The average length of stay had increased by 50% since the last inspection, and one in ten women had been detained for more than six months.”

End the detention of migrant women!
Close Yarl's Wood now!

Italy Feeling The Refugee Pressure

2011-02-21T11:06:00.004Z

Over the past couple of weeks one of the most amusing sights has been renown Northern League xenophobe Roberto Maroni virtually frothing at the mouth over the sudden appearance of boat loads of migrants in Lampedusa. So comfortable had he and his cronies become since they struck their 'push-back' deal with their best friend Muammar Gaddafi that they thought that this modern form of gunboat deplomacy had solved all their problems.

That is until the edifice of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's Tunisian regime fell, feeing desperate political and economic refugees to try the perilous crossing to promised lands of Fortress Europe. First stop Lampedusa, a small island closer to Tunisia itself than anywhere else but currently Italian territory after a long and torturous history where it has been traded between the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Spanish until it was finally purchased by the Italians (in the guise of the Kingdom of Naples) in C17th, going on to become a penal colony.

Latterly it served as a useful offshore detention centre for the Berlusconi regime until the Gaddafi deal was struck in 2009. Not that Libya was the only source of migrants that ended up on Lampedusa as there has always been a steady trickle of Tunisian refugees arriving on the island, many of whom were involved in the riot and mass breakout from the internment camp there in January 2009. Admittedly, Maroni's rhetoric about a "biblical exodus that has never been seen before" coupled with demands that Italy be allowed to send its own troops to Tunisia to prevent more migrants trying to make the crossing has prompted the interim government to deploy its military in the coastal belt and agree to its own 'push-back' deal with Italy.

Now with the situation in neighbouring Libya poses another potential headache for the Italian government. With the widespread street fighting and massive repression of the population, the claims that foreign mercenaries (sub-Saharan Africans) are being used by the Gaddafi regime as part of that repression, in turn adding to the threats posed to an already vulnerable and marginalised migrant population trying to use the country as a stepping stone to Europe, all this will inevitably lead to a significant increase to the numbers of people trying to cross the Mediterranean.

It will be interesting to see if the push-back deal will hold and whether the Italian-funded patrol boats will prevent a new wave of migrants to Europe, many of whom will inevitably arrive on Lampedusa, adding further fuel to Maroni's spat with the rest of the EU and sending his blood pressure even higher.

STOP PRESS:

According to Reuters the Libyan authorities are threatening to suspend cooperation with the EU over migration issues unless European governments stop giving vocal support to pro-democracy protesters in its country.

EU concerned about situation in Libya and "the violence and death of civilians" but are in fact more worried about Libya's threat to end co-operation in the fight against irregular migration, not to mention Italian Foreign Minister Frattini's Islamophobic fears over the "really serious threat" posed by "the self-proclamation of the so-called Islamic Emirate of Benghazi."

New Business Opportunities: Deportation Hostels

2011-02-14T09:58:00.000Z

"In May 2010, the new coalition government committed to ending child detention for immigration purposes. The 'commitment' had to wait another few months to materialise (only last week reports revealed that a 11-year-old girl had been detained at Tinsley House detention centre, near Gatwick, over Christmas). Meanwhile, the UK Border Agency has been experimenting with a new deportation process for families, spun as "a new, compassionate approach to family removals." Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg went as far as claiming that this marked "an enormous culture shift within our immigration system." But while many serious concerns regarding the rights and welfare of migrant families remain, the new system appears to have created a new market for detention and deportation profiteers."

Given the interest raised by the current planning application by the Home Office to build yet another detention facility in our back yard (except the government PR machine calls it "Open Accommodation"), we recommend anyone interested in the Crawley forest School issue and the Coalition's 'commitment' to 'ending the detention of children' read this Corporatewatch article: New Business Opportunities: Deportation Hostels.

How To Sell Your Village To Tourists?

2011-02-07T15:58:00.006Z

Condemnationalism

2011-02-06T13:42:00.002Z

At last the fluffy PR-friendly mask of the LibCon Alliance has slipped to reveal their true face: Condemnationalists. Cameron's confused gibberish this weekend:

"state multiculturalism ... encouraging different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream" - just like the British ex-pat communities abroad then.

"We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong" - so the solution is yet another PR campaign then?

"We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values" [see point one].

"So when a white person holds objectionable views – racism, for example – we rightly condemn them. But when equally unacceptable views or practices have come from someone who isn't white, we've been too cautious, frankly even fearful, to stand up to them." - that's why the non-white prison population is so large [27% compared to only 11% of the general population] and ethnic minorities are much more likely to be subject to stop and search then?

So what's Cameron's solution to a situation where only white people are ever accused of being racist? "We need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism." So he's suggesting a little more than a PR campaign then and is aiming for a full-scale monoculturalism as the answer then [One Culture Conservatism anyone?] - if we all think and behave exactly like all true blue Brits do in his rose-tinted vision of a neo-Victorianist world and if everyone coming to this country adopted Cameron's way of speaking/dressing/thinking/voting/etc. then all would be well with the world. Utter tosh.

So we should all stop eating filthy foreign foods like curries, spag bol, chow mien...; stop drinking all those filthy foreign drinks like tea, coffee, Chateau la Fete and coca cola; stop wearing Armani suits, Chanel couture, Adidas, Nike, etc. and stop worshipping those awful foreign gods [surely everyone knows that God is an Englishman and his son was born in Blighty?] and be just like ... well, not like Cameron and his ilk at least.

So, here's the Condemnationalist view of the Good Foreigner:

They must have enough money [c.f. Tier 1 visas] of the right skill that the country can exploit [everyone else] before they are allowed into the country, only then will we behave in anything approaching a 'colour-blind' manner towards them [a hefty donation to the political party of their choice always goes down well and may even end up with the ultimate seal of approval - a knighthood]. That is, until they are no longer useful and then they better bugger off back to where they came from tout suite or we'll lock you up in an internment camp [detention centre] for as long as we see fit.

Then there is the good foreigner who is willing to still be exploited but has the good manners to stay in their own countries. You know the sort: they work for low wages in multinational companies or their subcontractors producing the sort of cheap goods that we think that it is our right to buy at low prices in high street shops and supermarkets; that produce the vital resources that end up in the latest must have consumer goods that within months end up as landfill. And all the while their environment is to be degraded and sold off to the highest bidder and their subsistence farms turned into massive pesticide and fertiliser-guzzling monocultures under World bank and IMF 'free trade' rules.

And the Bad Foreigner? Well, everyone else surely is a 'bogus' asylum seeker/religious fundamentalist/extremist/dago/wop/terrorist/coolie/etc. - legitimate targets all for Jeremy Clarkson's [the ur Brit] xenophobia.

Not that Cameron's 'Little Englander' rhetoric has been the only inane drivel sprouted by a politician this weekend. There was also Miliband's 'British promise' i.e. the expectation that children will have more opportunities than their parents, which roughly translates as: it is our god-given right to continue to expand the economy, and at the inevitable expense of the rest of the world.

Operation First Contact

2011-02-05T16:39:00.001Z

London NoBorders has launched a campaign against hotel company Arora International which, in form of their subsidiary Arora Management Services Ltd., has started a second attempt to make money from the Home Office's deportation business. The company plans to use the site of a residential school for children with behavioural and learning difficulties in Pease Pottage, Crawley, Sussex, owned by the Arora Group subsidiary The Crossroads Childrens (sic) Education Services Ltd., to open an immigration detention facility. It is the second attempt by Arora Hotels to extend their business into detention following the company's failure to gain planning permission to turn one of their hotels in Crawley into a holding facility for migrants in 2010. Crawley Forest School has been told to vacate the property by 1 April 2011.

First Contact

On 25th January planning consultant CGMS sent out a letter informing local residents about the Arora Hotel plans, which they and the Home Office intend to push through the planning process within weeks, having the detention facility ready by mid-May. The letter also makes no secret that the facility is planned to replace the use of Yarl's Wood and nearby Tinsley House detention facilities for the explicit use of holding families and children, and that this necessitates the proposed urgency. Not only is the UKBA extending their detention capacity, but the government is also breaking their pledge to end the detention of children.

Arora try to legitimise their rush by starting some kind of "community process", but silently hoping that the process would go through unnoticed. In this they have failed.

CGMS ends their letter saying that they "would welcome any comments you may have on the proposal and [they] would be happy to answer any queries."

So they want your feedback, and we think they should get it.

What to do?

We are asking people to do exactly what they ask for: contact CGMS and Arora Hotels and let them know your opinion about the planned detention centre for families. To make it easier for them to deal with incoming queries and to bundle the feedback nicely, we propose that you contact them between Monday 7 February 10am and Tuesday 8 February 5pm.

Stay polite, stay firm!

Spread the word!

Arora/CGMS wanted to push this through without being noticed. Help us to spread the word, ask your friends to join #Operation_FirstContact.

Who to contact?

Conveniently, we have collected a list of public contacts of both Arora Hotels and CGMS here:

CGMS
London:
Tel: 020 7583 6767
london@cgms.co.uk

Birmingham:
Tel: 0121 616 4850
birmingham@cgms.co.uk

More contacts at:
http://www.cgms.co.uk/page/Contact_9/1.html

Arora
Head Office:
Marketing
Marketing@arorahotels.com

Press and Media
PublicRelations@arorahotels.com

Head Office enquiries
HeadOffice@arorahotels.com

Public Inquieries:
+44 (0)20 8757 7770
PublicRelations@arorahotels.com

+44 (0)1293 530 000
Gatwick@arorahotels.com

+44 (0)20 8759 7777
Heathrow@arorahotels.com

+44 (0)161 236 8999
Manchester@arorahotels.com

Britons: More Racist/Xenophobic/Bigoted/Paranoid/Ignorant* Than Anyone Else?

2011-02-04T16:10:00.003Z

* delete as applicable

The latest Transatlantic Trends on Immigration report shows that Britons are easily the most fearful and ignorant of migration trends than any other country surveyed. Where the country comes out top of the survey: 65% see immigration as more of a problem than an opportunity; 59% said there were "too many immigrants" [the European average for this figure is 12%]; had the most negative views on migrants in the job market (taking jobs away from 'natives' and bringing down wages of citizens); access to health care, state schooling and social housing should be for citizens only; and 48% thought that immigration negatively affects 'British culture'. The UK also has the lowest approval for a country's government's handling of immigration matters.

The only positive thing that we could find in all the data was that at least we weren't as obviously xenophobic as the Italians, Germans, Dutch and French in ascribing increases in crime to immigrants.

In an odd footnote to the media coverage of this was the BBC's on-line content where it claims, after discussing attitudes to access to health and schools and migrants taking jobs from natives, was this: "However, nearly three quarters thought the government should allow more foreign doctors and nurses into the UK and just over half wanted more foreign care workers for the elderly." We can find this nowhere in the report, nor were there any listings of questions involving the migration of health care workers in the Methodology.

Odd! Maybe they just made it up? If it is true however, it just goes to show that the old Empire spirit is still alive: foreigners - make good servants but you wouldn't want one moving in next door to you or marrying your daughter; and maybe this is the reason the Brits are so more racist/xenophobic/bigoted/paranoid/ignorant* than everyone else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This news comes on the day that another report, 'Coping with Destitution: Survival and livelihood strategies of refused asylum seekers living in the UK', part-funded by Oxfam and conducted by the Centre for Migration Policy Research, is published in the UK detailing the appalling conditions of destitution that refused asylum seekers have to in this country. Many face a hand-to-mouth existence, sleeping rough or stuck in an endless rut of sofa-surfing or sleeping on friends' floors. Many suffer from ill-health because of the lack of accommodation, because of a poor diet and a lack of access to healthcare. Most are in constant fear of forced return or, due to their vulnerability, of being attacked on the street or being exploited and abused. Many are emotionally and psychologically scarred already and their situations are making them much worse.

Dodgy Dealing Over Pease Pottage?

2011-02-01T10:44:00.003Z

Pease pottage hot, pease pottage cold,
Pease pottage in the pot, nine days old;
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old.
[Old English nursery rhyme and children's singing game.]

It is beginning to look more and more as if our initial opinion about the Crawley Forest School plan, namely that the agreement between detention business wannabes Arora Hotels Ltd. and the Home Office to convert the school into a Pre-Departure Accommodation facility' i.e. a 'fluffy' detention centre to appease woolly Lib Dem members of the Condemnation, is in fact a dodgy behind-closed-doors stitch-up between the two organisations.

At a regular UK Border Agency 'stakeholder' meeting last week, when the plans were revealed to those attending [1], it became clear that there would be no open public procurement tendering process for the facility as is required under EU and UK legislation. In response to a question from one of those attending as to why the Agency was ignoring the law the response was "because there is not time"!

This of course signals a potential spanner that might just fall into the Arora/UKBA works, leaving them open to a legal challenge on the issue and it certainly warrants a parliamentary question being asked by some interested MP about the Home Office's apparently mendacious behaviour.

[1] Though interestingly not in the latest [January 2011] issue of the Border Agency News.

New Crawley Immigration Detention Facility

2011-01-31T14:06:00.004Z

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.

Denise McNeil Freed On Bail

2011-01-26T12:39:00.000Z

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

Countrywide Hunger Strike In Greece

2011-01-25T11:09:00.004Z

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

Free The Yarl's Wood 3!

2011-01-21T11:47:00.002Z

*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

300 Refugees To Start Mass Hunger Strike In Greece

2011-01-17T12:15:00.001Z

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

Defend Dale Farm!

2011-01-11T09:27:00.001Z

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)___________

Dale Farm Eviction Info Night @ Colwey Club, Brighton

2011-01-02T15:46:00.001Z

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

Abdel Must Stay In Brighton

2010-12-29T10:27:00.003Z

Stop His New Year’s Deportation - ACT NOW

Abdelkrim Madjoudj (HOref: M702098). Abdelkrim is a 39 years old gentleman, Algerian who is currently detained at Brook House since last 17/12/2010 and has already been given direction removals for New Year’s Eve. Abdel has been living in the UK for 13 years and he is very much loved in the Brighton community.

Abdelkrim arrived initially as a medical visitor in the UK in the 16th December 1994, sought an extension to stay unsuccessfully, and returned home to Algeria in September 1995. Abdelkrim was detained on return and tortured and accused of being involved with criminals and being a member of a banned political party. He was found not guilty of the alleged crime of failure to report criminals, but by that time Abdelkrim had been physically and mentally scarred by his experience, and he required psychological treatment as a result. He is afraid that this would happen again if send back to Algeria.

Abdelkrim returned to the UK in January 1998 and lived with his brother in Brighton. He did not apply for asylum or otherwise come to the attention of the authorities until August 2009 when Immigration Officers came to his flat in Brighton. He then applied to remain in the UK for compassionate reasons under the Article 3 (prohibits torture, and "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”) and Article 8 (provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his correspondence" ) of the European Convention of Human Rights. It was refused. Home Office states in the refusal letter that Abdel had not strong links in the UK and because he was living illegally in the UK, he should be removed.

Abdelkrim is not working in the UK still suffers physically from back pain. His brother is a successful businessman in the UK. Abdel is supported financially by his brother, has never been a burden on the State and if he were permitted to stay in the UK, he would be an asset to society as he has a degree in Civil Engineering.

Abdel is a committed and loved volunteer at Migrant English Project and Brighton Voices in Exile. MEP is run completely by volunteers and provides free English lessons and a safe and social space. Abdel regularly cooks for up to 50 people at Migrant English Project and he takes the lead responsibility for this. He is friendly and welcoming to new members and he is dearly missed already. After 13 years he is fully engaged in the Brighton and Hove community.

We believe that his removal is an abuse of process as he has no chance to lodge an appeal over the Christmas period with support organisations in Brighton closed, solicitors closed and the Home Office are closed for this period of the year.

And we know he is extremely distressed by the possibility of been removed after living in the UK for 13 years.

What can you do to help?

1) Call the Home Office now demanding he has a right to appeal his deportation order and ask that your message is recorded 0870 606 7766.

2) Write to the Home Secretary Theresa May and let her know that Abdelkrim should be released from detention and given permission to stay in the UK.
[Download model letter]

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP
Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham St London SW1 4DF
Fax: 0044 (0)20 7035 4745 or 02072191145

Email:
mayt@parliament.uk
UKBA: publicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk,
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO: citto@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

MEP (Migrant English Project)

STOP PRESS: [31/12]

Abdel's flight has been cancelled but we expect the Border's Agency to try to deport him again some time in the New Year, so we advise people to keep on contacting the Home Office and Abdel and his supporters would like to thank everyone who has offered support so far.

Free The Yarl's Wood 3

2010-12-21T09:52:00.001Z

In February 2010 prisoners at Yarl's Wood immigration prison organised a hunger strike. They demanded an end to indefinite and abusive imprisonment. Their courageous protest lasted five weeks, despite violent attacks by guards at the detention centre.

As retribution several people involved in the hunger strike were moved to prisons. Three of those targeted in this way are still behind bars: Denise McNeil, Sheree Wilson and Aminata Camara. They have been away from their families, friends and communities for too long.

Their struggle was “for everyone in detention”. We need to support those who take action on the inside. When they use prison to try to silence resistance we will fight back. At the start of a new year, let’s show them that they have our support and that the struggle for freedom goes on.

At 4pm on New Year’s Eve demonstrate outside Holloway Prison, Parkhurst Road, in solidarity with the Yarl’s Wood 3. Please invite your friends and family. All ages are welcome. Bring noise-makers.

The nearest underground station to HMP Holloway is Caledonian Road on the Piccadilly line. Buses from outside the station go to the prison.

The Yarl’s Wood 3 will also have bail hearings in the coming month. Your support is very welcome. If you would like to come to the court to show support for them contact freedenisenow@gmail.com.

For a good source of more information visit:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/campaigns/DeniseMcNeil.html

Blackmail?

2010-11-30T16:36:00.002Z

It looks like Muammar Gaddafi has the EU over a barrel. After years of having encouraged African migrants to seek their fortunes in his country or to use it as a stepping stobe to Europe, he has come under increasing pressure from the European Union to cut back on the numbers of migrants making for Italy and lucrative deals have been cut with the EU itself, via the International Organisation for (against) Migration, and more recently directly with his fellow autocrat Berlusconi.

At the same time he has launched his own war against his once welcome pool of cheap labour, setting up strings of detention camps and squalid prisons where tens of thousands of his fellow Africans survive some of the worst prison conditions on the continent since international approbation force his regime to quit using his previous preferred method of dealing with the 'problem' - wholesale transportation of migrants in converted container lorries to the desert borders with neighbouring countries where they were abandoned with no food, water or means of transport. Many hundreds are believe to have perished in this low-cost deportation solution.

Now, emboldened by his lucrative deal with Italy involving $5bn compensation for abuses committed during Italy's rule in Libya ($200m a year for 25 years invested in Libyan infrastructure projects) plus the loan of six fast patrol boats as part of an Italian sponsored 'push back' policy, Gaddafi is once again seeking €5bn a year from the EU in order to continue stopping African migrants from leaving Libyan shores in small leaky boats on their perilous trips across the Mediterranean.

Whilst he is right to criticise European countries for their neo-colonial attitudes in demanding that African countries open themselves up to more European exports and embrace neo-liberal free trade policies alongside 'good governance' policies (the EU argues that prosperity can only be guaranteed if Europeans don't have to pay too hefty a bribe in order to 'do business'), tying those demands to preventing "christian, white Europe" from becoming "black" is manipulative racist scaremongering of the lowest form.

Refugee Protest Camp Set Up In Athens

2010-11-26T16:27:00.002Z

More than 50 Afghan refugees have set up camp next to the Propylaia Acropolis in the centre of Athens to protest against the Greek state's refusal to provide asylum and housing for the tens of thousands of refugees stuck in a Hellenic Limbo, many of them victims of Dublin II and unable to move on to the countries they desire because they have been detained, fingerprinted or otherwise identified as having passed through Greece, a country that grants only 0.04% of all asylum applications.

For more information and pictures on this story check out the Demotix website.

Glasgow Asylum Evictions: Cost-Cutting Negotiation Tactic?

2010-11-26T15:39:00.002Z

Further details of the farce that has developed around the axing by the Border Agency of its contract with Glasgow City Council to house asylum seekers. It now appears that the termination of the contract on UKBA's part is a negotiating tactic to try and drive down the cost of the contract as it has not even bothered to contact at least one of the two organisations, Ypeople and Angel Group, that it claims are going to take over housing the 1300 people under threat of eviction and forced mass movement to points unknown across Scotland. In a parallel move, Alex Salmond has called upon Teresa May to reopen negotiations with the council.

Israel Plans Massive Internment Camp For Migrants

2010-11-25T16:15:00.002Z

Following hot on the tail of Israeli plans to deport the children of migrants born in Israel and to erect a 150km long $372m hi-tech fence on its border with Egypt to keep out so-called 'infiltrators', come news that the country's government is planning to build a massive internment camp capable of holding up to 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers in the southern Negev Desert. The idea of such a facility, which could be ready in a matter of weeks and would be used to hold migrants from war-torn African countries such as Sudan and Eritrea that the Israeli state is currently unable to deport, is already drawing comparisons with Nazi concentration camps. But according to Eyal Gabbai, a top aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "Israel is trying to fight a situation in which the state, its citizens, are vulnerable to infiltrators who enter with economic motives" and the threat of internment "will weaken their economic incentive to come to Israel."

MigrationBotch Call For More Emigration

2010-11-25T15:48:00.001Z

MigrationBotch has called upon the Coalition government to introduce further policies to drive up the number of UK residents leaving the country on a permanent basis following the latest migration figures showing that a jump of 25,000 in the net migration figures was down to only a measly 140,000 British citizens emigrating, down 33,000 on 2008 and the lowest figure since 1999. The thoughtless-tank's supremo Dame Alan Greenbyname-Greenbynature) is quoted as saying: "After the spiffing news of the government's cap on coolie labour, this is a clearly a kick in the proverbials. The government need to made further and deeper cuts in order to drive more people from our shores and stop Blighty sinking under the waves (of dreaded foreigners). If we can return to the sort of sustainable population figure that Britain had at the end of the 18th century (37m) rather than the dreaded and extremely significant figure of 70m that I keep inanely bandying around, then our country will stay afloat and have the extra added bonus of there not being so many darkies around to boot."

Glasgow Asylum Families' Reprieve

2010-11-25T15:14:00.001Z

After a degree of confusion (not least from us) over exactly what was happening with regard to the UK Border Agency plans to end a contract with Glasgow City Council to provide accommodation for around 1300 asylum seeker families and single people, where people would be given as little as 48 hours notice of eviction, it has been announced that the threat of eviction has been lifted.

In our original piece, based on a Glasgow Evening Times article and comments by Phil Taylor, the Agency's regional director for Scotland and Northern Ireland (which suggested that Glasgow City Council had 'invited' the Borders Agency to cancel the contract) we understood that the new providers of the contract accommodation would be moving the refugees out of Glasgow. But, following UKBA clarification and an emergency meeting between Damian Green and a number of Scottish Labour MPs, the Herald claims that few if any will now have to move as the new providers will merely be taking over the asylum seekers tenancies rather than moving them out wholesale. And where it proves necessary for families to move, at least 14 days notice will be given and the new provider will pay any moving costs incurred.

Kabul Inundated With Glaswegian Refugees

2010-11-23T10:21:00.002Z

After news that Kabul is now safer than cities like Glasgow, the Afghan capital has been inundated with Scottish refugees seeking political asylum from a despotic British regime.

Nato official Mark Sedwill said the Afghan capital, as a “city of villages”, and was a better environment for youngsters to grow up in than any city found on the west coast of Scotland.

Sedwill continued, “People will point to the violence, the drug trafficking and the religious zealots intent on imposing their way of life on everyone around them, but I would just tell them to leave Glasgow and try Kabul instead.”

“Sure, there are still a few issues, but at least it you get a bit of sunshine here, and you can understand what most of the locals are saying.”

“I’ve never been threatened with a pint glass in Kabul, I’ll say that much for it.”

Kabul Safer Than Glasgow

The queue of Scottish asylum seekers arriving at Kabul airport has stretched local authority resources to breaking point, and raised the possibility of rejecting many applications simply because they can not cope.

Fraser Donald told Afghan immigration officials, “Please don’t send me back! The government wants to take away my freedoms and potentially imprison me, just because I won’t go and do a bit of litter picking.”

“I am in genuine fear for the freedom of me and my family to sit around doing nothing all day.”

Some have already had their asylum applications approved, with Dougal McDonald telling us, “This morning I’ve been shot at twice, and had to run to avoid a couple of IEDs, so yes, I’m feeling much safer here already.”

“I’d recommend it to any Scots considering the move. Just bring plenty of sun-cream.”

[Reprinted from News Thump]

Asylum Seekers: Britain Has Let Us Down

2010-11-22T15:52:00.001Z

Four refused asylum seekers describe the intolerance, hatred and violence they face on the streets of Britain and how they survive without state benefits, shelter or the right to work on £10 food vouchers from the British Red Cross.

Christmas Island & Villawood Detention Protests

2010-11-22T15:12:00.003Z

A hunger strike on Christmas Island which has involved more than 200 detainees has entered its second week. The exact numbers involved are hard to ascertain but current estimates vary between 150 and 230, with up to 20 of those involved having sewn their lips shut and currently only taking sugar water.

The protests follow a recent Australian High Court decision that overturns the presumption that off-shore immigration detainees had no right of access to Australian courts and opens up the way for refugees who have had their asylum applications refused to seek judicial reviews and the death of an Iraqi asylum seeker at the Villawood detention centre. The lip-sewers have been dismissed as self-harmers by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship staff, as has one of the hunger strikers who attempted suicide on Saturday.

Protests have also taking place at the mainland detention facility at Villawood following the death of Ahmad al-Akabi, an Iraqi father-of-three committed suicide last Tuesday. Mr al-Akabi, having been held in detention for more than a year and refused asylum for the second time, had apparently begged the Immigration authorities to send him home shortly before his death.

Detainees occupied the roof for several hours and others set fire to wooden furniture in protest against the death and their collective despair at the length of time people are being interned. Whilst 100 or so detainees protested inside the camp 200 supporters held a noisy demonstration outside the perimeter fence.

In a separate story, the plight of one of the Oceanic Viking families has been highlighted in one Australian newspaper. Sumathi Rahavan, her husband Yogachandran, their 2 children, Atputha and Abinayan (6 and 3 years old respectively) and the new baby that Sumathi has given birth to in captivity are languishing in Villawood awaiting medical clearance for the infant before they are returned to Christmas Island* where they will continue their life in indefinite detention limbo. This is because they have been labelled as national security threats by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and cannot also be returned to Sri Lanka as refugees under international treaties.

Under 24-hours surveillance with no access to the internet, limited vetted phone calls and 3 Serco guards employed to constantly watch over them, they too despair of their situation and are thinking of putting the 2 older children up for adoption in order to give them the chance of a better life.

* The Christmas Island detention centre medical unit does not have maternity facilities and the Rahavan family had to be moved to the mainland.

Shock! Horror! Ignorant Woman Can't Make Up Her Mind

2010-11-15T14:36:00.001Z

Yes, xenophobe, failed politician and ex-chip shop owner Pauline Hanson has decided that she doesn't want to emigrate to to Britain after all. Having spent the past couple of months touring Europe she appears to have decided to stay in Australia:

"I love England but so many people want to leave there because it's overrun with immigrants and refugees. France is becoming filled with Muslims and the French and English are losing their way of life because they're controlled by foreigners in the European Union."

This of course is from a woman who is herself a descendent of immigrants; immigrants who hunted the Native Australians for sport, stole their children and tried to systematically eradicate their culture in what amounted to an official policy of genocide (much along the lines of the one perpetrated on Native Americans).

American History X

2010-11-15T13:48:00.003Z

From the Pinky Show, an alternative view of the U.S. immigration debate courtesy of a couple of cool cats:

One Down ... Ten To Go

2010-11-12T14:34:00.003Z

Today see the closure of Oakington detention centre. Opened in 2000 as a temporary so-called fast track facility, it was due to close in 2006 but the government prevaricated on this in the same way as the Coalition is dragging its heels over the continued detention of children. Many who passed through the ex-RAF barracks claimed that it was a shit-hole to put it mildly and the Prisons Inspectorate roundly condemned conditions there in its 2008 inspection report. Unfortunately, its closure comes too late for Eliud Nyenze, a Kenya national who died on 14 April this year after being refused mediacl assistance by the detention centre's G4S guards.

Correction

2010-11-12T09:34:00.001Z

Apologies to Glasgow City Council but we screwed up yesterday's post 'Don't Break Our Communities Apart!'. It was the Borders Agency which cancelled the contract and NOT the City Council.

Don't Break Our Communities Apart!

2010-11-11T14:21:00.003Z

The latest council, following the like of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, to opportunistically cancel its contract with the Border Agency to house asylum seeker families is Glasgow City Council. In Glasgow's case there are about 1000 asylum seekers who will soon be getting a letter through their doors telling them that they have as little as 3 days notice to leave their homes and be moved to an as yet unknown destination! They will also be told that they are "allowed to take two pieces of luggage per person. In addition, children’s toys, baby care items, medical equipment, buggies and disability aids are also allowed.”

This is all a thinly-disguised form of racist pandering will have a minuscule effect on housing waiting lists but will have a significant impact on refugee families across Britain. We should all oppose it.

Correction: It was the UKBA that cancelled the contract and NOT Glasgow City Council.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keep the Contract with Glasgow City Council!
Join the Protest:
Monday 15 November
10.30am
Outside Glasgow City Chambers,
George Square

Today at a meeting in Cranhill it was confirmed that the first asylum seeker families are to be moved out of Glasgow City Council accommodation starting as early as Monday next week.

One family has been told they will be moving on Monday. At least two other families have been told they'll also be leaving accommodation provided by the council next week.

On Saturday last week, the 900 plus asylum seeker families who are currently accommodated in housing organised by Glasgow City Council received letters stating that the housing contract from the UK Border Agency to house them had been terminated.

Staff at the Glasgow Asylum Seeker Support Project were told at 3pm on Friday afternoon after their acting head had received the news in an email. The move has taken everyone involved in supporting asylum seekers in Glasgow completely by surprise and came as a shock to many.

It is still not known where families are going to be moved to and the confusion is spreading anxiety and alarm through the asylum seeker community in Glasgow. Earlier today the UKBA press office was suggesting that, in the short term at least, the other current accommodation providers in Glasgow, the YMCA charity and the notorious Angel Group, would take on the contract.

The letters sent out to the tenants however suggest that they could be relocated to anywhere in Scotland.

Now facing significant disruption to their housing - and potentially facing being moved away from established friends and supporters as well as from services such as GPs and social workers - asylum seekers in Glasgow are extremely alarmed and concerned about this sudden news.

Many are concerned about how their children could be affected if they are moved out of established schools.

Many are also worried that they may have to move away from friends and supportive neighbours and community groups, breaking the strong ties that have developed over months and years in communities across the city.

Other concerns have also been raised about the ability of the YMCA and the Angel Group to provide adequate accommodation at such short notice.

Since taking over part of the housing contract in 2006, both the Angel Group and the YMCA, have received criticism over how they have provided accommodation to asylum seekers. The Angel Group, in particular, have had many accusations of providing inadequate housing and its staff giving poor service, made against it.

UNITY is calling for a protest outside of Glasgow City Chambers of everyone concerned about the sudden ending of the housing contract and against the disruption to our communities and its impact on the lives of our friends and neighbours.

Come to Glasgow City Chambers at 10.30 Monday 15th November to show your opposition to these developments and to call on the UKBA and Glasgow City Council to resolve any difficulties.

Demonstration For Jimmy Mubenga Tomorrow

2010-11-11T14:20:00.001Z

*PRESS RELEASE*

This Friday, 12 November 2010, exactly one month after Jimmy Mubenga's death, the Mubenga family will march from the Angolan Embassy to the Home Office in central London. They will be joined by members of the Angolan community and a range of campaigners, as well as many other people who simply want to express their solidarity.

The family will hand in a letter to the Home Secretary calling for an inquiry in to the use of force in the deportation process. A letter will also be given to the Angolan Embassy calling on the Angolan authorities to lend their support to help ensure that we learn the full truth about how Jimmy died.

On arriving at the Home Office there will be several speeches, including:

* Mubenga family member

* Adalberto Miranda (Union of Angolans in the UK)

* Deborah Coles (Inquest)

* Emma Ginn (Medical Justice)

* Jeremy Corbyn MP

*Notes to editors*

1. Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan man, died during an attempted deportation after being restrained by guards from the private security firm G4S on 12 October 2010 at Heathrow airport.

2. The family of Jimmy Mubenga will be attending the march but *will not* be giving any interviews.

3. Copies of the letter to the Home Office will be available on the day.

4. The demonstration is expected to arrive at the Home Office by 12.15-12.30.

5. A flyer is attached and a map of the route can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/376mwep

6. For further information please call 07570 218 736 or 07972 850 143.

Phil Woolas...

2010-11-05T16:34:00.004Z

[A Quick Gloat]

...found guilt of being a lying mendacious racially-motivated scumbag*, stripped of his Oldham East and Saddleworth parliamentary seat, barred from the Commons for three years and suspended from the Labour Party to boot for his election campaign antics. Don't say we didn't warn you.

And to think that Miliband reappointed him as shadow immigration minister!

* Well, not quiet, but you know what we mean.

Surprise, Surprise...

2010-11-03T11:41:00.001Z

... the Coalition's immigration cap will, as anyone with even a passing knowledge of immigration politics knows, will do absolutely nothing to return the rate of in migration to the UK to the halcyon days of Thatcher, or at least that's what the Home Affairs committee is currently saying. Yes, even their modest desire to return to 1990 levels, whilst seeking in most other areas to take the country back to Victorian era values and standards, is doomed to fail.

It always was a 'pie in the sky' idea* and as the committee point out the only way it would be achievable would be for Britain to withdrawn from the EC, close down most of the universities in the country (it is only the revenue from foreign students that keeps most of them afloat), risk social unrest by ending the right of those already granted leave to remain in the UK to bring members of their family (spouses and children) to the country. Better think again about the defence review and start stationing those gunboats of the Channel coast Dave™.

* Still it quietened the frontline party troops during the election campaign.

MigrationBotch - Can't Keep A Bad Statistician Down

2010-10-28T12:00:00.002+01:00

(More's the pity.)

Five Chinese Crackers has a highly recommended new post about the idiot(s) at MigrationBotch - 'MigrationWatch - a bit crap aren't they? But are they getting worse?'

A bit crap? Kind of pulling your punches there aren't you?

Demonstration In Memory Of Jimmy Mubenga RIP

2010-10-28T10:59:00.001+01:00

Who died while in the hands of G4S private security guards.

Friday 12 November 2010

Assemble 10:30am @ the Angolan Embassy in London (22 Dorset Street, London, W1U 6QY). Nearest tube stations: Baker Street/ Marylebone.

March to the Home Office (2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF)

On 12 October 2010, Jimmy Mubenga an Angolan man died during a forced deportation from the UK. The Guardian reported that Jimmy was handcuffed and restrained by three private security guards on a British Airways flight from Heathrow. Shortly before he died, Jimmy was heard by other passengers crying out for help.

There have been fourteen deaths (twelve men and two women) since 1991 during forced deportations. The official cause of death in most cases was positional asphyxia or cardiac arrest. Of the fourteen that died, ten were Africans (of which six were Nigerians).

The full list of deaths:
* 2010 Jimmy Mubenga (Angolan - UK)
* 2010 Joseph Ndukadu Chiakwa (Nigerian - Switzerland)
* 2007 Osamuyi Aikpitanhi (Nigerian - Spain)
* 2003 Mariame Getu Hagos (Somali - France)
* 2002 Ricardo Barrientos (Argentinian - France
* 2001 Samson Chukwu (Nigerian - Switzerland)
* 2000 Christian Ecole Ebune (Cameroonian - Hungary)
* 1999 Aamir Mohamed Ageeb Sudanese - Germany)
* 1999 Marcus Omofuma (Nigerian - Austria)
* 1999 Khaled Abuzarifeh (Palestinian - Switzerland)
* 1998 Semira Adamu (Nigerian - Belgium
* 1994 Kola Bankole (Nigerian - Germany)
* 1993 Joy Gardner (Jamaican - UK)
* 1991 Arumugam Kanapathipillai (Tamil, Sri Lanka - France)

Manuel Bravo was a 35-year-old Angolan asylum seeker who took his own life in Yarl's Wood removal centre in Bedford the day he and his 13- year-old son were due to be deported to Angola in September 2005. Leaving a note saying: 'I kill myself because I don't have a life to live any more. I want my son Antonio to stay in the UK to continue his studies.'

Campaigning organisations:
No Borders
Corporate Watch
Inquest
Free Movement
London No Borders
Medical Justice
National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaigns
Union of Angolans in UK (UAUK)

Foreigners Stole My Mushrooms

2010-10-25T15:00:00.001+01:00

'Migrants help to strip New Forest of its mushrooms' run the Excress headline. "Gangs of East Europeans and amateur cooks inspired by TV chefs are stripping a forest of its valuable mushrooms to the horror of locals ... Picking mushrooms is a part of life on the Continent but, traditionally, it has not been something Britons have taken to. Yet with TV chefs extolling the virtue of the free food, locals have joined immigrants in stripping the forest." Too much to expect the rag to run a headline saying ' Amateur cooks help to strip New Forest of its mushrooms' or even 'Locals help to strip New Forest of its mushrooms'? Of course not, not xenophobic enough.

The Storm In A Foreign Aid Teacup

2010-10-25T14:52:00.002+01:00

The reactionary right-whinge news media are continuing to bang on about the 'injustice' of the recent raising of the foreign aid budget. And the most vociferous has been the Daily Excress* with reams of their usual blatantly racist bile about some mythical 'foreign aid fury' that could have 'saved the harrier'. "It could have equally paid for 310 new primary schools, or overturned the scrapping of child benefit for high earners." Of course the 'fury' is all theirs, the Daily Flail's and those mothballed Empire-ists at the Spectator.

Don't these people realise that this 'foreign aid' is always tied to some lucrative trade deal selling weapons (usually some redundant hand-me-downs or out-of-date technology) or privatising some utility or natural resource and UK companies get almost of of the money back? Either that or it all goes in servicing the countries' structural debt and ends up in Western coffers. Anyway, all this supposed 'wealth', the mere crumbs of which are finding their way into the aid budget,is based on a massive legacy of the concerted rape and pillage of the rest of the globe dating back to Empire, when Britain sold the ancestors of the very people who are supposed to benefit from all this aid into slavery. What comes around should definitely go around even if it is mere crumbs.

* No irony in the using of photo of a mother and baby captioned "Foreign aid will help starving families and those suffering from diseases" below the headline 'A shocking waste of billions' then?

The Spectre Haunting Us All

2010-10-19T05:52:00.004+01:00

Around the world the spectre of reaction, of racism and xenophobia is rearing its ugly head as the economic crisis begins to bite - not that reaction, of racism and xenophobia ever went away, it just was simply more carefully hidden. Just as in the '30s, the scapegoating of minorities, especially the Roma and Muslims, has ceased to be a spectator sport and is rapidly becoming official government policy across the board - again, not that it ever hasn't been, it was merely more covert:

France has banned the burqa and is using fingerprinting to create biometric records of the Roma it forcibly removes from the country (giving them €300 and getting them to sign a piece of paper doesn't stop it from being a forced removal), as well as introducing a swingeing immigration Bill that will, amongst a long list of contentious measures, severely restrict the rights of refugees in detention and introduces measures specifically targeted against Roma.
Italy, which has ratcheted up the anti-immigration rhetoric and massively increased its anti-foreigner legislation in the past couple of years as well as unleashing a series of violent pogroms against Roma and African migrants, now wants to introduce its own ban; in Milan they are currently bulldozing Roma camps and Milan's vice mayor, Riccardo De Corato who is a member of Berlusconi's ruling party and is in charge of handling the camps, is quoted as saying "These are dark-skinned people, not Europeans like you and me ... Our final goal is to have zero Gypsy camps in Milan".
The Netherlands minority government, as a quid pro quo for gaining the support of dyed-Ayrian Gert Wilders (less than affectionately known as Wilders-the-beest) and his neo-fascist cronies, is also planning a ban; then again the Dutch have their own Roma 'problem' where 10,000-15,000 Roma, many of whom have been in the country for 30 years and have Dutch citizenship, face intractable social problems such as disproportionate unemployment, school truanting and mental health problems.
Switzerland was first in the long line of countries to enact anti-Muslim legislation with its ban on minarets and the veil, its patently racists citizenship system and the openly xenophobic Swiss People’s Party with its 64 seats and 29% of the vote in the most recent Federal Assembly elections. And now there are proposals to automatically expel all non-nationals who are convicted of a crime before they serve any jail sentence, a development that other EU countries are watching with interest.
In Sweden the Sweden Democrats, a party that repeatedly claims to be opposed to racism, is also riding the wave of covert (and not so covert*) xenophobia - a longing for bygone days of nostalgia-filled fantasy of a world without foreigners, a neverneverland preserved in aspic - and has won 20 parliamentary seats in the recent election on an Islamophobic platform; this against the backdrop of increasing numbers of Swedish deportations, especially to Iraq, something that has been condemned by the UNHCR.
Then there are the Danes, rapidly making their mark on the European scroll of shame with their recent copycat Roma expulsions and calls by the ruling right wing liberal party Venestre for migrants to be paid only half the national minimum wage rate.
Germany is also in the news, and not just for Bundesbank executive Thilo Sarrazin very public anti-semitic remarks. The Council of Europe and UNICEF both recently condemned Germany's expulsion of Kosovan Roma; mainstream German politicians claiming that there should be an end to all Arab and Turk migration or that immigrants should face an intelligence test; and to top it all, Angela Merkel has just claimed that German 'multiculturism' has 'failed', blaming immigrants for 'not fitting in' (as Pickled Politics puts it) - "At the start of the 60s we invited the guest-workers to Germany. We kidded ourselves for a while that they wouldn't stay, that one day they'd go home. That isn't what happened." - of course not, would you integrate when you were so obviously merely a tolerated 'guest arbieters' and were specifically excluded from citizenship?
In Austria far right parties like the FPO (Austrian Freedom Party) and the BZO (Alliance for Austria's Future), both not that different in policies from Hitler's NSDAP, are widely accepted as legitimate political parties by a population that can poll 53% in agreeing with the claim that asylum seekers "are more criminal than other society groups"; and there are widespread racist attacks on refugees and asylum seekers by neo-Nazis and skinhead groups and a police force condemned for its racism by Amnesty International.

And that is only a handful of European countries and we haven't even mentioned the call by the UN for all European countries to stop enforcing Dublin II returns to Greece because of the appalling conditions in the Greek detention centres, prisons and police cells. “All these detention facilities, with the only exception of the one in Chios (island), were totally overcrowded ... filthy, with very, very bad ventilation and lighting, and general conditions were just appalling,” according to Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur for torture and other cruel treatment. The Special Rapporteur's preliminary report repeatedly complains of lack of access by detainees to toilets and showers, lack of access to outside yards for up to two years, lack of blankets and warm clothes amid plunging temperatures and inadequate medical care, detainees having to sleep on the floor for weeks on end, that many people had respiratory, skin as well as psychological problems. "Such conditions of detention clearly amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, in violation of Articles 7 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights."
Or the UNHCR concern over Iraqi deportations following the widespread decisions, including that in the UK by the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), by EU states that Iraq is now safe enough for them to begin mass deportations of Iraqi refugees. This despite the fact that the autonomous Kurdish region has itself suspended permission for flights carrying detainees from landing in Irbil.**
Or the fact that the EU has taken advantage of Gaddafi's attempts to exploit the prevailing attitude within Europe by asking for €5bn a year to prevent hundreds of thousands of “ignorant” Africans from “turning Europe black”. This provided an ideal opportunity for the EU commission to outsource even more of its border protection and abuse of refugees to Libya, a country that does not even accept the concept of 'asylum seeker' and who has one of the worst human rights records when it comes to their treatment. The deal, worth up to 60m euros (£52m, $83m) in aid over three years, is tied to some vaguely worded agreement on Libya's part to 'protect migrants' rights' but doesn't go as far as stipulating that Libya sign the UN Convention on Refugees.

Then there is the rise of the Tea Party and the canonisation of that (someone who is being sued by the Federal government for wingnut Sheriff Joe Arpaiocivil rights abuses, Maricopa Office of Management and Budget have found that his Sheriff Department has misappropriated $50m in funds, his treatment of prisons has resulted in lawsuits that have cost the County more than $43m in settlement claims during his tenure) for his plans to set up anti-immigrant vigilante patrols.

Against this backdrop, things in the UK are not that different following the advent of a Tory government, with extra-added LibDem legitimacy, and its harebrained scheme to return levels of immigration to the 1990s (although most would obviously prefer 1890s levels), is also thinking of introducing a policy of forcibly returning asylum seeking children to their countries of origin in flagrant convention of a whole tranche of international treaties as well as cutting back further on the already meagre financial support refugees receive prior to their cases being processed.

We've also had the reform of the Legal Aid budget that, led directly to the closing of Refugee and Migrant Justice, Birmingham City Council's massive publicity exercise stating that it was going to end its contract with the UK Border Agency to house asylum seekers in order to prioritise 'locals'. Yet Birmingham has a housing stock of 65,000 homes and it houses only 190 refugee families i.e. they occupy only 0.3% of the homes. Eye catching but hardly significant. Wolverhampton has followed suit and is also going to evict the families of asylum seekers it provides housing to, all 124 of them, thus making a less than 1% dent in their waiting list of 13,405. And then there's been Chris Keates, the general secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, and Jonathan Ellis, director of policy and development at the Refugee Council, warning of the possibility of the government's immigration and education policies creating "apartheid in our schools" through the segregation of communities and increased racial tension. And the baying of the tabloids to follow France's Roma lead. Not forgetting the widely criticised [see also] decision to begin deporting Zimbabwean refugees just when the coalition government is reaching another crisis point in advance of next year's elections, the increasing repression of the MDC by the police and violence by ZANU-PF cadres.

* Per T K Wahlberg, who stood in the recent election and came 26th on the Sweden Democrats party list, recently caused a furore by claiming that Africans have a 'rape' gene'.
** Not to mention the UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller, warning that the increasing criminalisation of the asylum process "has serious protection consequences for refugees and breeds its own secondary problems for states, including racism and xenophobia" and the Global Migration Group's claim that “[a]lthough States have legitimate interests in securing their borders and exercising immigration controls, such concerns cannot, and indeed, as a matter of international law do not, trump the obligations of the State to respect the internationally guaranteed rights of all persons, to protect those rights against abuses, and to fulfil the rights necessary for them to enjoy a life of dignity and security.”

Dover Detainees Demand 'Proper Investigation'

2010-10-19T05:39:00.000+01:00

Detainees in Dover immigration detention centre have issued a statement demanding an official investigation into the death of fellow detainee Jimmy Mubenga, who died during his forcible deportation on a British Airways flight to Angola on 12 October.

Three G4S security guards are accused of having caused his death as witnesses told how the 46-year-old man was being "heavily restrained by security guards and had complained of breathing problems before he collapsed." [1]

The three men have since been questioned by police and bailed until December pending further inquires.

The statement, so far signed by over 25 of the detainees, also demanded that "all those responsible for this brutal crime at the UKBA, G4S and British Airways are held responsible and punished accordingly."

Detainees in other detention centres around the country are said to have been disturbed by the news and many said they fear that the same might happen to them when they are "deported in the caring hands of G4S." According to campaigners, detainees in various detention centres started to organise mass protests but these soon died out as many feared "management's retaliation."

This is not the first time that news of the use of excessive force by private security guards during deportation operations have surfaced. In 2008, a report by Birnberg Peirce & Partners, Medical Justice and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns documented "an alarming number of injuries" sustained by asylum seekers at the hands of private security guards contracted by the Home Office during their detention and forcible deportation. [2] An independent report by Baroness Nuala O'Loan, the former Northern Ireland police ombudsman, found in March that security contractors involved in deportations had "failed to properly manage the use of violent restraint techniques by their staff." More recently, research by the Institute of Race Relations revealed that at least 14 people have died since 1991 during forced deportations from various European countries, including the UK. [3]

One of the Dover detainees, who preferred to keep anonymous, said: "This is not the first time this happens and we know what happens with this kind of 'investigations' promised every time by the Home Office. We want a proper, independent investigation that holds all those responsible for Jimmy murder to account, not just the three security guards."

-ends-

For further information, please contact stopdeportation[at-]riseup.net

Notes for editors:

[1] See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/oct/14/security-guards-accused-jimmy-mubenga-death

[2] See: http://www.medicaljustice.org.uk/content/view/411/88/

[3] http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/october/ha000016.html

Xenophobic Gloatting

2010-10-10T15:02:00.002+01:00

'Ban On Asylum Seekers Taking Council Homes' - another typical xenophobic and untruthful headline from that well-known racist rag the Daily Excress. Birmingham City Council have not banned asylum seekers from council housing, they have said they will not regrettably renew its contact with the Borders Agency to house asylum seekers when it is due for renewal in June next year. Not exactly the same thing is it? That's not to say the Daily Torygraph with 'Birmingham stops accepting asylum seekers' or the Daily Flail with its gleeful 'Asylum seekers last in the housing queue: Britain's biggest council decides to put its locals first' are that accurate either.

Brussels No Border Camp Repression

2010-10-10T13:13:00.005+01:00

The Brussels No Border Camp, which took place from 25 September to 3 October, was subject to a high level of police repression with the sort of 'preventative' arbitrary mass arrests aimed at incapacitating demonstrators; routine violence and brutalisation, which often ended in hospitalisation; threats of sexual violence and other humiliations in custody; the confiscation of threatening items such as banners and memory cards from cameras; as well as the theft of personal property, cash, passports and ID.

Statewatch has posted an informative piece on the policing issues and there are a number of postings of the experiences of individuals on the net such as Marianne Maeckelbergh. However, numerous actions and event manages to proceed (a list of which can be accessed at Indymedia Linksunten) and the police did not have it all their own way as witnessed by three activists disrupted a police recruitment event at the Commensurate Ixelles in Brussels. During question and answer session at the event the activists, one of whom had spent 24 hours in custody earlier on in the week, challenged the behaviour of the police. They were eventually dragged outside and spent much of the rest of the day under arrest.

Calais Audio Piece

2010-10-10T13:08:00.004+01:00

There is a short audio piece currently available from Deutsche Welle on the situation in Calais, which includes an interview with a Calais Migrant Solidarity activist.

Australia - Hunger Strike Ends/Afghan Asylum Processing Restarts

2010-09-30T15:46:00.002+01:00

The sixteen Kurdish and Iranian men who have been on hunger strike for the past two weeks in the Villawood detention centre ended their protest last night and began taking on board food and water. The end of the hunger strike was marked by a demonstration outside the Department of Immigration in Sydney which were also called to protest the two rooftop occupations last week.

In other Australian news, the Gillard government had ended its six-month-long moratorium on the processing of Afghan asylum claims, signalling the likelihood of renewed efforts to begin deporting refused Afghan asylum seekers and help ease the overcrowding crisis in the Australian detention estate.

The Persecution Of Roma - Info Night

2010-09-27T09:49:00.002+01:00

On Thursday the High Court reversed an earlier decision preventing Basildon Council from evicting the Dale Farm community and the council are likely to go ahead with what will be the UK's largest forced mass eviction in peacetime in the next 4-5 weeks.
We urgently need to mobilise resistance/support London No Borders have organised a meeting for tomorrow about this as well as what's happening in Europe!

THE PERSECUTION OF ROMA - INFO NIGHT

TUESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 7pm AT LARC, 62 Fieldgate Road, Whitechapel

In the last few weeks we have seen a terrifying attack on the Roma in France . Led by President Sarkozy himself, the French State has declared war on the Roma population, both recent arrivals from Eastern Europe and Roma who have lived in France for generations. There have been highly publicised eviction raids on Roma and Gypsy settlements with mass deportations to Eastern European countries. The language used by the French Sate is the same as that of Vichy when they rounded up Jews for the Concentration camps. This has polarised French opinion and thousands came out to demonstrate in solidarity with the Roma throughout France.

What is happening in France is the latest act in a recent round of attacks by Governments, mobs, fascists or all three in may countries across Europe . Roma people have been killed in Eastern Europe, driven out of their homes in Italy and Ireland in recent months. Here in Britain we are seeing the same things developing. Roma from Eastern Europe are targeted in the gutter press, local politicians often from the mainstream parties and fascists. And the authorities are stepping up their attacks on Gypsies and Travellers. The State is preparing to evict the largest site in the country - Dale Farm - and they have just brutally evicted Hovefields nearby.

Please come along to the info night. We have invited Roma organisations, we have speakers involved in local struggles here and we are hoping for a speaker from France also.

London No Borders: http://london.noborders.org.uk
No One is Illegal (London contact): contact@caic.org.uk