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.”
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Dover Detainees Demand 'Proper Investigation'
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
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
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Xenophobic Gloatting
'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
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.
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
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.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Australia - Hunger Strike Ends/Afghan Asylum Processing Restarts
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.
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.
Monday, 27 September 2010
The Persecution Of Roma - Info Night
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
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
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