Monthly Archives: October 2011

All articles, Regional news and events

Morton Hall Noise Demo – repeat visit to Lincolnshire detention centre – 29/10/2011

On Saturday 29th October there will be a noise demo outside Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre in Lincolnshire. This follows two previous demos already held there over the summer http://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/1962

We want to continue to express our disgust and anger against the existence of yet another new detention centre. With news of detainees escaping and going on hunger strike in recent months, it seems more important than ever to communicate our solidarity with the struggle of those held inside. We’ll be bringing a sound system, pots and pans and other noise making materials, and it would be great if others can do the same.

We plan to meet at Nottingham train station at 10am to catch the train arriving at Swinderby at 11.10. We will have some funds to cover the cost of travel for people. The detention centre is 10 minutes walk from the station. If others are coming from elsewhere, we suggest meeting at the detention centre at 11.30. The address is Morton Hall IRC, Swinderby,
Lincolnshire, LN6 9PT. We encourage as many people to join us there with banners, placards and noise making materials.

Morton Hall detention centre was formally opened by immigration minister Damien Green on 1st June. Morton Hall was formerly a prison for female foreign national prisoners but has now been converted to an immigration removal centre for male detainees. It is run by HM Prison Service in collaboration with the UK Border Agency. Less than 30 miles from Nottingham it is the only detention centre in the East Midlands.

This demo is a chance for us to show solidarity with those imprisoned and to let them know that there are people out there who oppose the way that they are being treated by our inhuman and racist immigration controls.

There is also a visitors group that has been recently formed to offer support and friendship to those inside. For more info on this, contact mhvg [at] riseup.net

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Inspiring article about No Border Camp in Bulgaria

Some months ago Bulgarian anarchists and anti-racists began an ambitious plan to hold a No Borders Bulgaria event close to an immigration detention centre on the border of Bulgaria, Greece & Turkey – on the very edge of the European Union. The camp that took place 25-29 August 2011 was supported by people from Greece and elsewhere in the Balkans and from Western Europe, coming together to oppose a system that sees thousands of people imprisoned in detention centres.

A participant in the No Border camp wrote to Resistance, “The camp was GREAT!!!!!! I have rarely experienced such a solidarity, organizational cooperation and purposeful political work at the same place in the same time [including] discussions around the newly militarized Bulgarian-Turkish-Greek border region starting 4 days before the camp itself, the workshops in the camp, the communication with the village community where the camp took place, the plenaries….to the big demonstrations in front of the headquarters of the border police in Svilengrad, at the two borders and along and in front of the detention center in Lyubimetz! Keeping in mind the small dimension of activism in Bulgaria […] everything exceeded my expectation and even hopes!”

Whilst the media focuses on Europe’s economic woes, the militarisation of the EU’s borders has continued. During the battle for control of Libya over the summer, it is perhaps conveniently forgotten that the Italian state, through an agreement struck with the regime back in 2004, transported over 1,500 migrants and refugees to Libya who had previously been detained in Italy. Libyan immigration detention centres in Al Kufrah and Gharyan (close to Tripoli) and Sebha (in South West Libya) are paid for by the Italian state.

Meanwhile, many people trying to escape repression in Sub-Saharan and East Africa are now in extreme danger, and some have been deported back to these countries from Libya. Others have continued to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea in small boats. Thousands have died. This is not to mention the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who have fled during the conflict, now either trying to get back to their country of origin or seeking safety elsewhere. In Italy and Tunisia, refugees and asylum seekers have been confined in camps and transit centres for indefinite periods of time, their freedom of movement severely limited.

This makes the work of groups like No Borders Bulgaria all the more important. The EU’s member states are completely tied in with a system that treats people as a problem to be contained, even if this means paying a dictator to lock them up. Bulgarian and Greek anarchists have taken an important step in countering detention on the borders of Europe.

For more on No Borders Bulgaria, and the No Border camp, visit http://noborderbulgaria.org and http://noborderbulgaria.wordpress.com

Article originally published in Resistance, bulletin of the Anarchist Federation, issue 135, October 2011:
http://www.afed.org.uk/publications/resistance-bulletin/263-resistance-bulletin-issue-135-october-2011.html

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Hip-Hop Benefit Night for Morton Hall at The Sumac Centre, Nottingham – report

On Monday, Monday October 17th 2011 a Hip-Hop Benefit Night at The Sumac Centre Featuring … Test Their Logik, Louis Cypher and Martin the Livewire took place.

Details: http://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/2104

The benefit gig was to help support the Morton Hall Detainee Visitors Group.

Test Their Logik brought their empowering and inspirational hip-hop sounds all the way from Southern Ontario, Kanada AKA Turtle Island.

The Morton Hall detention centre was formally opened by immigration minister Damien Green on 1st June. Morton Hall was formerly a prison for female foreign national prisoners but has now been converted to an immigration removal centre for male detainees. It is run by HM Prison Service in collaboration with the UK Border Agency. Less than 30 miles from Nottingham it is the only detention centre in the East Midlands.

Demonstrations there are a chance to show solidarity with those imprisoned and to let them know that there are people out there who oppose the way that they are being treated by our inhuman and racist immigration controls.

Previous article about demonstration in July 2011:
http://www.nobordersnottingham.org.uk/regional-news-and-events/morton-hall-noise-demo-this-saturday/