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FULL CIRCLE – from weapons to wars to refugees – Nottingham demo Sat 29th Nov

FULL CIRCLE - from weapons to wars to refugees - Nottingham demo Sat 29th Nov

FULL CIRCLE - from weapons to wars to refugees - Nottingham demo Sat 29th NovFULL CIRCLE - from weapons to wars to refugees - Nottingham demo Sat 29th NovShut Down H&K and No Borders Nottingham will be holding a demonstration to highlight the link between the arms trade and refugees. According to the UN Refugee Agency, ?armed conflict is now the driving force behind most refugee flows,? and the most devastating weapons are small arms such as rifles and machine guns. [Click on the world to see the familiar cycle].

FULL CIRCLE – from weapons to wars to refugees
JOIN THE DEMONSTRATION in Old Market Square, Nottingham on Saturday 29th November 2008, starts 12:30pm

Nottingham is home to one of the world?s largest small arms producers ? Heckler & Koch. The weapons produced by H&K and other G8 arms companies fuel conflicts in the Global South, forcing millions of people to flee their homes. Some of those refugees end up seeking asylum in Nottingham, where they face a struggle to avoid being deported.

Come and join us on Saturday November 29th at 12:30 on Old Market Square as we call for an end to exporting guns and deporting people. We will be holding a die-in to represent the consequences of H&K?s trade, and the horrors from which refugees have fled. Bring drums to make a joyful sound. Shut Down Heckler & Koch! Freedom of movement and the right to remain for all! No guns, no borders!!

Follow Notts Indymedia link to more demo promotion materials, and also for a full report and pictures.
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London solidarity demo for migrants in Calais – French Tourist Office – Fri 14th Nov

In the last few weeks there has been an increasingly brutal repression of migrants in Calais and the surrounding areas including armed riot squad officers smashing a camp that was home to 350 Eritreans, and detaining many. Then on 6th November police conducted a manhunt of Afghans in the area in preparation for a charter flight to Kabul being organised jointly by French and British authorities. Journalists and activists on the scene were supressed and during a solidarity demo and on the following evening a prominent local activist was arrested.

In response to these outrages, London No Borders has called a solidarity demo at the French Tourist Board in High Holborn, London, Friday 14th November, from 1pm-2pm. Click ‘Read more’ for full story and demo details.
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Compulsory ID cards for some non-EU residents – opposition planned to begin 25th Nov

From 25 November 2008, the government will start issuing compulsory identity cards to non-EU foreign nationals who apply for an extension of their stay in the United Kingdom as students or as the husbands, wives or partners of permanent residents. Six UK Border Agency centres have been setup to take fingerprints and photographs (Croydon, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Glasgow).

Many local No Borders groups are planning to oppose the beginning of ‘ID cards for foreigners’ noting that not all centres will be up and running immediately due to delays (as a result of which affected students are already being advised not to plan travels abroad!). It is clear that border control and identity cards are fully intertwined and must be opposed as one thing.

Update: a report on anti-ID actions that took place can now be found here.
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Small World Cinema @ Sumac Centre :: Wednesday 12th November 7pm

Small World Cinema @ Sumac Centre :: Wednesday 12th November 7pmThe next Small World Cinema at the Sumac Centre is on the 12th November, starting 7pm. This month the films are from Palestine / Lebanon including films from A-films, an autonomous anarchist film collective who do video workshops and short film production: http://a-films.blogspot.com

Available for donation, there will also be Middle Eastern vegan food cooked by asylum seekers from Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum. Click on poster to get full size image of event publicity.
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Shut Down the Camp! Luk Lejren! Activists break the fence at Sandholm immigration prison in Denmark & spark national debate

Shut Down the Camp! Luk Lejren! Activists break the fence at Sandholm immigration prison in Denmark & spark national debateEdited from a report by activists who took part in the Shut Down the Camp! (Luk Lejren!) action on 25th October:

“2-3000 participants went from Allerød train station, 30 km away from Copenhagen, to the biggest refugee camp in Denmark, Sandholm, to cut down the fence around the place. Before the day, local nazis and anti-semitic groups cut one main train-cable to prevent us from arriving in time, the delay just scaled the whole thing up and more people came running! In front of the camp several hundreds of people tried to reach the fence to tear it down, the cops responded with LOTS of tear gas – both against the teams of mobile fencecutters and the standing demo also attended by children and elderly people – but the fence was torn down at several spots, game over.”

Following the action, activists have been busy pushing the agenda in the national media. The action was covered at every level, and has resulted in several different discussions:

1) Some in the parliamentary opposition are suggesting an end to the existing refugee camps and the indefinite detention that asylum seekers are subjected to.

2) The cops have been forced to explain their brutal use of teargas & pepperspray against the demonstration.

3) A central goal of the action was to pull the issue out of the closed system of NGO’s and politicians, to amplify the conflict at every level. Activists debated against politicians in different live-shows, called them racists etc., and exposed the role of the Red Cross that run all the refugee camps in Denmark.

Activists have daily contact with the asylum seekers inside both Sandholm and other Danish camps. Asylum seekers were satisfied with the action, and everyone is planning the next move together, with more people joining in every day.

Introduction to the action in English: http://luklejren.dk/spip.php?article14
Watch video of demos and direct action on Shut Down the Camp/Luk Lejren Danish website: http://luklejren.dk
Hour by hour acccunt of the action and link to pictures: http://luklejren.smartlog.dk/
Find some more pictures here on Belgian website: http://www.cemab.be/news/2008/10/5966.php
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Hypocrisy over war in DR Congo

In a recent article in the Independent newspaper, the seriousness of conflicts in and around DR Congo could not be plainer.

But, as pointed out in this article by Get Loud: War Child Canada, the press often fail to point out the roots of the warfare due to colonial and corporate grabbing of land and resources that has been going on for centuries. Also it’s a fact that the world’s Top 5 arms producers are the members of the UN Security Council: US, Russia, France, UK & Germany. It’s these Top 5 and China that have ensured Africa is awash with weapons and continue to sell arms. For example throughout the Cold War (1950-1989), the US delivered over $1.5 billion worth of weaponry to Africa. Many of the top US arms clients ? Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, and Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo or DRC) ? have turned out to be the worst in terms of violence.

It’s therefore more than sickening to see the leading politicians of Britain and France saying something must be done to help, which usually involves more guns and soldiers but no real change to poverty, and especially anything that would affect business as usual for corporations. At the same time our governments are making it harder for refugees to escape to Europe by their borders and identity policies and attitude to non-EU born people in general. No Borders Nottingham has and will continue to support Congolese asylum seekers who wish to stay in Britain whatever the government says about the safety or otherwise of DR Congo. It’s also sickening to know that while Heckler & Koch, continue to distribute arms from their offices & depot right here in Lenton, their MP5 sub-machine gun and P7 semi-automatic pistol are being used in DR Congo. Also their older G3 assault rifle is the weapon of choice of the Janjaweed in Darfur/Sudan and were also used in the 2008 post-election massacres in Kenya. H&K is the world?s second-largest manufacturer of handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns and grenade launchers.
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Britain has ‘exported unemployment’

Chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips’ speech at the Confederation of British Industry yesterday has resulted in a lot of media attention about the disproportionate effect of economic crisis on the white working class who are after all a majority in UK. And it’s quite right that the right-wing may use simple statistics to scapegoat migrants workers as poverty and employment strikes.

Less well reported (but actually to be found in the Telegraph today) is the prediction that up to one million immigrant workers might leave UK. So Britain is effectively “exporting unemployment” that would otherwise be 3 million instead of 2 million.

Not only do we find that 100,000’s of EU nationals in the UK have already left due to losing jobs or deciding it’s not worth staying anymore, but even though many are eligible to claim benefits including Job Seekers’ Allowance, government figures show there have been only 4,647 successful JSA applications from eastern Europeans since 2004. So any idea of migrants scrounging of the state is nonsense. If any finger is to be pointed, it’s at the capitalist system that cares little about working people whereever they are from, as long as we work and don’t cause trouble.

See also: “Migrants come here for an easy ride? – don?t make us laugh!
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No Borders & Small World Kitchen @ Sumac on Halloween night – 31st October at 7pm

No Borders & Small World Kitchen @ Sumac on Halloween night - 31st October at 7pmNo Borders / Small World Kitchen will hold the now regular event at the Sumac Centre in Forest Fields, with discussion on a topic relevant to migration or asylum seeker issues, followed by traditional African vegan food provided by the Women’s Group of the Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum. Starts 7pm. The discussion will be about the relationship of small arms (and the not so small arms) trade to the reasons why so many people are forced to relocate or flee from violence, and what can be done about it here in Nottingham. There will also be another Small World Cinema event on Wednesday 12th November.
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Manchester No Borders ‘pie’ Phil Woolas after population control remarks

Manchester No Borders 'pie' Phil Woolas after population control remarksCustard pie in the face for Phil Woolas in Manchester… Immigration minister Phil Woolas was pied during a debate at the University of Manchester on 24th October following his remarks in the national press for more stringent population controls. The immigration minister Phil Woolas was first asked for his passport, then given an ‘eco-nationalist award’ and finally had a pie thrown in his face by a group from Manchester No Borders.
Manchester NB also denounced his attempts to scapegoat immigrants for the ongoing economic and ecological crises. Read the full report and see a video on the Manchester No Borders website:
When it’s clearer than ever that the rich and powerful are responsible, by their greed, for economic and environmental woes, blame must be put where it’s due. The ruling class has always used divide and rule to protect its position in society and all attempts to shift the blame must be exposed and opposed. Historically, both capitalism and the nation state have their origins in power and money grabbing ventures by a small minority (who ironically may also have immigrant origins like William the Conqueror and the Royal Family) who just love it when ordinary people turn on ourselves instead of recognising them as the true causes of poverty.
Read more for a leaflet from Manchester No Borders. Follow this link for an analysis of the bogus ‘overpopulation’ argument.
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Unwanted refugee bumped from pillar to post by nation states

Unwanted refugee bumped from pillar to post by nation statesSince Jane Mary Mutetsi, who was born in Rwanda but had found sanctuary in Britain after growing up in Uganda, was forcibly removed from Nottingham to Uganda by this government on 16th October. Since returning she has not left the house. She has got no money. She has got no work. She is ill. She spent the first two days at one house, the next at another. How can it be different? After a lifetime in Uganda, taken there by her parents with the rest of the family when just a child, all of her own children born in Uganda, Jane Mary must attend an Immigration interview next Tuesday. The Ugandan authorities don’t understand why she has been returned to Uganda and not Rwanda. At the moment they are saying that she should go to Rwanda. If she wants to apply to enter Uganda, she should do so from Rwanda. It isn’t a surprise, it’s just so clear that the Home Office couldn’t care less where people are returned to as long as they bring the numbers down here.
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