How many activists does it take to shut down the UK head offices of a multinational corporation? On 30th November it was done with just four, when activists visited the national head offices of GEO, the company which manages Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire.
Despite the poor publicity (the demo was not announced on any websites) the company had clearly heard that a noise demo was planned outside their Reading offices. The company had hired private security who informed protesters that GEO?s workers had been told not to come in for the day. Only the boss was in. Result! The campaign against GEO is only in its early stages, and they can now look forward to a large noise demo planned for February!
Traditional African Vegan Food will be provided by the Women’s Group of the Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum, on Friday 7th December, from 7pm (until 8pm) at the Sumac Centre, Forest Fields. Come and try it!
As reported on BBC East Midlands Today television news earlier this month (see video clip), frustrated asylum seekers along with the local charity, Refugee Action, have exposed an example of how a housing association “Refugee Support” is taking vast amounts of public money whilst providing worse than ‘sub-standard’ accommodation through private landlords.
Refugee Support is one of the Metropolitan Support Trust’s (MST) refugee ‘services’ that provides housing for many asylum seekers in Britain. MST in turn is part of the of the vast Metropolitan Housing Partnership. According to the Refugee support website, “MST was created in April 2007 from four organizations (Refugee Housing Association, StepForward, Threshold Support and Walbrook Support) coming together to provide a wide range of specialist services to vulnerable people.”
Well, this news report shows not only how some of these ‘vulnerable people’ spoken of by MST were forced to shame them by getting Refugee Action and the local BBC involved to make public just what a terrible state their house was in, but also how one of them was threatened with being made homeless for complaining when offered it. The ceiling was leaking and falling in and the heating did not work.
Typically, the BBC also concentrates on ‘cost to the taxpayer’, although at least they remember to say that government policy won’t let asylum seekers work, so their housing has to be provided by the state. The report also explains that this is not an isolated case, mentioning other complaints in Leicester (with 12 people sharing one shower). So next time someone goes on how asylum seekers are costing the taxpayer, remind them that it’s rip-off merchants like Metropolitan, and the private landlords they deal with, that are taking the piss here.
Come to a meeting on Tuesday Nov 27th 7pm at Transport House
128 Theobald’s Road
Holborn
London WC1X 8TN
Background:
In November 2006 detainees at Harmondsworth immigration detention centre (close to Heathrow airport) protested against conditions inside the centre and their treatment by the guards. The centre was damaged and the detainees were moved to other detention centres and prisons. Three detainees were charged with criminal damage and a further detainee was charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
The trial of these “Harmondsworth 4” is due to start in January and we are inviting people to a public meeting to discuss how we can support them before, during and after the trial. In previous years there have been defence campaigns following similar incidences at Campsfield (Kidlington, Oxfordshire) and Yarl’s Wood (Clapham, Bedfordshire).
Asylum seekers, refugees, trade unionists and supporters from all over the North marched from the Home Office in Sheffield to Lindholme Detention centre near Doncaster between 26-28th October. The marchers were demanding “The right to work for asylum seekers” and stating that “Seeking asylum is not a crime.” They finished at Lindholme immigration removals centre, the nearest such centre to Nottinghamshire, where asylum seekers are often held without having committed any criminal offence. The demonstration there on Sunday 28th was joined by supporters from Nottingham.
A rally was held at the fence of Lindholme and the marchers could hear detainees inside chanting in response to them. A candlelit vigil for those who’d died in detention centres was held and speakers from many countries, including the Congo, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Iran, Iraq and South Africa spoke. The demonstration is the latest in a series of protests at Lindholme making the demand to “Shut Down Lindholme!” Continue reading Dignity not detention – report from march to Lindholme prison in October→
No Borders Nottingham presents an evening to discuss the idea of a world without borders and how we might get there. We hope to make you angry & inspired! We’ll be showing an amazing video about tearing down fences at detention centres around the world. We’ll also give a brief report-back from the recent transnational No Borders camp near Gatwick, which opposed the building of a new detention centre there. You can find out about local campaigns, including against our nearest detention centre, Lindholme, and also The Friends of Amdani Juma, which is opposing the Home Office’s vindictive attempts to deport a local activist. And there’ll be great vegan food provided by the Women’s Group of the Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum and the Sumac bar will be open too.
FATMA NAVRUZ MUST STAY!
Ms Navruz is a 54 year old woman who is suffering from considerable problems of ill health. She has no less than three different appointments scheduled for this week at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham – one for an endoscopy, another in the department of Thoracic medicine, and another with her psychiatrist. She has further appointments pending because she is suffering severe pain requiring treatment for pain relief and physiotherapy. Ms Navruz’s consultant states that she is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression, which they say is in keeping with her accounts of torture, rape and imprisonment in her country. She is also suffering from psychosis. The fact that Ms Navruz has not been able to prove torture and rape at the hands of the Turkish authorities for her political actions in support of working people in Turkey and the Kurds in particular is not a surprise to anyone who has worked with survivors of both torture and rape – two of the most heinous and hidden acts of terror to the individual. Fatma is due to be deported to Turkey Details of flight:
Flight on Turkish Airways, Flight Number: TK1982
Departure Date: Tuesday 23rd October 2007 06.55 a.m.
Flying from Heathrow Airport ,Terminal 3
Recommended arrival time at Heathrow: 4.30 a.m. Boarding 45 minutes before flight
Recommended vaccinations for travellers to Turkey : Polio and Typhoid ( neither of which Fatma has been given)
************************************************************************** Please fax the following using the attached letters or in your own words.
Jacqui Smith Fax: 020 7035 3262
Turkish Airlines Fax numbers: Head Office:( UK ) 0207-976 17 38/33
Terminal 3 Turkish Airlines at Heathrow/Fax: ) 0208-759 58 14
UK address of Head Office: 125 Pall Mall, SW1Y 5EA, LONDON
UK office address at Heathrow Airport: Heathrow Airport Office Block Room 226 Hounslow Middlesex TW6 1RW
Turkish Airlines email: info-uk@thy.com LONTZTK E-Mail: info-uk@thy.com
customer concerns and opinions email address: customer@thy.com
Heathrow Airport ( Heathrows own terminal fax number) terminal 3 zone: fax number +44-178-4421726
UN officials warned here Tuesday that fighting between rebels and army troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had displaced up to 500,000 people and left many in an “appalling” situation. The warning came as heavy fighting between forces loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda and the army continued in the Nord-Kivu region Tuesday, the day after the rebels launched an “active offensive” against army troops. A spokesman for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the provincial capital Goma told AFP Tuesday that it had recorded 371,000 people as internally displaced in the region since December 2006. Continue reading UN warns of thousands of victims of DR Congo fighting→
A support group has been launched by the Friends of Amdani Juma to support his appeal against a Home Office ruling to terminate his right to remain. Amdani came to the UK in March 2003 from Burundi and applied for asylum. Within a month he was given Humanitarian Leave to Remain because of his experience as a torture survivor and political dissident, having escaped death on more than one occasion because of ethnic conflict and as a result of his involvement with the Democratic Front of Burundi. The DFB aims to disarm the Burundian army as a means to peace in opposition to the military government. Like most of its leading activists, Amdani has been forced into exile in recent years. Many of his family & friends have faced torture and been murdered. Please download and distribute the attached petition and read on to find out more about the case……
[attachment=6] Continue reading Support Amdani Juma’s right to remain in the UK→
After sustained pressure by anti-deportation campaigners, one of the airline carriers XL Airways has announced its pull out from further deportation flights. XL was identified for its carrying out of a deportation from UK to the Democratic Republic of Congo in February 2007. It was later subject to a direct action during the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow when it seemed likely that XL would be the carrier for a further deportation to DR Congo in August. This action was followed by demonstrations across Britain by the Congolese community and its supporters. XL Airways was at pains to convince opponents it would not be the carrier for the latter deportation (which was in any case halted in the courts), pending a Country Guidance Tribunal for DR Congo. Now it has been forced to announce its pull out altogether.
For freedom of movement, Against nationhood and prevention of migration by nation states, Welcoming asylum seekers and migrant workers, Against capitalist exploitation
