To highlight the link between the arms trade and refugees, Shut Down Heckler & Koch and No Borders Nottingham held a demonstration on Saturday 29th November at 12:30 on Market Square in Nottingham called “FULL CIRCLE ? from weapons to wars to refugees”. Full report and photos can be found on Notts Indymedia.

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Countrywide protests in opposition to ID cards – By resisting the repression of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone!

December 1, 2008 admin

Tuesday November 25th was marked by countrywide action against the introduction of identity cards for some UK residents, namely people from outside Europe who are applying for or renewing visas for study or marriage. So-called ?ID cards for foreigners? are the first step in the Government?s plan to get everyone living in the UK fingerprinted and photographed, registered on a national database and tracked wherever we go. Protests were called by No Borders, Defy-ID and NO2ID. These protests, which are due to continue, highlight the connection between the ID Cards Act of 2006 and the UK Borders Act of 2007, the twin legislation that is putting the scheme in place. Note that Asylum seekers have already had biometric ID for several years, through the ARC card which began to be issued in 2002. Click Read more for full story. More links to local reports, pictures and videos.

Update: Monday 1st December: Yorkshire Activists blockade Sheffield Border Agency Centre (Bradford & Sheffield activists). Next, No Borders South Wales will be protesting outside the Border Agency again on Wednesday 10th December when the Cardiff office will start to register people for ID cards.
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Two Nottingham events: ‘Creating Harmony’ party @ The Square Centre (Sat 6th Dec) & Small World Cinema @ The Sumac Centre (Wed 10th Dec)

December 1, 2008 nobordersnottm

The Nottingham STAR (Student Action for Refugees) Group is holding a party Creating Harmony at The Square Centre, Alfred Street North, this Saturday 6th December, from 4pm to 11pm. The party will feature drums, dance, poetry and food. If coming please bring some food to share. All welcome.

Then, on Wednesday 10th December, the next Small World Cinema event will take place at The Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Forest Fields, Nottingham, starting at 7pm. The film night will be hosted by Adam and Ayman from NNRF’s Food Group and this month’s film will be about Darfur (Sudan). The film will be followed by a discussion on the current situation in Darfur.

Click on posters for full details.
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Sudanese cameraman new removal date set for Tues 2nd Dec – flight cancelled again but action still needed

November 27, 2008 admin

UPDATE Dec 2nd: GOOD NEWS! Mustafa was released from Campsfield House IRC yesterday and arrived back in Nottingham late last night. He was released with nowhere to stay, but his friends were waiting. His campaign and Mustafa send many, many big thank yous’ to all the people who have signed petitions, faxed letters, been out in the cold getting signatures and letters signed. He still needs the signatures so he asks that people continue to circulate the petition around their contacts.

UPDATE: Mustafa’s removal flight was cancelled but please sign the petition and continue to email and/or send faxes [attachment=20] to the Home Office as this may only be a temporary delay to his removal (Click on read more for full text of email).

Support the campaign to prevent the second attempt by the government to remove Mustafa Abdulrahim Mustafa, Sudanese cameraman, from the UK. Mustafa Abdulrahim Mustafa from Sudan is detained in Campsfield House IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Tuesday 2nd December 2008 on BMI flight BD 0997 from Heathrow Terminal 1, @ 16.00 to Khartoum. Please sign the petition, and forward the petition address to others:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MustafaM/petition.html
Click on read more for other things you can do.
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FULL CIRCLE – from weapons to wars to refugees – Nottingham demo Sat 29th Nov

November 14, 2008 admin

FULL CIRCLE - from weapons to wars to refugees - Nottingham demo Sat 29th Nov Shut 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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Compulsory ID cards for some non-EU residents – opposition planned to begin 25th Nov

November 12, 2008 admin

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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London solidarity demo for migrants in Calais – French Tourist Office – Fri 14th Nov

November 12, 2008 admin

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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Small World Cinema @ Sumac Centre :: Wednesday 12th November 7pm

November 5, 2008 nobordersnottm

The 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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Hypocrisy over war in DR Congo

November 3, 2008 admin

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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Shut Down the Camp! Luk Lejren! Activists break the fence at Sandholm immigration prison in Denmark & spark national debate

November 3, 2008 admin

Edited 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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For freedom of movement, Against nationhood and prevention of migration by nation states, Welcoming asylum seekers and migrant workers, Against capitalist exploitation