A YouGov poll, whose results arrived yesterday. Confounding many assumptions about the British public, 54% OF THOSE INTERVIEWED AGREED with the statement: People should be free to live and work wherever they wish, and enjoy the same rights as all other residents. No one is illegal.
DEMO AT SERCO OFFICES, 18-22 HAND COURT, HOLBORN, LONDON WC1V 6JF.
FRIDAY 19th FEBRUARY, 2.30pm
Over 50 women have been on hunger strike at Yarls Wood Immigration
Prison near Bedford since Friday 5th February, demanding their
immediate release from indefinite detention.
More news is emerging of just how dehumanising and brutal have been the effects of the immigration raids at SOAS organised by external contractor ISS shortly after the cleaners won union recognition and pay rises to the level of the London living wage.
One of the UNISON members picked up, who was traumatised by the clandestine nature of the raid and the appearance of around 40 officers in full body armour, arrived back in Bogota, 48 hours after the raid, wearing the same clothes she was arrested in and with 75pence in her pocket. Others were deported or are detained at Yarl’s Wood.
To mark the New Year, please view and circulate this short video story of the inspiring ongoing struggle of the 5 Colombian cleaners sacked by Amey PLC at the National Physical Laboratory (Teddington, London) for having distributed a leaflet criticising the company. The video can be watched on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7W4-RBhKc and more information can be found on the Campaign against Immigration Controls website: http://caic.org.uk/amey
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.
Invitation to a Radical History Discussion – open meeting: Resistance in the UK’s Detention Centres in the Last Decade Date & Time: Tuesday 24 June 2008, 7 pm. Venue: T&G, Transport House, 128 Theobald’s Road, London, WC1X 8TN Map.
Also in London on Monday 16th June, details on http://www.outrageousdirective.org/ Demonstrate at 12 noon outside the London office of the European Commission at 8 Storey’s Gate, SW1P 3AT [Map] against the “Return Directive” to be voted on by the European Parliament on 17th or 18th June 2008 which will allow EU member states to: * Detain non-EU migrants for up to 18 months * Detain and deport migrants including vulnerable people, unaccompanied minors (under 18 years of age) and pregnant women * Expel unaccompanied minors and other migrants to a country where they have neither family nor legal support * Ban an expelled migrant from re-entering any part of the EU for up to 5 years (although UK is already looking at making this 10 for some deportees, see: http://www.ncadc.org.uk/Newszine95/HC321.html ).
Peter Gichura is a disabled asylum seeker under threat of deportation. He was mistreated in Harmondsworth and is bringing a case against the centre. Unsurprisingly, he Home Office is keen to deport him, and fast. At 11.30am, Monday 21 May, Central London County Court, 13-14 Park Crescent W1 (Great Portland Street tube) the judge will rule whether his disability discrimination case can go ahead. On Wednesday 23 May at High Court of Justice,
Strand WC2 (Holborn or Charing Cross tube) his legal team will oppose his deportation. Actions in solidarity are planned…. Continue reading Disabled asylum seeker under threat of deportation→
NO BORDERS BENEFIT March 1st, Rampart Social Centre
Celebrate the struggle for social spaces and for freedom of movement with another NoBorders benefit party at March 1st, refreshments, films, info stall, and – of course – music, featuring DJ Shorty, xt.rats’s & more
15 -17 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA , near Whitechapel, off Commercial Rd.
Details and map from London No Borders: http://noborderslondon.blogspot.com/
CONFERENCE AGAINST IMMIGRATION CONTROL, 29th March 2008, SCHOOL FOR AFRICAN AND ORIENTAL STUDIES
GOWER STREET, LONDON WC1. Registration from 10.30am. Read more about the conference at http://29thmarch.org.uk Continue reading Two events in London in March 2008→
For freedom of movement, Against nationhood and prevention of migration by nation states, Welcoming asylum seekers and migrant workers, Against capitalist exploitation
