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With Brexit getting done and with ongoing migration from Syria and nearby regions across Europe including the Channel crossings, there’s never been a better time to look at the activist and political aspects of No Borders. Natasha King wrote the book No Borders : The Politics of Immigration Control and Resistance in 2016 based on the work in her PhD from The University of Nottingham and experiences as an activist around the time when No Borders and Calais Migrant Solidarity was emerging as a major focus in the UK and Europe.

Nottingham Refugee Week is an act of welcome, a gesture of solidarity and a shared celebration with people who are refugees and asylum-seekers in Nottingham. It runs every year from 15th-21st June.

“The global situation has meant we’ve had to put our face-to-face plans for Refugee Week 2020 on hold for this year. But we’re just as excited to share some online events, activities and resources that we’ve put together to keep the spirit of Nottingham Refugee Week alive, so that we can continue to connect, create and imagine in these challenging times. Rest assured that we’ll be ready and rearing to go with the fantastic events we have planned for 2021, when we’ll be able to support refugee communities, educate people on the issues faced by refugees and asylum-seekers, and make our city a truly welcoming place.

In the mean time, why not download our Activity Pack and get creative; tune in for a podcast with award-winning author Christy Lefteri; roll out your yoga mat and stretch those worries away with Bahia Yoga; or join writer Eve Makis for a special online Life-Writing Session? Don’t forget to check out all our other resources too!

We’d love it If you’d share your creative work, and your thoughts about Refugee Week, on social media with us. You can email us at nottinghamrefugeeweek@gmail.com, post to Facebook, tagging @NottinghamRefugeeWeek, or post to Twitter, tagging @NottsRW.”

Please support the NNRF (via Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum) Community Café this Christmas, and help them to provide a hot meal and a place of warmth for refugees and asylum seekers.
Appeal closes on 18/01/2020 (but there will be other appeal and way to help NNRF so please set in touch).
https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/nnrfxmasappeal

This is just a quick note to say that refugee-friendly ExLibris (the masked booksellers) are hosting another two long weekends of second-hand book sale events in Gedling (Friday 26th to Monday 29th April & Friday 3rd to Monday 6th May, 2019). As it’s consistently so popular, this year they are encouraging booksale visitors to please indicate online which day(s) you are attending (although you can still just turn up). This will no doubt help to gauge how much tea and cake is needed!

Last year’s booksale took £2176, which was given to Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum Anti-destitution project and Hayward House palliative care NUH Charity.

Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum, based at the Sycamore Centre in St. Ann’s, offers advice, support and friendship to Nottingham’s refugees and asylum seekers.

There are lots of ways to help NNRF. Volunteering, working there or donations.
Volunteer opportunities and Job Vacancies are advertised on the NNRF website. Donate via the website: http://www.nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk/

Find NNRF on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nottsrefugeeforum/

Follow @NNRF1 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nnrf1

The Morton Hall Detainees Visitors Group (MHDVG) is an organisation set up in July 2011 in response to the opening of the new Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre (detention centre) in Swinderby, Lincolnshire earlier that year. The centre holds up to 392 people and is very isolated in its location. The site is a former women’s prison.

We support people detained at Morton Hall IRC by providing a link to the outside world. Immigration Detention is the deprivation of liberty and the administrative detention of people can impact on them mentally and
emotionally in many ways.

Visits from people who care, people that aren’t part of the system that keeps them locked up, can be invaluable for the emotional wellbeing of the people we visit. We aim to to reduce the isolation that is all too common in detention centres. As well as providing friendship and support we are able to signpost the people we support to other services.

The summer of 2015 has seen a massing of support for refugees in Europe. If even the typically hostile Daily Mail urges us to think of the lives lost in the Mediterranean, inflammatory and completely dehumanising remarks like those of Katie Hopkins, just seem like a distant memory – and the fear towards ‘the other’ that the media had for […]

Call-out for a meeting of groups and networks involved in migration struggles in the UK and beyond. Some of No Borders South Wales and former Bristol No Borders have been working together to restart No Borders groups in this part of the UK. We’d like to invite people from around the UK, and involved in […]

To remember all people who have died crossing the Mediterranean.
(source: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/groups/nottingham/soseurope-vigil-wed-22-april ).

This Wednesday 22 April, please join us at Brian Clough statue, Market Square, Nottingham, 5:30-6:30pm to remember all those dying as they try to cross the Mediterranean.

There’s been a two incidents in the news in the last few days, and up to 1,500 people are feared to have drowned this year alone.

Please come along if you can, and bring a white flower in remembrance.

More info on vigil: https://www.facebook.com/events/434913446682684/

More info on the situation from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-32376082

More info on Amnesty’s campaign: http://www.sos-europe-amnesty.eu/stop-people-from-suffering-and-dying-at-our-borders-actions/

Meeting of No Borders South Wales tonight (plus people from the ShareDYDD destitution network). Filed under: Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Close All Detention Centres, Destitution, Forced Deportation, Meetings Tagged: AntiRaids, Calais Migrant Solidarity, destitution, meeting

We’re going back to the Home Office in Cardiff, as the call for solidarity grows and Bristol demonstrations also continue. See https://detainedvoices.wordpress.com and http://rabble.org.uk for the latest news.Filed under: Close All Detention Centres, Picket Cardiff UKBA, Protest Tagged: #enddetention, 31-33 Newport Road, demonstration, Home Office

This week there has been a rebellion in the majority of the UK’s migration prisons. The wave of strikes initially broke out in Harmondsworth IRC in London – the largest of what are increasingly becoming concentration camps, with people held because of their ethnicity and many sent to their death. There have been strikes in […]

Movement for Justice have organised a demonstration outside the Home Office in Cardiff today for Maimuna Jawo and Josephine anad against the treatment of people who are in the UK after seeking refuge from the practise of FGM. Grant Maimuna Jawo Asylum Now! Grant Josephine Asylum Now! Women fighting to end FGM must be protected! The demonstration, at 31-33 […]

★ Ⓐ★☮★ Revolution Solution in partnership with The Hold Up and No Borders South Wales present: Hip Hop, Live Music and Spoken Word at The Red and Black Umbrella ★Ⓐ★☮★ Liberation is the motive and freedom of expression is welcomed completely, so come and express yourself on the microphone and on the dance floor. Live […]

UKIP are due to open a campaign office in Penarth this Saturday (29th). No Borders South Wales is working with South Wales Anarchists and others to hand out leaflets and counter their racist lies with a demonstration. Our leaflet busts some immigration myths that have been peddled by politicians, media moguls and others in an attempt to […]

HUMAN RIGHTS DAY MEETING
THE FIGHT TO END DETENTION AND STOP THE SCAPEGOATING OF IMMIGRANTS
SPEAKERS FROM MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE
WEDNESDAY 10th DECEMBER
7.30pm

at the International Community Centre
61b Mansfield Road, Nottingham NG1 3FN

Background and details about the meeting from the organisers

The Surround Harmondsworth demonstrations led by Movement for Justice have
become the focal point for a growing movement nationally to end detention and stop
the scapegoating of immigrants. At this meeting you will hear from ex-detainee’s and
Movement for Justice organisers about the struggle inside and outside of detention to
bring down a system that sees thousands of people locked up, people who have
committed no crime other than to seek freedom and safety for themselves and their
families. You will find out how you can get involved in this movement for freedom and
join others in Nottingham as we organise and mobilise for January’s demonstration.

Just a reminder about the website of Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum which also moved this year:
http://nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk/

http://nottsrefugeeforum.org.uk/were-on-the-move/

About:
Nottingham & Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum (NNRF) is an independent voluntary organisation and registered charity set up in 2000 to work with and for refugees and asylum seekers in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire offering practical advice, information, support and friendship and also campaigning on issues affecting them.

NNRF is run by a volunteer Management Committee, a third of whose members are refugees and asylum seekers. Its supporters include political, religious and students groups, trades unions and concerned individuals, as well as refugees and asylum seekers who have always been involved in the running of NNRF.

Our Mission:
To support Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Nottingham & Nottinghamshire to gain fair and just outcomes, rebuild their lives and integrate into society.

Our Vision:

A society where Asylum Seekers and Refugees are welcomed, receive just and compassionate treatment and support in rebuilding their lives.

We seek to achieve this by:

Providing a welcoming community centre.
Offering specialised advice & support services.
Providing programmes to develop confidence, skills and knowledge.
Campaigning for a just and generous response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers from government and the host community.
Advocating on behalf of individual Asylum Seekers and Refugees in cases of injustice and hardship.

Contact Address: NNRF, The Sycamore Centre, 31 Hungerhill Road, Nottingham, NG3 4NB.
Telephone: (0115) 9601230

Paul Collier’s summarises his book Exodus: How Migration is Changing Our World in his article ‘How to have a sensible conversation about migration’, New Statesman, 21 November, 2013. This is a belated response to it.

The use of the word ”sensible” in any article about immigration rings alarm bells these days. Sirens are further sounded as Collier follows it with a complaint that we haven’t been allowed to have a “serious discussion” about immigration since – wait for it… Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of blood speech” – which he later partially endorses.

Frankly, I can’t be bothered to look at all the “ten blocks”  -with which he elucidates his immigration policy in the NS article – so we shall have to make do with examining a couple that will show that his claim to authority is at best, over stated.

Collier is a serious political scientist who – he claims – is bravely confronting a social science taboo – talking “honestly”(Ding! Ding!) about immigration. Further, his “liberal” friends will be appalled at him for doing so – and to be fair he is probably risking a decline in dinner party invites in Hampstead. Whatsmore in a world where the chairman of Migration Watch gets a peerage he is really sticking his neck out.

Having set up this straw man of a open border consensus he starts building his argument.

In Block 3, Collier outlines one of the unwelcome truths about migrants is their propensity to “cluster” and “not be absorbed” into the “general population”.

The clustering tendencies according to Collier of (im)migrant diasporas – slows absorption. This is bad and is made worse both by larger (uncontrolled) migration – and further excacerabted by multicultural as opposed to assimilative policy (Yes, this article is quite like playing racist-immigration-discourse bingo!). Absorption or assimilation seem to be similar, though one also seems to actas  the cause of the other.

By “absorbing” I take Collier to mean to be evenly distributed socially, economically and geographically evenly across and into the receiving state – not to be a a noticeable blip in any statistical analysis of the Census. Perhaps they are two different aspects of the same thing – with assimilation being the socio-cultural aspect. In any case, Assimilation/Absorption normally means conforming to the dominant (if not majority) culture.

For instance, within the US context this means Anglo-Saxon culture despite many other major populations including those of First Nation and African origin. Top-down assimilation has negative consequences, mainly as one culture is promoted at the cost of less dominant ones. However, I would argue that a more egalitarian assimilative process is possible, but I won’t argue for it here.

To delve slightly deeper into Collier’s mind set, I think we need to look carefully at the language that he deploys. An apposite example is provided within his full length book – Exodus: How Migration is Changing our World. It seems the more culturally different the migrant community are from their hosts, the more problematic their presence within the host society. They bring with them undesirable qualities from their countries/cultures:

“Uncomfortable as it may be . . . migrants bring their culture with them..For example…unsurprisingly, Nigerian immigrants to other societies tend to be untrusting and opportunistic.”1

This quote is telling in a number of ways. It reveals one of Collier’s arguments to be based on questionable assumptions about national character – though to be sure he’s careful to make it societal not racial. They bring not their inferior genes but their inferior governance with them. Collier previous works tells us how it’s the global souths’ corruption that is the source of its economic woes. It also assumes a rather rose tinted view of the population of the receiving country; If only we didn’t leave our borders open, we could still leave our doors unlocked without concern.

There is a further implicit assumption is seemingly being made about the “indigenous” population of receiving countries: That we are all happily assimilated into a otherwise contented general population; there are no other alienated groups within these societies. Ever widening gaps in income levels (for instance in the UK) suggests something rather different2.

Collier goes on to detail how migrants damage their hosts well being:

“Yet diversity also potentially jeopardises co-operation and generosity. Co-operation rests on co-ordination games that support both the provision of public goods and myriad socially enforced conventions. Generosity rests on a widespread sense of mutual regard that supports welfare systems. Both public goods and welfare systems benefit the indigenous poor, which means they are the group most at risk of loss.”

Collier seems to conflate two separate issues here.

1) True, there is some social science research – which suggests that “trust” or “solidarity” is lower in areas of higher diversity (not higher immigration) areas. Though the study by Robert Puttnam’s that Collier bases this assertion on finds that diversity is good for us in the long run and “…an extraordinary achievement of human civilization is our ability to redraw social lines in ways that transcend ancestry.”3 Further, Collier doesn’t acknowledge the results of other studies which don’t support Puttnam’s thesis linking diversity and lack of social capital. For instance, Gesthuizen et al (2004) suggest there is a positive relationship between social capital and diversity within the European context.4

2) Welfare cuts or rationing are carried out by governments not newly arrived migrants. Myths of “benefit tourism” are just that – myths used to justify reduction and withdrawal of social security and are part of a larger narrative which paints most recipients (not just migrants) of welfare as undeserving5.

As for the weakening of social solidarity due to the influx of migrants, its noticeable in articles of this kind that internal migration of rich people into previously economically deprived areas (Gentrification) are not considered despite substantial evidence of it’s impact on homelessness, and displacement.6

Paul Collier’s blocks are not a firm foundation for future migration policy, but rather a crumbing edifice which merely reflect the the unworkable and injust status quo.

 

1Quoted in “Let the People Go -The problem with strict migration controls”. http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140354/michael-clemens-and-justin-sandefur/let-the-people-go viewed 11/10.14

2http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/10/uk-super-rich-richer-as-majority-squeezed

3E Pluribus Unum : Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture

Robert D. Putnam* pp161

4 Ethnic Diversity and Social Capital in Europe: Tests of Putnam’s Thesis in European Countries

Maurice Gesthuizen,* Tom van der Meer & Peer Scheepers

5The Dangerous Politics of Immigration Control, Chapter

6: Rowland Atkinson (2004) The evidence on the impact of gentrification: new lessons for the urban renaissance?, International Journal of Housing Policy, 4:1, 107-131

The No Borders South Wales noise demo was reported on Indymedia: You can read the full report here. We plan to hold another demonstration soon. Come to our next meeting on Tuesday 21st October at 8pm to find out more. Opposing borders for a free and equal world.Filed under: Comment

There are several interesting meetings coming up in Cardiff over the next few weeks: 1) Anti-Raids Network: 30th Sept, Red Sea Cafe on City Rd, 7pm Organising against immigration raids through community solidarity and practical action. 2) No Borders Introduction and Meeting: 6th Oct, Cathays Community Centre, 7pm A welcoming session to new people, explaining […]