Feed aggregator

On  Tuesday 12th October on BA flight 77 the policies of the UK and the Europe Union claimed another life. Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan with a family in the UK, was killed on a flight from Heathrow .  Whilst the Home Office initially claimed that Jimmy ‘fell ill’ and ‘passed away’ in hospital, eye-witnesses tell [...]

Detainees at the immigration prison, Campsfield, are on hunger strike ‘indefinitely’, protesting the appalling situation in Britain’s expanding detention ‘estate’.  Assault by guards, racist abuse, completely inadequate facilities, little or no access to legal process, and indefinite detention (up to 3 years in some cases) without trial or charge, are all common features of the ever-expanding network of immigration prisons and ‘holding centres’ in the UK.

In February this year a 3-week hunger strike by women in Yarl’s Wood was met with brutal force and harsh reprisals.  The next month an official report concluded that private security guards had been abusing detainees, as reported by the Independent.

Below is a statement from those on hunger strike at Campsfield.

147 detainees are staging a protest by refusing meals at Campsfield immigration removal centre. The protest erupted as a result of the treatment of detainees in detention centres especially for people who have been detained for a long period of time. We continue to refuse meals indefinitely for our voices to be heard.

Some of us detainees have been detained for over 3 years with no prospect of removal or any evidence of future release. There is no justification whatsoever for detaining us for such period of time. Our lives incidentally have been stalled without any hope of living a life, having a family or any future. More often than not, we are been detained even when our family (wife and children) are resident in the United Kingdom, depriving us of having a life with our family. We the detainees are also humans.

In certain cases, some of us are tortured and even face death or mental distress. On 14 April 2010, a detainee of Kenya national Eliud Nyenze died at Oakington IRC due to negligence. Mr. Nyenze, age 40, had a heart attack, requested for painkillers, repeatedly and kept crawling around the floor in pain before he died.

Detainees are currently undergoing mental stress with some of us developing mental problems on a monthly basis. We are issued removal directions without given enough time for an appeal.

It has become a habit by the UK Border Agency to use force in enforcing removal of detainees who have a pending Judicial Review without giving appropriate time or consideration to our case and forcing our removal before our cases are concluded. In some situations, we are not given enough time to appeal against the decision which breaches our rights under Article 6 of the ECHR. Our liberty and security has been taking away.

We as foreign nationals are often been criminalised for the purpose of detention and removal as the law under the European Convention of Human Rights permits the removal of foreigners who have established there lives in the United Kingdom and are a treat to national security. Foreign nationals are now been sent to prison for 12 months custodial sentence or more prompting the deportation of such individual. Removals are enforced on specially chartered flights with security personnel who abuse and torture detainees in the process. Detainees are restrained, strapped, beating and forced on the airplane.

On 26 July 2010, one of the detainee at Campsfield attempted suicide due to the level of treatment received at the detention centre.

The Amnesty International has also reported that our detention breaches the internationally recognised human rights.

On a regular basis, we are tortured, restrained, strapped like animals and beating to effect removal. This cannot be lawful given that there is provision within the ECHR convention that prohibits torture both mentally and physically.

We painfully ask that the government, the house of parliament, the house of common, the parliamentarians and all concerned to rise to our aid and address these issues that affects not only our lives and our future but the lives and future of the thousands of our families who are constantly under pain and torture.

Detainees – Campsfield House

Benjamin is a 37-year old Iranian human rights campaigner. Detained by the UK Border Agency, this is their second attempt to remove him from the UK. He has been trying to claim asylum in the UK as he is at risk of facing torture from the Iranian authorities.  He fled his home country after being imprisoned and tortured for 2 years for his political beliefs. Benjamin was tortured not only in Iran but also in Greece, where he was imprisoned in 2 different places for 6 months. During this time he was tortured, beaten and denied essential medication.  He now suffers from several medical problems as a direct result.

He has been threatened with deportation in just a few days – but public pressure on both British Airways, and the Home Office, can work.  If removed to Greece (where asylum refusal rate is 99% and immigration prisons are notoriously violent and inhumane) he faces great danger, as he would if removed to Iran, where execution of political prisoners has become even more frequent since the post-election crackdown.

*Please take five minutes to fax the Home Secretary and British Airways*

Free faxes can be sent through this website:

http://www.tpc.int/sendfax.html

From Bristol No Borders: http://bristolnoborders.wordpress.com/

By Frances Webber

17 June 2010, 5:00pm

The government’s much vaunted freedom agenda entrenches a two-tier system of rights, with migrants and other unpopular minorities largely excluded.

On 25 May 2010, the Queen’s speech promised: ‘Legislation will be brought forward to restore freedoms and civil liberties, through the abolition of Identity Cards and repeal of unnecessary laws.’ The following day, 26 May 2010, the Identity Documents Bill was introduced into parliament. Its provisions cancel the UK national identity card and the identification card for EEA nationals, and abolish the National Identity Register (NIR). Nick Clegg, introducing the Bill, described the ID card scheme as ‘wasteful, bureaucratic and intrusive’ and claimed the Bill was a major step towards dismantling the ‘surveillance state’.

But non-EU citizens, who are required to hold biometric identity cards, are untouched by these proposals: the Bill does not include them, and the National Biometric Identity Service (NBIS), a scheme set up in 2009 under a £265 million contract with IBM, appears to be going ahead, according to the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA). Because the NBIS is non-statutory, it contains none of the safeguards of the NIR – and UK Border Agency has and uses vast powers of information-gathering on foreign nationals. There is no indication from the new government that these powers will be abandoned or curtailed.

In opposition, the Lib Dems’ so-called Freedom Bill, published for the Convention on Modern Liberty in January 2009, contained a large number of proposals to restore and enhance civil liberties, including halving the period of detention without charge of terrorist suspects from twenty-eight to fourteen days, repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (which imposes draconian control orders on suspected terrorists), restoring the freedom to demonstrate outside parliament and restricting the length of time criminal suspects’ fingerprints can be retained by police – and many other measures. But there was no proposal to abolish fingerprinting of asylum seekers and certain migrants, and other clauses restricting police powers contained exceptions for immigration.

By 20 May 2010, when the coalition agreement, with its commitment to restore civil liberties was published, even these proposals had been diluted, softened or simply disappeared. The Lib Dems’ proposals in relation to counter-terrorism had been replaced by a commitment to introduce ‘safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation’. The proposal to restrict police retention of fingerprints had gone, replaced by a commitment to ‘outlaw the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission’. And the coalition’s commitment to restore the right to peaceful protest did not refer to Parliament Square – and as Conor Gearty pointed out (London Review of Books 10 June 2010), was accompanied by the noise of police evicting non-violent protesters from the square. CCTV cameras are not to be dismantled but will instead be regulated.

These particular dilutions are significant. Among the resident population it is disproportionately black people whose fingerprints are taken (and retained) by police, while recently, many of those who engage in peaceful protest are Muslim, a hugely disproportionate number of those stopped and searched under terrorism laws are black, and all (or virtually all) of those arrested or subjected to control orders under the Prevention of Terrorism Act are Muslim. And in May 2010 it was revealed that Muslim areas of Birmingham have comprehensive CCTV coverage, paid for by the Prevent programme (but sold to residents purely as an anti-crime initiative).

The Freedom or Great Repeal Bill has not yet been published. But when it is, black, Muslim and migrant communities will be watching to see whether they are included in deputy prime minister Nick Clegg’s, promise, in his 19 May 2010 speech, of ‘sweeping legislation to restore the hard-won liberties that have been taken one by one from the British people’. So far, the signs are not good.

After an article was published by the Mule newspaper questioning the validity of celebrating Manchester Day while places such as Pennine House and Dallas Court exist, they are now reporting an act of sabotage on UKBA snatch squads in Salford on 'Manchester Night':

Manchester and Salford’s immigration reporting centre for people seeking asylum was attacked in the early hours of this morning by protestors. A group broke into the car park at Dallas Court where they sabotaged the vehicles used by the UK Border Agency’s notorious ’snatch squads’.

According to reports, the vans were immobilised and defaced with spray paint, while the access gate to the car park was also put out of action. Stickers reading “This vehicle has been tampered with” were left at the scene to notify staff.

In a statement the group said: “The action was taken in solidarity with detainee resistance. In the past months media reports have covered the hunger strikes in Yarl’s Wood, protests in Harmondsworth and struggles against chartered deportation flights. These are acts of resistance against an arbitrary system of control and surveillance policed by the UK Home Office and European immigration authorities.”

Dallas Court is home to officials from the UK Border Agency. The snatch squads which operate from the centre often head out in blacked-out vans early in the morning to detain those asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected. They are known for kicking in doors before the children go to school in order to catch the entire family at once. Asylum seekers are also made to sign in at Dallas Court at regular intervals, not knowing whether or not they will be detained on the spot.

When arrested, detainees are taken to detention centres such as nearby Pennine House, the holding facility at Manchester Airport, where they wait indefinitely until their cases are resolved. After long periods of incarceration, despite having committed no crime and having had no trial or sentence, most detainees can expect deportation back to the countries from which they fled.

This is the second time in recent years that Dallas Court has been targeted by campaigners seeking to obstruct dawn raids and disrupt the centre’s day-to-day activities, which today’s protestors described as a symbol of the “constant uncertainty and fear” that asylum seekers and migrants live under.

They said: “Every person has the right to fight against these conditions irrespective of circumstance, and as long as these policies exist people will struggle against them. New arbitrary controls such as the immigration cap proposed by the new government will only intensify resistance. Such resistance will centre on the frontline of border security at sites like Dallas Court and Pennine House.”

Thanks to everyone who helped to make the day a great success. This was the first time in years that there was an explicitly anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist event on 1 May in Manchester - so we are glad it went well.

We only decided three weeks before May Day to call for an autonomous bloc on the annual trade union march and a post-demonstration get-together with the slogan 'You cannot represent us'. This was to counterbalance what we anticipated to be the complete dominance of electoral politics on 1 May in Manchester.




Anti-authoritarians, including from No Borders and the Anarchist Federation, had a decent presence on the march and in town early in the day, distributing lots of literature critical of representational politics. Due to the low profile of the march in Manchester, this was no easy task and we confirm our commitment to mobilise for it in the future.


Others had been busy all morning setting up marquees and a soundsystem on Birley Fields, Hulme. The Fields are due for development by Manchester Metropolitan University and Hulme residents have set up a campaign to save them. A speaker from the campaign described them on the day as 'the green lungs for the working people of the area'. The overwhelmingly positive response from Hulme residents to our presence there shows the great value of this land for the area.


With the rain staying away unexpectedly, the site quickly filled up towards the afternoon with over 200 people coming and going throughout the day. Due to the great work of a Manchester free party crew, music started bang on time at 3pm with a set by Attila the Stockbroker and David Rovics who kindly passed by on the way to their Bradford gig. They were followed by a diverse range of performers and bands from reggae via punk to folk until it got dark. An open-mic speakers corner between the acts saw people from various campaigns talk about government cuts to service and politics away from the ballot box.


The day ended with some impromptu fireworks and a great team-effort to restore Birley Fields to its original state. We are considering a similar event for May Day next year, so be sure to get involved..

no borders and friends presented a 'petition' to election candidates in Manchester Central at the start of the election count on 6 May.


'You cannot represent us' was the message of the day, with politicians and candidates reminded that unpopular decisions affecting our lives will always be resisted. The picket was held right across the road from the entrance to the Town Hall where ballot boxes were brought in. Police tried to move people behind crowd barriers but failed.

The petition was actually a large wooden board that was used by people at the autonomous Mayday BBQ in Hulme as a message board to write down why they did not vote.

Some photos are here:

It has been instructive watching the way the media in the UK, and those who were actually caught up in the ‘chaos’, have reacted to the consequences of the suspension of air travel in Western Europe courtesy of Eyjafjallajokull, have reacted to the inability to travel as of where and when one expects and desires. After all this is one’s ‘right’ if one has the correct passport, the money and, above all, the expectation to be allowed to “pass freely without let or hindrance”.

Instead, travellers found themselves stuck at internal (airports and train stations) and external (ports) borders unable to proceed, to get to where they wanted to be. They found themselves, when they could not afford the hotel bills, having to rough it: sleeping in uncomfortable and often increasingly squalid conditions, on floors and in chairs (the modern equivalent of the park bench?) in departure lounges, wherever they could or were allowed to doss down and wait for the opportunity to proceed; unable to shower and having to wear the same clothes for days on end.

And, of course, the major trope of the UK media coverage was the stoic British / ’Dunkirk’ spirit: the endless queuing and resigned complaining; the polite exasperation at bureaucracy and the lack of information; and the apparent propensity of the (largely European) businesses to seize the opportunity to ‘profiteer’ and make a quick Euro by putting up the price of dwindling resources such as hotel rooms, hire cars, train and ferry tickets was one of the subtexts.* Fortunately, that picture that was counterbalanced by the large number of people interviewed who chose to highlight the positive nature of their experiences, the solidarity and general helpfulness of others and the sheer liberatory adventure of having boring routine existence confounded.

However, from the viewpoint of those of us involved in the struggle against borders and who understand the futility of the concept of the ‘nation state’, the most astonishing and overtly hypocritical feature of the media’s coverage of the whole episode was what occurred in Calais, that transport-bottleneck between continental Europe (and ‘Johnnie Foreigner’) and ‘home’ (‘Dear Old Blighty’).

First, we had the bizarre sight of some minor BBC celebrity deciding to try and do his very minor bit to try and revive the ‘Dunkirk spirit’ (sic) by taking a handful of inflatable speedboats across the Channel to ‘liberate’ ‘stranded’ UK passengers supposedly stuck on the other side of the water (just what he expected to achieve by shuttling a few dozen people back to Dover when the ferries manage to carry tens of thousands of passengers a day is a bit hard to fathom, but that’s celebrities for you!). Only to be frustrated by the collective deadweight of Border bureaucracy, as the Calais port officials (after apparently initially OK’ing the enterprise, only to have second, and probably job-saving, thoughts) passed the buck up the bureaucratic command chain till the Prefect of the Pas de Calais vetoed the whole scheme and the combined Stuka squadrons of EU border policy sank his little ego-fuelled enterprise.

The other vomit-inducing spectacle was the endless shots, hourly updated just in case we failed to grasp the apparent monumental significance (or maybe it was purely one of those endless non-news creating side effects of the 24 hour news experience?) of more bloody Brits queuing for tickets, this time for an average 3 hours we were helpfully informed, in order to get on a Calais-Dover ferry. And to top it all, the Red Cross, who many years before had run another less favourably received humanitarian project in the area called Sangatte, was out in force, handing out cups of tea and emergency blankets to combat the overnight cold to the endless line of people snaking across the ferry terminal car park, as they slowly made their way to the ticket office windows, only 3 of which were open we were also helpfully told (it’s amazing the fact one accumulates from watching 24 hour news).

Now, not demeaning in any way the trauma some people experienced whilst having their comfortable and ordered lives so disrupted by the suspension of air travel for a few days, but the errant hypocrisy of this non-epic saga (the only good think we can say about it is that it cleared the airwaves of some of the interminable coverage of the election) was mind boggling in the extreme.

Has no one noticed the irony that the few days of discomfort experienced by a bunch of privileged Westerners, temporarily stranded on the journey to England by the Calais ‘bottleneck’, occurred in precisely the same town that has been the host of a very different, and largely untold, story of the discomfort (and more) for a group of people also stranded on their journey to England by exactly the same barrier?

Except they have often been stranded for years rather than days and their barrier has added 4m high double fences topped with razor wire to contend with, plus a massive security operation armed with EU laws, CO2 and infra red detectors, sniffer dogs, Eurodac, Schengen, etc. All policed by hundreds of borders guards, CRS and PAF cops; subjected to routine tear-gassing whilst one sleeps in the ‘Jungles’, the sort of shanty town structures that would never pass muster in even the worst fevala; to casual officially-sanctioned brutality, arrest and overnight detention; evictions, theft and destruction of ones personal property; not to mention the exploitation by the trafficking gangs who control the truck-stops and lay-bys and who are more than willing to main or even kill anyone who crosses them (one of the inevitable problems of criminalising a whole class of people is that one renders them open to exploitation by the only people they can turn to themselves for any form of ‘help’, criminals).

And then there is the sort of maiming and killing, that which occurs because of the extremes that these marginalized and desperate people are driven to in order to get to where they want to be, injuries and death in the backs or under the wheels of lorries and on the train tracks in the Channel Tunnel, just the sort of thing that happened to a 16 years old Afghan named Ramahdin just day before the volcano erupted. On April 11 he was hiding under a lorry that was boarding a ferry at Loon-Plage just up the coast from Calais but was found crushed to death. His repatriated body was then caught up in the air traffic chaos at a German airport en route back to Afghanistan.

Yes, these people, refugees from their own countries, are driven to do desperate and dangerous things. Driven by fear of persecution, by desperation and poverty. They have been displaced by Western-led wars fought in their homelands, by Western-inspired post-colonial structural debt-induced poverty; by environmental degradation created by multinational mining company operations or IMF-financed dam building and by civil wars in which both sides have been armed by the same Western arms companies. They have been lured westwards by the global hegemony of the Hollywood lifestyle, Rolex watches and Versace jeans (the modern equivalent of 40 acres and a mule, except in reverse, luring people into a form of slavery), to realise Dick Whittington’s dream in a land where the streets are supposed to be paved with gold.

Where are the stories of their epic journeys, which sometimes take years; tales of the circuitous routes that they have had to take to try and get where they wanted to be, to a new safer ‘home’. Where is the outrage at the exorbitant prices they had to pay (often with their own lives) to get there, only to find themselves stuck in limbo, unable to ultimately get where they most want to be because they were born in the wrong place and have the wrong passport/visa/skin colour? And this untold story is not just happening in Calais. It is the same, if not worse, in Ceuta, Melilla, Libya, Turkey, the Canaries, Malta, Yemen, Indonesia, Malaysia, Slovenia, the Ukraine, Mexico, etc. The list is almost endless.

But hey! Let’s look on the bright side. At least the people ‘stranded’ by Eyjafjallajokull’s dust clouds, when they finally did get to take the journey across the Channel to England, whether it was by ferry or Eurostar, didn’t travel terrified by the fear that their long, torturous journey may all have been in vain, that they might be caught by Border guards once they reached the ‘green and promised land’ and be deported back to some detention centre hell-hole in mainland Europe, or even worse, back to a war zone or somewhere where they face the fear of torture or death.

Unfortunately, it seems that some travel stories are far less newsworthy and will not be preserved in anyone’s album of treasured holiday snapshots.

http://nobordersbrighton.blogspot.com/2010/04/as-dust-settles.html

Good day for media…  This morning Nick Griffin gets a breakfast slot to fuel racism and hatred on BBC Radio 4.  And the rest of the day is taken up with  ‘bigotgate’.  Brown accidentally caught on tape in his car, referring to someone he’d just spoken to – who’d been moaning about immigrants ‘flocking in’ – as a ‘bigoted woman’.  Press pounce, delighted;  bigot-woman is interviewed ad nauseum expressing her ‘disgust’ at the PM’s comments; in general the country is ‘shocked’.  Or that’s how it’s portrayed by every single media establishment, it seems.  There are not many calls for Gillian Duffy, and all the xenophobic  ‘not racist but…’ people like her, to apologise for their comments or views.  Milena Popova’s article about the failure of the ‘fluffy’ left and the media to defend immigrants is here, along with the clip, should you wish to see it yet again…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/29/gillian-duffy-eastern-european

Obviously Brown’s comments don’t seem particularly heroic given the past ten years of Labour’s noxious immgration ministers, mass deportation, expansion of detention sites and child detention, racist abuse at the hands of private companies, rocketing refusal rates, and the militarisation of European and British borders.  But it’s interesting to see the backlash when he does voice – albeit accidentally – a single comment on latent racism in this country.

from http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=2756

A leading UK charity for lesbian and gay asylum seekers published a study this week which highlights disproportionate levels of rejection for homosexual applicants.

The UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group – a charity promoting equality and dignity through supporting lesbian and gay people who are seeking asylum in the UK – conducted a study of 50 Home Office Reason for Refusal letters issued from 2005 to 2009 to claimants from 19 different countries who claimed asylum on the basis of their sexual identity.

Entitled Failing The Grade, the report looks at the decisions of UK Border Agency at interview stage. They found that although refusal at this stage is high for all asylum applicants – 73% in 2009 – refusal of lesbian and gay applicants between 2004 and 2009 was 98-99%.

UKLGIG patron Angela Mason, CBE, – who was joined by barrister S. Chelvan and author of the report, Laura Milliken Gray, at its launch at London’s Mitre House Chambers – told DIVA that the issue was a live one.

“It seems clear that case owners making decisions about lesbian and gay asylum claims do not have training on the particular issues arising from persecution based on sexual orientation or identity.

They are also relying on out of date information on countries of origin and too often ignoring the UNHCR Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. The result is that lesbian and gay asylum seekers who are already experiencing persecution may also face discrimination in our own country.”

No Borders Community MayDay BBQ 1st May 2010, Birley Fields Hulme.


Sick of the elections? Sick of tedious work, or being told to get a job? Don’t know who to vote for and think it probably wouldn’t make any difference anyway? Us too!

Join us on Mayday to celebrate International Workers Day, the historical and daily struggle of workers - paid, unpaid and ‘unemployed’ - against the daily grind that is work and ‘life’ under capitalism.

Manchester No Borders calls for a 'You Cannot Represent Our Diversity' anti-election bloc on the TUC May day march (Sat 1st May, 12pm, All Saints Park- look out for the banner) and a celebratory BBQ and Alternative Speakers Corner on Saturday 1st May in Birley Fields, 3pm, between Bonsall St and Streford Rd, Hulme. Hulme has a long tradition of dissent and resisting mainstream ideas of how the ‘local community’ should be doing things. Let’s keep it going and celebrate one of the best bits of public green space in South Manchester at the same time .

The three main political parties, as well as the whacky ones like UKIP and the BNP, assume that being ‘tough on immigration’ is the way to win votes.

If you’re sick of such simplistic scapegoating ideas, which divide people against one another locally and globally, and never look at the causes of inequality, join us on May Day!


Come together to celebrate diversity and community! No Borders, No Nations!


BBQ ** Local Musicians ** Fun & Games ** Non Party-Political Discussions **

Spoken Word Performance **Info Stalls ** Urban Gardening ** Kids’ Area **
And post here the rest of it.

Manchester No Borders supports...

Saturday, April 24th - Trof Fallowfied
from 2pm stalls and food
in the evening - gig organised by the band 'Uncle Meat and the Highway Children'.


Here's a message from the band:

As some of you will be aware after Uncle Meat and the Highway Children's summer tour their friend Alex was unable to return to the country. To combat this problem we have organised a benefit gig at Trof Fallowfield on April 24th...

From 2pm there will be art/craft and local designer stalls plus Vegan Dinner Raves will offer you a scrumptious selection of cuisine from all corners of the world to help raise some money to get him back in the UK. Needle & Dread stylist Laurelle will also be about during ther day braiding and dreading hair for donations... If yo have any crafty things like bead, ribbon, wool etc that your dont need please bring it along!

Throughout the whole day there will be a free shop with clothes, books and lots of other unwanted treasures available.

In the evening there will be a selection of live music and poetry from:
Uncle Meat and The Highway Children
www.myspace.com/meatykids

John Player Specials
www.myspace.com/thejohnplayerspecials

Sam Buchanan and The Bathroom Crooners
www.myspace.com/thebathroomcrooners

Deaf Two The West
www.myspace.com/deaftwothewest

Jezzabell
www.myspace.com/jezzadahat

Paradox Poets through out the day!

Any extra money raised will go to support the hard work of UK No Borders. http://www.noborders.org.uk/
The night will also offer a variety of information about how and why smashing borders is a good idea and in turn will offer you a chance to get involved with a group near you.
The amount of the Donation is your choice and if your skint feel free to come and join in anyway :)
Can i also ask that if anyone wishes to donate ingredients or help in kitchen, please get in touch. And if you have any unwanted clothes, books, music, house hold items, please bring them along to put in the free shop, if you need help to bring bigger items, get in touch and im sure we can arange something

After living in the UK for 2 years, Alex left to travel europe with his band for 6 months to avoid breaking the rules of immigration. When he tried to return to the UK he was refused entrance at the border due to the fact the immigration officer believed he was trying to obtain work in the UK. The
means of proof being typing his name into facebook and finding out he was a
musician. He was deported back into europe with no means of support. \he
gathered enough evidence to try and re enter several months later, including
a sponsor and a list of people willing to support his stay in the UK.
However the second attempt proved fruitless as he was again refused on the
grounds his attempt was too desperate, detained in a room akin to to a cell
and deported on a boat back to europe where he is now considered an illegal
immigrant. He now has to go back to america and be thousands of miles away
from the life he has created in england. As his friends and family and firm
believers in no borders we are striving to bring him back by putting on
benefit shows in conjunction with no borders and raising money to help
assist him with the expenditure of visa costs and to show him how much we
love him. Plans include the first show in troff, manchester on april 24th,
an all day punk gig sometime in may and many more. We aim to get alex back
within four months. If anyone is interested in helping in any way shape or
form please get in touch, this group has been set up to show our support for
alex and our dissaproval at the immigration control in england, who act like
god and have the right to strip a person of their life no matter what the
circumstances just because a person doesnt fit their idealsim. In a free
world we should be able to travel openly and without fear, BECAUSE THIS IS
OUR WORLD as much as it is theirs but we are the ones STUCK IN THE RED TAPE.
Show your anger, show your support, not just for Alex, but for the joke that
is the whole fucking system..

Thanks to all who have sent letters/ emailed/phoned/faxed in solidarity with Benjamin!
Benjamin didn’t fly last week, and a judicial review of his case has been granted by the court.
Benjamin is now back in Glasgow, but more action maybe needed in the future, so keep an eye out for updates.

Manchester No Borders supported Congolese asylum seekers who held a protest against forced removals in the centre of Manchester on Saturday 13th.

About 50 Congolese assembled at All Saints Park at noon, with a small number of supporters from socialist and anarchist groups. They danced and sang their way along Oxford Street, sitting down in the road at intervals in a symbolic 'die in.' The first die-in was outside the BBC building, in protest at its failure to give any coverage to the war in Congo.

You can find a series of photographs and more information about the protest here and here.

There is a video of the protest, with interviews, here.

The national press have started to acknowledge the continuous resistance and protests that occur in Britian's detention centres. The latest - a hunger strike by women in Yarl's Wood who tell of violent and racist assaults by immigration officials - has finally come to the attention of journalists and MPs. This article from the Truth, Reason & Liberty blog provides a good political summary:

"Yesterday, the Observer reported that "Senior Home Office officials will be questioned this week over allegations that women inside Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre were assaulted by staff using riot shields." This comes after significant efforts from immigrant and refugee groups to draw attention to the issue, holding their latest and largest protest on the issue only two days earlier.

That the rebellion inside the centre has finally gained national exposure can be counted as a significant victory. However, the vast majority of the media stil holds to a rabidly anti-immigrant line. With the government determined to do the same, gaining anything more than temporary exposure remains difficult."

read the full article here

We recently posted here news of a planning application by Arora International Hotels for the conversion of the Mercure Hotel, Crawley into an Immigration Removal Centre.

We now heard that the planning meeting has been put back till 25 January. Ahead of this, an to send a message of condemnation, No Borders activists paid another short visit to the Arora branch in Manchester city centre.

We were awaited by a security guard and the hotel manager who somehow seemed to expect our return. There is still time to oppose the planning application by contacting Crawly Council or Arora Hotels.

This article has been taken from The Mule website.

Supporters of Lydia Besong are demanding her immediate release after she was detained this morning by immigration officials. Lydia, a playwright and human rights activist seeking asylum in the UK, was snatched this morning while signing in at the Home Office Reporting Centre Dallas Court in Salford.

There will be a vigil his Saturday (12 December), 3pm at Friends Meeting House behind the Central Library.

Campaigners are asking people to contact the Home Office urging Lydia’s immediate release and quoting HO Ref: B1236372

FAX: Home Office on 0208-760-3132

Email:

CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk;

Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

and cc admin@rapar.org.uk

For further information contact:

* Richard Goulding at RAPAR 0161 834 8221
* 07776 264646
* RAPAR’s Press Officer Kath on 0161-225-2260 or kath.northernstories@googlemail.com
* or admin@rapar.org.uk

She is now being held in a detention centre in the south of England from which the Home Office plan to deport her on 21 December to Cameroon, where she is wanted by the authorities who previously tortured her for her political views.

Lydia and her husband, Bernard Batey, were told at the end of October that they must leave the UK. The couple fled Cameroon in December 2006, having been jailed and tortured for being members of the Southern Cameroon National Council, a party declared illegal by the government. As well as being tortured during her time in prison, Lydia was raped by one of the guards. When she escaped she and Bernard sought asylum in the UK, where they have lived ever since.

Lydia is a writer, whose debut play “How I Became an Asylum Seeker” was staged by Community Arts Northwest (CAN) on 3 December to a full house at the Zion Theatre in Hulme. She wrote the play partly to find a way of coping with her horrific experiences, and to raise awareness about asylum. She is also on the Management Committee of Woman Asylum Seekers Together (WAST).

More recently Lydia has been working alongside RAPAR and Commonword collecting stories about those living in destitution in Manchester. Commonword’s Artistic Director, Pete Kalu, said, “Lydia has been a tremendous resource in helping us to find new pathways to new writers in communities.”

Lead Artistic Manager for CAN Jasmine Ali said, “Lydia has been an inspiration for the artistic team with her dedication and commitment to the project. Without her contribution WAST would not have had the confidence to devise and perform their play to a wider audience.”

On the morning of 19 November Lydia signed in at Dallas Court to be told that she and her husband were now required to report every week to the centre on Thursday mornings. Lydia was detained this morning, on the third Thursday of the new conditions. Campaigners working on Lydia and Bernard’s behalf feared officials would arrest them at the Reporting Centre, as this tactic is often employed by the Home Office to stop any intervention by supporters and friends.

The campaign to stop the couple’s deportation has gained much support, under the umbrella of the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns. Both current and former MPs, Paul Rowen and Sir Cyril Smith, are backing their constituents along with Reverend Graham Lindley, Parish Priest at St Anne’s Church in Rochdale. Paul Rowen has been contacted by her supporters and is working with lawyers to secure her release.

Robert Sharp, of English PEN, the charity which campaigns for writers and playwrights internationally, is also calling for Lydia’s immediate release.

“This is a blow for freedom of speech. With this detention, Lydia’s fledgling literary career will be cut short. It is astonishing that the UK plans to deport someone who has been seeking refuge from a government that attacked her just for exercising her right to freedom of expression,” he said

Richard Goulding from RAPAR told MULE, “Lydia has now been transferred away from Manchester, presumably in the south of England. We guess Yarl’s Wood but we don’t know for certain.

“The reason it’s happened this week is because she had her play with a full house at the Zion Centre last week, and we don’t think they’d dare do it then. Now they’ve tried to do it with as little fuss as possible.”

In light of Lydia’s detention a vigil has been organised for this Saturday (12 December), 3pm at Friends Meeting House behind the Central Library. In a message encouraging people to attend, campaigner Tom Lavin said, “The Home Office’s deportation strategy is very pragmatic and public pressure makes a big influence on their decisions.”

This has recently been proven by the release of the Mansour family following a judicial review just hours before their scheduled flight back to Cairo.

Talking to MULE, Lydia’s husband Bernard was clearly distraught, “We’re fighting but the system is too much, we can’t go home but the government is trying to force us.

“I’m really confused. I don’t know what she’s going through now. She has to fight, we are going to fight you know. My wife is just my life and we have to fight for our lives.

“But at the moment we don’t know where Lydia is. I’m still waiting for the solicitors call.”

Goulding added, “It’s kind of a waiting game now, but we urge people to come along at 3pm on Saturday to show solidarity and to send emails of support.”

No Borders invites you to a fundraiser night at the Corner in Fallowfield, this Wednesday, 25 November.

Come at 7 to hear updates from what's happening in Calais, and we're showing the latest No Borders films until about 9.

After this, it's a night of Dub, Dance Hall, Reggae and Ska from the Cool Runnings DJs - until 1am.

FREE entry/donations towards No Borders

The venue: The Corner, it's right next to Trof in Fallowfield, where Landcross Road meets Wilmslow Road.

* Arora Management Services Ltd plans to turn its four-star Mercure
Gatwick hotel into an immigration detention centre.

* Campaigners vow to target Arora and Mercure until the plans are dropped.

Arora Management Services Ltd has applied to Crawley Borough Council for planning permission to turn its four-star Mercure Gatwick Hotel into an immigration detention centre. If the planning permission is granted, the hotel will be converted into a secure prison and the 245 bedrooms into single and family cells.

Established in 1999, Arora International Hotels is one of the UK's fastest growing privately owned hotel companies, with six luxury hotels in and around Heathrow and Gatwick airports and one in Manchester city centre.

Like other private companies that run privatised detention centres across the country, Arora is trying to sell its plan by arguing that locating detention centres at airports would make deportations easier and less costly for the government.

Anti-detention campaigners have already held two protests at Mercure Hotels in London, demanding that Mercure/Arora drops its plans to turn one of its hotels into an immigration prison. Hotel staff and guests of the Arora branch in Manchester were leafleted by members from Manchester No Borders. London No Borders are calling for a demonstration outside Crawly Town Hall on 7 December, when the Council will discuss the planning application.

The Manchester Arora Hotel is on Princess Street, around the corner from Manchester Art Gallery.

This is an article that we wrote after the Calais No Borders camp. It addresses some of the criticisms we received from some anarchists in Britain. The text was published in Black Flag magazine no.230 with the title 'In defence of migrants'.

On class and migrant solidarity

“Riot police stop anarchist assault on Britain's borders” was the Daily Mail headline about the No Borders camp in Calais. What happened at “Britain’s borders” and what has anarchism got to do with it?

While the quiet camp passed unremarked, newspapers from the Guardian to the Telegraph ran vivid features on what the camp encountered, documenting migrant lives in Calais with varying degrees of sympathy. These were prompted by government talks and the opening of the UN office, but reflected and refracted our experiences. In Calais, the externalisation of the British border to France creates a situation of direct struggle between authoritative oppression and people who do not obey these restrictions. On their way to Britain, thousands camp in the vicinity of Calais restricted in their agency by oppressive state policies.

In solidarity with those enacting their opposition to control and global inequality by moving across borders in search of better lives, the No Borders Camp aimed to demonstrate (and act) against the state’s hegemonic and arrogant claim to control the movement of people. The No Borders position and anarchism share a mutual enemy: borders as institutionalisation of authority.

Alas, upon our return from the Calais No Border camp we noticed a surprising development. While in continental Europe anarchists mobilise in solidarity with migrants facing the xenophobic responses to the recession (at the Calais demonstration there was a large turnout of French anarchist groups and CNT syndicalists), in the UK some anarchists have begun to question the fundamentals of that solidarity. To us it seems like this is the result of a false opposition of class and immigrant solidarity.

The 'English' anarchists – of that identity they seem to be proud – write on blogs and discussion forums that they will stand in defence of the working class when the “liberals” of No Borders abolish immigration controls in favour of capitalist exploitation. There is Matt D., member of the IWW and Liberty & Solidarity who blogs at ‘workers self organisation’. He draws a distinction that could have come straight from a primitivist or gated-communities pamphlet: “no borders… or community control of resources”. The No Borders position for him is “un-anarchist” as it “can only be realised if some large international body enforces it”. Or take 9/11 Cultwatch writer Paul Stott who finds it hard to believe that anarchists would “travel to another country” in solidarity with migrants rather than staying here in solidarity with workers facing recession. Even Class War founder Ian Bone on his blog defines class struggle in national terms: “it’s our England we will fight for”. Paul Stott again adds to this a typical expression of labour movement nationalism: “Is there anything more likely to drive down existing wages than mass immigration?”

We do welcome discussion and criticism, even and especially of the fundamentals of our theory and practice. We are not shy of debate and hope that in the near future we can continue and exchange with the ‘English’ class struggle anarchists. For now, in the constraints of a short article, we want to briefly respond to four frequent statements from within that movement that we have disagreed with.

1. No borders would benefit capitalism

You will have probably observed that, today, movement is increasingly free - just so long as it is profitable. To say that capitalism would benefit from no borders is to overlook the role border control has served and continues to serve in the maintenance of an exploitative status quo. It is one of the primary means through which labour-power is disciplined and global divisions of labour, privilege and power are enforced. At the border the abstract logic of profit confronts the lived reality of our lives. Hence the border, like the factory, is both a site of suffering and a vector of antagonism.

2. No borders is utopian

Yes, but only if you think like a state. ‘But how can you make this work, its unmanageable, its not practical,’ the anxious statesman will cry. From the perspective of the state, no borders is indeed utopian – a place that could not be. For us, no borders is an axiom of political action, a principle of equality from which concrete, practical consequences must be drawn. It means recognising, on the basis of our equality, solidarity in struggle irrespective of origins. There is nothing less utopian and nothing more immediately practical than this.

3. An anarchist society would have community borders

The border traces a threshold of inside and outside. What is outside is perceived as dangerous and a threat to the inside, hence the ‘need’ for a border. The security that the border offers is essentially imposed externally and with reference to this threat. But there is another kind of security, one created internally through cooperation and mutual support. There is nothing in this kind of security which necessitates the exclusionary and violent practices of bordering. It is this latter kind of cooperative security which we are hoping to create.

4. National culture should be reclaimed

The nation state is a modern/recent form of sovereignty based (not solely) on forms of cultural nationalism which in turn are achieved through the glorification of typically 'English' traditions and stereotypes. We do not aim to undermine or ignore the history and traditions of struggle in the UK. Rather our aim is to undermine static conceptions of culture or community that create imagined divisions between 'us' and 'them'; divisions that have very real consequences for those who find they cannot, or do not want, to fit into these rigidly defined identities.

For us it seems that rather than attempting to transcend notions of class (domination), this new 'English' anarchism appeals to an affirmative cultural identity of class. We feel that we need to abandon such sociological concepts of class for revolutionary perspectives of social struggle. Not everyone sees the distinction between class struggle and migrant solidarity. Let's conclude with a comment by 'Alessio', who defends the no borders position in a reply to Paul Stott: “As the 'English' anarchists ponder on their next move, it seems like every other anarchist movement across Europe strides confidently forward. I see a pattern emerging here, maybe we should be more confident in anarchist politics and how we express them rather than continuously feel that we should pander or apologise to certain sections of the class in the UK.”
.