UK Inhumanity.

          Once again we are witness to the UK imperialist's hypocrisy. Just some months ago the UK condemned Rwanda for failing to investigate human rights violations, now we have fascist Priti Patel lavishing UK tax payers money to enrich that same country. The authoritarian duo Patel and bumbling Boris have decided to ignore international law and deport asylum seekers more than 4,000 miles to a country they have condemned for human right violations. This cruel, inhumane travesty of justice must be opposed with the strongest pubic voice of indignation and anger.
         On Saturday, April 16th. Glasgow, like most cities across the country held protests against this policy, and will continue to show their disgust, anger and downright outrage at this vicious denial of human rights by this dehumanised authoritarian regime.
        Some photos from Glasgow's protest against UK's extravagant unlawful and cruel policy of inhumanity.

         As usual, the people come up with their own ideas of easily made effective banners that say what they mean.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Home.

      

        With Priti Patel being accused of swearing and shouting at her staff, and her suggesting that she will turn back those overcrowded inadequate small boats trying to cross the Channel, not only is this inhumane but against internation maritime law, I have decided to print the following poem in full. It is in the slender hope that somehow she might get to read it. Though I doubt that its words will penetrate her thick prejudiced skull. She is a true brick for the fascist state.
       The poem was lifted from a Facebook page, no idea who the author is, but someone certainly filled with compassion and love. Obviously much more than Priti Patel with her authoritarian fascist traits.

 

Warsan Shire, ′′ Home ′′
you don't abandon home unless
house is shark's mouth
you run towards the border only then
when the whole city runs with you
neighbors run faster than you
and the breath is bloody in their throats
boy who went to school with you
who kissed you unconscious
behind the old tin factory
carries a rifle bigger than it
you abandon your home only then
when the house won't let you stay
you don't abandon home unless
house will chase you away
fire under your feet
hot blood in your insides
never even crossed your mind
that you will ever do it
until the blade burned its threats
on your neck
but even then you hum the anthem under your nose
and only in the toilet at the airport are you screaming yours
passport
sobbing because every bite of paper
makes you realize that there will be no return
you have to understand
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their hands
under the trains
under the wagons
no one spends days and nights
in the depths of trucks
eating newspapers unless
miles traveled
means more than a trip
no one can crawl under the fences
nobody wanna be beaten
to be an object of mercy
no one chooses refugee camps
nor a personal revision
when your body tears up the pain
not a prison
because jail is safer
than a city on fire
and one prison guard
at night
is better than the whole truck
men of your father's age
no one could stand it
no one could stand it
no one's skin would be hard enough
these ones
ciapaci to go home
refugees
filthy immigrants
asylum
exploiters of our country
begging niggas
stinks
spreading parasites
they broke down their country and now they want to
to smash ours
like these words
those hateful looks
they run down you
maybe because it hurts to hit less
than a broken limb
or that the words are softer
than a dozen men between
with your legs
or that insults are easier
to swallow
than the ruins
Bone
than your child's body
in pieces
i want to go home
but the house is shark's mouth
house is a gun gun gun
and no one would abandon home
unless the house would chase you ashore
unless he told you to
faster to run
to leave my things
crawl through the desert
to wander through the oceans
to drown
to starve
beggar
to abandon pride
your survival is more important though
no one abandons home until the house is
with a sweaty voice in your ears
the talking ones
run away
run away from me immediately
idk what i have become
but i know that everywhere
it's safer than here

 Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Borders.

             What are borders, nothing more than imaginary lines drawn on paper and marked on the ground by power mongering states, to proclaim to others that this is their territory, their stolen slice of a planet. These lines encompass all who live there and bind them to the fabricated rules of the power monger and also are there to deter others born on another stolen patch from entering. Europe has joined hands in a massive border surrounding many of these power mongering states, in an effort to keep out non-Europeans. The suffering and death of thousands of human beings fleeing fear, persecution, death and destruction, is of little consequence to the power mongers of the European super state. Here in the UK our state apparatus has whole heartedly joined and help fund this savage persecution of humans trying to get and take their families to safety. Death among those seeking asylum and safety is a daily occurrence, exacerbated by the actions of these nation states and their phoney borders. Borders are inhuman and in a free society cannot exist, free movement of people is a foundation stone of freedom. We will not be fettered by the rules of power and wealth or glued together with the poison of patriotism.

The following is an extract from Enough is Enough: 

Originally published by Calais Migrants Solidarity.

Thursday’s shipwreck

       In the early hours of Thursday morning (12/08/21), a boat carrying approximately 37 people, including women and children, began to deflate and take on water in the Channel, around 25 kilometers north of Dunkerque. Because of their distance from shore, the people on board were not able to reach the emergency numbers by phone. They tried to signal for help to passing cargo ships, at least two of which passed by without responding. For more than two hours the people kept trying to get water out of the boat. According to survivors, as the boat continued taking on more water, luggage was thrown overboard and some people jumped into the sea to lighten the load.

Continue reading

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

April Keelie.

       The April issue of the Glasgow Keelie is now on line, this is a must read, covering climate change, pollution of our coasts, migrants, workers deaths from corporate negligence, and much much more Please read and spread far and wide, it is a pocket rocket of information that should be more widely known.

Read it HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

State Control.

       Recently all the focus of street protests have been on police brutality and rightly so. The recent police killing in Glasgow of an asylum seeker, has shifted some of that focus to how abysmal is the life of asylum seekers here in the UK. However what we should be aware of is that police brutality and the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and migrants are not two separate issues, they are both organised aspects of the state apparatus. The police are recruited, funded, trained and protected from any real accountability to the public, by the state and its mouthpiece the media. Likewise, asylum seekers are the product of the state policy of, we are different, the British way of life, the spirit of "we brits" therefore better than those others over there. The states create borders and to help protect them the breed patriotism, the barrier to unity, and will expect you, or coerce you, into laying down your life to protect those imaginary lines drawn in the Earth. The fact that people leave their homes, family and loved ones, usual to get away from deprivation, persecution and death, make an extremely hazardous journey half way across the world and when they arrive here, they are deemed to be different, lesser, so need to be herded up, stored in inhumane conditions, robbed of their basic human rights, while their "betters" scrutinize their suitability to stay, is just another aspect of the state's injustice and inhumanity. Police brutality, asylum seekers and migrant, camps, detention centres, call them what you will, but barbaric prisons would be a better title, are necessary functions of the state in its never ending desire for control over a submissive population. 

Photo courtesy of RawStory.

     Somehow we are supposed to believe that teachers, bar staff, office workers, labourers, bus drivers, students from places like war torn Syria are different and inferior than teachers, bar staff, office workers, labourers, bus drivers, students, who happen though an accident of birth, live here in this collection of islands called the United Kingdom.

      You wish to end police brutality, and the abhorrent treatment of migrants, then you can highlight these injustices, but to remedy these problems you will have to get rid of the root cause, the state system and its economic master the capitalist system. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Humans, Surplus To Requirements.

 

       The labels vary, refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, but these labels are usually badges of misery. People, human beings, uprooted forcibly, or fleeing hurriedly, in fear and desperation. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in 2017, 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide because of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations alone. Think of that figure, approximately the population of the UK hurriedly uprooted and moved on, usually in fear and desperation.

       A river of misery flows from Africa and washes over the graveyard that is the Mediterranean Sea, the inscription “We are not all there – The drowned are missing” is a bitter one. Those who survive that passage find themselves locked in groups at various borders, living in deprivation or in detention centres. Held at the vagaries of the autocratic states, who see them, not as suffering human beings, but as a problem of control. 

      The lot of the refugee, asylum seeker, migrant, is one of being stalked, and if found to be lacking the necessary piece of paper, locked up in some inhumane detention centre, with the constant threat of being thrown back into the hell that they tried to escape. A hell, in most cases, caused by the foreign policy of the host nations, who treat them like cattle. They will be stalked by uniformed gangs of thugs, paid members of the state's protection squad, whose duties are to protect the rich and powerful. These paid minions of the state with complete lack of morality will always obey orders, they are part and parcel of this corrupt and dying system.

       The so called "refugee/asylum seeker/migrant" crisis will only disappear when we end this system of capitalism, that sees humans as productive units or surplus to requirements. This system that spawns wars as a means of profit, that destroys vast swaths of the planet for control of resources, creating that 65.6 million "displaced persons". History tells us a bitter story written in letters of blood, of the dismal failure of this man made system. The future is yet unwritten, we can write that future, a future of humanity, mutual aid, co-operation and sustainability. A future where no one is a refugee, or an asylum seeker, where those power drawn lines known as borders, melt and fade into the dust of history. Only the ordinary people of this world can write that future, but only when they discard the man made cancer that is capitalism and abandon any belief in "leaders" and party "messiahs" who offer to guide them to that "pie-in the-sky" illusion of the promised land. 

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

Destitute In The Midst Of Wealth.

 

The Homeless.

Tenebrous spectres, they exist,    out there, 

on the crumbling edge of chaos.

A father, a son, a brother,

a daughter, a sister, a mother.

Fragments of some shattered family structure,

waste products

from a society being driven to destruction

by a hurricane of greed

living a life that wears out life,

dying,

the devious death of exhaustion from existence.

        The UK is the sixth richest country in the world, we can look about its cities and see opulence, indulgences in extravagant fetishes and in that babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, we can read about individuals buying their latest £150 million yacht, or their latest £250,000 car. We are overflowing with the obscenity of individuals wallowing in lavish unimaginable wealth. But scratch the surface and we see poverty, deprivation and homelessness, the contradictions of capitalism.

      Billions of pounds appear for war, likewise to refurbish the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and millions appear to shore up the London home of the UK's largest benefit family, the  Lizzie Windsor brood.

      However, homelessness in this country has risen continuously, for the last seven years, but no millions appear to sort that problem. It falls on charities, friends and family to shoulder that burden, with cash strapped councils failing miserably to do their job.

       Immigrants and asylum seekers are particularly hard hit in this area and lots of them, because of the system find, themselves unable to work and are homeless. Again it falls to the good will and humanity of the ordinary people to attempt to alleviate that particular problem. Glasgow's Night Shelter, has for years been doing what it can for homeless, destitute immigrants, all run by volunteers. Here is an appeal to come and see what they are doing and perhaps contribute support in one way or the other.  

        This is an invitation to join us on Thursday 8th February from 5pm - 7pm for an Open Evening at the proposed site of Glasgow Night Shelter's new premises.

          The address is 24a Fairley Street Ibrox G51 2SN both the Ibrox and Cessnock subway stations are close by. It's also close to the bus stops on Paisley Road West. Please feel free to let anyone else you think may be interested know.
         You'll be able to look at our proposed plans and drawings of how we plan to convert the buildings, what facilities we'll be installing as well as what work is required and how you can get involved!
        It's even possible that some snacks and refreshments might also be available.
        Please let me know if you'd like to attend. We don't have any power in the building yet so please wrap up warm!
All the best
Phill Jones
GNS
07929852264
         Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers* Scottish charity number 047169 providing somewhere safe and warm to stay overnight for people who because of their immigration status cannot access normal homeless services
*Run by volunteers 365 nights a year
Support our Hardship Fund Appeal - make a donation now! https://mydonate.bt.com/events/hardshipfund

Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Non-Story Of Desperate People.

          We all know the flights of fancy taken by our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. They flit from shock, horror, spectacular, amusing, to sex, fashion and celebrity parasites, with complete lack of empathy, and little thought for the whole story or the real truth.
       For a while they flooded our minds with images of drowning refugees fleeing death, deprivation and violence, of large trails of men women and children being herded like cattle, in appalling condition, a vision of a monumental humanitarian crisis. Now, to them that storey is boring, so no need to bother with that particular tragedy.
        However, has the flow of desperate people ceased, are thousand no longer risking death to cross the Mediterranean, are they no longer being herded like cattle in appalling conditions, has that particular humanitarian crisis been solved? Of course not, it is out of sight, out of mind, and left to fester, bring misery, deprivation and death to countless innocent people.
        Desperate people are are still, after a death risking journey, landing on Europe's shores, adding to the thousands already denied dignity, humanity and freedom.
        Since Europe's deal with Turkey, the flow of desperate people fleeing the results of the West's foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa, get no further than Greece, so just keep piling up on the Greek islands. Picturesque Greek islands are now a dystopian world for thousands of unfortunate and desperate people, who according to their treatment by European governments, are "non-persons" on the shores of Europe.
        This report from Medium, helps to tell the true story of Europe's treatment of desperate refugees, the story that our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media has deemed "not worth reporting", after all they have royal babies and celebrity sex scandals to cover.

         The Aegean islands are at breaking point. Spread across five islands — Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros — over 11,000 asylum-seekers wait to be transferred to mainland Greece. They wait in detention centres, ‘hotspots’ and make-shift camps, afforded only restricted access to transport, sanitation, food, medical support and their dignity.
         On returning to Chios after 3 months away, the changes are stark. My own return coincides with the final eviction of Souda Camp, a non-governmental camp situated in the centre of the port town of Chios. At times, over 1000 asylum-seekers lived beneath the shadow of the town’s castle walls. With the final eviction of its last 60 residents early in the morning of 21st October, this port town might now claim itself ‘free’ from the perceived nuisances of such embarrassingly close proximity to the continuing humanitarian crisis.
         But out of sight is not out of mind. These residents, along with the 435 refugees that have arrived in the last 72 hours now find themselves crammed into Vial Camp, the governmental, army-run facility 10 kilometres away. Hidden in the mountains, access is controlled and most NGOs are not permitted to enter. With an intended capacity of 1100, Vial Camp currently contains close to 2000 asylum-seekers. Recently, video footage shared by Chios Solidarity exposed the horrendous conditions of the camp. You can watch it here.
       Earlier this week, one young woman gave birth. With no ambulance available, she delivered her baby on the floor of her tent, without any medical aid or attention.
         But in Moria Camp, Lesvos, and in Vathy, Samos, the situations are even worse. On these islands, such were the abominable conditions that the Greek government this week announced plans to transport 2000 of the most vulnerable asylum-seekers on Lesvos and Samos to the mainland. This mass movement of people is a much-needed step in the right direction.
       Since the EU-Turkey deal of March 2016, the Aegean islands have been prisons for the thousands trying to reach Europe. These prisons witness suicides, riots, mental health crises and a fundamental retraction of basic human rights. Last winter, efforts to ‘winterise’ the camps failed systematically, with young and old dying from hypothermia in the camps. As winter approaches once again, last Sunday, the body of a 5-year-old girl was found in Moria Camp, Lesvos. She died from underlying medical conditions aggravated by the cold, the damp, and the denial of access to the medical attention that was the very reason her family came to Europe.
        As the weather turns, over 100 solidarity groups and NGOs on the Aegean islands have signed an open letter calling upon the Greek government of Alexis Tsipras to take steps, transparently and immediately, to avoid a repeat of last year’s horrific winter conditions. The campaign #opentheislands is signed by a powerful force of actors across Europe who have worked to fill the gaps left by governments and the EU.
       As I walk around the town of Chios, streets, sidewalks and cafes that have been the haunts of asylum-seekers for many months are rediscovered by Greek locals. Today, old men shuffled back into the plastic chairs outside the bus station on the port, opening backgammon boards hidden away whilst refugees spent the day in the cafe’s inexpensive shade.
       But the new lease of life this town might feel at having Souda Camp finally closed comes at a great cost to those suffering in the mountains a short drive away.
       Meanwhile, vast swathes of UNHCR canvas have appeared in Vial Camp as its newest residents fight for room. Around me, shocked volunteers cry, ‘How can this be happening in Europe?’ We have sold ourselves a lie. This is the reality. It is this frayed border of Europe that reveals the truth. #ThisIsEurope.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Real Question, Why Do Millions Migrate?

       That babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, at the moment is focusing on the migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, showing the “compassionate” West, saving thousands from drowning. Of course their “compassion” was more or less forced on to them by the shear numbers of deaths happening in that area, bodies washing up on the beach could be bad for tourism. But no focus on why there are so many trying to get out of Africa, and the part that the “compassionate” West played in that part of the problem. Not much research on why anybody would up-root themselves and risk their life to go to another country. Nor do we get much information of the conditions of those “rescued” migrants herded into camps in Greece and Italy.

      However, the Mediterranean isn't the only area where migrants are penned in and herded like cattle. Australia has a brutal system of dealing with migrants. Some of the figures coming from that, supposedly “good natured” land are just as shocking or more so than those in Greece.

       There have been 1,969+ deaths of asylum seekers associated with Australian border control between 2000 and October 2014. There are 7,784 people in immigration detention facilities as of December 31, 2014, of that number 2,111 are children. 50%+ of detained asylum seekers suffer significant depression, anxiety and stress. Rather than integrate asylum seekers in that vast land, during 2014 the Australian government spent over $1 billion on off shore detention. Crazy economics based on racism.
       States never want free movement of people, that makes things too difficult to control. Nor do they want integration, that may dilute their call to patriotism, when they decide to go and take a junk of some our state's turf. We know the problems, isn't it time we sorted them out?

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Asylum Seeker Prizes.

      If you bribe government officials to come up with the decision you want, I imagine you would end up on some charge, like perverting the course of justice, or corruption, or bribing a public official. But what if it is the government department that is doing the bribing? I have no doubt it would be re-classified as incentivising staff or improving their conditions. Well that is what is going on with those officers who job it is to assess whether asylum seekers should be sent home.

This from Socialism or Your Money Back:

       Home Office officials are being rewarded with shopping vouchers for helping to ensure failed asylum seekers lose their attempt to stay in the country. Official guidance obtained by the Guardian shows that immigration staff have been set a target of winning 70% of tribunal cases in which asylum seekers are appealing against government decisions that they should leave the UK. These officers are also incentivised by Home Office reward schemes involving gift vouchers, cash bonuses and extra holidays.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Stop Mass Expulsions.

URGENT ACTION APPEAL.
Stop the mass expulsion of Nigerians 

 

     Man who needs kidney dialysis is due to be put on charter flight to Nigeria tomorrow. Benjamin [not his real name] has End Stage Kidney Disease and has been told that his medication cannot control the symptoms of anaemia and hypertension that he has without dialysis. Without medication he is in real danger that he could suffer a stroke. Dialysis could potentially pro-long his life for 30 years, without dialysis, Benjamin has been told he will die soon.
       Benjamin only discovered his medical condition after he arrived in the UK and although his first asylum case was refused his was detained after he made a fresh submission. The Home Office (despite giving him Section 4 support on the basis of his fresh submission) claim to have no record of him submitting new evidence.
      Kidney dialysis is only available at private medical clinics in Nigeria. Renal failure ranks high among killer illnesses in Nigeria, but unlike malaria and HIV/AIDS, it is ignored. Cost of treating the ailment is high. Nigeria has only 75 neurologists and about 50 functional dialysis centres and it has been estimated that at least 32 million Nigerians had chronic renal illnesses

Stop this Charter flight to Nigeria: 

22.20hrs Tuesday 17 December 2013
      Nigerian man Isa Muazu who recently was on hunger strike for over 100 days has been given fresh removal directions for Tuesday 17th December. This will be the third attempt to remove Isa from the UK after the Home Office spent up to £108,000 chartering a private jet two weeks ago in a failed attempt to fly him back to Nigeria. The Home Office have given him fresh removal directions and are now going to try to return him on a mass charter flight as part of a regular Home Office exercise called Operation Majestic.
     We are currently waiting for the determination from Isas recent application to the Upper Tribunal which is due to be given at 10am tomorrow morning giving his lawyer only 12 hours to fight the decision. As well as Benjamin and Isa, Unity are in contact with at least another 6 people who the Home Office are trying to put on the same flight. We urgently need you to take action to try and stop this charter flight by faxing and calling the Nigerian High Commission, Nick Clegg and Theresa May

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Call the Nigerian High Commission
      We are calling for anyone who can to call the Nigerian High Commission and urge them to try to stop the current charter flight. Recently Nigeria has refused planes to land because the proper procedure has not been followed phoning, faxing and emailing them can work.
     Please call the number below and let them know of your concern for many of the individuals on this flight and urge them that they do not have to be party to this inhumane method of mass exportation.

Nigerian High Commission
Phone: 0207 839 1244 extension 277, alternatively just press 0 during the main menu of options.
Fax: 020 7839 8746
Or online message http://www.nigeriahc.org.uk/enquiries
http://www.nigeriahc.org.uk/enquiries

Or contact Mr T.G. Adenyi Minister / Special Assistant to the High Commissioner 0207 839 1244 Ext 205 or email adeniyi@nigeriahc.org.uk mailto:adeniyi@nigeriahc.org.uk
Or Mrs J.C. Ejere Administrative Attache TEL: 0207 8391244 Ext 298
ejere@nigeriahc.org.uk  mailto:ejere@nigeriahc.org.uk

2. Lobby Theresa May
      Please contact Home Secretary Theresa May to let her know this degrading mistreatment of people cannot go on.
Rt Hon Theresa May MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Fax: 020 8760 3132 (00 44 20 8760 3132 if you are faxing from outside UK
Email: UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
https://newyear.aktivix.org/horde3/imp/message.php?mailbox=INBOX&index=5555
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
https://newyear.aktivix.org/horde3/imp/message.php?mailbox=INBOX&index=5555
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
https://newyear.aktivix.org/horde3/imp/message.php?mailbox=INBOX&index=5555

3. Also ask Nick Clegg what he thinks about mass expulsions
Parliamentary office: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Tel: 020 7219 3000 mailto:nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk
nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk
Constituency Office: 85 Nethergreen Road, Sheffield, S11 7EH Tel: 0114 230 9002
Fax: 0114 230 9614 mailto:nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk
nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk
Departmental Office: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2AS
Tel: 020 7276 1234 mailto:publiccorrespondence@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk
publiccorrespondence@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Unity Appeal On Behave of Destitute Asylum Seekers.

 

 Night Shelter Winter Appeal

       Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers has been providing a vital front-line service for destitute asylum seekers and other migrants in Glasgow for the last two years. From 8pm to 8am, every night, our volunteers provide somewhere warm and safe for migrants, who, because they’re prohibited from working or claiming any benefits, have been refused access to normal homeless services in the city.
       With the winter holiday season upon us the night shelter needs extra help to cover our volunteer rota as well as during the day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when we’ll be running a special, holiday, drop in so the men staying at the shelter have somewhere to come to during the daytime when everything else is shut.
       We’re also appealing for warm clothes, especially thermal vests and long-johns, boxer shorts, shoes, coats, hats, scarves and gloves. Please support the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers!

1.Donate your time:

     We need volunteers to cover gaps in the rota over the holiday period while other volunteers are away and we especially need help during the day on the 25^th and 26^th December and on 1st January from 10am – 7pm at the special holiday drop in. If you wish to volunteer ring
07929852264 or email glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

2.Donate some clothing or food:

       Many of the men staying at the shelter need warm clothing. If you can, please buy some new thermal underwear or boxer shorts or warm socks next time you go shopping. And we are also asking for warm, waterproof coats, hats and gloves and good shoes if you have any that you can donate. Or donate some food – our weekly shopping bill is huge! Tins of tomatoes, kidney beans, tuna, sweetcorn or chickpeas, or bags of lentils or rice or fresh vegetables such as onions, peppers or potatoes or fresh fruit are always welcome! But perhaps you may also wish to donate something special for the winter holiday period?
Clothing and food can be donated via The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ which is open Mondays to Fridays from 10.30 to 6pm or at one of the Unity in the Community charity shops located at either 371 Paisley Road West G51 1LX or 70 Shaw Street, G51 3BL which are open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am – 5.30pm.

3.Donate financially:

      Every month we need to pay utility bills and for food. Your financial support will help go towards the running costs of the shelter as well as enable us to give out small amounts of cash to help the men staying at the shelter with bus passes, etc. To donate financially you can send a cheque made out to the “Glasgow Destitute Asylum Seeker Night Drop In” to the Glasgow Night Shelter c/o The Unity Centre, 30 Ibrox Street, Glasgow G51 1AQ or directly at any Lloyds TSB branch, by paying your donation into Account Number:
75140563, Sort Code: 87-37-51.

More information about the night shelter:

     With their insecure immigration status many destitute asylum seekers shy away from charities and agencies in case they get into trouble with the authorities. Support for this group of people is very restricted as they are not allowed any recourse to public funds and many charities offer only limited support. Two years ago, some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network set up a temporary winter shelter for destitute asylum seekers. During this project, the charity, Unity in the Community, set up by the Unity Centre, took on responsibility for running the shelter for three nights a week. The night shelter had such a positive impact on the lives of the people staying at it that it was decided to make it a permanent project based in a church hall in the west end of the city.
      Since then the night shelter has provided a safe, warm, welcoming, space for destitute asylums seekers to stay overnight where they can get a hot meal, and can feel secure. During that time over 100 people have volunteered at the shelter either spending a few hours in the evening talking with the men staying there helping them with any problems they may have or staying overnight in the shelter helping prepare the evening meal or getting everything cleared up and packed away in the morning.
        The night shelter now hosts up to 15 men a night and we aim to open a separate women’s shelter in the New Year. The accommodation is pretty basic. Each man is issued with a sleeping bag, pillow, duvet and camping mattress. They sleep on the floor of a gym in the church hall. During the evening while they wait for the meal to be prepared, the men staying at the shelter sit, talk, play games and watch DVDs in the shelter’s TV room.
        The Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers was set up by some members of the Glasgow Destitution Network and is now a completely independent organisation in its own right, separate from the Glasgow Destitution Network and we aim to secure charitable status in the very
near future.
     To contact the Glasgow Night Shelter for Destitute Asylum Seekers please contact the co-ordinator on 07929852264 or email
glasgownightshelter@gmail.com mailto:glasgownightshelter@gmail.com

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk