Migrants, Border News.

 

       Border News, an excellent site for information about migrants fleeing the imperialist created hell-hole that is the Middle East, when they reach the flash-points on the borders of fortress Europe. While the EU flounders around trying to appear at being humane, states across the fortress are continually slipping in tighter controls on the movement of people. From Germany to Sweden, Turkey to Spain, the states are turning the screw on freedom of movement. Of course once the controls are in place, it will be almost impossible to remove them, at least under the present system of authoritarian state control.

From Border News:

General News

German Chancellor Merkel promises a “sensitive reduction” to the flow of refugees in Germany. Germany has reached one million claims for asylum so far this year.

Turkey is returning refugees to war zones. Since making a deal with the EU in September, Syrians are being arbitrarily detained in Turkish detention centres and sometimes forced to sign declarations of “voluntary return” to Syria.

The European Commission announces plans for a European Border and Coast Guard, proposed ‘targeted’ changes to the Schengen Agreement and plans to introduce a special travel document to make it easier for EU countries to return ‘irregular migrants’ to their countries of origin.

17th Dec – Sweden decides to introduce ID checks on all modes of public transport to Sweden, beginning January, 4 2016, including all ferries, trains and buses.

Turkey / Greece

Attempts to cross the Aegean Sea are on a constant high despite seasonal weather conditions. About 25,000 people arrive in Greece per week, as more and more sea crossings turn into fatal accidents.

Alarm Phone demands immediate transfer of all refugees stranded on the Greek military island Farmakonisi – Travellers stuck on the Greek military island face inhumane conditions

14th Dec – Alarm Phone documented, but not prevent a pushback at the Greek-Turkish land border close to Lavara. Four cases of travellers stranded on Greek islands (Kalolimnos, Kastellorizo, Farmakonisi and Strongyli). Travellers on Kalolimnos reportedly suffered police violence.

15th Dec – About 120 people stuck on Farmakonisi without food, water or medical assistance. Five boats in distress near Chios. In one case travellers report that masked men attacked them.

15th Dec – Three bodies recovered after a new shipwreck in the Aegean. 17 survivors, 3 missing.

16th Dec – About 400 people stranded on Farmakonisi. Some wait more than 4 days for transfer to Leros. On Farmakonisi, stranded travellers again left without food, water, medical assistance and shelter from the cold. Some travellers picked up, some left on the island, while others keep arriving.

16th Dec – Lifeless bodies of two Iraqi children found by fishermen on the coast of Çesme, Turkey.

16th Dec – A little girl and a man dead in another shipwreck near Lesvos island.

18th Dec – Eight people, including five children die on International Migrants Day, attempting to cross the Aegean Sea to Greek islands. Four people were Syrian nationals and four from Iraq.

18th Dec – Another shipwreck near Bodrum: 4 dead, 4 survivors

19th Dec – New shipwreck in the Aegean – 18 drowned migrants

19th Dec – 1.5 years-old girl dies in a shipwreck near Oinousses island.

20th Dec – A boat in urgent distress near the Turkish coast is rescued by the Turkish Coastguard, but two children later die in a Turkish hospital.

20th Dec – Two dead migrants near Ikaria island.

22nd Dec – Turkish coast police reports 11 refugees drowned off Kuşadası shores.

23rd Dec – 13 people dead in the Aegean, among them 7 children

24th Dec – New shipwreck with 18 dead migrants.

More details on Calais/UK, Morocco/Spanish Border:

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

No Nations, No Borders.

      That babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media, fed by xenophobic politicians, is raising to a crescendo the ant-migrant chorus. They talk of our cities being swamped, by swarms and dangerous hordes, all hell bent on stealing our jobs and destroying our "Britishness". They refuse to see human beings trying desperately to flee from death and destruction, their answer is to herd them into corrals like cattle and call for more controls, higher fences more police and troops. Nor will they face the fact that the migrant "problem" stems from the foreign policy of Western imperialism in the area from which the migrants come. Their mind set seems to be that they can bomb countries back to the stone age, bolster religious nutters and psychopathic warlords, turning the ruined cities into bloody battlefields, and then expect the ordinary people to stay there and suffer everything from deprivation to death. We all strive for a better life, but we the ordinary people will only find that through co-operation and solidarity with all those involved in that struggle. Our enemy is not those desperately fighting for that better life, our enemy is the state apparatus and its imperialism that creates all that which we are fighting against.

Note from Rabble: It seems barely a day goes by that we can avoid the fascistic anti-migrant bullshit in the press. The time is now. We have to start seriously preparing for rising xenophobia and more movement of people as multiple crises converge. This means: zero-tolerance for anti-migrant snatch squads, countering the propaganda on the streets, and building strong transnational solidarity.

       If you want to support the struggle in Calais but would like a better understanding of what’s really going on, get yourself down to one of these upcoming infonights.

       The latest news from Calais: More than 4000 people, stuck in a camp they didn’t choose to be in, desperately trying to find ways to cross to the UK, with 11 people dying so far since June. The government’s response: more controls. The media’s response: fear mongering at the ‘criminal gangs intimidating truck drivers’. Our response: solidarity.

      We are a bunch of people who have been involved in Calais Migrant Solidarity and have recently returned from Calais. During August we will be travelling around the UK talking about Calais and how to get involved there.

Confirmed dates so far:

LARC, London – Saturday 15th Aug @ 1:30pm

Cowley Club Brighton – Sunday 16th August @ 4pm

Next to Nowhere, Liverpool – 19th August at 7pm

1 in 12 Club Bradford – Thursday 20th August @ 6pm

Earth 1st Summer Gathering – Sunday 23rd August

Glasgow (TBC)

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

Let Sleeping Horses Lie.

         First run out on the bike since getting out of hospital. Delighted the legs still worked, well kind of worked. This means that you get another opportunity to see a another wee bit of our beautiful country.

Near Glasgow.

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

UK Border Problems.

       Summer holidays coming up, off to somewhere sunny , somewhere exciting, visiting friends abroad, what ever the reason for your little excursion abroad, Bristol Defendant Solidarity have some good advice.

      Bristol Defendant Solidarity have published some important advice for activists travelling to/from the UK on our blog.
We have recently supported a number of people stopped and questioned at airports under “Schedule 7”, many of whom did not know their rights. As such we would be grateful if you would share this with your members, and any contacts you have – especially international contacts – so that the information can become more widely known.
      Police in the UK are allowed to question anyone entering/leaving the country about “terrorism” – without the right to silence. We have spoken to a number of anarchists who have been questioned under these powers, known as “Schedule 7”. Because of a lack of information on the law, most of those stopped have given more information than they had to. This includes people from outside of the UK who have not even heard of “Schedule 7” before. For this reason, we strongly recommend any activists travelling to/from the UK read our briefing beforehand.
       If you have been questioned under “Schedule 7”, please contact the Network for Police Monitoring, so they can keep track of how the police are using this power. Email: info@netpol.org

 

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

 

One World, One People.

     

       As Bullingdon boy Cameron, beefs up his anti-immigrant  rhetoric, to satisfy the racist element in his Oxbridge cabal, it's good to see that the people on the street tell him where to shove his xenophobic ideology.
This from Rabble:

      This video going round the internet shows a day earlier this month when 2 vans of Home Office immigration thugs arrived at Peckham market, South East London. They started going into shops and asking people for names and immigration details. An angry crowd gathered shouting at them and they were forced to retreat, get back into their vans and fuck off.
We haven’t seen a full write up of this event as yet. But we know that these raids happen frequently in Peckham and in other black and migrant areas. And this is not the first time that they have been resisted and chased off.
We repost below an article from Antiraids network which gives a bit more background on what is happening with immigration raids in London recently, as the government announces an escalation in its attacks on migrants.

People in Peckham sent Immigration officers packing. First time in History. Power to the people. "Bad market" for David Cameron ' s squads.But watchout for their 2nd coming, it will be brutal. Question: in your own opinion, which you are entitled to, was it right to obstruct the immigration officers from carrying on their duty?.
Posted by Djali Journalist on Friday, 22 May 2015

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

Are We Civilised?

How civilised Europe treats immigrants.

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Death At Yarl's Wood.

      The UK, a country that proclaims to be a democracy, yet has detention centres jammed full of migrants who are treated as less than human. No human is illegal, we are all citizens of this earth, yet we allow these unfortunate people to be caged like animals. People who in many cases are fleeing war, persecution and death, and all we can do is lock them up. Others are detained on the arbitrary decision of some officious pumped up uniform.

A special call-out for solidarity from The Unity Centre:

EMERGENCY DEMO End Detention Set Them Free.

Thursday, 22 April at 12:00pm - 2:00pm

Festival Court, 200 Brand St, G51 1DH (turn left out of Cessnock Underground)

      Enough is enough, no more DEAD in detention. Calling out all our supporters to join us to protest for the death of Pinakin Patel in Yarl's Wood's family unit (Hummingbird) that happened yesterday (20/04/15)
     The demo will be at Glasgow Immigration Reporting Centre, during lunch break so people can join us. This is nation wide emergency as deaths keep on happening due to lack of adequate medical care and an abusive immigration system that keeps criminalizing migrants.

Feel free to bring placards and musical instruments or similar

Info on Pinakin Patel
      Two months ago Mr Patel and his wife, Bhavisha Ben Patel, came to Britain from India lawfully, on visitors visas. Immigration officers simply decided not to believe that Mr & Mrs Patel were genuine visitors, even though they have an 8 year old son in India. They were sent straight from the airport to Yarl’sWood, where they have been ever since. Two day ago the Movement for Justice demonstrated at Yarl’s Wood and women gathered at the windows, waving and joining the shouts and chants to shut down Yarl’s Wood and end detention. Today Yarl’s Wood women are angry. They know that, like so many others, the Patels were victims of Britain’s arbitrary, racist immigration controls and immigrant-bashing policies.
      They saw police, forensics and an ambulance come into the centre while Hummingbird detainees were shut in their unit; Indian women were angry that they could not speak to Mrs Patel because her phone was taken from her and she was confined to a room. They all know the Home Office &
Serco are preparing a cover-up. Far too many people have died in immigration detention just as far too many have been allowed to drown in the Mediterranean. We are building the movement to tear down this barbaric Europe-wide racist policy.

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY!
LOVE AND SOLIDARITY

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

Solidarity Has No Borders.

     Some facts and figures that don't get much, if any cover, from our babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media. Since 2007 there have been 1,644 attempted suicides within the walls of the UK detention centres, on top of that since 2000, there have been 19 deaths in those same detention centres. Those figures alone tell you that there is something rotten at the heart of the UK immigration detention system.

     So it comes as no surprise that there is trouble at Hamondsworth detention centre. Treat humans in an inhumane manner, and sooner or later there will be an explosion, people will only take so much. We must remember, solidarity has no borders.

This from Rabble:

Updates:
Resistance continues today at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook.Over 70 people detained have gathered in the courtyard to continue the protest.

Outside at 9am a group of people made a solidarity demonstration in support of the protests. They could hear people shouting ‘Freedom’ and ‘No Food’. The police were called to the protest and one person was pushed aggressively.

Guards and centre managers are asking detainees to go to their rooms and come to talk to the managers one-by-one or in pairs. Detainees have refused and ask the management/staff to come and listen to them in the yard.

Latest statements/testimonies from people inside today: Things are not right here:
https://detainedvoices.wordpress.com/

The detainees demands are as follows:
An end to:

• indefinite deprivation of liberty and human rights
• the use of “Detained Fast Track”
• bias and incompetence in case-handling by the Home Office
• unlawful forced removals
• stressful and degrading conditions which they describe as “mental torture” and which lead many to self-harm
• overcrowded accommodation “comparable to animal cages”
• refusals to return those who want to go back to their countries of origin

One person detained said today:
‘The protesters outside are really the energy for us’

Take action! Join the resistance!  A small group of people can make a lot of noise if they try outside the detention centres at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook! People are gathered in the courtyard and ask for us to go by and support.

For updates follow @AntiRaids or @followMFJ  or @detainedvoices

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

 

No Thanks!!

        Have you ever heard of the "Land of The Free"? That's the euphemism for America, a country where it seems that you have checkpoints in the strangest of places. From this video I got the impression that it would be like here in the UK having checkpoints when travelling between Dumbartonshire and Stirlingshire. At least some people are standing up against what has all the hallmarks of a military dictatorship. More steam to their elbow.

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

Police And The Abuse Of Power.

     Scotland has a population of approximately 5 million, yet the Scottish police managed to carry out more than half a million stop and searches in eight months of 2013. Are they working hard to make sure they stop and search the entire population? Surely this number and nature of stop and searches can't be acceptable. We are already spied upon by an array of CCTV cameras in every street in every city, in pubs, buses, supermarkets, etc. and we have recently felt the horror of being spied on from the sky when it suddenly goes dreadfully wrong. We have to put an end to this snooping, spying, constant surveillance type of society. We are bring up a generation that will see it as normal to be scrutinised at every turn, to accept that privacy is a thing of the past. Everybody has the right to the dignity of privacy, and this can only be encroached on when there is "evidence" of wrong doing.

 Stop and Search in Scotland is an abuse of power

SACC Press Release

 

     Scottish police are conducting extra-legal stop and searches that have been banned in England and Wales and potentially violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The Scottish Government should ensure that police stay within the law and that people in Scotland have at least the same rights and protections as people south of the border. 

     SACC is alarmed by figures released by Scottish Police last week, which show that they carried out more than half a million stop and searches between April and December 2013. Worse still, police say that 70% of these stop and searches were not carried out under the statutory powers available to them. They claim that in these cases they had the "consent" of the people involved and therefore did not need statutory authority.

We would welcome any legal challenge brought by victims of non-statutory stop and searches, and we would like to see the public putting more pressure on the Scottish Government to bring stop and search in Scotland under proper legal control, as it is in England and Wales...

Read the full statement

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

 

International Migrants Day.

   Today, December 18 is International Migrants Day. While this date is recognised as such, the UK state still works hard at stopping migrants from entering the country and does its best to deport as many as possible, as individuals and in large groups, unless of course they happen to be very rich.

     So today we should spare a thought to those individuals who have left, and in lots of cases, fled from their home county, friends and families and find themselves now among strangers and fighting the British state for the right to live as a free human being.

 From Popular Resistance:

     International Migrants Day 2013 is a day to recognize and celebrate the millions of people around the world who have left their homeland in search of a better future or a new opportunity. First proclaimed by the United Nations in 2000, December 18th invites countries to celebrate International Migrants Day “through the dissemination of information …and through the sharing of experiences and the design of actions to ensure their protection.” In this spirit, based on the latest Pew Research study, Latin Times has compiled  7 Facts And Statistics About Migrants In 2013.

Read the full article HERE:

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

No Borders, One World.

One world, no borders. Enjoy;

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

We Will Remain Ungovernable.

      It is strange, when you get your info from that babbling brook of bullshit, the main stream media, the Australian election is all about the egos of the main party leaders and the crap they spout. All that appears to be happening is these party leaders slag each other off, and call it electioneering. However, there are other views to this election, and it is only right that their voice should be heard.

This from Anarchist News:

We will remain ungovernable

Fri, 09/06/2013 - 22:48 -- Anonymous (not verified)

      The current border policies of the ruling elite are cruel, oppressive, revanchist. Over the course of the elction campaign we have vandalised the electorate offices of Kelvin Thomson, Martin Ferguson, Josh Frydenberg, Anna Bourke, Brendan O'Connor, Simon Crean, Mark Dreyfus, Kelly O'Dwyer, Mike Symon and Andrew Robb; they are complicit.

     The politicians and bosses have driven wedges between us, trying to convince us there is an enemy in people from across the sea. The real enemy, of course, is those who seek to rule us. Our sisters and brothers, the 'boat people', have been asking for our solidarity for years. They have petitioned, protested, hunger-striked, self-harmed and suicided. But help has not come. The only rational response left is to riot.

      We are privileged citizens in occupied land and we stand to benefit from this racist approach. But this won't do. We don't accept this reality and we never will. It doesn't matter who we are. What matters is that we resist. That we show resistance is possible. It's the right – the only – way to act in such terrible times. In doing so we hope to inspire others to break the spell of passivity, together we can turn the world upside down.

     We stand by the rioters, the 'boat people', the border-hoppers and 'illegals' in this land and throughout the world. We stand by them til all the prisons are ash and the borders finally broken.

Whoever is elected, we remain,

Ungovernable

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

The World's Largest Open-Air Prison.

         With a population of almost 1.7million people crammed into a tiny space, Gaza is becoming overcrowded and unsustainable. It's port and land-borders have been blockaded for years, disrupting essential supplies for the population and it's farmland is routinely damaged by Israeli military incursions.

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

No Human Being Is Illegal.

      An appeal from The Unity Centre Glasgow and Glasgow Destitution Network.

 

       Imagine being in a strange city in a foreign country on a cold winter's night. You can't speak the language, you have no where to stay, it's starting to rain and you don't know anyone who can help you...
What do you do?
Where do you go?

SATURDAY 29TH JUNE
St ENOCH'S SQUARE
GLASGOW
STAND UP FOR DIGNITY  

Stop Destitution!
Give us the Right to Work!
Housing is a Human Right!
Stand Up for the right to Asylum 

JUSTICE, FREEDOM & DIGNITY for ALL!

Rally & Music
12.30 St Enoch's Square
Glasgow
Supported by the Glasgow Destitution Network

        Asylum seekers come to Glasgow for safety but 90 per cent of them will have their asylum claims initially refused by the UK Border Agency. The UKBAs asylum process is seriously flawed. Asylum seekers can be reluctant to reveal personal details to officials about how theyve been attacked, raped or tortured. Many are scared to give information about their sexuality in case it is discovered by other people. Worried that translators belong to rival groups or will leak information, many hold back crucial information. Often theyve not had time to collect evidence to show theyre telling the truth.
         So most asylum seekers are not believed by immigration officials who operate in a cynical, canteen-culture of disbelief and racism against people theyre supposed to be helping. Many asylum seekers in Glasgow make two or three asylum applications before getting a positive decision. While they wait for new evidence or for lawyers to prepare judicial reviews, asylum seekers often face destitution. Instead of safety, many asylum seekers in Glasgow face sleeping rough and becoming dependent on the help of friends and charities to survive. 

         Refused asylum seekers are not allowed any recourse to public funds. All financial support is stopped and they lose their accommodation after 21 days. Once homeless, No recourse to public funds means destitute asylum seekers are blocked from government funded night shelters or hostels.
        Refused asylum seekers are left to live without any money, unable to access anything but emergency medical treatment, sleeping rough or couch-surfing until they can get a fresh asylum claim lodged. They become vulnerable to exploitation and face working illegally and crime to survive.
         Destitution is a deliberate policy used by the UK Border Agency to force asylum seekers to give up their asylum claims and return voluntarily to their countries of origin. It is a brutal, immoral policy that goes against basic human rights.

Join us on Saturday 29th June
Stand up for your rights!
Stand up for Dignity!
12.30 St Enoch's Square
GLASGOW
The UNITY Centre
30 Ibrox Street
Glasgow
G51 1AQ

0141 427 7992
http://www.unitycentreglasgow.org info@unitycentreglasgow.org

      The UNITY Centre is run entirely by volunteers and funded completely by donations from our supporters. We need your help! If you would like to help by making a donation or by volunteering you can find more details on our website. Thank you! UNITY!

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Beware, Big Brother Has Arrived.

     You walk, you pause, you look, you take a photograph, your are being watched, you are now a suspect. Your behaviour is slightly out of the normal, the cameras have picked up on this, you may be questioned, your house could be searched. This is not Orwell's 1984, this is the UK today. To stay out of "their" radar, walk at a steady pace, just look straight ahead, don't linger, stay in the centre of the pavement, be a clone of the others. Individuality, eccentricity, must be shunned if you want to retain what is left of your privacy.

     Every city in the country is littered with hi-tec cameras, backed up by extremely sophisticate software, you are possible suspects, possible criminals, you all must be watched at all times and in all circumstances. Knowing your every move makes you so much easier to be controlled.

       It can't be a free society when my every move is monitored by people I don't know, for purposes I have no knowledge of, and I have no say in that monitoring. We are indeed in the Orwellian society and most of the public are completely unaware. The cameras just sit there, morning and night, day in day out, watching analysing, trying to fit you into a pattern, marking you out if you don't fit. This Western "democracy" today.

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