Demonstrating on 'private property'
No Borders banner
Asylum is not a crime
North West Asylum Seekers Defence Group
Razor wire
Local bigots spew their bile
Rattling the fences
Demonstrators and placards
Local bigots (in uniform this time)
'Proud to be British' blah blah blah
Speaker and candles
Speaker 2
Ignoring police pleas that we assemble at the main gate (far away from where the detainees are housed), we headed to another section of the fence, right next to their cells. It was wonderful to hear those inside cheering and chanting at our presence. Unfortunately not everyone was thrilled by our presence. A small group of racist local people came out to shout nationalist crap and have the police move us from 'their property' (an area of grass by the fence). They stayed there the whole time shouting insults, even during prayers for those who'd died in immigration centres.
After some great singing and dancing by some of the Africans, many speakers from refugee communities and groups such as Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) expressed their feelings about the situation of refugees in the UK, and made clear the links between the actions of the British state and the creation of refugee populations. Candles were lit and passed arond and people from different communities led prayers for the 221* people who have died in detention centres.
Today was a great chance to show our solidarity with migrants who are incarcerated by the state just because they cross borders without it's approval, and to mourn the loss of those who die or take their own lives as a result of this abuse.
* 221 was the figure given by speakers. A 2004 report listed 49 migrants who had committed suicide in the UK (
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/resources/selfharm.html). An older (2000) report listed 2063 immigrant deaths associated with "Fortress Europe", the heavily policed borders of the EU ( http://struggle.ws/ws/2000/fortress60.html).
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Hide the following 12 comments
Back to reality...
29.10.2007 09:30
To everyone else capable of thinking, the end result of unregulated immigration into the UK has been well documented: loss of countryside due to thousands more houses and roads etc; higher crime rates; inner city estates turned into run down waste-lands; increased fear on the part of the elderly to walk the streets; diminished rates of pay for unskilled work as immigrants take away work that could be done by UK citizens; less money going to help the poor, sick and needy of our own country; a reduced sense of community as increasingly people feel isolated and alienated in their own country of birth; and, ironically, increased racial disharmony.
I have no dislike for anybody of any race, but allowing unlimited numbers of people onto this small island will only create future problems on an unimaginable scale, with no discernible benefits.
I wonder whether you people are living in a constant dream world. For God's sake wake up!
Steve
beware of BNP trolls!
29.10.2007 11:05
"I have no dislike for anybody of any race" sounds a lot like 'I'm not a racist, but...' which will also be familiar to anyone who's come across these bigots before.
steve's probably just pissed off there isn't anything worth posting on redwatch from this article
troll hunter
definitely racists
29.10.2007 14:58
:)
pete
Ignorant kids should be educated
31.10.2007 15:29
Ishmael Bush
e-mail:
naturalenquirer@btinternet.com
Screws will be screws
31.10.2007 17:06
For a discussion on the role of prison officers see:
Reds
Posting pictures of kids is SICK
31.10.2007 17:56
Ishmael Bush
e-mail:
naturalenquirer@btinternet.com
steve is right
01.11.2007 09:30
auldie reekie
Trolls, trolls, trolls
01.11.2007 11:08
"It's one thing to post the faces of nazis on the internet - fair's fair, they have Redwatch. But this is just sick."
They weren't posted with the intention that those 'middle class reds' go out and hunt them down, so the comparison with Redwatch is false. They were posted as part of a report of an event. They were making a very public statement, in the knowledge that cameras were snapping away and did not request not to be photographed.
"These are working class kids who don't know any better... but they're also people who can be reached and educated."
For a start, there was only one person who could technically be called a kid, and she was certainly old enough to be considered an adult in terms of responsibilities in my book. It's also hard to reach and educate someone who is standing behind police constantly shouting racist abuse at people. Still, people did try to engage with those shouting. Nevertheless, they were probably just "middle class politicos" who doesn't have Ishmael's magical powers of understanding.
"Calling me a troll won't wash, I've been an active anti-fascist for twenty years"
What kind of anti-fascist gets more worked up about photos of racists being posted on the internet than the detention and deportation of thousands of people based on their nationality?
"reds are totally different, they're parasitic scum who call the working class 'chavs' whilst acting against them"
No one except Ishmael mentioned the word chav in this thread. He also referred to the racists as "typical McDonuts".
auldie reekie said:
"i agree with every word steve said in the earlier posting"
That's because you are steve.
Back in your hole!
iam "NOT" steve
01.11.2007 12:09
auldie reekie
Missing the point
02.11.2007 10:50
I am not more worked up about one subject than the other. The fact is that the 6th photo in this collection looks like kids and using THAT photo along with THAT caption (and justifying its use by saying they're the kids of screws) makes the posters of this report look as fascistic as those that they're trying to condemn. 'Mc Donuts' relates to a body shape that is a plague among kids who have been raised with hyper-individualist mores (middle class media, middle class marketing and middle class education induced hyper-individualistic mores) - this is what I meant when I tried to point out that kids like that are not lost causes and deserve to be educated. In fact things will only get better if we attempt to change THEIR hearts and minds.
Ishmael Bush
e-mail:
naturalenquirer@btinternet.com
working class..with two cars and a private estate! come off it
02.11.2007 16:03
My politics is live and kicking thanks. Perhaps because it involves analysing and challenging reality, not insulting the working class along with non working-class activists and all overweight people.
Unless you are trying to say that all overweight people are working class, your argument makes no sense. Where I live we have yards, not gardens. Most of us get the bus, we don't have multiple cars parked outside our garage extensions. And the street is the street, not our private property. Being young is not an excuse for being a racist.
Reds
kids?
03.11.2007 11:29
also, i think they are military families from when this used to be a military base.
and they were totally full of racist bile so I have no sympathy for them.
and...
you can't make out who they are from the pictures (obviously!) so there's nothing wrong with having posted them up.
and...
even if you could make out who they are no one's going to go around and hassle them because no one ever does that.
and...
even though you can't make out who they are, everyone knows where they live anyway.
so,
what's your point?
pete