FRFI 202 April / May 2008
Defend asylum seekers!
In Manchester the North West Asylum Seekers Defence Group (NWASDG) has held a number of recent events including a well-attended organising meeting and a street theatre event where the lies told by the mainstream media about asylum seekers were exposed. On 22 March a street event in Longsight attracted support from many different communities including Iranian, Turkish, Somali and Kosovan. In London FRFI members have supported the struggle of the Harmondsworth Four for justice (see p16 for details) and have continued the monthly demonstrations of Communications House, the reporting centre for asylum seekers.
In Newcastle the Tyneside Community Action for Refugees (TCAR) has been working with asylum seekers to fight against discrimination and deportations. Already TCAR has forged enduring links between asylum seekers, refugees, British activists and local people who have signed the Pledge of Resistance against dawn raids in their local area.
A conference in June has been planned to bring together a wide range of groups and individuals, united in their opposition to racism. It will enable us to exchange knowledge and experiences about different forms of racism and allow us to start building links to strengthen the anti-racist movement. However, the conference can only happen with wider support. TCAR invites all groups and individuals interested in helping organise the conference to join a Conference Organising Group. We encourage anyone interested in getting involved to attend the first meeting (see events for details).
Stop the war!
On 15 March FRFI activists joined the Stop the War demonstrations around the country to mark the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the US and British forces. At the main march in London our loud anti-imperialist contingent was joined by Turkish communists from the MLKP and Congolese activists. In Manchester a protest was organised under the slogans, ‘Troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Kurdistan!’, ‘Israel out of Palestine!’ Supporters brought megaphones, banners, displays and drums, making the demo a highly visible show of solidarity with the oppressed people resisting imperialism in the Middle East. Activists in Scotland also joined the national Stop the War demonstration in Glasgow.
Defend the right to protest
The Dundee Heathfield Arrest Campaign has achieved one of its demands in that the charges of disorderly conduct have been dropped against Michael, an FRFI comrade arrested violently at the end of November 2007 (see FRFI 200). Video of the latter part of the arrest is available on You Tube under ‘Dundee Arrest’. It shows Michael face down while two officers of the Tayside police forcibly handcuff him for handing out leaflets and distributing FRFI.
The main demand of the campaign now is to secure official CCTV footage of the assault. This has been confirmed as being in the possession of the police. The procurator fiscal, responsible for prosecutions in Scotland has stated in a letter: ‘The conduct which led to your arrest did not amount to a crime under Scottish law.’ The campaign called a city centre rally on 22 March to demand the CCTV footage and for justice and the defence of democratic rights. The rally was supported by FRFI activists from Glasgow and Dundee as well as members of the Scottish Socialist Party, Solidarity and the Socialist Workers Party. The campaign has also received the support of Michael’s union branch at the Annual General Meeting of Dundee City Unison.
Newcastle city council are trying to prosecute four activists charged with participating in an unlicensed collection at an anti-deportation street event on 7 May 2007. A Freedom of Information Act request made by one of the defendants returned four documents relating to correspondence between the council and police regarding the prosecution, including handwritten notes of a telephone conversation apparently initiated by police on 3 May 2007, four days before the events the prosecution relates to. Sections of emails between the council and police were blanked out. Against opposition from council lawyers, the defendants have had the case postponed until 19 May to allow an application to the court for the full release of the documents. Despite many elected councillors expressing surprise that the prosecution is taking place, an application to submit a petition to the full meeting of the council on 5 March was refused on the grounds that it may prejudice the prosecution of the case. A lively demonstration took place outside the council meeting, attended by FRFI and other supporters of the newly formed Whose Streets? campaign. Other groups and individuals are urgently needed to join the campaign and to organise with us against these attacks which threaten all grassroots activists on Tyneside. The campaign can be contacted at: [email protected]
Get active in the urgent work of building an anti-imperialist movement here in Britain by joining with us at our meetings and demonstrations over the next two months. See Events for details.
