Welcome to this month’s update.

On 17th of October the government published a joint Home Office and Work and Pension study on the impact the immigrants have on the UK. On my way to a meeting in Cardiff I picked up two papers which can broadly be considered to have a similar ideological leaning: the Times (Migrants in Britain - the official verdict) and the Daly Mail (Government finally admits: Immigration is placing huge strain on Britain) covering the same story (I have to admit I am not a regular reader of the later, but picked it up as it was given away for free). Reding the two papers it becomes so obvious to me how easy papers can manipulate data and findings to put their own spin on a story. I would encourage you to read the two articles and let us know what you think. The Scottish press however seemed to have a more balanced coverage of the report. See for example the Herald coverage of the story

1. Racist incidents in Scotland:

Racism alive and unwell in Scotland
The Existence of a very different national identity in Scotland and of a more progressive, left-of-centre political culture was again cited at the Seeking Asylum - A Scottish Perspective conference in Glasgow last week as a reason for a relatively lower level of racism and greater acceptance of asylum seekers than down south. But the "Jock Tamson's bairns" myth, as perpetuated during the 1970s period of radicalised workers' struggles - during the resistance to Thatcher's 1980s neo-liberal structural adjustment up to the anti-poll tax movement, and the rise of socialists in the 1990s - needs not to be taken for granted. Throughout that time racism lived, breathed and thrived - from the casual racism of being called names in the streets to increasing physical racial attacks.
Sunday Herald

Khan claims son is victim of 'police racism'
Former city councillor Shami Khan accused police of being "institutionally racist" after his son was sentenced to 300 hours community service for an attack with an iron bar.
Scotsman 

Racist abuse is common among immigrants
Immigrant children in Glasgow suffer racist abuse and bullying from each other as well as from others, according to new research. Children from asylum-seeking and refugee families find schools are safer places to avoid bullying, but outside schools - particularly in the city centre and on buses and trains - they face verbal abuse. Much of this goes unreported for fear of reprisals.
Herald

2. Developments, Reports and Investigations

Outdoor plan aims to give breath of fresh air to ethnic minorities
Its residents' minority language may be Doric, but Scotland's largest national park is set to turn to Urdu and Punjabi. The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has set out to encourage people from ethnic minority communities to visit the great outdoors.
Scotland on Sunday

Ethnic kids in different class with their results
Pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds out-perform white Glasgow youngsters in exams. A report shows Indian, Chinese, Pakistani and African pupils get better results in fourth and fifth year than white UK-born pupils. However, these city pupils catch up and overtake most ethnic minority youngsters by the time they get to sixth year.
Evening Times

Alistair is the Darling of new-look race group
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was to be the special guest today at the rebranding of an Edinburgh organisation. The new identity of the West of Edinburgh Ethnic Minority Community Group was to be unveiled by Alistair Darling, MP for Edinburgh South West, at the WHALE Learning Centre, Wester Hailes. It will now be called SCOREscotland (Strengthening Communities for Race Equality Scotland), and will look to build on its work in supporting people from ethnic minorities and removing the barriers they face in their day-to-day lives.
Edinburgh News

Justice needed for Britain's black communities, says Jesse Jackson
Britain’s black communities have still to throw off the mentality of slavery and need to invest in the future of their young people and build their confidence, leading US civil rights campaigner the Rev Jesse Jackson told reporters ahead of a public lecture at Regent's Park College in Oxford to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Mr Jackson was speaking at a media conference in London on Monday 12 November. He also said that the churches had offered justifications for enslavement in the past, and should be at the forefront of resisting prejudice now, in line with the Gospel message.
Ekklesia

Jesse Jackson to help British churches tackle racial justice
US civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson is to visit British churches in an effort to help them do more to promote racial justice. During his visit next week, Jackson will address the involvement of minority ethnic communities in economic development and the building of a just society. He will also look at the empowerment of black and ethnic minority young people.
Ekklesia

Fury at DNA pioneer's theory: Africans are less intelligent than Westerners
Celebrated scientist attacked for race comments: "All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really".
Independent

Don't silence the scientists
A prominent scientist has had a prestigious lecture cancelled because he mentioned the unpalatable possibility that IQ may differ between races. James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, and a great scientist, has had a prestigious lecture cancelled because he dared to mention the unpalatable possibility that IQ may differ between races, and another furious response has erupted. I have never wanted to get involved in this contentious issue. There has been a massive amount of research, the issues are complex and demanding, involving the nature of intelligence, the relevance of IQ tests, the validity of the concept of race, and much more, and there have been many previous outbursts of debate (eg over the Bell Curve). But the issues here are fundamental to science and society.
Guardian (comment is free)

Watson book tour cancelled after racism claims
A Nobel prize-winning scientist has cancelled his UK book tour and returned to the US early following allegations that he made “racist”.
Telegraph

Controversial Nobel Winner Cancels UK Tour After Row
A tour to promote a Nobel prize-winning scientist’s new book has been cancelled following his comments that black people are less intelligent than whites.
Herald

Black and Muslim lawyers plan breakaway regulator
Black and Muslim solicitors have accused Britain’s legal watchdog of racial discrimination and want to break away to establish their own watchdog body. The Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML) and the Society of Black Lawyers have obtained figures that show that the Law Society’s regulatory arm is more than twice as likely to investigate misconduct allegations against ethnic minority solicitors than it is against white lawyers. They claim that the disproportionate attention is fuelled by discrimination, rather than by suspect practices.
The Times

On the move again
In 1971, some Gypsies settled on a site in east London. One of them, 13-year-old Bill, wrote a story about the harassment of his people, which was published to promote tolerance. Now the Clays Lane Gypsies have been moved on to make way for the Olympics. So has anything really changed? Patrick Barkham reports Guardian

Anger at stop-and-searches call
An anti-racism campaigner reacted with concern to a suggestion that police should increase stop-and-searches of youngsters to halt the wave of teenage murders.
Guardian

UK Borders Bill gains Royal assent
Home Office

'Support councils on immigration' says Trevor Phillips

Migrant row Tory candidate quits
BBC

Tory candidate resigns over race row
Telegraph

3. Asylum refugees:

Border and Immigration Agency Complaints Audit Committee, Annual Report for 2006/7
The annual report for 2006/2007, published this week by the BIA Complaints Audit Committee, makes pretty devastating reading and confirms what NCADC and other NGO's, have been saying all along about the mishandling or not handling at all, of complaints from detainees in immigration detention. Download a copy of the Complaints Audit Committee report 2006-2007

The secret scandal of the refugee beggars
Government policy is putting failed asylum seekers on the streets and into a limbo existence of despair.
Sunday Herald

Archbishop of Canterbury backs Independent Asylum Commission
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams this week gave his firm support to the work of the Independent Asylum Commission at a two-hour private seminar at Lambeth Palace - highlighting the need to treat those fleeing oppression with dignity. The Commission is conducting a national citizens’ enquiry into the UK asylum system and is travelling across the UK to hear the experiences of those who have gone through the asylum system, and the opinions of the public at large. The Commission will publish its findings and recommendations for reform of the asylum system in 2008.
Ekklesia

4. Immigration

Migrant workers change face of rural Scotland
The population of remote rural Scotland has increased at four times the rate of the rest of the country in the past five years, regenerating local economies in those areas. Statistics from the General Register of Scotland (GROS) show the population in remote rural Scotland increased by 4 per cent between 2001 and 2006, while the population in accessible rural areas (small settlements half an hour from the nearest town) increased by 6 per cent.
Scotsman

The changing face of Scotland
It has helped to give the dwindling population of Scotland a much-needed boost but a report published yesterday suggests that immigration has also brought its fair share of problems. The findings, from the Migration Impacts Forum, show that the influx of migrants in recent years, particularly from Eastern Europe, has led to increased antisocial behaviour and rising community tensions, particularly in areas previously unused to large-scale immigration. An increase in low-level crimes, such as driving offences, was also noted as a source of concern by the Scots surveyed.
Herald

Migration back to being a political football again
Migration issues have been catapulted back into the UK media headlines again, with the two main parties vying with each other for 'get tough' policies, and the government admitting that its recent labour force statistics have been wrong. The government's Work and Pensions minister, Peter Hain, says that the number of foreign nationals employed in Britain and Northern Ireland since 1997 is 1.1m, not the 800,000 officially recorded and given in Commons answers. But the government's statistics gaffe still does not justify the apocalyptic tones of the current debate, say advocates for fair treatment of migrants.
Ekklesia

Foreign worker numbers underestimated
Scotsman

Home Secretary sorry for immigration figures blunder
Scotsman

Cameron hits out at 'panic' over immigration
Edinburgh News

Integration must not come at too high a price
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears last week set out the Westminster Government's thinking for a more integrated Britain, healing the divisions in our fragmented society and creating a common identity among our diverse population.
Evening News 

New balance for immigration policies
As immigration policies change to strengthen border controls, a Home Office minister promises the system will be balanced fairly.
Home Office 

The truth about migration
It is no real surprise that economic migration is causing pressure on services in almost every UK region. But some of the coverage of the report from the Home Office's Migration Impacts Forum has been misleading. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said the report showed the "huge impact" of migration has "little economic justification" and called for a cut in the number of migrants from non-EU countries. In fact, the considered and balanced report does not paint a picture of collapsing public services under catastrophic strain.
Herald 

Britain's immigration muddle
Critics of immigration will love the government's latest report - but the true contribution that migrants make is far greater than the figures allow for. Guardian (comment is free) 

5. Marking the Bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade

Exhibit to mark slave trade past
A new exhibition marking 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade in Britain has opened in Alloa. The event, called Another Kind of Slavery, looks at the trade in black slaves and serfdom in Scotland before 1800.
BBC 

'They bought me as a butcher would a calf or a lamb'
Mary Prince, a slave, was the first black woman to publish an account of her life in Britain - an account so brutal that few believed it. Now she is finally being celebrated, writes Sara Wajid. Guardian  

See www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk

Events

LEGAL SERVICES AGENCY SEMINAR/CONFERENCE
Current Issues in Immigration Law Looking at non-asylum migration Monday 3rd December 2007, 10.00am to 4.00pm (Registration and Coffee 9.30am) at Kirk Lounge, Renfield St. Stephen's Church Centre, 260 Bath Street, Glasgow Cost: £120.00 full price/£105.00 LSA members/£60.00 Concessionary cost places (lunch provided).

St Andrew’s Day anti-Racism March and Rally
24 November 2007 in Glasgow, March assembles 10.30 in Blythswood Square; march off 11.00; rally 12 noon at Glasgow Film Theatre, Rose Street. For information contact the STUC 0141 337 8100; email info@stuc.org.uk, website GARA

Mainstreaming Approaches to Equality
14 December in Glasgow (9.30 – 3.00), SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations); The event will provide an opportunity for networking and debate current and emerging equalities practices; learning about techniques to aid in the development and implementation of practical approaches to mainstreaming equalities within your organisation. For information contact Nan McCluggage 0141 225 8013; email nan.mccluggage@scvo.org.uk

6. Publications: 

 

From World Council of Churches: Discussion platform - Theological reflection on migration
The Global Platform is an experiment in theological reflection and analysis around a chosen issue each year. For 2007, the issue is migration. This discussion platform is an opportunity to participate through sharing theological reflection on migration - stories, Bible studies, methodologies, statements and questions - and responding to what others have posted. The views expressed in this forum do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policy of the World Council of Churches.
WCC 

A Small Scale Qualitative Study on the School Education Experience of Asylum - Seeking and Refugee Children in Scotland, Scottish Government website, or PDF version 404 kb 

Learning to Read a New Culture: How Immigrant and Asylum Seeking Children Experience Scottish Identity through Classroom Books, Scottish Government website.

The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration, A Cross-Departmental Submission to the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty, October 2007 (PDF) 

Not for Sale: Raising Awareness, Ending exploitation, Editors, Carrie Pemberton, Alison Myers and Lucy Berry. Inspire, Peterborough, £12.99. ISBN 978-1-905958-11-5. Buy it from CHASTE website 

Britain’s Immigrants: an economic profile 
IPPR

Ethnic Minority Women in the UK 
Women Equality website

Education and Schooling for Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Students in Scotland: An Exploratory Study 
Scottish Goverement Website

Welcome to this month’s update.

Recently I come across a very good article by a Palestinian author and journalist, Ramzy Baroud, which summarises some of the essential questions of racism. I would recommend it to anyone as an introduction to the notions of racism. Read the article here

1. Racist incidents in Scotland:

Police probe offensive graffiti
Police are investigating a complaint after anti-English graffiti appeared on a canal-side property. "English out" was daubed in white paint on the door and wall of a property in a row of cottages in Fort Augustus at the southern end of Loch Ness.
BBC

Iraqi man beaten up in horror race attack
Detectives are hunting two men after an Iraqi was beaten up in a racist attack in Glasgow. The attackers yelled racist abuse at the 34-year-old man during the unprovoked assault in the East End of the city.
Evening Times

Talented teenage immigrant stabbed in racist attack
An industrious young schoolboy and gifted teenage rapper who fled the Congo for a better life in Scotland has become the latest victim in an ever increasing catalogue of brutal race attacks in Glasgow. Christopher Ikolo, the 15-year-old black victim of the crime, was accosted in the street as he returned to school from his lunch-break last Friday, called a "black bastard" and knifed in the back in broad daylight in Govanhill on Glasgow's Southside. Last year 168 race attacks perpetrated by youths were reported in Glasgow. In the past three years there have been 433 incidents.
Sunday Herald

Asian teens stabbed in race-hate attack
Two Asian teenagers were stabbed by a gang of youths in Glasgow city centre in a suspected racist attack. The victims, both aged 17, were walking in the Trongate in the east end of the city at about 11:30pm on Saturday (22nd Sept 07) when they were approached by up to nine white youths and assaulted. Two of the group were reported to be wearing Celtic Football Club jerseys and a third a Celtic FC tracksuit.
Scotsman

Bid to cut 'new strand' of racism
A move has been made to try to tackle an increase in a "new strand" of racism in south west Scotland. Dumfries and Galloway Citizens Advice Service (Dagcas) has established a unique minority communities service development project. It is particularly aimed at eastern Europeans being subjected to racial abuse in the workplace and in public.
BBC

Man accused of race abuse of mother
A man appeared in court yesterday accused of racially abusing his own mother. Scott Garment, 21, is charged with acting in a racially aggravated manner referring to his mother Catherine as a "n****r".
Scotsman

Latapy at centre of racism probe
Falkirk midfielder Russell Latapy hopes that anyone who racially abused him during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Hibernian will learn from their errors.
BBC 

Sainsbury’s does Islam no favours
Sainsbury's, "keen to accommodate the religious beliefs of all staff", now allows Muslim workers who object to alcohol on religious grounds to have a colleague take their place. The company didn't see that such cack-handed posturing does Islam no favours, reinforcing a perception of an intolerant and unbending religion, which is not, I believe, where the majority of British Muslims are.
Sunday Herald

Muslim medical students get picky
Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs. Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity. A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient.
The Times


2. Developments, Reports and Investigations

Catholics respond to education needs of overseas priests in plural society
Recognising the needs of priests from overseas and those ministering to increasingly migrant-based congregations, the Catholic Church in England and Wales has introduced a new course specifically for them at the northern seminary of Ushaw in Durham. The three week induction programme, endorsed and recommended by the bishops of England and Wales, aims to provide the priests with practical advice and information that will enable them to integrate into UK life and make effective use of their pastoral skills in an alien culture.
Ekklesia

Police Crack Down On Sex Trade 'slavers'
Police yesterday redoubled their campaign against sex slave traffickers as it emerged women from 37 countries were working in Glasgow brothels.
Herald

The equality nettle
Labour 07: The forthcoming equality bill will bring a testing time for Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman.
Guardian comment is free

UK has no reason to be smug on race relations
Ii is hard to watch the events now unfolding in the small Louisiana town of Jena without being reminded of the eerie lyrics of Strange Fruit, the song immortalised by Billie Holiday in 1939, which condemned American racism by using graphic imagery to describe the lynching of African Americans in the US's reactionary and backward Deep South: "Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze/Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." … It is too easy to be smug about the superior state of race relations in the UK. No nooses, thank heavens - but segregation and discrimination prevail, according to the latest devastating analysis from the Commission For Racial Equality. We might like to believe otherwise, but 30 years after the first Race Relations Act, black Britons are still "more likely to be stopped by the police, be excluded from school, suffer poor health treatment and live in poor housing", it says. In echoes of the US, it notes that "rumours and perceptions of injustice can trigger division and conflict which in some cases translates into violence on the streets". It concludes that "racial inequality in Britain is alive and kicking", not least in the corridors of power. The CRE hauls over the coals 15 UK government departments that have mysteriously not got around to carrying out their duties under race relations law.
Sunday Herald

Teenage gypsies take fight against discrimination to Brussels
Scottish gypsies, keen to preserve their time-honoured wanderings, remain among the marginalised groups in rural society. In an era where the "no blacks, no Irish, no dogs" signs of the early 20th century are unthinkable, the travelling community still faces racist abuse and difficulty accessing services. Now teenage travelers from the Highlands, taunted for "casting spells" and wearing "silly clothes", have taken their fight against discrimination to Brussels.
Sunday Herald

East European immigrants fuel return of servant class
Migration from eastern Europe, Africa and Asia is creating a ready supply of willing downstairs staff, with more and more being employed to watch the kids and clean the bathroom in a kind of international class system, according to a new report.
Independent

Boy 'who was attacked' by Slovakian woman may face racism charge
A boy of ten who claims to have been attacked by a Slovakian woman with an iron bar could be charged with inciting racial hatred, it emerged last night. Jake Stedman admitted that the woman hit him after he threw a berry at her and told her to 'go back to her own country'. As a result, the boy - who was left with two black eyes - could become the youngest person in the country ever to be charged with the offence.
This is London

Religious division, racial inequality, rife in Britain's fractured society
Britain is a society increasingly fractured with religious extremism on the rise, and people becoming disconnected from one another. That is the message of a report launched today by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) before it becomes part of a new super-equality watchdog, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) with religion, sexual orientation and age added to its remit.
Ekklesia

Racism and War: Overcoming Us and Them By Ramzy Baroud
Racism is, among many things, convenient. It provides simplified, definite and ready-to-serve answers to complex and compounded questions. Racists, in turn, come from all walks of life; their motivation and the root causes behind their contemptible views of others may differ, but the outcome of these views is predictably the same - racial discrimination, social and political oppression, religious persecution and war. The textual definition of racism pertains only to race, but in practice racism is a consequence of groupthink, whereby a group of people decides to designate itself as a collective and starts delineating its relationship with other collectives - or other people in general - with a sense of supremacy. When coupled with economic and/or political dominance, supremacy translates into various forms of subjugation and cruelty.
The American Muslim

Trafficking

Sex trafficking victims rescued by police may face deportation
• Home secretary rules out guarantee of immunity
• Nationwide crackdown on 'modern form of slavery'
Some victims of sex traffickers rescued from prostitution in a new national police crackdown will face deportation, the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said yesterday. Ms Smith described sex trafficking as a "modern-day form of slavery" but said she could not give an across-the-board guarantee that those rescued would not face deportation as illegal migrants.
Guardian

What 'pull factor'?
Victims of sex trafficking do not chose to be abused to get to the UK: the government must ensure they are not treated as illegals.
Guardian

3. Asylum refugees:

Asylum children beg and sell sex to raise money for legal advice
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are selling sex, begging or doing other forms of illegal work to pay for legal representation due to restrictions to legal aid funding, according to the Children’s Society. The charity claims some lawyers are asking for thousands of pounds to continue children’s cases because they cannot afford to take them on. Legal aid rates being offered following reforms introduced since 2004 are too low it is claimed.
Community Care UK

Asylum: The new dawn
A new dawn is beginning for the asylum-seeking community after the Home Office began to grant refugee status to many families who have settled in Scotland. Campaigners are delighted that the "legacy" review, designed to clear the backlog of long-standing cases in the legal system, is beginning to bear fruit as integrated asylum seekers with a genuine claim are being given indefinite leave to remain.
Sunday Herald

Scots ‘can lead fight’ to keep UK doors open to refugees
While debate continues over UK immigration policy and the different approaches to asylum favoured by Westminster and Holyrood, a more pressing question must be addressed, according to Sally Daghlian of the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC).
Herald

Britain 'ignoring' millions of Iraqi refugees
Britain has been accused of ignoring the plight of millions of refugees fleeing the violence in Iraq. Following calls by many Christian groups, the Pope, the UNHCR, and other international agencies, a report by Amnesty International has said it was "staggering" that the UK had forcibly returned more refugees to Iraq than any other European nation. As one of the countries which led the 2003 invasion, the report said that Britain now had a "moral obligation" to provide financial assistance to the estimated two million refugees stranded in Syria and Europe.
Ekklesia

4. Immigration


Lack of interpreters for migrants 'will lead to miscarriages of justice'
Scotland’s justice system is ill-prepared for an influx of immigrants because of a lack of reliable interpreters, triggering fears of potential miscarriages of justice.
Scotsman

The truth Migration Watch doesn't want you to know
Should my children be sent 'home'? I only ask because Migration Watch and commentator Stephen Glover declare 25 per cent of babies born in Britain have at least one foreign-born parent. And, I fear, they are not raising this to salute the colourful pageantry of modern life. My wife, Diana, was born in Istanbul. Presumably these august institutions do not consider my children - Emilia, six, Freddie, three - entirely welcome. OK, they might look white, but what if they are darkies underneath?' seems to be the message. 'Good God, Binky, dagos are polluting British bloodlines.'
Observer

Project offers special help for minorities
A new project is helping to connect ethnic minority communities and refugees to the wider Edinburgh community. The Welcoming project involves sport and leisure events, as well as arts, culture and English language activities. The sessions run on Wednesday at Tollcross Community Centre, from 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 3.30pm.
Evening News

A curious irrationality grips the British when it comes to migrants
Rapid migration is not a cost-free option, but the public must accept that without it parts of our economy would collapse.
Guardian

Immigrant who stabbed man escapes deportation
An illegal immigrant avoided deportation yesterday after scarring a man for life in a cashpoint robbery. Despite his lengthy criminal record in the UK, a sheriff refused to order Mohammed Malik's deportation.
Scotsman


5. Marking the Bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade

See www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk

Events

An ADVOCACY TRAINING OPPORTUNITY with
Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe - CHASTE
www.chaste.org.uk
Come and meet us at Forum 3, The Business Design Centre, Islington, London
52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH
Date: Saturday 13th October 2007 10.00am - 4.30pm
For more information on Forum 3 see http://www.forum3.co.uk/
For directions see http://www.businessdesigncentre.co.uk/location/index.html
Email: colin@chaste.org.uk or phone 0785 907 4343 if you wish to join us

Show Racism the Red Card fortnight of Action
16-30 October 2007
In society, racism is sadly still on the rise. At the end of March 2007, the Scottish Executive published a bulletin, which showed that the total number of incidents recorded by the Police in Scotland rose by 13 per cent from 4,536 in 2004/05 to 5,124 in 2005/06. These statistics indicate that there are on average 14 recorded racist incidents every day. The Commission for Racial Equality estimate the true number to be five times this figure. Irresponsible groups and media outlets continue to encourage racism against citizens from minority faiths, travellers, immigrants from EU-accession countries, and refugees and asylum-seekers. This year’s SRTRC Fortnight of Action provides a timely focal point for all those who are committed to challenging racism and discrimination in Scotland. For more information see The Red Card Scotland

Human Rights, immigration and African people living with and affected by HIV in Scotland
18 October 2007 in Glasgow (1.00 – 4.00)
In Scotland, Health is a devolved matter. Immigration is not. Therefore, Human Rights present a complex scenario for people living with and affected by HIV. This seminar will highlight issues as well as provide a participatory question and answer session. For information contact Tarsisio Nyatsanza africanhealthproject@waverleycare.org 0141 211 0192

6. Publications:

A lot done, a lot to do: Our vision for an integrated Britain
The CRE's final legacy document outlines the current state of UK race today with facts and statistics relating to all aspects of British life, from young people, health and education through to employment, communities, sport and local government.
http://www.cre.gov.uk/publs/alottodo.html
Download the full PDF document (723 kb) from here

Welcome to this month’s update. I trust most of you are back from holidays and getting back into the swing of things. Last week we also returned from holidays. I hear that the weather in Scotland was not as hot as in Romania, where we spent our holidays (I saw the thermometer reach 42 C). While I was in Romania I had a telephone conversation with to a friend of mine who works with Romany people in the South East part of Romania (near the Black Sea). She shared with me a number of horror stories about how badly these people are treated by everyone in that part of the country. She was telling me that the local authorities did not want to know of these people and the local churches were not interested in them. Betty and her husband are doing extraordinary work among those people, but they are facing lots of obstacles. Betty and her husband would appreciate your prayers for their work and for the Roma people in Romania

In this update there is a story which tells us the plight of Roma people in Glasgow, which I encourage you to read.

1. Racist incidents in Scotland:

Race attacks soar after terror strike   
Racist incidents across Scotland have soared following the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport. New figures reveal a surge in cases of violent attacks, abuse and harassment in the four weeks after the car bombing, with the worst cases including attempts to blow up an Asian shop and a mosque. Scotland on Sunday 

Man denies racially abusing bouncer   
THE 23-year old son of an ex-Labour councillor was racially abusive to a nightclub bouncer who was called to deal with "a rammy", a court heard. Zeshan Khan, of Mountcastle Crescent, whose father Shami was also a member of the Lothian and Borders Police Board at the time of the alleged incident, denies a charge of committing a racially aggravated breach of the peace. Edinburgh News 

Polish boy, 11, ‘attacked before
An 11-year-old Polish boy kicked and punched in what police believe was a racist assault in Aberdeen was the victim of an earlier attack. BBC 

Boy, 11, assaulted in 'racial' attack
Scotsman 

Race attack thug caged for 4 years  
A Racist thug high on drink and drugs who thrust a jagged bottle into a man's neck has been jailed for four years. Scott McFarlane forced Wesley Seroot to write out a £1000 cheque and fill two suitcases with his belongings in the March 16 attack in Paisley. Evening Times 

2. Developments, Reports and Investigations

The Child Sex Scandal On The Streets Of Scotland
Major police probe as immigrant Roma children exploited
A child prostitution ring which is sexually exploiting immigrant Roma children as young as nine is operating in Glasgow, the Sunday Herald can reveal. Police have been running undercover surveillance operations in empty homes and unmarked cars in the Govanhill area in the southside of Glasgow for months in the hope of catching those behind the ring and the men paying to have sex with children. Sunday Herald 

Isolated, Abused, and Victims of Decades of Persecution The Roma community in Scotland
Walking the network of streets in the heart of Govanhill is a primer for the confused and warring nature of race relations in 21st century Scotland. Local white people and those of Asian origin throw the most appalling slurs at the latest incomers to the area - the Roma community. The Roma people tend to stick together - isolated by language - unwittingly adding to the tension between them and their neighbours. Sunday Herald 

How would you fare in the bid to be British?  
Tens of thousands of immigrants have passed the Home Office citizenship test since it was introduced two years ago. The exam, which must be taken by anyone seeking British citizenship, was recently updated to include more questions about Scotland following complaints it was too Anglo-centric. But how relevant are the questions, and would you be able pass the test? Scotsman

'I love my mixed race baby - but why does she feel so alien?
"She's getting very dark, isn't she?" This is what one of my friends recently said about my much adored - 12-week-old daughter. She didn't mean to be rude. But it was a comment that struck me with the force of a jab to the stomach. Daly Mail

Mirror, mirror
Is it a natural emotion for a parent to want their child to look like them? And what if the child is a different colour? Guardian

A bad rap
We in the black community know that our young people are being destroyed by a popular culture that glorifies guns and criminality. Guardian

It takes a racist education to hold us back
Calls for new role models for black boys let the white establishment off the hook. Guardian

The Romanian Orthodox Church, with support of the Metropolitan for Western Europe in Paris is considering to open a new parish in Scotland.
The location would be chosen in response to the interest and support expressed by the Romanian community in the different areas of Scotland. The Romanians in the North-East of Scotland have already shown their enthusiasm and concrete arrangements for starting up the church are under consideration. Support is sought from other denominations and Christian churches in Aberdeen, and the possibility to start a choir is also under consideration. Further responses are expected from Romanians all over Scotland, and we encourage all those interested to offer their support, to get in touch with the Romanians in Aberdeen group.
Sunday, 22 July 2007 , See the full story at Romanians in Scotland website

3. Asylum refugees:

Children of asylum seekers in Scotland
Scottish executive press release  

University fees waived for children of refugees   
Children of asylum seekers who have been in Scotland for more than three years will be treated as Scottish residents when it comes to paying university fees, the Scottish Executive will announce today. The move will mean youngsters who gain a university place after studying at Scottish schools will not be turned away because they cannot afford the hefty fees demanded of foreign students and follows lobbying from Universities Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC). Herald

A degree of common sense  
For young asylum seekers studying in Scottish schools, this year's exam results have suddenly become more meaningful. The announcement by Fiona Hyslop, the Education Secretary, that children of asylum-seeking families who are offered a university place after three years or more of study in Scottish schools will no longer have to pay tuition fees - between £5000 and £24,000 - will make it possible for them to go to university. Herald

Westminster snubs SNP's amnesty plan for asylum seekers in Scotland  
An attempt by the SNP-led Scottish Executive to secure an amnesty for 1,400 asylum-seeking families in Scotland has been rejected by UK ministers, it emerged last night. Scotsman

4. Immigration 

Tougher migrant rules 'illegal'    
Tighter rules which could force thousands of highly skilled immigrant workers out of the UK are unlawful and must be scrapped, MPs and peers say. BBC

New rules on immigration 'are unlawful'  
New immigration rules which could leave thousands of highly-skilled migrant workers facing the prospect of deportation are unlawful and should be scrapped, MPs and peers warned today. Scotsman

5. Marking the Bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade

See www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk

 
6. Events

Doors Open Weekend in Inverclyde, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September 2007 Saturday 11.00 am and 1.30 pm Sunday 1.30 pm Meet at the car park beside the Ivy House with the cemetery, ten minutes before departure. Free Coach tours around Greenock to mark the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The tour will last about two hours. Learn more about the history of Greenock through the people who shaped our past; merchants and ship owners, ship builders and mariners, the ordinary and the extra-ordinary. Listen to some of their voices and hear their stories as costumed enactors highlight events and tell of some of the people who lived and worked there.

Mixedness & mixing: New perspectives on mixed-race Britons
A CRE eConference · 4-6 September 2007
http://www.mixedness.org.uk/ 

‘Refusal Factory’: Women’s experiences of the detained fast track asylum process at Yarl’s Wood IRC
Launch of new research by Bail for Immigration Detainees & discussion about Fast Track, 6.30 – 8 pm, Thursday 6 September 2007, Lecture Hall, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial St, London E1 6LS (nearest tube Aldgate East, 1 minute). Please confirm attendance to: enquiries@biduk.org 

Race, Disability and Human Rights - Shaping a new public policy agenda
Wednesday 12th September 2007, 9.30am - 4.30pm, Place: Central London (for security reasons delegates can only be notified about the exact venue 24 hours before the start) Speakers include: Lord Adebowale CBE, Haji Saghir Alam, Julie Charles, Cherie Booth QC, Baroness Jane Campbell and Shahana Ramsden , E-mail: Clare.Basel@drc-gb.org, Tel: 0207 543 7049, Fax: 0207 543 7055

6. Publications: 

REACH - An independent report to Government on raising the aspirations and attainment of Black boys and young Black men 9 August 2007
Website of the report, Download a PDF copy [2240 kb] 

Promoting interaction between people from different ethnic backgrounds
A research project carried out for the CRE by SHM, Published July 2007, download PDF version from here

CRE Factfile 2: Ethnic minorities in Britain
In this factfile, we look at the current ethnic make-up of Britain, and how the overall population can be broken down according to country of birth, age, sex, languages spoken, religion or belief, and areas in which people live. The factfile draws on a variety of sources, including the Census 2001 data and the annual Labour Force Survey. Download PDF (156 kb)

On 16^th of June 2007 despite the wet weather, over 400 people from across Scotland come to David Livingston Centre in Blantyre to mark the Bicentenary anniversary of passing through the parliament of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Many have signed the statement agreed by Scottish churches, and a petition to ask Gordon Brown to act and support the nations that bore the brunt of the Save trade. More about the event is found at www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk.

Racial Justice Sunday resources are now available for order. You can order it from ACTS or from publisher through our weblink at: http://www.racialjusticescotland.org.uk

Refugee Week
This year, Refugee Week takes place from 18-24 June 2007 and we would like individuals and organisations to take part. To get involved contact Scottish Refugee Council on 0141 248 9799 or email Abbie Wallace at abbie.wallace@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk . To find out more about the week go to www.refugeeweek.org.uk 

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Churches Commission for Racial Justice launched this week Churches and Migration: Migration Principles, a statement of churches working on migration. Find more information about the book through our website resources page: http://www.racialjusticescotland.org.uk/

1. Racist incidents in Scotland:

Attacks on Poles blamed for rise in hate crimes
A growing number of attacks on Polish bar workers is being blamed for race hate crimes rising to new record levels in the Capital. Police are now dealing with an average of three racist incidents every day after another rise in complaints of abuse and attacks. Bar staff and doormen from Eastern Europe are now among the most common victims. Every weekend police are called to incidents in which the workers, usually from Poland, have been physically assaulted because of their nationality or have faced racist insults. Evening News

Rise in race crimes linked to attacks on Poles
A growing number of attacks on Polish bar workers is being blamed for race hate crimes rising to record levels in Edinburgh. Scotsman

Dopey racist fails to withhold number
John Montgomery, 20 of Hillside Road, Greenock, has been sentenced to 250-hours community service after pleading guilty to possessing racially offensive material and making threats to Socialist Party activists over the phone - he forgot to withhold his number and was caught. Greenock Telegraph 

Race attackers back on streets after just 10 months   
Edinburgh News

East End Shop Gutted In Car Fireball Attack
A car was driven into a shop in Glasgow's East End early today and set on fire.
Evening Times

Petrol bomb attack on mosque may have been 'revenge' attack
A fire attack on a mosque in Bathgate, Glasgow, is being investigated amid concerns it was targeted in 'revenge' for the earlier attempted car bomb attack at Glasgow airport.
BBC  

Religious leaders unite to condemn terror attacks  
We, the under-noted religious leaders of Scotland, utterly condemn the recent attack on Glasgow airport and incidents in London, as we do all acts of terrorism and hope that the full force of the law will be brought to bear on those who perpetrate such violence against innocent people.
Church of Scotland press release

2. Developments, Reports and Investigations 

Racism isn't going away
A survey of black opinion suggests prejudice has got worse, and solutions must come from within
Guardian

Three Cops Injured In Orange Walk Arrests
Three police officers were injured and 61 "hangers on" were arrested at Glasgow's biggest Orange march.
Evening Times

'These Are Not Your Young People'
Outrage at the attack on Glasgow Airport echoed across Scotland's Muslim communities yesterday, along with determination that it should not damage relations with the wider public.
Herald

3. Asylum refugees: 

Pledge to end dawn raids
Alex Salmond, the first Minster in Scotland, has promised that dawn raids on the homes of asylum seekers in Scotland will end.
Scotsman 

Outrage as Albanian student seized by immigration officers
Educational officials have expressed outrage after an Albanian asylum seeker studying at a Scottish university was seized by immigration officials, making it impossible for her to finish her degree. Merita Hazizi, a fourth-year student at Strathclyde University, was due to sit several exams in August and September in order to complete a BSc in Physics and Maths but was detained along with her parents on Saturday. They are now due to be flown to Albania from Stansted Airport on Thursday.
Herald

Asylum pupils awarded top marks
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland has revealed that children of asylum seekers have overcome language barriers and racist abuse to outperform Scots pupils in national exams.
BBC  

Abused asylum seekers find asylum interviews difficult
New research has found that asylum seekers face difficulties in revealing during Home Office interviews details of sexual violence. Those with a history of sexual violence are also more likely to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
Medilexicon  

U-turn on care threat to failed asylum seekers' children
The Home Office has abandoned its threat to take into care, the children of failed asylum seekers who refuse to leave the country.
Guardian  

4. Immigration

We should welcome the dawn of the migration age
The negative aspects of the era of mobility too often overshadow its potential power: to bring millions out of poverty.
The Guardian 

Tenth of UK population born overseas   
Scotsman

Half of immigrant Poles plan to stay   
Herald

Polish GPs fly in to cover for NHS Grampion staff   
Press and Journal

5. Marking the Bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade

See www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk

6. Publications:

Review of Scotland's Colleges: Equalities Issues Report
Download the review in PDF format  

Antisemitism: 2007 Hate Crime Survey
Download the survey in PDF format

Joint inspection of services for children of asylum seekers in the Glasgow City Council area
Download the report in PDF format