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December 07 Racial Justice Update
Welcome to the last update of 2007.
Thank you very much for all your support over the past year. Wishing you all: A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.
In the next few updates I will publish a number of poems with the permission of their author. This month’s poem is “Not begging, but birthright”. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas lets give a thought to those who are less fortunate than us because the place they happen to be born. This Christmas many of those people will still depend on charity for their food and their needs.
Not begging, but birthright
It is not of your charity that I want
but to be free to earn my daily bread
by the watering, from my own brow,
of the honoured soil of my ancestors.
Mine is not the richest earth,
hardly even a speck of dust in global terms.
It is only a simple farm that needs
some careful husbanding.
But, I do not understand why my hard grown crops
are worth so little to those who are rich,
why I am destroyed by a debt I did not incur,
why we cannot make provision for shortage of rain and harvest.
Some well meant machinery might increase my yield
but at what expense
in fuel, in foreign parts, and in consumption
of my neighbours’ fields?
Rather, for me,
to live within more humble means,
to grow enough, gain enough,
to feed today and educate for tomorrow.
Surely, my father did not plant me
just to watch me wither before my season.
Surely, my mother did not suckle me
just to see me starve, with my children, at her side.
Stranger, I am grateful for your gift of grain.
But, surely, the God of all
did not create me just to let me waste away
amid his world of plenty.
By Stephen Eric Smyth
1. Racist incidents in Scotland:
Race-hate crime figures jump to four a day in Lothian
The number of race-hate crimes reported in the Lothians has soared to four a day, according to new figures. A total of 813 racially-motivated crimes were committed during the past six months, compared with 503 for the same period last year. The figures, involving violent assaults, verbal attacks and harassment, include a jump in reports to police in the wake of the terror attack at Glasgow Airport in June. Edinburgh News
Huge rise in Scots with racist prejudices
Scots are becoming increasingly prejudiced against Muslims, according to a wide-ranging survey carried out after the terror attacks of July 2005 but before the strike on Glasgow Airport this summer. Half of those questioned in the government study said Scotland would lose its identity if more Muslims come to the country - up on the 38% who said the same in 2003 when a similar survey was taken. Herald
Attitudes Scotland should strive to change
How prejudiced is modern Scotland? The latest annual Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, funded by the Scottish Government, was published yesterday. Scotsman
The report can be viewed and downloaded from Scottish Government publications site; or download the key findings of the report from this page.
'Racism' on trial… or a hammer to crack a nut?
An elderly taxi driver held in a police cell for 12 hours after he used racist words in front of his white passengers has told of his relief at being cleared of criminal charges. James Young, 71, was arrested at his home after his passengers reported him to the police, claiming they had been enraged at his insistence on describing Pakistanis in a derogatory way. Scotsman
Cars vandalised in racist attack
A Muslim man has been left “devastated” after four of his family’s cars were vandalised in a racist attack in Dundee provoked by the jailing of British teacher Gillian Gibbons in Sudan. The Courier
Racially motivated vandals probed
Police are investigating a racially motivated act of vandalism which was linked to the case of the British teacher who was jailed in Sudan. BBC
2. Developments, Reports and Investigations
Prince may work with Black churches on youth programmes
The Prince of Wales has met leaders of some of the UK's largest Black-led churches as he sought to lay the groundwork for intended civic collaboration to help tackle the problem of disaffected young people in modern Britain. Charles, who will succeed Queen Elizabeth II, met the Black church representatives during the course of celebrations for his 59th birthday. Ekklesia
'Ignorance Furthers Racism,' Says African-Asian-Scottish Performance Poet
We are not ethnic minorities. We are Scots. We are black Scots, Chinese Scots, Asian Scots. We are all Scots. Ignorance about Scottish Black History has perpetuated racism, says performer, poet, historian and activist Kokumo Rocks. Campaigning for greater awareness and education through many projects, Rocks returns with another pulsating collection. As well as being a hugely popular performance poet she has developed Scotland’s first community school Black History course and performed in Human Traffik, which illustrates how black Scots helped the abolition of the slave trade. AllmediaScotland
Multiculturalism (again)
Multiculturalism As A Tool To Divide And Conquer, The Layman's Primer
No nation is born multicultured. Multiculturalism is an unnatural as well as unhealthy condition that can only afflict states in national decline. A multicultural state carries in it's geneses the seeds of eventual national destruction. All multicultural nations will be found to be in a state of political, moral, economic and social decay. Greed and corruption will characterize the government coupled with oppressive measures directed against citizens. Lies and deceit will be stock and trade of media, politicians, and educational institutions. Such are the bellwethers of a multiculturalist advent. By Louis Beam
3. Asylum refugees:
Official treatment of asylum seekers accused of undermining social cohesion
The British government has been accused of damaging social cohesion through its policies and rhetoric on asylum. The criticisms were made by a wide range of witnesses at the final public hearing of the Independent Asylum Commission on 29 November 2007 at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton. Ekklesia
BBC to screen political Nativity story
The political dimension of the Nativity story, drawing on the themes of immigration and asylum, is to be screened by the BBC in the run up to Christmas. Geoffrey Hughes, Cathy Tyson and Jennifer Ellison are amongst those who will star in the Liverpool Nativity – a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story live on the streets of Liverpool. Ekklesia
4. Immigration
Visa mum may be forced to live 4000miles from son
HE mum of a six-year-old Glasgow boy faces being taken away from the son she adores - and thrown out of the country. Sara Marr has been told she must return to Ethiopia where she used to live, 4000 miles from husband Gordon and son William, a pupil at Craigton Primary in Govan. Evening Times
Scotland 'will Need 20,000 Migrants' Every Year
Scotland needs to attract 20,000 immigrants a year to save the economy from collapse over the next 30 years, a government-backed report warns today. Herald
Scotland 'needs 20,000 more migrants a year'
An extra 20,000 migrants a year are needed to prevent Scotland going into economic crisis, experts have warned. The country's declining and ageing population threatens a shortage of able workers, which could have dire consequences for the economy, says a new report.
Scotsman
Migrants send home 26bn
Migrants living in European Union nations sent 26 billion (£18 billion) back to their homelands in 2006, according to the EU's Eurostat. The figure was 3 billion higher than in 2005. Scotsman
Migration 'fuelling Hepatitis B'
Increasing immigration means the UK must start thinking seriously about vaccinating every new child against Hepatitis B, specialists claim. BBC
New immigrants take housing rejected by others, says report
A new report has found that rather than taking housing from local residents, as critics often say, new immigrants tend to fill voids in the housing stock left behind or rejected by other households. The report is published today (Monday) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which examined the housing experiences of new immigrants in Sheffield. Researchers found that concentrations of new immigrants in particular areas were more often the result of migrants moving into neighbourhoods that other households were leaving or avoiding, rather than any self-segregating tendency. Ekklesia
Trafficking
Police uncover human trafficking misery
A Romanian woman who was raped and forced to work as a prostitute is among 20 victims of human trafficking identified by police in the central belt in the past eight weeks. The alarming results from the first few weeks of the UK's biggest-ever operation to tackle human trafficking in the sex industry can be revealed by The Scotsman. Scotsman
STUC General Secretary Warns of Increased Human Trafficking Ahead of Commonwealth Games
Making his first speech to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) Women’s Conference since his appointment as General Secretary, Grahame Smith today (WednMonica Spooneresday 14 November 2007) spoke of the challenges faced by the trade union movement in highlighting and combating human trafficking in Scotland. He reminded delegates that much of Scotland’s prosperity in recent centuries was achieved on the foundation of slavery and drew parallels with the vile trafficking trade of the 21st Century. STUC website
5. Marking the Bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade
Theologians to examine 'resistance and revolt' against slave trade
The legacies of the slave trade, and how churches can respond to past and present forms of slavery, will be discussed at a conference next week in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. About sixty theologians, church leaders, social scientists and activists, mainly from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean will gather in the country where nearly one million Africans and later indentured servants from Asia were exploited as human commodities and many more transited on their often deadly passage into slavery. Ekklesia
Commemoration remembers millions of Africans who died as slaves
An ecumenical Christian commemoration of the millions of Africans who died in the barbaric cruelty of the transatlantic slave trade is also highlighting the continuing oppression of their descendants around the world. Sixty theologians, church leaders, social scientists and social and cultural activists from Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and North America are meeting in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, from 10 to 14 December 2007 for the international conference. Ekklesia
See also www.scotlandandslavery.org.uk
6. Publications and Resources:
Research shows new immigrants often take accommodation rejected by other people
Research has found that, rather than taking much-needed housing from local residents, new immigrants tend to fill voids in the housing stock left behind or rejected by other households. This is according to a report published today by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which examined the housing experiences of 39 new immigrants in Sheffield. Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Download a copy of the report “The housing pathways of new immigrants” (PDF 3.6MB), Published Nov 2007.
Special Advice for Asylum Seeker with immigration status unresolved from NCADC News Service
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This Festive Season? If your immigration status is insecure Stay out of cars/stay out of detention
The government have launched its annual don't drink/ don't drive campaign.
From now through to the end of the first week of 2008 there will be extra police checks on cars.
If police stop a car they are more than likely to check the details of all the occupants of the car not just the driver. Police will run the names through their national database; the database contains details of persons that the Border & Immigration Agency (BIA) has an interest in.
If a name comes up as of being of interest to BIA, that person may well be detained and taken to the nearest police station. BIA will be informed that the person has been detained and BIA will them make a decision as to whether to instruct the police to hold the person pending transfer to a detention removal centre.
Warning solicitors and advocacy groups will be very thin on the ground over the festive season; most will shut up shop on the 21st December through to 2nd January 2008. Some will close down earlier and open back up later.
NCADC will as ever be providing emergency cover throughout the period to 'Signpost' friends of persons detained what actions if any can be taken.
Please be clear that if you need to contact NCADC it must be by email first with *full details of the person you are trying to help, email:
ncadc@ncadc.org.uk
Followed by a phone call to 0121 554 6947 to check we have received the email
We will require the following information of any person you are seeking help for, their
Full name
Date of birth
Home Office Reference number
Home Office Port Reference number
Same details for any family members
If a failed asylum seeker a copy of their Home Office letter of refusal
Their location
Phone number of their:
Solicitor including their emergency number
MP including their emergency number
Doctor (if there are any persistent medical problems with any member of your family or yourself)
Numbers of any friends/support group/campaign group
Please be clear NCADC will only offer 'Signposting' as to what you can do, we will not under any circumstances be able to intervene personally in any cases, will not be able to ring persons in detention, will not be able to find solicitors.
Source for this Message: NCADC