Obama promises to ‘finish the job’ in Afghanistan

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan

Where the Global Warming H WARMING HOAX WAS BORN

Climate Expert: “Compromised” UN Scientists should be excluded from IPCC, Peer-Review Process

http://www.prisonplanet.com/climate-expert-compromised-un-scientists-should-be-excluded-from-ipcc-peer-review-process.html

Israel Plans To Deport More Than 20,000 Palestinians From Jerusalem

http://www.politicaltheatrics.net/?p=738

South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group

Demonstration
Saturday 28 November at 11am
Outside the Town Hall, Sheffield

South Yorkshire says
No to Deportations and Destitution

Asylum seekers in South Yorkshire are facing threats such as:

• forcible deportation to face certain danger in Zimbabawe, Afghanistan and Iraq;
• forced into destitution because they are not allowed to work and have benefits withdrawn
• benefits being cut by £7 to £35 a week
• being forced to travel the length of the country to make a claim for asylum

Coming up to Christmas, it’s time to show that the people of South Yorkshire stand in solidarity with those seeking asylum from war, persecution and torture.

Asylum seekers are human beings – they have human rights too.

For more information, contact dignitynotdetention@yahoo.co.uk

The No Borders UK Newsletter has been rotated around local No Borders  groups for the last few years. Last month’s  network gathering in London, signalled that it is now our turn to produce the publication. We  intend to create a more regular and broad based periodical, drawing in others that work to end the inhuman cycle of detention, deportation and death through the abolition of migration control. As a statement of intent we are re-naming and re-launching!

click to download the .pdf

SO… (drum roll…) we proudly present the first issue of ‘Movement’, a monthly newsletter covering the latest updates from the No Borders Network and beyond. This début issue is packed with articles on (follow the links find the original unedited versions);

• The situation in Calais,
• Resistance to deportation flights,
• A call to action at the UN Climate Conference,
• A report on a picket of the UKBA at Beckett House,
• Action at the Arora Hotel,
• The closure of Pagani Detention Centre,
• Blockade of detention centres in Belgium,
• Colnbrook blockade arrests ruled unlawful,
• Strike by migrant workers in Paris,
• ‘Defence Leagues’ defeated in south Wales

Help us make this Movement:

1. print, photocopy and distribute copies in your local area.
2. share this link online, forward it to anyone who might be interested or better still publish your own article promoting the newsletter.
3. join our e-mail list and encourage others to do the same.
4. contact the editorial collective and Read the rest of this entry »

Florence Mhango and her daughter Tionge (10), known to her friends and family as Precious, were detained this week when they went to sign at the Home Office. They have been given removal directions for a flight to Malawi from Heathrow at 19.00 on Monday 23rd November.

Florence and Precious moved to the UK in 2003 with Florence’s husband – Precious’ father. Florence left her husband in 2006 after suffering years of domestic violence and abuse. Florence is terrified of returning to Malawi because of what her husband and his family may do to her and her daughter. Florence’s mother has already been threatened by her husband and his family and if she is returned there is a real danger that Florence and Precious will face harassment and violence.

Precious will also be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation if she returns to Malawi.

Florence is active in her local church and she and Precious are important members of the Cranhill community in Glasgow. The UKBA have said that Precious would be able to adjust to living in Malawi despite that fact she has lived here since the age of 4 and doesn’t speak Chichewa, the native language of Malawi.

Florence’s friends and supporters in Scotland are shocked by the UKBA’s attempt to forcibly remove them from their home in Glasgow. We are calling for them to be returned to live in peace in Glasgow where they belong.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

Please fax Kenyan Airways to tell them you do not want them to participate in deportation flights and that you want Florence and Tionge Mhango to stay in Glasgow where they belong. Please quote flight number KQ101, Heathrow to Malawi on Monday 23rd November at 19:00. Download model letter.

Kenyan Airlines: World Business Centre 3, Heathrow Airport, Hounslow, Middlesex, TW62TA

Tel : +44 20 82831800

Fax: +44 020 8283 1880

Also contact Alan Johnson, Home Secretary, asking him to exercise his discretionary powers to stop the flight and release Florence and Tionge from detention. Download model letter. If you are writing your own letter or email, please include their Home Office Reference number: M1369020.

Sources for this message:

UNITY

ANSU UK – Download more info in ANSU UK pdf

Fax: + 44 (0)20 7219 5856 Phone: +44 (0)20 7035 4848 or 0870 606 7766

By Email : johnsona@parliament.uk

Or: public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

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In the news: MSP makes plea over asylum family’s Dungavel detention (BBC news)

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Emergency
At 8am on Tuesday 17th November Child M, his older brother and their mother were detained by 8 immigration officers at their home in Manchester. They were locked in a secure van and taken to Yarls Wood Immigration Removal Centre. The family were told that they would be placed on a flight to Tehran at 6.30 on Friday evening. Child M’s mother collpased on the journey and was taken to an Oxford hospital for treatment. She entered Yarls Wood in a wheelchair. Child M’s legal team immediately intervened to prevent their deportation. They submitted fresh evidence to support their asylum claim to the UK Border Agency and sought a Judicial Review at the High Court.

Under pressure from constituents, Gerald Kaufman made representations to the Home Secretary on behalf of the family. Other MPs including Chris Huhne contacted the Home Secretary to support Child M. Members of the campaign, friends and supporters deluged BMI offices with phone calls and emails demanding that they refuse to transport the family.
The Guardian newspaper, local TV and radio covered the story.

A partial victory After a traumatic 72 hours the legal team succeeded. The deportation was halted at 4.30 on Friday afternoon. The family were not deported but returned from Heathrow to indefinite detention at Yarls Wood.

The UK Border Agency has agreed to consider fresh evidence in support of the family’s asylum claim. An expert witness has recently authenticated the Iranian arrest warrant for Child M’s mother and confirms that she will face persecution and imprisonment if forced to return to Iran.

Child M and his family remain in detention.

The Child M Campaign demands:
- The immediate release of Child M and his family from detention
- Their right to remain safely in this country

We would like to thank everyone, on behalf of Child M and his family, for their support and action over the past few days. We remain deeply concerned about the welfare of Child M and his family. We need to keep working hard now. The danger for this family is not over.

Please visit the website for campaign updates.

Child M Must Stay Campaign
http://www.childm.org.uk

Contact details:
Denise – 07847190426 (Press enquiries)
Emma - emmainmcr@btinternet.com (campaign enquiries)
Pat – 07534144361 (campaign enquiries)

21 Nov 09. Message from the Child M must stay campaign

We were advised just before the flight deadline last night that the family of Child M has been returned to Yarl’s Wood and the deportation abandoned for the time being. We are continuing to press for the full release as a nine year old child is being locked up in a detention centre, which is utterly inhumane.

BMI was deluged with calls and there was widespread lobbying of Gerald Kaufman that we want to continue. People can also contact the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, to make their views on bundling children on to planes quite clear. We also contacted the national and local press and received considerable interest in a very short time. This helped to focus the minds of the Home Office and BMI.

Thank you to yourself and everyone who has acted on Child M’s behalf. We will need to do so again.

Who is “Child M”?

Child “M” (who can’t be named for legal reasons) is aged 8. He is here in the UK with his mum, brother and sister. They face persecution if they are returned to Iran – they are accused of circulating Salman Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses’. The British government has refused their asylum claim and tried to deport them.

Go to the Child M website for the full story www.childm.org.uk

NCADC is checking it’s membership list. We need you to confirm that you wish to be a member. It’s free, and all you have to do is download an application form, fill in your details and email or post it back to us.

Membership is open to all individuals and organisations who support our aims and objectives which are:

- To educate the public on anti-deportation issues.
- To give advice and support to all individual campaigns which seek assistance.
- To lobby to amend law and practice which lead to unjust or inhuman deportation and assist in mounting effective campaigns against such deportations.

Click here for full details and to download an application form>>>

A new initiative has been launched by Citizens for Sanctuary. The Sanctuary Pledge aims to build a lobbying movement to build public and political support for the provision of sanctuary for people fleeing persecution. The pledge builds on the work of the Independent Asylum Commission, and, in the run-up to the UK general election, commits those who are asking of our vote to do five things:

1. Campaign responsibly, positively and sensitively in the 2010 election
2. Use ‘sanctuary’ instead of ‘asylum’ when communicating with the public
3. Support policies that will end the detention of children and families for immigration reasons
4. Promote tolerance and neighbourliness between local communities
5. Safeguard the long-term future of sanctuary

www.sanctuarypledge.org.uk

The UK government has published some major legislative proposals with a draft immigration simplification bill and a proposals to reform the asylum support system.

Taken together, the proposals have been described by the Refugee Council as showing, yet again, “total disdain for people who come to our shores in fear for their lives and ask for safety”. More vulnerable people seeking sanctuary will find themselves criminalised, marginalised and stigmatised. Access to justice and welfare support is further eroded in these proposals, while the “get-tough” language of the government has now become indistinguishable from that of the racist BNP.The asylum support consultation proposes to repeal the notorious Section 9 of the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act, but suggests other odious measures to force people to leave the UK by withholding welfare support for families and children. Section 9 withdrew support from families whose asylum applications had been refused leaving them destitute and with threats to take their children into care. Although it is understood that Section 9 is to be dropped because it failed in it’s aim to force people to leave the country, rather than out of any concern for child welfare, it is to be welcomed.

Sadly, a new proposal is to remove cash support from families with children and move to a new version of the hated voucher system – a move which the Refugee Council makes a mockery of the UKBA commitment earlier this year to promote the welfare of children in the asylum system. A commitment already revealed as seriously failing in a report from Refugee and Migrant Justice – “Does Every Child Matter?” – which revealed that the UKBA is routinely flouting its Code of Practice to safeguard children.

Refugee Council comment>>>
The draft Immigration Bill info on UKBA website:>>>
The asylum support consultation is open to 4 February. UKBA welcomes your comments>>>

Every child matters?
It appears that UKBA is not the only agency failing in it’s duty of care towards refugee children. The Guardian reported this week that almost 150 children and young people – mostly unaccompanied children in the immigration and asylum system -disappeared from local authority care homes last year. The Care Leavers Association gathered information from 202 local authorities. That Local Authorities appear to be failing in their duty is of grave concern, particularly given the children’s treatment by the UK Border Agency.

Can someone do a favor for the Indonesian Police and buy them a copy of Dale Carniegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People?

As if they do not have their hands full managing the ill will that is emanating from their bungling of the KPK investigations, the Indonesian Police just had to go out to make enemies on yet another front.

This time it’s the foreign journalists and obviously the police have not heard of the saying that “you never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.”

Yesterday, Indonesian police detained and deported two journalists who were covering a project in which Greenpeace was demonstrating against a business concern.

Today the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club responded with an email to its members questioning why the journalists had been detained and deported while apparently doing their jobs.

Typical of journalists, however, the JFCC did not say whether the email was only for members’ consumption or whether they will deliver it in the form of a letter to the authorities. None of the 5Ws – who, what, why, when, where and how. Go figure.

The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club is deeply concerned about the detention and deportation of two foreign journalists who were reporting on a Greenpeace protest against deforestation in Indonesia.

Raimundo Bultrini, a reporter for the Italian ‘l’Espresso’ weekly and Kumkum Dasgupta, an editor with the ‘Hindustan Times’ of India were forced out of the country on Wednesday.

Free reporting and movement of the media should be protected as a cornerstone of democracy. We strongly protest the apparent violation of press freedom and request immediate clarification from immigration authorities.

These journalists were visiting Sumatra to report on a protest by the international organization Greenpeace when they were held by the police for hours of questioning. They were watching the deforestation caused by several pulp and paper and palm oil companies.

After being interrogated they were told they would be deported for “illegal activities” for allegedly not obtaining local permission to be in the area.

Local immigration officials say the two had obtained journalist visas from national authorities. Neither was on a tourist visa. By obtaining the visas they showed their respect for Indonesian laws and regulations.

We at the JFCC would like to know on what grounds the two journalists were expelled. What exactly were their “illegal activities” and on which law or regulation were the deportations based?

The JFCC Executive Committee

 

 

Latino population growth adds to House seats

6 states expected to gain congressional slots due to surge in Hispanic numbers

A new study says that six of the eight states that are expected to gain U.S. House seats from the 2010 Census — all except Utah and Georgia — would not receive them without recent population growth among Hispanics, which may make Latinos more politically powerful.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705345232/Latino-population-growth-adds-to-House-seats.html

Census Bureau to hire 1 million temporary workers

WASHINGTON – As it gears up for the 2010 national headcount, the Census Bureau will be hiring as many as one million temporary workers across the country.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Howell Republican, put out a news release to that effect this morning, wanting to get the word out to people in Michigan, where the unemployment rate of 15.3% remains the nation’s highest.

http://www.freep.com/article/20091117/NEWS07/91117018/1320/Census-Bureau-to-hire-1-million-temporary-workers

2010 Census Mired in Controversy

Meanwhile, the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders (CONLAMIC) is calling for a 2010 census boycott unless Congress enacts radical …

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/2334-2010-census-mired-in-controversy

Lou Dobbs Gets $8M Goodbye; Will He Challenge Menendez?

Lou Dobbs’ abrupt departure from CNN may have been a victory for his detractors, but for Dobbs, the bitter pill was no doubt sweetened by CNN’s parting gift of $8 million.

And for his detractors — in particular Hispanic immigration activists — the sweet victory could soon be dampened. That’s because many are speculating that Dobbs may challenge the nation’s only Hispanic U.S. Senator, Robert Menendez, a Democrat, for his New Jersey seat.

http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?idx=167246&cat1=politics

Governor Crist Invites Grassroots Organizations to Help Ensure Accurate 2010 Sunshine Census

TALLAHASSEE –

As part of his ongoing effort to ensure Florida receives its fair share of federal funding and representation, Governor Charlie Crist invited grassroots organizations and advocates for Florida’s minority and other hard-to-count populations to become involved in the 2010 Sunshine Census initiative.

The Executive Office of the Governor is requesting proposals from potential contractors to develop the most influential grassroots outreach and public relations network possible.

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/70294202.html

After accidental deportation, critics say immigration officials making mistakes

After a Salvadoran man was mistakenly deported, immigration rights activists have complained about toughened enforcement by authorities.

Two months after questions were raised about the legality of his deportation by U.S. authorities, a Salvadoran man returned from his homeland Tuesday to a tearful reunion with his wife in Miami.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives of two Miami Dade College students are drumming up support to keep the two men from being deported to their native Venezuela.

The cases, say immigrant rights advocates, have rekindled fears that immigration authorities are stepping up detentions and deportations.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/5min/story/1338772.html

The Early Word: Health Bill Buzz
By ASHLEY SOUTHALL

People who are closely following the health care debate might not have to wait much longer for Senate Democrats to release their bill and for the Congressional Budget Office to assess its cost.

Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said he would move soon, The Times’s David Herszenhorn wrote, but Carl Hulse, also of The Times, notes that Mr. Reid is struggling to get the 60 votes needed to bring the legislation to the floor. The budget office’s analysis could help Democrats woo their party’s three holdouts and two independents instead of resorting to a measure that requires fewer votes but that the leaders consider less attractive.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/the-early-word-health-bill-buzz/

Sad news came through this morning that Rose-Jane and baby Natale were deported, despite a passenger protest. Four policemen and four Home Office officials boarded the flight with Rose-Jane and spoke to passengers who were refusing to fasten their seatbelts and they capitulated. She is going to go to the British Embassy in Kenya to appeal against her removal.

Speaking to a supporter by telephone just before take-off, Rose-Jane wished to thank everyone who had supported her by writing letters on her behalf.

http://bit.ly/rosejane

Australiens Premierminister, Kevin Rudd, hat sich heute offiziell für das Schicksal der schätzungsweise über 150.000 von Großbritannien aus in die neue Welt deportierten Kinder entschuldigt. Kanadas Regierung denkt nicht daran und schließt einen solchen symbolischen Akt aus.

Großbritannien hatte zwischen den 1860er und den 1930er Jahren im Rahmen ihrer sogenannten “migrant children policy” verarmte Kleinkinder (in manchen Artikeln ist die Rede bis zu 3-Jährigen) per Schiff und gegen ein Kopfgeld nach Australien und Kanada verkauft. Kanada kaufte diese Kinder damals für 2 Dollar pro Kopf. In Australien und Kanada angekommen, wurden die Kinder dann als Billigarbeiter ausgebeutet, lebten schließlich in Heimen und wurden nicht selten Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch und Gewalt.

Die CBC schreibt, die Regierung sehe keine Veranlassung für eine Entschuldigung, weil man sich schließlich nicht für jedes dunkle Kapitel kanadischer Geschichte entschuldigen könne. Dabei sprechen die verbliebenen Opfer nicht von Schadenersatz, sondern lediglich von der Anerkennung ihres Schicksals. Die CBC hat ein Interview mit Elsie Hathaway (93) auf ihre Website gestellt (Auch ein Clip zur ganzen Geschichte der “home children” ist hier zu finden). Es ist schockierend zu hören, was diese alte Dame zu berichten hat. Ihre Stärke das alles nochmal durchzustehen ist beeindruckend. Ihre Geschichte ist auch in der Globe and Mail zu lesen. So wurde sie damals mit ihrem kleineren Bruder zusammen in ein Schiff nach Kanada gesetzt, kam in Québec an, wurde von ihrem kleinen Bruder getrennt und später nach Cape Breton Island gebracht, wo sie als 10-Jährige als eine Art Hausmädchen mit allem drum and dran arbeiten musste. Auf die Frage, ob sie zu den Berichten über Missbräuche etwas sagen könne, stockt ihr der Atem und sie antwortet gefasst, dass sie davon nicht sagen könne. In einem anderen Interview zum Anlass der offiziellen Entschuldigung bricht ein Opfer der Deportationen, eine Australierin,  in Tränen aus, und erzählt dem Reporter dennoch von ihrem Schicksal. Ihre Geschichte klingt wie die von Elsie Hathaway. Die britische Regierung hatte übrigens im Vorfeld gesagt, sich zu diesem Thema umfassend im nächsten Jahr zu äußern.

Es ist beeindruckend von den beiden Frauen zu hören, wie wichtig die Entschuldigung seitens der australischen Regierung (die vorherige konservative Regierung von John Howard hatte eine solche Entschuldigung übrigens immer angelehnt) und wie unverständlich die Reaktion der konservativen Regierung in Ottawa ist. Ich glaube, es geht vor allem darum den gealterten Kindern und ihren Nachfahren die Würde, die ihnen genommen wurde, wiederzugeben. Ich finde den Gedanken an eine solche Entwurzelung und Ausbeutung einfach schockierend. Es reiht sich direkt ein in Jahrhunderte von Sklavenhandel, Rassismus, Frauenunterdrückung, Entmündigung von behinderten Menschen und der heutigen Entrechtung von Migranten. Es ist immer das gleiche – und das offenbar auch scheissegal wo.