Wales – Built By Migrants

The following article written by one of our group first appeared on Waleshome.org last week, where it has already the 2nd highest number of comments. We reproduce it here in it’s unedited original form.

Welsh history has often failed to integrate an international perspective, and as such the role of Welsh people in the British Empire is too often ignored. People like Henry Bruce (1st Baron Aberdare) whose statue overlooks Cardiff University. He was the first governor of the Royal Niger Company which institutionalised the systematic plundering of wealth from the region that was to become Nigeria. Many of the current problems faced by people in Nigeria are a direct result of domination by Britain. Despite having abundant natural resources and being a major oil producer, poverty is a fact of life for the majority of people in the most populous country in Africa.

MIGRATION is one of the most contentious issues of modern times. Add the “im-” prefix and it’s practically a swear word in some circles. If public debate around the issue is ever given any lip service, it generally has a whiff of racism, or more increasingly the stench of fascism about it. The right-wing gutter press have managed to file ‘bogus asylum seekers’ and ‘illegal immigrants’ into the same category as child killers and sex offenders. There is so much that can be said to counter tabloid lies on immigration, it would be easy to fill a whole article with facts refuting them. But these can be easily found elsewhere, here I will sketch a rarely-articulated history of Wales which undercuts the dominant right-wing discourse on migration.

Opponents of immigration often fix upon the notion of an indigenous culture that requires defending from outside influence, a ‘way of life’ that is under attack from foreigners. The ‘shared identity’ of the nation-state is appealed to, promoting the idea that the interests of all indigenous people are separate to those of ‘foreigners’. This imagined community of a country is a construct, even in a small nation like Wales most people never know, meet, or even hear of most of their fellow countrymen. Any concept of national identity is not innate and unchanging, but fragile, contested, and constructed over time. The hegemonic concept of national identity serves as

Yarl’s Wood Hunger Strike reaches fifth week. Demonstration in Swansea this Saturday

The hunger strike at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre has reached a fifth week. Solidarity demonstrations have taken place, outside the IRC itself, at Holloway Prison and around the country, now a legal challenge is being mounted. The hunger strike tactic has also spread to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre.

There will be a protest in support of the hunger strikers this Saturday 13th March in Castle Square in Swansea City Centre from 12noon until 5pm. As well as higlighting the stuggle of

Freedom from detention for Mashal Jabari

Mashal Jabari (right) with his older brother who has already gained refugee status

Mashal Jabari has been released, the emergency campaign spearheaded by the Welsh Refugee Council has managed to release a 14-year-old Afghan orphan from detention.

Staff at the Cardiff office of the UK Border Agency had insisted that he was 18 and held him in adult detention ahead of deportation next week. He was released from Campsfield House IRC early yesterday evening following a Judicial Review where the Judge ruled that at present - until another full age assessment is completed – Mashal is to be considered 14 years of age and placed with

Stop the deportation of Mashal Jabari

The Welsh Refugee Council is calling on the UK Border Agency to release Mashal Jabari, 14 years of age, from Campsfield detention prison, and to suspend removal directions until a full assessment of his age can be made. It is very unusual for the Welsh Refugee Council to comment on individual cases, which adds extra urgency to the compelling compassionate grounds for why this boy should be allowed to remain.

Zaki Jabar, aged 15, arrived in the UK alone and extremely traumatised in November 2008. He came from Afghanistan and when he left his father was missing presumed dead and his mother was sick. His family had been attacked after his father had given assistance to the American forces, and Zaki had seen his sister killed. He was placed in foster care in Leicester by Rutland Social Services and given Refugee Status. He is currently sitting his GCSEs. He was anxious to trace his younger brother Mashal.

Mashal Jabari arrived in the UK in October last year, and claimed asylum on arrival. By then he knew that both his parents were dead. He was assessed as being over 18 even though he said he was 14. He was sent to Cardiff where he was

Film premier on Thursday as pressure builds on UKBA

On Thursday we’ll be showing the premiere of a documentary film about the situation for migrants in Calais made by one of our group: Passengers is the personal account of a few people stuck in a place they don’t want to be, a collection of interviews with people seeking sanctuary. It’s No Borders South Wales meets Calais Migrant Solidarity. It’s on from 7.30pm in room 0.53 of the Bute Building, Cardiff University (map). It’s free entry and we’ll also be showing some other films about the situation in Calais and have a report back from some of the group who have just returned.

Here’s some stills from the film:

The appearance of Louise Perrett in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday has led to

Whistle blower gives evidence to MPs

(video will appear when uploaded)

As part of the oral session of the internal inquiry into the UK Border Agency, former UKBA employee Louise Perrett appeared before the Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons today and gave evidence of her experience of working in the agency’s Cardiff office.

The committee questioned Perrett on the detail of her claims, with 

Mass protest outside UKBA: the first of many?

Friday’s protest outside the UK Border Agency in Cardiff was the largest one to date with over 200 people, mostly refugees. The demonstration lasted three hours and featured speeches, chanting, dancing and a lot of energy. The demonstration was organised by Refugee Voice Wales with prominent members of Zimbabwean, Congolese, Kurdish and other community groups taking a leading role.

In this media age there was unsurprisingly a number of people tweeting short reports, uploading photos and providing live audio direct from the demonstration. Further full reports have already appeared on local radical blogs Everyone’s Favourite Comrade, Cryptonomicon and Welsh Green Dragon, which includes

Support builds for Refugee Voice Wales Demonstration

The protest outside the UK Border agency in Cardiff this Friday called by Refugee Voice Wales has been gaining attention.

There has been support for the demonstration on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Indymedia, Everyone’s Favourite Comrade, Cryptonomicon, Cardiff Radical Socialist Forum, Urban75 and Permanent Revolution.

The BBC world service also recently aired an episode of Assignment: “Unlawful Detention” (Listen or Download) investigating claims that the government is routinely breaching its own guidelines and detaining vulnerable

Yarl’s Wood Hunger Strike reaches third week

Over twenty women  have been on hunger strike at Yarls Wood Immigration Prison near Bedford since Friday 5th February, calling for their immediate release and are now reaching the “critical phase” of health risk. This is the latest chapter in the history of resistance in UK detention centres, there have been many solidarity protests with

Benefit gig on 5th March

On Friday 5th March we will be having a Benefit gig at The Promised Land, Windsor Place, Cardiff. For only £3 you’ll be able to see four great punk bands from South Wales and the West country.

Expect hard sounds and hard politics from these outspoken bands. There will be ska-punk from Spanner, crust-punk from Jesus Bruiser, anarcho-punk from Filthy Habits, and hardcore-punk from The Shortcuts. Doors will be open from half seven, first band on about 8pm.

All the money we take on the door (once the bands have had petrol money) will be spent on Calais Migrant Solidarity and Movement Newsletter; both worthy causes very much in need of your support. Any additional donations on the night will be gratefully received!

You can find an event page on facebook and myspace please

Protest outside UKBA on Friday 26th February

Reactions to the whistle-blowing of Louise Perrett have continued, the Cross Party Group on Human Rights at the Welsh Assembly recently had Louise give a talk on her experiences. This has led to Bethan Jenkins AM to call for an investigation into UKBA racism whilst demanding:

“a halt to any deportations planned as a consequence of the casework completed at the Cardiff office”.

Now Refugee Voice Wales has called a demonstration outside the UK Border Agency offices, 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff on Friday 26th February between 1pm and 3pm.

In the call out they state:

“We are calling for an immediate stop to consistent racial abuse and harassment of asylum seekers by the UKBA staff. We demand:

• that all cases dealt by unscrupulous officers be reviewed
• immediate suspension of all removals / deportations
• the suspension of all corrupt staff and their supervisors
• an instant independent overhaul of the whole system at Cardiff UKBA
• An independent inquiry into all UKBA offices to uphold the Refugee Convention

Tell everyone you know to come! Come play your part to create freedom. If you have BLACK GLOVES please wear them on the day for the freedom salute! Come let’s have a mass toyi-toyi (African War dance for freedom and equality). This is a mockery to the inclusion and integration policies so encouraged by the Welsh Assembly.”

Despite not agreeing with the implication that the problem is “unscrupulous officers” and “corrupt staff”, we fully support this call out. The role of

Movement #4

Here’s the slightly delayed latest issue of Movement, events over the last few weeks have meant this issue has changed a few times before publication. As is often a problem with print media our two cover stories may develop considerably within hours of publication. You can keep up to date with these stories and more on the Movement website, which hosts extensive links from across the movement for freedom of movement and equality for all (and beyond).

click on image to download .pdf

Articles this issue include:

• Hunger strike at Yarl’s Wood
• New migrant solidarity centre in Calais
• Arora Detention centre plans defeated
• No Deportations to Nigeria
• Life’s too short to be controlled
• Overpopulation Myths
• UKBA Whistleblower speaks out
• No Borders National Gathering
• Plus the usual contacts and links.

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

A glimpse of the situation in Calais for migrants

Now on the revised date of Thursday 4th March from 7.30pm we will be hosting a film showing at the Birt Acres Lecture Theatre, Bute Building, Cardiff University (map). Featuring 3 short films about Calais that give a glimpse into the lives of migrants living there. One of these will be will be the premier of ‘Passengers‘ made by one of our group. You can RSVP on the facebook event page.

Since the No Borders Camp last summer, many activists from south Wales have been involved in migrant solidarity work in Calais. Hundreds of migrants have travelled overland to Calais to cross the final border to Dover in order to settle in Britain. Even though in Britain the odds are not in favour of asylum seeking migrants being given status, it is much less likely in

Demonstration outside UK Border Agency

Over forty people braved the wind and rain outside the UK Border Agency on Newport Road on Wednesday to protest against the first Joint EU Charter deportation flight, which went to Nigeria. We gave out 150 copies of a leaflet by Stop Deportations to Nigeria, which were well received by everyone we spoke to.

At the same time as we were holding our demonstration in Cardiff there was a protest outside the Nigeria Embassy in London called by the Campaign Against Immigration Controls and No One Is Illegal. It was good to see plenty of people from other political groups coming together to condemn the UKBA and call for freedom of movement for all. We welcome the involvement of everyone who has a problem with the highly bigoted and discriminatory practises of the border regime.

The profile of the protest was significantly raised by the revelations of former UKBA employee Louise Perrett who’s experiences show the agency to be institutionally racist. Louse will be speaking about her

Whistle-blower reveals culture of abuse at UK Border Agency in Cardiff

An article in today’s Guardian, has added extra meaning to our protest outside the UKBA this afternoon. Louise Perrett worked as a case owner at the UK Border Agency office in Cardiff for three and a half months last summer. Due to her experiences of her time in the agency she has risked breaching the Official Secrets Act to go public with evidence of anti-immigration views and abuse of power by UK Border Agency staff.

“I witnessed general hostility, rudeness and indifference towards clients. It was completely horrific. I highlighted my concerns to senior managers but I was just laughed at. I decided to speak out because nobody else was saying anything and major changes are needed at senior management level.”

Her revelations reveal a culture of bigotry and prejudice in the Cardiff office, where members of staff  took pride in refusing applications.

• One manager said of the asylum-seeker clients: “If it was up to me I’d take them all outside and shoot them.”
• If a case was difficult,  she was simply advised to refuse it and “let a tribunal sort it out”.
• Any officer who approved an asylum application had a stuffed toy “grant monkey” placed on their desk by other members of staff as a badge of shame.
• One official tested the claims of boys