"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.
"He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb.
"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". -
David Cameron.

Friday 31 May 2013

From now til 2015 - winning the debate on immigration.

http://www.dangerousideas.org.uk/index.php/sessions/item/229-from-now-til-2015-winning-the-debate-on-immigration

With Lee Jasper (Respect), Zrinka Bralo (Migrant and Refugee Community Forum), Don Flynn (Migrants Rights Network), Chair: Guy Taylor (JCWI)

Saturday, June 1, 14:00-15:15

From now until the General Election, immigration is going to be in the firing line. With the mainstream political parties essentially agreeing on being tough on immigration and Ukip pressurising them all to be tougher, it is down to progressive activists, as ever, to take a stand on this pivotal issue. The demonisation of Romanians and Bulgarians is raging and immigration raids on workplaces are stepping up to unprecedented levels. JCWI has pulled together a powerful platform to launch the offensive against the bigotry, intolerance and racism of the mainstream.

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Sign our letter to the Daily Mirror to stand against the EDL
Update: More than 28,000 people have already signed today!


http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/s/we-are-the-many

Today, the violent English Defence League will hold demonstrations in towns and cities across our country, trying to spread their message of hate. By blaming all Muslims for the terrible murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the EDL will attempt to whip up a climate of fear and violence towards the Muslim community in Britain.

But the EDL will fail. They will fail because we, the British people, reject their ignorance.

The EDL and Islamic extremists are more similar to each other than to us. They share a violent, hate-fuelled desire for conflict and war, and we will not let either group tear our country apart.

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Let's give back the right to volunteer.

http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/policy_campaigning/campaigns/751_lets_give_back_the_right_to_volunteer

Asylum seekers are legally allowed to volunteer in the UK.  But misleading Home Office guidelines are holding them back.  This needs to change.

Refugee Action is calling on the Home Office to urgently draw up straightforward guidance on asylum seeker volunteering.  It's their chance to show volunteer-involving organisations that they can welcome and include asylum seekers.

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Today I was spat on because I looked different.

http://unakavanagh.com/archives/2251

I met with my friend and contemplated what had actually happened. The more I thought about it the more I got the courage to act. This was the time to do something, anything, to tackle the closemindedness of a nation who prided themselves on being ‘welcoming.’ There and then it truly was a lie.
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Is it true that migrants are less likely to claim benefits than UK nationals?

http://fullfact.org/factchecks/immigration_and_benefits-28846
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https://twitter.com/jdportes tweets :
Yes, Vince Cable is right about the economic damage resulting from government immigration policy:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/visa-rules-throw-spanner-in-engineering-works/2004223.article

Overly bureaucratic immigration rules are preventing world-class researchers from coming to the UK, even when they are funded by European research grants, a group of leading engineers has said.

The Engineering Professors’ Council, which represents engineering departments at 78 universities, is calling on the Home Office to be more flexible in granting visas to young researchers wishing to visit the UK for training purposes or to work short-term contracts.

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https://twitter.com/migrants_rights tweets :
How attractive is Britain to ‘benefit tourists’? Great article on what's behind the EU - UK spat
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2013/05/how-attractive-is-britain-to-benefit-tourists/
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Britain's poorest city: The struggle to make ends meet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22623964

A large banner by the shopping centre proclaims that the Meadows, against all odds, is a finalist in this year's Britain in Bloom competition.

If the herbs planted out there prove as hardy as some of its residents, and if roses can flourish here, among the concrete and despair, then the Meadows will surely win that challenge outright.

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Disaster highlights Roma's struggle for human rights in France.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/05/31/disaster-highlights-romas-struggle-for-human-rights-in-france/

A violent fire destroyed an abandoned factory in the eastern French city of Lyon squatted by families from the Roma community, killing two women and 12-year-old child. In the aftermath of the tragedy on May 13, 2013, the survivors relocated into a school open only in the evenings, leaving them outside in the rain during the day.
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http://www.immigrantx.org/ is fascinating.

Immigrant X is our communication and plan for a better future, we Blog, Tweet and use social media to push our ideas. Immigrant X is faction. It is what has happened, could happen, will happen or is happening now somewhere close or on the other side of the world. Immigrant X is communicating the truth. All you have to do to see Immigrant X is open your eyes and see those standing in the shadows and hear a whisper that injustice reigns in a world of plenty, that lives are torn apart by the passive acceptance of those with their accidental citizenship in a western democracy.
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China's pollution problem.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/chinas-pollution-problem/
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"[Peer Steinbrück, the chancellor-candidate] is a good man, with quite a bold programme for ‘social justice’. Tax increases for the better-off, a proper minimum wage, dual citizenship for immigrants, less elbowing individualism and more solidarity in a society where das Wir entscheidet – ‘it’s the we that counts.’ The German public, surprisingly, mostly agree that increasing taxes is a sound idea. What they resent is that the idea comes from the SPD. In the same way, the Augsburg programme is widely thought to make sense, but the voters don’t fancy Peer Steinbrück. They are pissed off with Angela Merkel’s governing coalition, but reluctant to let go of Mutti’s hand. In short, the public are in one of those sullen, unreasonable moods which make politicians despair."

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n11/neal-ascherson/hanging-on-to-mutti
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"This morning, Turkish police surrounded protesters in Taksim Gezi park, the central square in Istanbul, blocked all exits and attacked them with chemical sprays and teargas. An Occupy-style movement has taken off in Istanbul."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/31/istanbul-park-protests-turkish-spring
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Northern Ireland town fakes prosperity for G8.

http://www.theworld.org/2013/05/northern-ireland-town-fakes-prosperity-for-g8-summit/
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Why are so many people moving to Texas?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22649624
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Earth pics :

Iowa clouds.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/2013/05/30/multi-wavelength-view-of-mammatus/

Bay blues.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=81238

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