[noborders-brum] Mayday 06: London No Borders Statement

[phunkee at aktivix.org]

Mayday 06: London No Borders Statement

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2006/04/338807.html

 MONDAY 1ST MAY – MAYDAY PARADE
Meet 12pm Clerkenwell Green
& join the Autonomous Bloc on the TUC march

MAY DAY- INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL – MIGRANTS, REFUGEES, LEGAL OR 'ILLEGAL'
TEAR DOWN THE BORDERS THAT DIVIDE US

May Day is International Workers Day, a day that should recognize that the
working class is an international class; that the oppressed and exploited
throughout the world have everything in common with each other and nothing in
common with 'their' nation, 'their' government and 'their' bosses. So migrants,
refugees, those deemed 'illegal immigrants' by the State, those facing
deportation, people in detention, should be at the center of what May Day is
all about.

The Trade Union movement has had a sorry history in relation to immigration
controls. At the beginning of the 20th century the TUC agitated for the first
immigration controls against Jews, which helped bring about the introduction of
the 1905 Aliens Act. At various times throughout that century trades unions
have organised against migrant workers and for greater controls.

So not only have migrants confronted with the physical and legal borders, they
have to contest the borders that exist within the workers movement itself. On
May Day we must challenge that and call for a world without borders.

There has always been a voice within the trade union movement in support of
migrant rights and against controls starting with the 'Voice from the Aliens'
over a hundred years ago. More recently trades unions have opposed new
legislation strengthening immigration controls. Today some unions such as
Natfhe and NUJ have come out against immigration controls.

Immigration controls are in your work place and the union ought to be fighting
them. People in the caring professions are supposed to act as immigration
officers; reporting migrants to the Home Office, denying people services
because of their immigration status, evicting them and taking their children
away. We say DEFIANCE NOT COMPLIANCE!

People in your union are rounded up, detained and deported. We say NO
DEPORTATION! NO DETENTIONS! Set up or support a campaign against their
deportation. Take industrial action to oppose their deportation.

'Illegal' or precarious immigration status makes many workers vulnerable to
super-exploitation paid well below the minimum wage with no health and safety
conditions. The tragic consequences of this have been seen on the sands of
Morecambe Bay. It is a duty of the trades union movement to organise, support
and defend all workers regardless of their immigration status and say loud and
clear IMMIGRATION CONTROLS KILL! NO ONE IS ILLEGAL!

WHO ARE LONDON NO BORDERS? London No Borders are a group of people who are
opposed to immigration controls. As well as putting forward the arguments
against immigration controls, we are involved, often with alliance with others,
with practical activities against the various aspects of controls.

We are working to support people detained in centers around London –
Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, Yarlswood – organising visits, campaigning for
their release and against their deportations. We have organised demonstrations
at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook.

We are currently supporting the self-organised struggles against detention
centres by people detained inside Colnbrook, Haslar and Harmondsworth detention
centres, who have formed a new movement called ‘Cry Freedom’ to demand their
release. Their dissent has taken the form of hunger strikes, mass food
refusals, and sit-down protests, and many of them have faced severe repression
from guards as a result of this.

We leaflet at centers where asylum seekers have to sign-on and could be detained
and taken away, with information about their rights.

We support and encourage people in the caring professions to refuse to carry out
immigration control duties.

We disseminate information about campaigns around the country and around the
world and will work in concert to make international days of action.

We meet every two weeks.

If you want to get involved you can contact us at  noborderslondon at riseup.net.

NO ONE IS ILLEGAL! NO BORDERS!

London No Borders
- e-mail: noborderslondon at riseup.net
- Homepage: http://www.noborders.org.uk