Black Lives Matter protest closes London City Airport runway

Black Lives Matter protesters have occupied a runway at London City Airport this morning causing disruption resulting in the closure of the runway.

Black Lives Matter UK issued a statement which read: “This action was taken in order to highlight the UK’s environmental impact on the lives of black people locally and globally.”

More information can be found in this article on the Independent

Food desperately needed for refugees in Calais

Charities are warning that they no longer have enough donated food or money to feed the rapidly growing population of refugees in the camp in Calais, with supplies running out on a daily basis and refugees and migrants reporting they are going hungry.

A collection has been arranged in Stafford with all items donated being taken by van directly to Calais.

If you can donate any of the items listed, please get in touch with the organisers (details below)

Polish community standing up to post-Brexit racism

Shared from Al Jazeera

Racism has been on the rise since the Brexit vote. This is how the Polish community responded after a man was murdered in a suspected hate crime.

Details of the suspected hate crime can be found on the following link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-37227313

UAF educational trip to Krakow & Auschwitz – November 3rd – 7th

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) are organising a trip to the Nazi’s Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.

Given the alarming rise of openly anti-Semitic fascist groups and parties in much of Europe such as in Poland and Greece, UAF feels it essential to reaffirm and emphasise the need to expose today’s fascists.

We will be based in the historic city of Krakow. Until the Second World War, Krakow was one of the great Jewish centres in Europe. In March 1942 the Nazis ‘cleared out’ the ghetto and sent all the inhabitants to extermination camps. The story of the ghetto’s

liquidation and Plaszow concentration camp was made famous by Steven Spielberg’s incredible film Schindler’s List.

The purpose of the trip is to better understand the Holocaust and the Nazis. We also want to look at the Nazi threat today in Europe, such as Jobbik in Hungary, Golden Dawn in Greece, and others like the Front National in France.  Moreover, that the Austrian Presidency was nearly won by the fascist FPO party, shows the need to ensure that history is learnt from.

Alongside the trip to Auschwitz and to Birkenau death camp, the itinerary includes a guided tour of Krakow’s Jewish Quarter and ghetto, ending at the Schindler factory.

In the evening, we will hold meetings on ‘Understanding the Holocaust’ and ‘Fighting fascism today’. As in past years, some trades unionists are getting sponsorship and funding from their organisations to come. Ask your trade union/community group, student union,  if they may be prepared to make a contribution towards the trip. We are also looking to sponsor students to go on the trip. Please contact the UAF office for more information on this or for related enquiries.

Itinerary

Thursday 3 November

Arrive in Krakow. In the evening there will be a Welcome

meeting and a talk on ‘The rise of fascism across Europe’. Organisers will go for a meal, afterwards,  you may wish to come along.

Friday 4 November

Guided tour of the Jewish Quarter (Kazimierz) and the

Krakow ghetto ending at the Schindler factory. Evening

meeting on ‘Understanding the Holocaust’. Organisers will go for a meal, afterwards, you may wish to come along.

Saturday 5 November

Trip to Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration camp. Free

time in the evening.

Sunday 6 November

Free day to visit Krakow.

Monday 7 November

Return to Britain.

Cost:

£220 waged or £160 student/unwaged.  Some twin bed rooms are available, so the cost here is  £190.

This includes a guided tour of the Jewish Quarter and Ghetto, lectures and the coach trip to Auschwitz.

You will need to book your own flights. Ryanair and EasyJet run daily flights to Krakow from several UK airports.

Ask your trade union if they may be prepared to make a contribution towards the trip.

Download booking form here

Confronting The Rise In Racism: Stand Up To Racism National Conference 2016

 

WHEN  Saturday, 8 October 2016 from 10:30 to 17:30 (BST) – Add to Calendar

WHERE  Friends Meeting House – London, NW1 – View Map

Speakers include: Jeremy Corbyn MP, Labour Leader, Diane Abbott MP, Lord Alf Dubs, Kate Osamor MP, Journalist Owen Jones, Kevin Courtney NUT General Secretary, Claude Moraes MEP, Maurice Wren, Refugee Council Chief Exec, Colette Levy Hidden Child of Vichy France,Talha Almad Muslim Council of Britain, Mark Serwotka PCS Gen Sec, Sally Hunt UCU Gen Sec, Weyman Bennett and Sabby Dhalu Stand up to Racism.

A major national conference bringing together speakers, organisations and activists from anti-racist campaigns across Europe. The conference will examine the current struggle against racism in Britain and beyond such as the fight against Islamophobia and antisemitism, defending civil liberties and migrants rights and building solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.

The humanitarian crisis in Europe will also be discussed with the intention of developing an action plan for activists and organisations who want to campaign for more to be done for refugees.

Themes include:

• From the US to Britain – Black Lives Matter
• Prevent, the Extremism Bill and defending civil liberties
• Brexit: Defend Migrant Rights & freedom of movement
• Trump to UKIP – opposing right wing populism
• Europe and the renewed threat of fascism & the far right
• Refugees Welcome Here
• Love Music Hate Racism
• Austerity and the rise in racism

Invite your friends via the Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/1113474992028415

To book tickets please follow the eventbrite link below

Book tickets via eventbite

NorSCARF condemns Stoke Council decision to shun Syrian children seeking asylum

At NorSCARFs April general meeting, this evening,  a discussion was held on the recent decision by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to refuse to help in the resettling of any of the over 2000 unaccompanied Syrian children, currently in Kent.  The decision was met with a strong feeling of condemnation, from all those in attendance.

As was reported in the Sentinel, last week, Stoke Council have refused any help, with Council cabinet member Randy Conteh defending the decision by saying the following “we have no immediate plans to take any unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who are currently in Kent. As part of the Syrian resettlement programme we have pledged to assist 20 people, once we have the assurances from Government on how they will support them. We believe this number is proportionate to what is being asked of by Government and to the level of support being pledged by cities and areas across the West Midlands.”

We at NorSCARF believe that the decision taken is a disgrace and believe the council should be doing all they can to help the most vulnerable children seeking asylum. As Reverend Sally Smith, from the asylum-seeker charity Sanctus, stated  “The most important thing is to look beyond the financial cost as many of these children will be severely traumatised. They will be re-living horrific events which will shape their lives and we should embrace the opportunity to help them.”

For the council of a city the size of Stoke-on-Trent to think that their decision to refuse to help any unaccompanied children and only take only 20 refugees is adequate is truly appalling.

We call upon the council to reverse their decision and believe they should pledge to drastically increase the number of Syrian asylum seekers they plan to assist.  We strongly believe all refugees fleeing war and oppression should be welcomed!

Campaign launched to support refugees in North Staffordshire

At a packed meeting of NorSCARF (the North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism) on Monday evening, 21 September 2015, it was agreed to launch a campaign of solidarity with asylum seekers and refugees. Representatives of several local agencies that support asylum seekers were present at the meeting, where it was decided to develop a series of public activities to help raise public awareness of the plight of refugees, and counter the myths and misconceptions around asylum seekers that are expressed by politicians and the media.

There are already several hundred asylum seekers in North Staffordshire, and more are expected soon from Syria. Several NorSCARF members have offered spare rooms in their houses to asylum seekers who are in particular need.

Members were particularly concerned about the plight of the desperate people in Calais forced to travel thousands of miles across land and sea to escape war-torn countries, poverty and oppression. NorSCARF is helping to collect clothing and other items for a convoy organised by two of its members, which will be taking aid from North Staffordshire to Calais on October 17th.

Dr Simon Martin Halstead, secretary of NorSCARF, said: ‘All people of good will have to act as one to bring relief to those fellow human beings who are most in need. As shown by the aid to Lidice in the past, The Potteries has a proud humanitarian tradition to uphold’.

For more information, contact NorSCARF on norscarf@yahoo.co.uk.