Politicians and the media have a lot to say - mostly
negative - about “refugees” or “asylum seekers”. What they never say is that in reality the people of Britain are
made up of successive waves of refugee immigrants and that in the last few
centuries millions of people have left Britain as refugees for other countries.
IMMIGRANTS TO BRITAIN
Ever since prehistoric times successive waves of
people have migrated from Europe into the British Isles: Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons,
Danes, Normans - as many of our surnames indicate. Nottingham was founded by Saxons and its name is Norman. More recently, in the 17th. century hundreds
of thousands of French Protestants
(Huguenots) fled to England to escape religious persecution. Their energy and initiative made an
important contribution to the industrial revolution and their French surnames
are still widespread, e.g. Courtauld, the textile firm.
In the 18/1900’s millions of Irish people had to flee
their homeland because of the political-religious persecution and economic
exploitation they suffered at the hands of the English ruling class. Paradoxically, many of them came to England
where they made up an important part of the industrial working class required
by the growing industrial economy. In
the inner areas of Nottingham at least 10% of the population have Irish
surnames, which means that a much higher percentage of the population are of at
least part Irish descent. In the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries hundreds of thousand of Jews fleeing
persecution in the Russian Empire settled here and made a significant
contribution to business and the professions.
After World War II, tens of thousands of displaced
Poles and Ukrainians settled in Britain, especially in the East Midlands. Also large numbers from the Caribbean and
the Indian sub-continent were encouraged by the Government and employers to
come to Britain to fill the growing labour shortage, especially in public
services.
There was never an original, “authentic” British
people. Rather we are made up of
successive waves of immigrants and the knowledge and skills they have brought
are among our strengths.
MIGRANTS FROM BRITAIN
Over the centuries millions of people have left Britain
because of political, religious and economic pressures. It was from villages in North Notts that the
religious dissenters who became known as the Pilgrim Fathers set out for
America to live free from the religious persecution they suffered in England. In the 18/1900’s hundreds of thousand of
Scots had to leave because of the “clearances” by wealthy landlords driving
them out of their farms and many Welsh people migrated, e.g. to Patagonia in
South America, at least partly because of attempts by the British state to
suppress their language.
In England the major factor driving millions to
migrate in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was poverty. In Nottingham Castle Art Gallery there is a
mid-Victorian painting showing a family about to migrate abroad taking one last
look at their country cottage. Like
millions of others, it was rural poverty that drove them to seek new lives in
countries such as the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc... They were encouraged to do so by people such
as William Booth, the Nottingham founder of the Salvation Army. Indeed, right
here in Nottingham within living memory many orphaned children were forcibly
resettled in Australia and New Zealand. For these reason many of us have kin,
both near and distant, in many of these countries. Even today tens of thousands of people leave the UK every year in
search of better lives abroad.
Over the years, Britain has received many refugees but
let us not forget that many refugees from Britain - political, religious,
economic - have been received and accepted in many other countries.
… more …
LIVE AND LET LIVE
The descendants of refugees should be sympathetic to
the plight of refugees. If people in
Britain in the past had not accepted previous “asylum seekers” - our ancestors - then many of us would not
be here now! Some politicians try to
distinguish “genuine asylum seekers” from “economic migrants”. Most of the migrants trying to get into
Britain now from places such as the Middle East and parts of Africa are fleeing
poverty, but poverty brought about by political and religious strife. It is a false distinction and we should not
fall for it. Instead, we should welcome
desperate people less fortunate than ourselves. That’s what many of our ancestors did and many others of our
ancestors were accepted elsewhere. We
should do the same.
NOTTS ANTI-FASCIST ALLIANCE. P.O. Box 192, Nottingham, NG1 1FJ. 07984 906720
FREE
PARTY SCENE
The free party scene is happening, check out www.soitiz.co.uk for local parties or the Schnews party &
protest site (http://www.schnews.co.uk/pap/guide.htm) for
national dates. Also worth checking out is http://tash.gn.apc.org/ a website put
together by Nottingham’s very own photojournalist Tash. The site’s essentially
a massive archive featuring loads of information on festivals, travelling and
environmental issues. There are loads of quality photos and a huge number of
articles and reports from various events that have happened over the past 20 or
30 years. You could spend hours going through this stuff…
Get off my land!
What makes it your land?
My father gave it to me.
What made it his land?
His father gave it to him.
And what made it his land?
His father fought for it.
Right says the traveller rolling up his sleeves… I’ll fight you for it then.
SUMAC CENTRE UPDATE
The Sumac Centre complete with café (serving
snacks and meals), bar, library, garden, internet access and large
club/function room is now up and running after a very successful opening day at
the end of June. Serving up a variety of hot and cold vegan food the café is
currently open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday although there are plans to have
it open on Thursdays too, when more volunteers join the team. Food is served
between 10am and 6pm.
Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham,
England, NG7 6HX
Phone: 0845 458 9595 . Email: sumac@veggies.org.uk
http://www.veggies.org.uk/rainbow/contents.htm
A
FASCIST MAYOR?
The BNP are planning to stand a candidate in the
October mayoral elections in Mansfield, Notts. Local activists are
planning to take action against this and Nottingham anti-fascists have pledged
their support. At a recent local meeting it was decided that a large
leafleting of the local area should take place nearer the time of the hustings
in September. Help is needed with this mass-leafleting, the more help the
merrier, please contact…
NAFA; P.O. Box 192, Nottingham, NG1 1FJ. 07984 906720
Flash Floods And The Tram
Nature has been blamed for overflow from the River Leen in
Basford, Bullwell & surrounding areas. It however seems far from coincidental
that those lovely people from NET & Carillion have been busy pouring
concrete for their tram line up & down the river for the past few months
which will be run in direct competition with the parallel Robin Hood bus line.
This has already met protest from Bullwell people who are ready to blockade
further construction after Carillion started destroying much loved areas near
to the Leen. We should be doing whatever we can to support public transport and
this involves helping local campaigns against the tram in areas where it is
competing with existing train & bus services, services which could be
vastly improved without all the waste & hard work the corporations &
government insist on putting in to building the tram line. There are also plans to destroy an old
peoples homes in Chilwell, along with homes, nature trails & bike paths in
the Meadows, Wilford and Compton Acres despite it being apparent that the tram
route would be better suited going via Clifton Bridge.
STOPPING
THE BADGER KILLERS
In response to DEFRA
mercenaries being spotted in the Peak District area to continue their ongoing
cull of badgers (scapegoating them for the bad farming practices that result in
TB outbreaks), Nottingham activists have been out in force, scrabbling through
the undergrowth to sabotage the kill.
For decades both Government
and farmers have conveniently misplaced the blame for TB outbreaks in cattle on
the "protected" badger, rather than the unhealthy farming practices
of industrialised agri-business (see www.badger-killers.co.uk
for further info). As a botched PR exercise successive Governments have
slaughtered badgers in an attempt to be seen to be "doing
something". But not without opposition...
Several areas around the country are being targeted,
and our closest area is a stunning part of the Peak District near
Ashbourne. For 2 weeks at the end of July, DEFRA and activists from
around the north circumvented each other in the Peaks. As quickly as they
laid the traps out, we were trashing and hiding them - or as many as we
could anyway. It is very labour intensive, you have to mainly work at
night, and you never quite know just how far DEFRA's killing fields extend
to. Dodging the police was time consuming as they greeted us with dogs,
searchlights and helicopters, as well as many patrol cars, which irritated
sympathetic locals who could get no response to burglaries and speeding
motorists. Despite the over-the-top policing no arrests were made.
It is hugely satisfying to
find the traps and get rid of them, knowing that each time you are probably
saving a life. Some activists actually managed to release badgers already
trapped. Huge well done to those involved, and all the effort that was
put in.
Although we did really well,
we greatly need more help for when the killers are next in the area.
If you have a vehicle or can map-read, and are reasonably fit you could be
really useful. If you are too busy, or not well enough to come out, but
want to support, then financial donations would be massively appreciated as the
petrol money is all coming out of (very skint) activist's pockets.
No contacts have been set-up for the ad-hoc group, but
you can contact us by leaving a message for "Badger Friends" at Sumac
Centre, 245 Gladstone St.
<<<STOP PRESS.... DEFRA
have returned, to do some killing in the "reactive area", and
activists are out in the field (possibly whilst you’re reading this). 6
were arrested very recently and charged with amongst other things interfering
with a badger’s sett!!! Please refer to the website www.badger-killers.co.uk
for more info>>>
Will
it be WW3? All indications are that the British
government are going to aid the U$A in another invasion of Iraq having had it
okayed by the Bilderberg group. Mass army vaccinations have already been
carried out and some British troops have set sail for the Gulf, moving us one
step nearer to Bush’s master plan, which he no doubt hopes will keep the
corporations happy and the voters distracted. This combined with the ongoing
genocide in Afghanistan and Israel by US backed forces in the name of peace, means
that we must try & do something about this one before they start World War
3.
COUNCIL WORKERS STRIKE!
The UK saw the largest strike in over twenty years on
July 17 as council workers throughout the country removed their
labour in order to gain a 6% increase in flat rate payment. The Unison,
GMB,
and T&G unions claimed the day's strike was an "overwhelming
success." Two thirds of those on strike were women who continue to remain
in the low pay bracket. The strike was
seen a massive show of strength by council workers who are sick of low pay
deals while other public sector workers (police, for example) are getting large
pay rises. Council leaders and other local government officials claimed the
strike being a failure, despite the fact that 1.2million workers
went on strike. A lot of work done outside the unions by grassroots groups
hopefully creating more solidarity.
Another strike had been planned for A14 although
this was cancelled when the unions accepted a 3% pay rise, which is not what workers
wanted or needed, as the original demand had been twice that. Yet again this
shows that trade unions can be good for safety in the workplace but are
primarily bargainers, bound by laws that protect corporations, profit &
government first, then us & our environment second. We what happens in our
communities, for example with the miners, when the corporations &
government divide weaken opposition by using bribes, propaganda & force.
The strike back in July almost resulted in
things grinding to a halt with waste in Nottingham being more visible than
ever. Maybe lessons can be learnt from postal workers, who are more under
threat due to their privatisation & continual casualisation. They do
wildcats, going beyond TUs, creating solidarity between people & scaring
the life out of the corporate bosses. This can be combined with covert direct
action to produce results that make life safer & easier for all.
A general strike in conjunction with actions that stops the
system in key places whilst showing the amazing positive possibilities of our
future maybe the only answer, basically a revolution folks!
Other important news…
*The Queens vehicle got egged when
it came to Nottingham a few weeks ago with people also evading security and
cycling up to her car!!
*UFOs have been spotted in Beeston with a number
of sightings reported in July on the night of a full moon. The UFOs were
apparently moving too fast & doing manoeuvres beyond the capacity of known
aircraft without making a sound. Keep your eyes on the sky.
*Plans to widen the A453 in Clifton have been
bulldozed through, a development which is meeting local opposition from those
affected by the fact that the road already splits Clifton & stops people
getting to Clifton Grove & the river. This road widening comes soon after
local police got a bigger station built on a local schools land.
*The evil Aaron Scargill landlords have messed
around loads of people, get your own back within the law by squatting with
section 6 legal documents (check advisory service for squatters website),
setting up housing coops with one of the "groovier" building
societies or by sticking to council & housing association houses for now.
DEMO REPORTS
If
you’ve attended a demonstration, action or protest either locally or nationally
and want to spread the word on what happened, send in a short report and we’ll
put it in the next issue.
RTS
and animal rights bring chaos to Cambridge
(24.6.02)
DEMONSTRATORS clashed with police in a
day of protests, which saw parts of Cambridge city centre brought to a
standstill. Trouble flared when some demonstrators charged police lines after
being refused access to Downing Street, the intended focal point of the protest
and the site of Cambridge University’s animal research laboratories. St
Andrew's Street, Regent Street and Downing Street were closed to traffic during
a standoff between the activists and police, who were attempting to move them
on. Demonstrators were threatened with
arrest before some protestors were escorted to Parker's Piece. Protestors who
remained moved back to the junction of St Andrew's Street and Downing Street
where around 50 Reclaim the Streets protesters joined them, some of whom were
wrestled to the floor by officers after attempting to break their line. Smaller
factions of the Reclaim the Streets group then moved to other locations in the
centre, attempting to stop traffic.
SHAC
National Demo
(28.07.02)
Hundreds of protesters swamped Parkers Piece in Cambridge as they gathered for the
national demo against HLS. The streets were filled with people banging drums,
blowing whistles, shouting and handing out fliers about HLS as the police were
shoved to one side and people got on with the march in the way they wanted.
After a sit down in the road people came back to Parkers Piece were treated to
some poetry from Benjamin Zephaniah. After the demo a number of home visits
were made resulting in the HLS workers streets being packed with riot vans,
police with dogs and a frenzied helicopter – it’s part of the parcel when you
work for HLS I’m afraid, no rest for the wicked! Check out www.shac.net for
more info on how to help close down Huntingdon Life Sciences or for local demos
contact shaceastmidlands@hotmail.com.
The Nottingham Green Festival
is taking place again this year on 1st September 11am-6pm on the
Victoria Embankment. Along with the bands and comedy entertainment there will
be food available and 100s of stalls. Contact Notts Green Festival at 7
Mansfield Road, Notingham NG1 3FB or call 0115 9348458
The people snatchers
A family of asylum seekers who’d
been living in St Ann’s were given only 30 minutes to pack their stuff and
leave their home after it was raided at 7 in the morning by cops and
immigration officials earlier this month. The Daoud family (Sara, Jamil and 4
children) had been given no warning of the raid and are now being held at the
Harmondsworth detention centre from which they’ll soon be sent back to Spain
where they’d previously made an asylum application. From there they are likely
to be sent back to Iraq the country they had originally left after Jamil was
tortured for alleged opposition to Saddam Hussein’s regime. The parents had
left Iraq separately one passing through Germany the other through Spain before
they met up again and managed to cross the Channel in the back of a lorry.
Whilst it becomes
easier and easier for corporations to move unrestricted round the globe, it’s
becoming harder and harder for people (unless they are wealthy) to cross
borders into other countries even as is often the case they are fleeing war,
starvation, persecution or poverty. No one is illegal and we should do all we
can to oppose the ever increasing scope of the governments racist asylum laws.
Members of the local community have spoken out against the detention of the
Daoud family and attempts are being made to bring them back to Nottingham with
supporters and the Nottingham Refugee Forum planning a demonstration on 24th
August in St Ann’s.
Forthcoming actions…
August 31 is action day for the Rio+10
conference (26 August-4 September) in S.Africa, actions are planned in this
country although no details have been released yet, check www.protest.net.
Millions of Africans face massive starvation mainly due to wars &
instability, funded & exploited by the greedy corporations &
governments who will be sitting in their luxury hotels and attending their
multi-million dollar conference whilst just outside their doors the people they
are meant to be helping die. Pollution’s effect on our global environment is
now so obvious no PR company can lie about it. Recent flooding in Europe has
killed hundreds and smog covers S.E Asia. A letter has been unearthed by
Friends of the Earth from Prez Bush’s main campaign funder Exxon Mobil, telling
him that petrochemical fuels as are non-harmful & stating that global warming
is irrelevant. Exxon Mobil was set up by the world’s first billionaires; the
Rockerfeller family, along with other oil corporations and Kissinger associates
in corporate steering groups like Bilderberg. They’ve been setting the agenda
now for too long and it’s time the millions of us who can see through their
dirty charade set our own. August 31 may be a good day to let ‘em know how we
feel. Demos at ports, banks, credit card companies and businesses involved in
destroying the environment have been suggested.
Sept 28th Stop the War Coalition march in
London, call 07951235915 for more info. We all know how much fun Hyde Park to
Trafalgar Sq marches are. Together we can then really do something to stop the
war!
Prisoner Support
As
not much space is available just a small number of UK prisoner contact details
are listed below, they are all for prisoners who’ve been locked up since the
last issue of Ned Ludd’s News. Complete prisoner listings are available at http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk.
"In
the corporate war against earth, sometimes prison becomes the price we pay for
placing the laws of nature above those of corrupt governments. If we're
fortunate enough to not yet be making that sacrifice, then we most certainly
have an obligation to support those who are." - former Animal Liberation
Front prisoner Rod Coronado.
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Complete prisoner listings are available at http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/.
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Please send stuff for the next issue (articles, demo reports,
local news, poems, recipes etc.) to Nottingham_freedom@hotmail.com.
If anyone can photocopy more copies of this issue to distribute it’d be much appreciated.
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via e-mail, just send a quick message to the address above to subscribe.