New campaign to fight racism against migrants

To counter ‘the vicious anti-immigrant discourse of mainstream politics’.

A new campaign has been set up to combat racism against migrants in the UK.

The Movement Against Xenophobia (MAX), was launched at a conference in London last weekend to counter what supporters call ‘the vicious anti-immigrant discourse of mainstream politics’.

MAX aims to build a coalition of organisations and prominent individuals to combat the ‘increasing hostility, discrimination and intolerance towards immigrants.’

Its supporters want to raise public awareness in the run-up to the European Elections in May and the General Election in 2015.

The conference featured sessions on the Immigration Bill, reporting immigration and migration and climate change.

A steering committee was elected and the conference adopted a Policy Statement pledging support to migrants and calling on the media and UK government to ditch sensationalist rhetoric and adopt immigration policies based on human rights and need.

MAX is supported by human rights lawyer Louise Christian, MPs Caroline Lucas and Jeremy Corbyn and journalist John Pilger. Over 80 organisations have already become affiliated.

Saira Grant, legal and policy director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said the event had been a resounding success, and around 150 people had attended.

“It was a much needed forum for a discussion about immigration, rather than the sad xenophobic discussion we have seen though our media.”

She said the main aim of the campaign between now and the General Election was to try and change the tone of the public debate to make it more fact based.

“We don’t want immigrants to be made the scapegoats.

“We will be actively opposing the Immigration Bill and working really hard to show how it will negatively impact society.

“We want ordinary people to engage with the facts on immigration and not the myths,” she said.

Grant said MAX was keen to broaden its coalition. It has published a model resolution for trade union branches to affiliate. It is also seeking support from faith, student and community groups.

Grant said the media would also be a big part of MAX’s work. The campaign is already working with the NUJ to try to improve the way journalists report immigration.

“Everyone is doing amazing work in disparate ways, but we need an organisation that can pull it all together so we can work more effectively,” she said.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 19 March 2014.

UK Government ignores court ruling

...but disabled people vow to fight on.

The UK government has announced that it will go ahead with its planned closure of the Independent Living Fund despite a unanimous ruling in December by the English Court of Appeal.

The Independent Living Fund (ILF) is a £320 million ring-fenced fund which has enabled 16,000 disabled people to employ their own personal assistants and live in the community.

In June 2010 the government closed the fund to new applicants, and in 2012 it announced its intention to close it altogether and reallocate the money to local authorities.

In December the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the government had failed to properly consult disabled people over the closure, but earlier this month the Department for Work and 

Pensions announced that it would close the fund in June 2015 anyway.

But Sue Elsegood, an ILF user from London, said disabled people had not given up yet.  Users of the fund intend to discuss their next move at a conference organised by the Disabled People Against Cuts 

group, DPAC, on 12 April.

Elsgood said they would demand the government and a future Labour government keeps the fund open and that it is re-opened to new applicants.

"We want the ILF to stay open because it is working. It is a national scheme. The social workers in the ILF are specialised.

"As a service user I can get more continuity than with the local authority where there is a different person every time," she explained.

"For all we know the funding [when allocated to local authorities] may not be used for current recipients. 

There is a sense of insecurity around the planned closure.  I only got my letter the day before yesterday."

Elsgood said disabled users of the fund feared they would be placed in residential care or forced to rely on agency staff.

"At the moment I employ people directly, so I can choose who I employ and who works for me and when I get that support.

"Everyone should be offered direct payments but if you only have a few hours it can be very difficult to recruit people, so some people are reliant on agencies who have such a turn-over of staff, the quality of support is not as good.

"I am much happier employing my own staff," she said.

Anne Pridmore, one of the five ILF users who took the court action against the government last year agreed.

“We are not going to go down without a fight.

“Quite a lot of people on ILF go to work and they won’t be able to do that.

“I have six or seven women working for me and I feel very responsible because their jobs will end.

“Because I am of a certain age it looks likely that they will stick me in an old people’s home,” she said.

Story published on Women's Views on news, 20 March 2014.

Poles in the UK fear rising tide of racism

Hundreds in Downing Street protest at racist attack on Polish biker.

Last week hundreds of UK-based Eastern Europeans and their supporters staged a protest in Downing Street following a racially motivated attack on a Polish motorcyclist in East London.

The demonstrators are concerned that xenophobic remarks by politicians from all parties are stoking racist sentiments against Eastern Europeans living in the UK  - and putting them at risk.

“We wanted to say to politicians that we don’t overuse the benefits system, we would be fine with some changes to the benefit systems, as long as we're treated equally to the British.

“Polish people I know work and pay tax,” said Izabela Bak, of the Polish Bikers Forum.

She cited research from University College London which found that people from the European Economic Area (EEA) contribute 34 per cent more in taxes to the UK economy than they 'take' in benefits.

"We decided to do something about it because today it was our colleague but tomorrow it could be me or you.

“I myself have on my motorcycle a sticker saying ‘Polish Biker’. I would like to feel safe keeping it where it is.

“We are being pointed at as a nation of cheaters.  People think we are taking their jobs. I don’t agree with that.

“There are many jobs around available. If somebody wants to work, I don’t see a problem.

“Poles come to the UK often without any connections and without knowing English language well enough. 

How possibly could we take jobs from any British person?

“I think the law should be changed but everyone should be treated equally. It doesn’t matter where you are from,” she concluded.

Ella Vine, of the advice centre Help for Poles in the UK Foundation supported last Monday’s demonstration although she was not one of the organisers.

She says she has dealt with hundreds of families who are she believes placed in a very difficult situation because of negative media portrayal and discriminatory remarks made by politicians.

“EU citizens are very often refused benefits when they go through assessments.

“In most cases they are entitled to benefits but officials make it very hard,” she said.

“Loss of benefits can trigger evictions, as they can’t afford to pay their rent and the appeals process can take years,” she said.

Vine believes that lack of access to benefits can mean that women find themselves trapped in violent relationships, especially if they have young children.

She said that when they try to claim benefits they are told they have ‘no recourse to public funds’.

"One woman I was working with had a 2 year-old child.  She was refused a place in a refuge.

"She told me she was thinking of taking her daughter and jumping from a bridge. You don’t hear any of this from politicians,” said Vine.

Vine has also launched a petition calling on all politicians to end racism, discrimination and segregation.

Bak said that although she and her friends have never experienced racism personally, she feels that the words of David Cameron have caused some racial attacks and could cause more.

EU citizens working in the UK are currently able to claim child benefit, even if their children live abroad.

But Cameron said recently that this was unsustainable and migrants should not be motivated to come to the UK by higher benefits payments.

Polish ministers reacted angrily to the comments, the BBC reported. Writing on Twitter, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said: "If Britain gets our taxpayers, shouldn't it also pay their benefits?"

Bak said, “In Belfast there were seven incidents in ten days. A gang threw stones at the windows of the houses where Polish people lived.

"There have been a few instances in London as well."

“I have always felt welcome here. I think most people like us and we like them. But the media and politicians should think twice before they offend any nation."

Photo by Guy Corbishley used with permission © 2014.

Story published in Women's Views on News, 4 March 2014

Bird's Eye View Festival 2014 proramme out

Britain’s premiere women’s film festival details unveiled.

Next month’s Bird’s Eye View Film Festival - celebrating women filmmakers - has launched details of this year's event.

This is the 10th Festival edition, and it will run from 8-13 April at venues including BFI Southbank, Barbican, ICA, Curzon Soho and Electric Cinema.

At the Barbican Centre, for example, feature films include Wakolda, a taut thriller directed by Lucia Puenzo about how former Nazi ‘Angel of Death’ Joseph Mengele tricked his way into the lives of an Argentinian girl and her family

As the doctor-patient relationship intensifies, his obsessive quest for genetic purity is reawakened.

This film is based on real life accounts of the former Nazi community surviving in secret in South America.

Sumurun, or One Arabian Night, a fantasy drama classic which follows the adventures of a rebellious slave girl in the court of a tyrannical sheikh, will be brought to life with a live score by the Sudanese vocalist and songwriter Amira Khier, who fuses contemporary jazz and East African music with a live band.

Other events include an intimate family portrait of internationally renowned pianist Martha Argerich; a special celebration of the pioneering post-war animator Joy Batchelor; and Gabrielle, an intimate, brave and heartfelt film from Québécois director Louise Archambault.

Events at the Barbican take place from 10-12 April.

The see the full programme click here.

The festival announced its opening and closing films last month.

The festival will open with the UK premiere of Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross's In Bloom, a drama about two young girls growing up in newly-independent Georgia in 1992.

The girls' lives are set against the changing face of the country, which is in the throes of civil war.

Eka and Natia are best friends who like to talk about music and boys, but are forced to grow up quickly as insecurity invades their everyday lives.

The festival closes with another UK premiere, a screening of Swim Little Fish Swim.

Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar's French-American comedy-drama follows three ordinary people – a scrimped nurse from New York, her head-in-the-clouds husband and the independence-seeking daughter of a world famous artist – as they try to make sense of their lives.

Swim Little Fish Swim's score has contributions from the likes of Last Good Tooth guitarist Penn Sultan, Candace Lee Camacho, and The Toys and Tiny Instruments.

There is also still time to book tickets for Bird’s Eye View’s International Women’s Day screening of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines at BFI Southbank, London.

Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan and produced by Kelcey Edwards, Wonder Women! offers a vital and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated super-hero genre.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 5 March 2014.