Radical History Discussion
Resistance in the UK's Detention Centres in the Last Decade
Time: 7 pm, Tuesday 24 June 2008
Venue: T&G, Transport House, 128 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8TN
Asylum-seekers and migrants who have been locked up indefinitely by
the British state are carrying out one of the most sustained
fight-backs in the UK in recent years. Three major detention centres
(out of 22) have been destroyed, forcing the government to release hundreds of
detainees. Hunger-strikes, occupations, naked protests, dirty protests
and successful break-outs involving tens and hundreds of detainees have
become a regular feature of immigration detention. The government has
reacted with brutal levels of repression, using assault, segregation
and transfers to prisons to punish the protestors.
The UK government has also tried several times to prosecute those
involved in large-scale riots. This has rarely resulted in convictions
and has more often led to public humiliation for the government and the
private
detention contractors. The government is persisting in its plans to
rebuild ruined wings and build completely new centres at Brook House
(opening 2009), Yarl's Wood (opening 2010) and Bicester (opening 2012).
These will provide more profit-making opportunities for the building
contractors and private detention companies but in the end are likely
to face the same level of protest.
Protests in detention centres are often ignored by the mainstream media
and also by political activists. London No Borders invites you to an info
night to discuss why this is the case and to raise awareness of
detention centre protests as one of the front lines of current
political resistance. The primary aim is not to plan future actions but to
discuss what has happened already and why it has had such a low
profile. We particularly welcome ex-detainees who witnessed or
participated in
detention centre protests and ex-prisoners who could relate this issue
to prisoners' struggles.
No Borders calls for the closure of all detention centres and an end to
deportations
Email: noborderslondon@riseup.net
