Guantánamo Update

This news from The Guardian's Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Cobain on the British residents formerly detained at Guantanamo Bay:

"British residents held at Guantánamo Bay could be offered millions of pounds in compensation for wrongful imprisonment and abuse after the court of appeal today dismissed an attempt by MI5 and MI6 to suppress evidence of alleged complicity in torture.

The judges ruled that the unprecedented legal move by Britain's security and intelligence agencies – which the attorney general and senior Whitehall officials backed – to suppress evidence in a civil trial undermined the principles of common law and open justice."

Click here to read the full article.

You can also read a press release on the case from solicitors Leigh Day & Co - including comment from Reprieve's Clive Stafford Smith - on our Guantanamo Page.

ELECTION STATEMENT:
The Trouble with Immigration

Based on the results of recent meetings and discussions, Peace & Progress has released a new document featuring a statement on immigration, and a set of questions to put to prospective parliamentary candidates in the general election.

Click to download the statement and questions.

We're encouraging people to send the document to the candidates in their constituencies and to ask them the questions, as well as passing the document to other individuals, groups and networks who may find it useful.

Refugee Council Report:
Chance or Choice?

The Refugee Council has released a report, 'Chance or Choice?', the result of research it commissioned into how and why asylum seekers come to the UK, and the extent to which they do so out of active choice or as a result of circumstance.

Click here to read the report, and a research summary.

Special Report:
From Bangor to Bethlehem

The international festival for Palestine took place in Bangor on the weekend of 16-18 April, featuring talks by prominent speakers, film, workshops, exhibitions, live music and entertainment.

Click here to read a full report from the festival.

Or visit the main Bangor Peace website.

The General Election and the Immigration Debate;
'the elephant in the room'
Friends Meeting House, Birmingham
Saturday 13 March, 11am-1pm

"The general election is taking place at a time of profound crisis, as natural and man made disasters wreak terrible tragedies across the world. At the last general election we called for a ‘world without fear and poverty’, a slogan that few could oppose. We face this election with fear and poverty as the only solutions on offer: ‘savage’ cuts in public services, continued war in Afghanistan, uncritical support of Israel, military build up against Iran, the demonising of immigrants and asylum seekers who flee from war and poverty, and less controversially, though no less significant, attacks on human and democratic rights."

An extract from our discussion document, 'Who Will Decide Our Future?', produced for the meeting. Click here to read the full text.

At our recent 'People in Movement' meeting on the issue of immigration, four main priorities for action were identified:

- To facilitate a discussion about border controls – what Bridget Anderson called ‘the elephant in the room’ when she spoke at the meeting in November.
- To collect and provide information, including fact sheets, to counter myths and stereotypes.
- To gather together groups of legal specialists to offer information and training to move towards a system of self-representation for asylum seekers.
- To produce fact sheets and a set of questions on the issue to be put to every candidate in the election.

The first of these points will be the focus of another meeting, 'the General Election and the Immigration Debate; the elephant in the room', to be held Saturday 13 March at the Friends Meeting House, 40 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AF, between 11am and 1pm.

We hope that you will be able to come along and contribute to the discussion as part of our preparation for the General Election.

13 January 2010: more from our meeting,
People in Movement:
The Immigration Debate
حوار حول الهجرة

You can now read Fran Webber's talk from the meeting. Fran began by saying:

"Why is it that the ‘immigration debate’ is always about numbers - there are always ‘too many of them’ - and never about the contribution made by immigrants to our economic, social and cultural life? What is the comparative contribution of immigrants and bankers? What is the comparative cost to the economy? The drain on resources? No-one asks these questions."

Click here to read the full text of the talk.

Update: Crisis for Democracy

Stuart Weir and Stuart Wilks-Heeg of the Democratic Audit have recently produced a pamphlet entitled The Unspoken Constitution - 'a unique, satirical account of how we are governed in the United Kingdom.'

This from Peter Oborne's foreward to the pamphlet:

"The Unspoken Constitution sets out with deep penetration and astonishing clarity the real state of the British Constitution at the start of the twenty-first century. It explains how democracy is withering away; how the traditional functions of the civil service have been handed over to big business; and how all but 200,000 people - the swing voters in marginal constituencies - have been denied a meaningful vote in general elections."

Click here to view the pamphlet in its entirety (or right click to download).

Rights of the Child

Detaining children in Britain:
No place for the innocent
(Paul Vallely, The Independent)

"What kind of country drags vulnerable children from their beds at daybreak, puts them behind bars and fills them with terror?

Paul Vallely meets a family who have endured this horror - in Britain. And they're not alone

The thundering knock came early in the morning. It was 6.30am. Without waiting for an answer the security chain across the door was smashed from its fittings. Feet thundered up the staircase. The five children, all under the age of 10, were alarmed to be woken from their sleep by the dozen burly strangers who burst into their bedrooms, switched on the lights and shouted at them to get up.

This is not a police state. It is Manchester in supposedly civilised Britain in the 21st century. There is a clue to what this is about in the names of the children: Nardin, who is 10; Karin who is seven; the three-year-old twins Bishoy and Anastasia, and their one-year-old baby sister Angela."

Full story: Independent, Tuesday, 12 January 2010

6 December 2009: Update on the recent
Peace & Progress Public Meeting:
People in Movement:
The Immigration Debate
حوار حول الهجرة

download our leaflet in English, Arabic or French
for more information

On Saturday 14 November Peace & Progress held a very successful public meeting at the Friends' Meeting House on Bull Street, Birmingham, with speakers Bridget Anderson, Sue Conlan and Fran Webber.

Fran Webber began her contribution on trafficking by saying:

"Trafficking is in the news. It is on the political agenda, both nationally and internationally. The Burmese junta and the British government can publicly agree. Thousands of individuals, hundreds of groups, dozens of newspapers are determined to stamp it out. This public concern with trafficking consistently reflects and reinforces firstly a deep concern with prostitution/sex work, and secondly a concern about immigration, abuse and exploitation. To challenge the expression and some of the actions taken as a response to this concern is akin to saying that one endorses slavery or is against motherhood and apple pie. It is a theme that is supposed to bring us all together. I want to talk about trafficking because it’s an example of how government has hijacked the language of rights and human rights and used them to disempower migrants and up immigration control."

To read Fran Webber's contribution in full click here.

The speakers were:

Bridget Anderson, Head of the COMPAS (Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, Oxford University) programme on the ‘Means of Migration’.

Sue Conlan, immigration lawyer, secretary of Peace & Progress and author of Migration, Human Smuggling and Human Rights: a UK Perspective.

Frances Webber, former human rights lawyer, political activist and author of Asylum: from deterrence to criminalisation.

Click here to read Foreigner: Victim or Villain written by Bridget Anderson for Open Democracy as a contribution to what we hope will be an ongoing and developing discussion.

Crisis for Democracy

According to Thomas Jefferson “The remedy for the ill of democracy is more democracy”. Our electoral system is in critical need of greater democracy and renewal, lacking credibility with the electorate, unrepresentative and undermined by the ‘expenses’ scandal. As we approach the next election the case for electoral reform is overwhelming.

6 December 2009: update from
the Convention on Modern Liberty

The Convention on Modern Liberty was held in London 28 February 2009. Peace & Progress was a participant. The organisers of the event have now forwarded this update to all the participants.

Dear participant,

This is a personal message to everyone who attended the marvellous Convention on Modern Liberty on 28th February. As we can send one post-Convention email I have held it back until we have positive news on how to carry forward the open-minded, radical spirit of the day.

The Convention's initial funders, the Joseph Rowntree Reform and Charitable Trusts have launched Power2010 to create a campaign for a new politics. It is chaired by Helena Kennedy. Guy Aitchison and Clare Coatman who were central to the Convention team are both working for it. Please support them ...

If you feel you can't quite believe how the British state is expanding its powers, fiction might help. I recommend my Co-Director Henry Porter's truly gripping, refreshing and highly relevant political thriller, The Dying Light. It won't disappoint you.

The profoundly troubling transformation of the intrusive, controlling and arbitrary powers of government continues as the first ID cards are issued. The Convention's sponsors and partners are gearing up for what everyone expects to be a challenging election year that will demand active support and engagement of every kind. Please support them as much as you can: NO2ID - Unlock Democracy - Liberty.

On the wider arguments, don't forget that our Media sponsor the Guardian has a special section liberty central, and on openDemocracy, which helped sponsor the Convention, OurKingdom debates power and liberty across the UK and links to ongoing work by other supporters of the Convention like Liberal Conspiracy, the Democratic Audit (who have just published a pamphlet that sets down in detail our hilarious actual constitution) and the Institute for Ideas.

A full archive of the Convention, including video, audio and transcripts of the sessions and coverage of it can be found on the now archived website, www.modernliberty.net. A video of Philip Pullman's exhilarating keynote address is on the landing page. You can also find a history of how the Convention was made and background documentation. Finally, Rosemary Bechler is editing a book of the Convention which will be published in the new year.

I want to thank you very much indeed for participating in the Convention on Modern Liberty. As Lord Bingham said, we have lit a candle and we will all work hard to ensure it is not extinguished.

Best wishes
Anthony Barnett
Co-Director, Convention on Modern Liberty.

Some useful articles:
Labour may never, ever win power on its own again: Andrew Rawnsley on the decline of two-party politics in Britain, from The Observer, 19 July 2009
(click here to read the article)

Gordon Brown's golden chance to overhaul the political system: Neal Lawson on the opportunity for voting reform, from The Observer, 26 July 2009
(click here to read the article)

For all those wanting to wanting to look deeper into the crisis we face and its underlying causes, we recommend Power to the People, the full report of The Power Inquiry published 2006 after extensive research into the decline of state of our democracy.

“The POWER Inquiry was set up in 2004 to explore how political participation and involvement can be increased and deepened in Britain. Its work is based on the primary belief that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of its citizens."

Click here to read the report, Power to the People.

Guantánamo

Shaker Aamer: Time is Running out...

Report - Shaker Aamer: the Last Londoner in Guantanamo Bay – meeting at Battersea Arts Centre 11 July 2009. Click here to read the report. There is also a model letter which you can send to David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, in support of the current Guantanamo inmates.

Torture, Secrecy and the British State

Gareth Peirce is a leading lawyer who has represented the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four and the family of Jean Charles de Menezes. She also represents a number of individuals who have been the subject of rendition and torture in the past, others still held today in Guantánamo Bay, in prisons in the UK on the basis of secret evidence, and in secret prisons abroad under regimes that continue to practise torture.

‘Make sure you say that you were treated properly’

Gareth Peirce writes about Torture, Secrecy and the British State

“Seven years ago now, in January 2002, came the first shocking images of human beings in rows in aircraft, hooded and shackled for transportation across the Atlantic, much as other human beings had been carried in slave ships four hundred years earlier. The captor’s humiliation of these anonymous beings – unloaded at Guantánamo Bay, crouched in open cages in orange jumpsuits – was deliberately displayed. The watching world needed no knowledge of international humanitarian conventions to understand that what it was seeing was unlawful, since what is in fact the law precisely mirrors instinctive moral revulsion.”

Click here to read this article, which was published in the London Review of Books on 14 May 2009.

Was it like this for the Irish?

Gareth Peirce on the position of Muslims in Britain

“The history of thirty years of conflict in Northern Ireland, as it is being written today, might give the impression of a steady progression towards an inevitable and just conclusion. The new suspect community in this country, Muslims, want to know whether their experience today can be compared with that of the Irish in the last third of the 20th century.”

To read this article which was published in the London Review of Books on 10 April 2009, click here.

Binyam Mohamed

New evidence in Binyam Mohamed 'torture' case

Documents reveal MI5 official visited Morocco three times during period ex-Guantánamo detainee claims he was interrogated.
“…Clive Stafford Smith, its [Reprieve’s] director, said: "It is now obvious that the British authorities were not telling the truth when they denied knowing that Binyam was in Morocco. Again the question for the police and the public must be, how far up the political ladder did this knowledge go?"'

Click here to read the full article by Richard Norton Taylor

FREE PALESTINE

Please see this link for archived material on the Gaza conflict.

Aftermath in Gaza
An Islamic Human Rights Commission Report
by Musthak Ahmed and Fahad Ansari

AFTERMATH: Gaza in the days after The 22 Day War, by Musthak Ahmed and Fahad Ansari, is a diary account of two lawyers who visited Gaza to collect testimony from victims of the war.

In the days after the 22 day assault on Gaza two of the IHRC team visited Gaza with the purpose of taking detailed testimony from the countless victims of aggression: those who lost family, homes and businesses, or were maimed and psychologically injured.

"In the light of Israel's banning journalists from Gaza, Musthak Ahmed and Fahad Ansari's first-hand account, on behalf of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, of what had happened there is informative and valuable. Their report introduces us to some of the Palestinians whose suffering we first heard about through the filter of a censored media. What the media ultimately told us of Israeli targeting of hospitals, ambulances, schools, mosques, parks is here confirmed and enlarged on. Ahmed and Ansari describe not only the slaughter but the blatant and obscene racism even in graffiti. They also report Gazans' desire for peace as well as the determination and defiance even of the children. This is what we hear little about. The Palestinians refuse to be driven out despite the pain and suffering the Gaza war still causes and the suffocating Israeli blockade which continues."

"Ahmed and Ansari contrast the welcome and generosity of Palestinians despite their impoverishment, with the rough uncaring treatment they received from officialdom in Egypt. The armed police were reluctant to let them cross into Gaza and inspired fear even when the two men were on their way home to Britain."
- Michael Kalmanovitz, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (UK)

To download the report in full click here.

Click here to read Peace & Progress' statement on the right to self-determination for the Palestinian territories.

Palestine Web Resources

For more information on the situation in Gaza and more general information on the Palestinian Territories please visit the following links:

Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
A British lobby group campaigning for the right to self-determination for people in the Palestinian Territories.

Islamic Relief
Organisation distributing food and medical relief to the people of Gaza.

Medical Aid for Palestinians
Group dedicated to bringing vital health resources to the Occupied Territories

Interpal
British charity raising funds for the Gaza Emergency Appeal

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (Gaza)
Human rights news and information with the latest developments from Gaza

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Worldwide Jewish organisation supporting the liberation of Palestine

Gush Shalom
Israeli-run website advocating a move towards peace and conciliation by Israelis with the people of Palestine.

B'Tselem
Human rights information site for the Occupied Territories

Joseph Rowntree Foundation:
Child Poverty Updates

The JRF has published a number of detailed reports on the social cost of child poverty. To learn more about the reports and read them in full online, please click here to visit the Joseph Rowntree Foundation child poverty website.

New research:
social housing and childhood disadvantage

This study shows that the gap between children growing up in social housing and those in other types of housing is now wider than it has ever been. Comparing the experiences of four generations, it is clear that those living in social housing have become more disadvantaged and that these disadvantages persist into adulthood.

However, the research suggests that most of these disadvantages arise from the other characteristics of families, rather than being caused by living in social housing. Rather than focusing purely on housing policy, it is clear that wider policies to tackle poverty and support disadvantaged families are vital to improving the life chances of children growing up in social housing.

The research was jointly funded by the Tenant Services Authority, Scottish Government and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Click here to read ‘Growing up in social housing in Britain: A profile of four generations from 1946 to the present day’

Dale Farm Update

On 14th July 2005, Basildon Council voted to spend a minimum of £1.9 million to evict about 500 men, women and children from Dale Farm at Crays Hill, near Basildon. The residents of Dale Farm have since then sustained a campaign to defend their homes and community from destruction.

LORDS WON'T HEAR DALE FARM APPEAL
from Grattan Puxon
Save Dale Farm Campaign
To read more click here

For further information about the Party, please contact
mail@peaceandprogress.org or telephone 07888 841586