ExLibris run charity fundraising events several times a year. You may have seen them at the Green Festival. This time it’s in aid of Nottingham charities:Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum Destitution Fund (supporting destitute asylum seekers)& Hayward House Cancer Care.

Details and a flyer can be found on the Sparrows’ Nest site.

Recent blogs expose articles in the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

FEATURING (click on Read More for details):

AISTAGUCA – Balkan Gypsy Music

Unique World- Sounds from around the world

feat. Sami Haque on Afghani Rabab

MUHA – Eastern European Folk

The Undercats – Gypsy Jazz funk

Black Feather – Music, poetry and dance

GUMLOCK – Reggae Music

Petrica Bistran – Acoustic Romanian music

Birdie Mack & Angel

Ben of the Green – comical poetry and music

POETRY:

Frank McMahon

John Humphreys

Geoff Curl

Teodora Todorova

Other Acts TBC!!

Door £5, discounts available…or extra donations welcome!

African BBQ in the back yard!

See you there!!

Throughout the 6 months that we knew him he was never anything but a caring, giving and polite man. Even through all of the traumatic experiences he had to face, he never let these crush his compassionate spirit. This compassion, along with the immense strength he showed, is what we will always remember him for.

On several occasions Osman said that he just wanted the whole world to live in peace, and that he did not wish any pain or revenge on anyone. It is this compassion that makes his life a beacon to all those who are suffering in similar situations to him.

-Friends

What happened to Osman and how you can help:

Since Osman’s death we have started raising money in order to help pay for the repatriation of his body and burial. As soon as this is attended to, and its importance cannot be stressed enough, we hope to continue to raise money to help support those who face similar problems to Osman. This is in the knowledge that if we can prevent just one other person suffering what Osman went through, we will be doing right by our friend.

Osman was an asylum seeker from Kurdistan who had lived in the UK since 2003. Having faced constant dismissal from the Home Office over all these years and in the wake of several traumatic experiences over the past month, Osman took his own life on 25th July 2010. A commemoration event and fundraising efforts are now being put in place in order to mark Osman’s life. These will be taking place over the next month. The immediate future requires that we help raise the £3,300 needed to send Osman’s body home, so he can be buried by his family. Once this has been done we will be raising money to help support asylum seekers in Nottingham. There will be more detail about this on the blog.

We have now set up a dedicated bank account to handle donations taken in the immediate future. If you feel you can spare anything, you can find details on how to donate, along with information about the progression of the campaign, at http://friendsofosman.wordpress.com/

Thank you so much on behalf of all of Osman’s family, friends and those who understood his struggle.

News Articles:

Osman’s story has been published in the press, please see the links below and the ‘Friends of Osman’ blog page for more information on this:
An article published by the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/asylum-seeker-osman-rasul-death-legal-aid

An article published by the Nottingham Post:
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Friend-launches-campaign-send-asylum-seeker-s-body-home/article-2481872-detail/article.html

The story was discussed on BBC Radio Nottingham’s breakfast radio show just before 8am on Tuesday 3nd August. Segment begins at 1:53.30
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0091tf0/Andy_Whittaker_03_08_2010/

Osman’s story will also be discussed on Radio 4’s Face the Facts show on Thursday 5th August.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t8752

Film screening & Discussion at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham in collaboration with Long Journey Home. Thursday 5th August, 7pm.

Venue: New Art Exchange, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard, Hyson Green, Nottingham, NG7 6BE

Tickets: £3/2 (concessions) – available at the Box Office on 0115 924 8630.

Sorious Samura becomes an illegal immigrant. He travels from Morocco into Europe, finally crossing the English Channel to Britain. He lives in the same conditions and experiences the same gruelling hardships as his companions. New Art Exchange in collaboration with Long Journey Home are pleased to be hosting a post screening discussion to address some of the issues within the film. Sharing the panel will be Stuart Brown (Long Journey Home) and Amdani Juma, a refugee whom left Burundi in 1991 and was evacuated from Rwanda by the UN during the 1994 genocide. After the conflict he returned to Burundi as a university graduate, but was held captive, tortured and put under surveillance. In 2003 Amdani fled to Britain and was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection in the UK. During his time in Nottingham Amdani became a popular and enormously well respected community worker; assisting refugees to adjust to life in Britain and was also instrumental in providing awareness of HIV/AIDs within the African / Caribbean communities. However Amdani’s Indefinite Leave to Remain, has been denied. He now faces the prospect of being deported back to Burundi at anytime.

Long Journey Home is an East Midlands-wide network that recognises the important role the arts can play in breaking down barriers, challenging stereotypes, empowering the disenfranchised and enriching the cultural wealth of society as a whole; working with artists in exile and those communities that have recently arrived in the region from all over the world. www.longjourneyhome.org.uk

Statement from detainees in Campsfield released yesterday afternoon by email:

“Unlawful Detention of Detainees
147 detainees are staging a protest by refusing meals at Campsfield
immigration removal centre. The protest erupted as a result of the
treatment of detainees in detention centres especially for people who
have been detained for a long period of time. We continue to refuse
meals indefinitely for our voices to be heard.

Some of us detainees have been detained for over 3 years with no
prospect of removal or any evidence of future release. There is no
justification whatsoever for detaining us for such period of time. Our
lives incidentally have been stalled without any hope of living a
life, having a family or any future. More often than not, we are been
detained even when our family (wife and children) are resident in the
United Kingdom, depriving us of having a life with our family. We the
detainees are also humans.

In certain cases, some of us are tortured and even face death or
mental distress. On 14 April 2010, a detainee of Kenya national Eliud
Nyenze died at Oakington IRC due to negligence. Mr. Nyenze, age 40,
had a heart attack, requested for painkillers, repeatedly and kept
crawling around the floor in pain before he died.

Detainees are currently undergoing mental stress with some of us
developing mental problems on a monthly basis. We are issued removal
directions without given enough time for an appeal.

It has become a habit by the UK Border Agency to use force in
enforcing removal of detainees who have a pending Judicial Review
without giving appropriate time or consideration to our case and
forcing our removal before our cases are concluded. In some
situations, we are not given enough time to appeal against the
decision which breaches our rights under Article 6 of the ECHR. Our
liberty and security has been taking away.

We as foreign nationals are often been criminalised for the purpose of
detention and removal as the law under the European Convention of
Human Rights permits the removal of foreigners who have established
there lives in the United Kingdom and are a treat to national
security. Foreign nationals are now been sent to prison for 12 months
custodial sentence or more prompting the deportation of such
individual. Removals are enforced on specially chartered flights with
security personnel who abuse and torture detainees in the process.
Detainees are restrained, strapped, beating and forced on the airplane.

On 26 July 2010, one of the detainee at Campsfield attempted suicide
due to the level of treatment received at the detention centre.

The Amnesty International has also reported that our detention
breaches the internationally recognised human rights.

On a regular basis, we are tortured, restrained, strapped like animals
and beating to effect removal. This cannot be lawful given that there
is provision within the ECHR convention that prohibits torture both
mentally and physically.

We painfully ask that the government, the house of parliament, the
house of common, the parliamentarians and all concerned to rise to our
aid and address these issues that affects not only our lives and our
future but the lives and future of the thousands of our families who
are constantly under pain and torture.

Detainees – Campsfield House”

Monthly meeting of local group Campaign to Close Campsfield will also be held tonight 7:30 @ Oxford Town Hall

From September 27th until October 3rd 2010 a No Border camp will take place in Brussels.

The set-up of the camp will start on Sept 25th. There will be a lot of activities organised during the week and a big demonstration on October 2nd. The idea of the camp is to bring people together who support the demands of No Borders and who want to gather to debate, get informed, protest, view documentaries and party. The No Border movement struggles against the European and Belgian migrant policy, for freedom of movement and settlement and for the abolition of borders.

A multi-lingual website has been set up. This is the English language home page:
http://www.noborderbxl.eu.org/?lang=en

The banners stayed up for varying lengths of time, with one still being there late into the afternoon. One of the banners was directly facing the offices of the Nottingham Evening Post in order to highlight their practise of distributing prejudice around Nottingham on a daily basis (see article here: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/125 )

Elsewhere, London No Borders produced a spoof Metro newspaper: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/07/454790.html

BREAKING BORDERS – Live Music and Arts Performance Night FRIDAY JULY 9TH, 8pm till 12am at The Polish Centre, 2 Sherwood Rise, Nottingham with bar open late, food available.

Includes eclectic music and poetry from many parts of the world. Visual artists will have works on display and some live demonstrations! Stalls about different issues.

Featuring…

• Aistaguca – Balkan Band
• NOLKLON, a Romanian Rock band
• The Gentlemen, lively music from different parts of Africa
• Nyam, playing Traditional Mongolian music
• Black Feather – music and poetry
• Nottingham Tribal Drumming Group (tbc)
• Unique World, performing a varied range of music from different countries
• Lance Hulme, on sitar, and Beance on Tabla
• DJ EARTHPIPE (Sweetpotato Soundsystem / Subdub / Exodus)

Poetry from…

• Frank McMahon (plus other DIY poets tbc)
• Geoff Curl
• Sharon Walia from Prose of the Occupation (tbc)
• Ben of the Green, humorous wordsmith. (tbc)

Artists displayed:

• Ahinee Mensa, Jeffer M-Garib, Jasim Ghafur, Mirela Bistran and Obediar Madziva

Other acts to be confirmed, listen out for updates!

Door £2/£3/£5 ( unwaged / low-waged / waged )

Money raised after expenses will go to Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum Destitution Group