No Borders Nottingham » Germany

‘Full Circle’ goes international

nobordersnottm — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

‘Full circle – from weapons to war to refugees’, the well-attended joint action of No Borders Nottingham with Shut Down Heckler & Koch in Nottingham’s Market Square has already inspired a cover story in the Brighton-based Schnews bulletin. Now it has been picked up by an anti-arms-trade organisation called the RüstungsInformationsBüro (RIB) who are based in the German city of Freiburg. The Full Circle diagram is being displayed in the RIB shop-front as a poster with title ?Tödlicher Kreislauf?, translated as ?Deadly Circle? (click on photos for full size images). The RIB asked if other peace movements and migrant support organisations can also use the Full Circle diagram. We said yes of course.

As part of his 2002 television series, comedian and activist Mark Thomas showed just how easy it is to get HK arms shipped to Zimbabwe during the supposed embargo, a grim example of the reality of Full Circle, since there are many refugees and asylum seekers from there who are seeking sanctuary in Nottingham but are under continual threat of removal. Zimbabwean protesters were amongst those who demonstrated in Nottingham Market Square, and a letter of thanks was also received from the Nottingham Zimbabwe Community Network who related the Full Circle protest to action taken by South African workers who had refused to offload a Chinese arms cache that was destined for Zimbabwe earlier this year.

So, like the global arms industry, our opposition to their ‘making a living out of killing’ is transnational. The question is, whilst anti-H&K demonstrations continue outside offices and depot on Lenton Lane, listed online as NSAF Ltd – Nottingham Small Arms Factory/Facility, when will the city and local press (who seem to be under the thumb of the police by not reporting protests apart from this paltry effort) respond properly to Nottingham’s hosting of a death-dealing company like Heckler and Koch?

52 Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers removed 17/18th September following brave airline revolt of the 15th.

nobordersnottm — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We are angry to convey the news that after the brave stopping of a charter plane before it was able to leave on 15th September, 52 Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers (including those assaulted and injured in the earlier revolt) were forcibly removed from British immigration detention centres to Erbil International Airport, Northern Iraq, on 17/18th September. They were met by two hundred Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) troops. From a report to the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR & Coalition to Stop Deportation to Iraq-CSDIRAQ by one of those removed, at least one was separated off from the other asylum seekers and escorted away by the troops. Iraq is safe, our warmongering politicians lie, yet again. We lost this one, but resistance has worked before, and will no doubt continue.

52 Iraqi Kurdish Asylum were forcibly deported from Britain to Erbil International Airport, Northern Iraq on the 18 September.

Fazzel the leader of the Campsfield hunger strikers contacted the Federation from Northern Iraq to tell the story of his forcible deportation. Fazzel was removed with approximately 51 other Iraqi Kurds late last night (17 September) on the HamburgInternational plane. Fazzel is still very badly injured from the failed 15 September deportation two days before when during a disturbance on the plane a Home Office Guard had pushed Fazzel?s head through one of the windows on the plane. These events lead to the 15 September deportation flight being cancelled. Following this assault Fazzel had been taken back to Colnbrook and promised a doctor, but no onecame to treat his injuries prior to his deportation on the 17 September.

The Hamburg International plane landed in Erbil at 1am on the 18 September. As the asylum seekers were taken off the plane there were approximately two hundred Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) troops waiting for them. Fazzel reported thatone of the asylum seekers dressed in white clothes (Fazzel believes he had been on hunger strike at another detention centre) was separated off from the other asylum seekers and escorted away by four of the KRG troops. Fazzel still does not know where he has been taken or if he has been released yet.

International Federation of Iraqi Refugees-IFIR, Coalition to Stop Deportation to Iraq-CSDIRAQ
For more information please contact:
Dashty Jamal 078 5603 2991, Karen Johnson 078 04891082 Samera Ahmad 078 2842 4164 email: sarahp107@hotmail.com,Karen.Johnson@btinternet.com, d.jamal@ntlworld.com

POBOX 1575,ILFORD IG1 3BZ, LONDON, UK
Tel:0044 7856032991
www.csdiraq.com
www.federationifir.com

No Borders Camps taking place in Germany, Greece & Turkey.

nobordersnottm — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The human cost of migration control and detention camps on Europe’s borders (and inside or outside of EU) has never been clearer. This summer a number of gatherings and direct action events will be talking place in Germany (17th-24th August), Greece (29th-31st August), & Turkey (3rd-7th September). Participants are invited to all of these, details as follows:

Antira Summer Camp, Hamburg, Germany: http://camp08.antira.info/aufruf.html
No Border – Patras 2008, Greece: http://www.noborderpatras.org/en/
Dikili No-Border Camp 2008, Turkey: http://dikilinobordercamp.blogspot.com/

These transnational connections are vital for No Borders activists who are not prepared to live in a world of arbitrary borders that were created not by ordinary people, but by ruling elites.