Lobby of Home Office TMRW 5.30-6.30pm: Our cleaners are not criminals!

Let them stay..

Our cleaners are not criminals!

Staff and students at SOAS are calling for Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for the Home Office, to grant leave to remain with permission to work for Marina Silva and Rosa dePerez, two of the SOAS cleaners picked up in a brutal immigration raid on 12^thJune. Marina, who is 63 and has applied for asylum, following het brutal honour killing of her husband and threats to her own life, and Rosa, who has four children to support in Nicaragua, remain in detention following the raid. Their colleagues, including six months pregnant Luzia, were deported within 48 hours of the raid.

Cleaners at SOAS had demanded and organised for dignity at work with many joining a union. They had succeeded in winning union recognition from the privatised cleaning firm ISS and raising their pay to the London Living Wage—higher than other colleges in the area. It is of grave concern that the raid, organised by ISS, took place shortly after this campaign and on the very day on which UNISON was due to protest in support of an activist who had played a leading role in organising the cleaners at SOAS.

Please support our campaign:

Lobby the Home Office, Tuesday 30^th June, 5.30-6.30pm

2 marsham st, millbank, Sw1

Sign the letter requesting leave to remain is granted to Marina and Rosa

http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/send-this-letter-to-home-office-now.html

For more information go to: http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/

Stop the Deportation of SOAS University Cleaners!

Supported by SOAS SU, UNISON and UCU

State the bleeding obvious

I know it looks like a razor but this lovely, ergonomically designed state-of-the-art piece of equipment is actually a vegetable peeler. Mind you, either one could be potentially fatal if used incorrectly so I am so thankful to the kind manufacturers for warning us of any impeding danger.

On a more serious (no really) note, I actually want to recommend this lovely friendly item.

When I worked in restaurant kitchens I actually really enjoyed peeling carrots-i can speedpeel which made me VERY popular! But the trouble with most peelers is that they are only designed for use in one direction only. This one, however, clever little thing, has a swivel head for use left handed, right handed, and either horizontally or vertically (i personally prefer the blade the other way round to in this photo-it makes it easier to peel quickly).

And the blade is made from non-rusting silicon so will not blunt and hence last for years .

Great, fab...

So, hope you are all now inspired to rush out and buy this beautiful thing.

SOAS Occupiers host lunchtime filmshowing & food at Marxism

HANDS OFF OUR WORKMATES

Please join the Facebook group if you are coming so we know how much food to prepare.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=96483986237&ref=ts

If you are not on facebook, leave your name and number of people below in the comments on the blog: http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/soas-occupiers-host-lunchtime.html

Saturday, 4th July. 1-2pm on SOAS grass.

Please join us for an outdoor filmshowing of a number of our videos and photos's. Followed by discussion, Q&A's and Equadorian food.

===================================

On 12th June cleaners at Soas were rounded up by immigration officials at an early morning meeting.

9 people were detained consequently 5 have been deported, one was over 6 months pregnant and one has had a heart attack and received absolutely no medical assistance not even water.

SOAS students, staff and supporters occupied the Directors offices from 10am.

We filmed the whole thing. We want you to show you what we did and will answer questions and discuss where next for the campaign.

Start up your own campaign. If this can happen at SOAS of all places it can happen anywhere. This needs to be stopped. Our fellow workmates should not be living in a state of fear.

HANDS OFF OUR WORKMATES

Including food and discussion.

PLEASE RSVP so we know how much food to prepare.

If it is raining we will transfer to our common room.

This is a truly SOAS affair-we hope you join us.

Why soldiers quit the army. A letter speaks a thousand theses.

I have been trying to talk my cousin out of joining the army for a while now: I have sent her websites, leaflets, blog posts and all sorts to make her realise the realities of what you sign up for.

I don't think anything can put it as strongly as a heart felt letter from a currently serving, although AWOL, soldier. My Dad would have written something similar.

The following letter was sent in to Socialist Worker.

Why soldiers quit the army

British soldiers are not deserting the army due to mental illness or cowardice. They go Awol because the army puts soldiers through so much harassment and bullying.

The army and government don’t tell you that you will be treated as a slave. The only professionalism in the army is from the ordinary soldier not our leaders.

I’m Awol have no intention of returning, and sorry, no I don’t feel bad about it! The army turned it’s back on the lads but expects us to give a crap? What hypocrisy!

If I had known how unfair, unprofessional, sadistic, demeaning, racist, and bullying the army is I would have never ever signed up for the biggest lie ever!

The army turns brave young lads into fearful oppressed cowardly men who do as their told or else. This is not a professional way to go about doing things.

They can’t get soldiers to respect them so they get them to fear them! It’s an ungrateful evil backstabbing institution.

A Soldier

Our response to the Iranian election crisis

Campaign Iran has issued the following statement on the ongoing crisis in Iran.

Campaign Iran is an organisation which works solely with the aim of halting the threat of war and the continuing sanctions on Iran. Therefore, we clearly do not express an opinion on individual candidates within the Iranian election, nor any particular preference.

However, as an activist based campaign we always support the right of protest and condemn the repression of any demonstrations in Iran from the state. We support democracy and human rights in Iran and believe that the current movement which has taken to the streets vindicates our position that the Iranian people, and only the Iranian people, have the ability and the right to

make change in Iran as they best see fit. It is clear that the democracy movement can fight its own battles and we support their struggle.

Read the full article HERE

A deeper analysis from Counterfire is HERE

There are a couple of main points we must pay attention to:

• we must throw our full support behind those who have taken to the streets in Iran against their rulers
• At the same time we must also highlight the hypocrisy of our own governments and media organisations
  
• we must warn against the dangers of imperialist powers abusing the situation by continuing to our campaign against the existing suffocating sanctions and any catastrophic plans for war. That way, we allow the Iranian democracy movement to continue without foreign intervention or interference

Lowkey helps launch Campaign against Islamophobia 'KAFA!'

Stop the War is launching a campaign against Islamophobia called KAFA (Arabic for “enough”), alongside a number of Muslim organisations, George Galloway's office, the rapper Lowkey and other well known figures.

This is in response to increasing police and government attacks on Muslims, widespread media bias and racism, now encouraged by the election of two BNP MEPs.

The campaign will be launched with a press conference in Parliament on Thursday 25 June and by this London public meeting on Friday 26 June. Speakers include:

Daud Abdullah, Muslim Council of Britain

George Galloway MP,

Anas Al-Tikriti, British Muslim Initiative

Diane Abbott MP

Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition

Ismail Patel, Friends of Al-Aqsa

Abdulrahman Jafar, Muslim Safety Forum

LOWKEY

Muslims in Britain are facing attacks on many fronts.

Read the full statement: http://stopwar.org.uk/images//kafa_statement.pdf

Venue:

Bishopsgate Institute

230 Bishopsgate

London, EC2M 4QH

http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=980

Download the leaflet: http://stopwar.org.uk/images//kafa_launch_leaflet.pdf

STOP THE WAR'S WEBSITE HAS BEEN HACKED

STOP THE WAR COALITION
22 June 2009
Email office@stopwar.org.uk
Tel: 020 7801 2768
Web: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/STWuk

STOP THE WAR'S WEBSITE HAS BEEN HACKED

Unfortunately our website has been hacked. While we fix it we have set up a
temporary method to enable access to the website and a temporary email address
for you to use to contact us.

TO ACCESS THE WEBSITE:

http://stopwar.org.uk

(This is the same as the old address with the www. removed)

TEMPORARY EMAIL ADDRESS:

ukstwc@gmail.com

TWITTER USERS
If you are following Stop the War on Twitter, you will have received tweets for
all updates to our website since we were hacked, as updates are always tweeted
to our followers. Anyone wishing to join us on Twitter can do so here:
https://twitter.com/STWuk

Our apologies for any inconvenience while we sort out the technical problems
due to being hacked.

Stop the War Coalition National Office

Kiarostami's Shirin

As an avid fan of Iranian film I can't wait to go to see this film. For anyone who hasn't seen any of Abbas Kiarostami's films, or any other Iranian films for that matter, be prepared to be amazed.

Most Iranian films come in the epic 3hr long format (well, at least that's how long they feel sometimes!) so this one at a mere 90mins is short by industry standards. They have the most beautiful way of drawing you right into the story and you will leave feeling like you contributed somehow to the telling of it.

This one seems to be no exception. In fact the film is even about an audience of more than 100 women who are deeply absorbed in watching a film we never see. Based on an Persian poem as famous as Romeo and Juliet, Shirin is a love story and 'offers a feast for the imagination of a wholly unexpected kind'.

'What matters here is the art of screen acting, the perceptiveness of the camera and the power of cinema to manipulate. Moreover, Kiarostami confounds the fundamentalists by celebrating the expressive beauty of the female face in evocative close-ups ... As a powerful artistic experiment, this is near perfect.' Empire

The BFI offer what promises to be a feast for the eyes from 26 June.

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami with Mahtab Keramati, Golshifteh Farahani, Mahnaz Afshar, Niki Karimi, Juliette Binoche

Visit www.bfi.org.uk/releases for more information.

Defend the right to organise in Carphone Warehouse! ***Please forward!

> Dear friend,
>
> *** Please forward!
>
> Carphone Warehouse is victimising trade unionists. They have sacked
> one active member at their Wednesbury Logistics Centre already, and
> now they want to sack the CWU rep, Kulwinder Plaha, as well.
>
> More information here:
> http://carphoneworker.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/carphone-union-busting-at-wednesbury-protest-now/
>
> Our members need your support! We know from past experience that
> messages of protest make a difference. They show the company that our
> members are not alone; that they cannot persecute trade unionists
> behind closed doors.
>
> Please take the time to send a message of protest to Carphone
> Warehouse CEO Charles Dunstone, over the sacking and victimisation of
> active CWU members. If you can, please make up your own. Otherwise,
> please use the draft text below.
>
> We want to deluge them! Please send messages to dunstonec@cpw.co.uk
> and cc: CWU organiser Tom Dale tdale@cwu.org
>
> ***Please forward this message!
>
> Tom Dale
>
> Field Organiser
> Communication Workers Union

Stop the War statement on the crisis in Iran

20 June 2009 http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1310/1/

The crisis unfolding in Iran must not become the pretext for renewed intervention by the USA or Britain in the region, nor for a whipping up of further tension around Iran’s nuclear programme.

The responsibility of the anti-war movement is first of all to oppose the role of the British government in the region, and to prevent its posturing being used as a pretence to justify a US or Israeli military attack against Iran, an attack which would have catastrophic results for the whole Middle East, and the Iranian people first of all.

The Stop the War Coalition believes that resolving the crisis is the right and responsibility of the Iranian people alone, and that external interference can play no positive role – particularly interference by those powers which have laid waste to neighbouring Iraq in a lawless war and occupation, and which unfailingly support Israeli aggression in the region.

It would be wrong for us to take any position on the disputed outcome of the Iranian presidential election. We do, however, support the right to demonstrate peacefully, just as we support the Iranian people’s right to political, trade union and other civil freedoms and to struggle to achieve them. We unequivocally condemn the shooting of protesters and other violations of democratic liberties by the Iranian government.

We note the anger displayed by many Iranians against the British government. These sentiments reflect Britain’s shameful history in the country, from overthrowing the democratic regime of Mossadeq in 1952, to its stalwart support for the Shah’s despotism and its support for Saddam Hussein in his aggression against the Islamic Republic in the 1980s.

This anger can only be exacerbated by British interference in the present crisis. The British government remained silent when its ally Hosni Mubarak falsified election results in Egypt, and it has refused to deal with democratically-elected leaders in the Palestine Authority and in Lebanon. The government supports the Saudi kleptocracy, which does not need to manipulate elections because they are never held there.

The British and US governments wish to see regime change in Iran in order to dominate the Middle East and its resources and leave Israel as the region’s unchallenged military superpower. And a government which ignored millions of its own people marching against its planned war against Iraq is in no position to lecture others on democratic attitudes.

In expressing our solidarity with all the Iranian people striving for a democratic outcome to the crisis in their country, the Coalition will support demonstrations and initiatives which reflect these principles.

Note: This is a draft statement by the officers of Stop the War Coalition, which will be put for endorsement to Stop the War's National Steering Committee on Saturday 27 June 2009.

Victory for the SOAS Occupiers and the fight continues!

Phew, what a week. I am pleased to have been a part of this campaign and have learnt so much from this process. Despite the management playing hard ball, I genuinely don't think that Paul Webley wanted harm to come to his staff. But I do wish they would stop saying that the cleaners are 'employed by ISS' and hence denouncing responsibility for them. It is about time that they recognise the hard work the cleaners contribute to the running of of our school and stop being treated like criminals.

The manangement now have the perfect opportunity to rectify the damage they have done to the school.

I will write more on this once I have got all my backlog out of the way.

Please continue to be involved or join the campaign if you haven't already done so. You never know when this may happen in your own workplace.

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=89511288639

Googlegroup: http://groups.google.com/group/freesoascleaners?pli=1

Victory for the campaign-here is a collective statement from the occupiers:

At 12.30pm today, after several rounds of intense and complicated negotiations we have reached an agreement between all parties.

We feel management took our concerns seriously and are confident that the way in which these negotiations were carried out has produced a constructive and positive outcome

We have tried to work so that the demands agreed include the main concerns of the cleaners who were affected by this disgraceful raid and who have provided confidence to this campaign which will have an effect wider than just our school.

These are as follows:

1.SOAS management to write to the Home Secretary requesting exceptional leave to remain for the cleaner who is still being detained and for those who have been forced into hiding, and immediate return of those who have been deported.

2.Open discussions with ISS, UCU, UNISON and the Students' Union to review in detail the events of last Friday.

3.Issue of outsourced cleaning services to be revisited at the next Governing Body.

4.Meet with above unions to discuss health & Safety issues relating to immigration raids.

5.Amnesty for all those involved.

We are pleased that management called for regularisation for non-documented workers and hope that this provides extra and crucial voices to the campaign for papers for all migrant workers.

In the SOAS strategy and Vision document management state that they are

'poised to become the University of the 21st century: it is concerned with
the regions that matter and the issues that matter (such as human rights,
poverty reduction and globalisation).' (“SOAS 2016: A Vision and Strategy for
the Centennial”, p5 )

That the directorate is disturbed by the possible role that ISS played in this raid demonstrates to us that the school are committed to upholding their further Centennial Goals of

“maintain[ing] the highest ethical standards in all of its dealings and foster
the values of openness, honesty, tolerance, fairness and responsibility in all
areas.” (SOAS 2016: A Vision and Strategy for the Centennial, p9)

We will work hard to ensure that this sentiment is translated into concrete action which ensures that cleaning is brought in-house and management never again facilitate an immigration raid on campus.

We are honoured to have been able to stand side by side with the cleaners at SOAS who have inspired us with their fight to organise in a union. The strength they have shown demands solidarity in return in this important struggle.

Our fight to ensure that employers and the Government do not use the threat of deportation to intimidate workers and prevent them from fighting to improve pay and conditions and trade union recognition has brought together people from all backgrounds.

Although these are a important victories so far they are more symbolic than practical. The home secretary has only signed papers to stop the removal or deportation of an individual when 80% of the Isle of Man signed a petition calling him to do so. SOAS now has a common goal, this must be used to further lobby for the cleaners in hiding, those that were already sent back to their countries of origin and those still held in deportation centres.

This campaign is grateful and encouraged by the tremendous response from activists from across the world, from media, politicians, academics, from family and from Palestinian universities who were the focus of the previous round of occupations earlier this year, and is inspired by the solidarity from other cleaner activists across London.

We are strengthened in this struggle for a united cause and urge everybody to start a campaign in their own workplace or institution safe in the knowledge that they are not alone. That united we stand, divided we fall.

Notes:
Statement:http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/joint-statement-from-soas-and-students.html

Letter to Home office: http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/send-this-letter-to-home-office-now.html

Academic support: http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/academic-solidarity-statement-on-soas.html

Write to the Home Office to try to prevvent deportation: http://freesoascleaners.blogspot.com/2009/06/urgent-contact-home-office-now-and.html

EMERGENCY. soas occupation needs you urgently.

SOAS OCCUPATION NEEDS YOU

Students occupying offices at SOAS in London have been served with an injunction and told to leave the building with immediate effect.

Protesters at the university have called for an emergency mass demonstration to prevent the eviction from the office of the school's principal, Paul Webley.

The occupation was in response to the detention of nine cleaners who had been employed by ISS cleaning services limited to work at the university. Five have already been deported.


Picture: Jess Hurd at reportdigital.co.uk

Students at the occupation claim the company, with the knowledge of the university, reported the cleaners to the Home Office because they had taken part in a successful campaign demanding a pay rise to the London Living Allowance.

Graham Dyer, the UCU chairman at Soas and lecturer in Economics of Developing Countries and SOAS UCU Chair supports the occupation.

He said: “It is no co-incidence that there is an immigration raid at a time when the UCU, Unison and the NUS are fighting against the victimisation of a migrant worker who has been at the heart of a fight that has improved the pay and conditions of workers here at SOAS.

"It is also not coincidental that ISS had only just signed a union recognition agreement with UNISON last week. Our fight has united lecturers, staff and students and has rocked SOAS management. Those managers are now lashing out."

George Galloway MP said: You have my full support for your excellent and highly principled initiative in protesting against the detention of nine cleaners at SOAS and I am dismayed that as many of five of them may already have been deported.

"I will be writing today to the Home Secretary to add my voice to those urging the release of the SOAS detainees and to Professor Paul Webley, the Director and Principal of SOAS."


Picture: Jess Hurd at reportdigital.co.uk

Jean Lambert, the Green Party MEP, added: “The circumstances and aims of this raid are utterly deplorable.

"These cleaning staff have been treated like criminals, and the timing of the raid is particularly reprehensible – first thing in the morning at the end of the university term, with fewer people around to intervene."

Alan Smith, the Interim Secretary and Registrar, confirmed the university was aware of the arrests.

He said in a statement: "We understand this must have been distressing for those involved, and indeed our own colleagues.

"We have been informed that nine people have been detained for further questioning and ISS is liaising directly with the Border Control Agency at this stage.

"We have received assurances from ISS that the standard of cleaning in School buildings
will be maintained."

At 6.30am on Friday the 12th June, without any advance warning SOAS cleaning staff were called to an emergency ‘Staff Meeting’, were confined in a room and then confronted by a team of 40 immigration officers who had been hiding under staged seating.

More to come.

SOAS UNISON EMergency mtg to be held at protest

SOAS UNISON have called an Emergency Branch Meeting to take place on Monday 15th June at 9AM outside the main SOAS building.

Official school statement-disgusting

(Bold my own)

Dear colleagues

Officials from the Border Control Agency visited SOAS this morning

with a warrant to enter the premises and to carry out checks on

employees of our cleaning contractor ISS who were suspected of working

illegally.

We understand this must have been distressing for those involved, and

indeed our own colleagues. However we believe the checks were carried

out quickly and in a sympathetic manner.

We have been informed that nine people have been detained for further

questioning and ISS is liaising directly with the Border Control

Agency at this stage.

SOAS is legally obliged to co-operate fully with the authorities

regarding such matters and we would like to thank staff for their

cooperation and understanding at this time. We have received

assurances from ISS that the standard of cleaning in School buildings

will be maintained.

Alan Smith

Interim Secretary and Registrar

Press coverage of SOAS 9

by Sadie Robinson

Students and workers at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) have organised an emergency protest for 8.30am on Monday 15 June to defend cleaners at the site who are facing imminent threat of deportation.

Cleaners at Soas were rounded up by immigration officials at an early morning meeting last Friday.

The raid follows campaigns by the cleaners to win union recognition and the London Living Wage.

Nine of the cleaners were subsequently held, including one woman who is six months pregnant. Their Unison union rep, Sandy Nicoll, said he was prevented from having any contact with them.

By Sunday three had already been deported. Others may be deported on Monday morning.

There is widespread anger and shock at the raid and at the speed with which the workers are being removed from Britain, with no opportunity to challenge the rulings or get legal advice. Many people saw the raid as the “kidnapping” of their fellow workers.

Some 200 students and workers protested outside Soas on Friday evening. “I'm so ashamed of this institution today,” said Sandy. “It's not an accident that immigration raids are taking place in workplaces where cleaners have been organising to win better pay and conditions.

“London can't run without low-paid migrant workers to do work like cleaning – but if they try and fight for rights then they're out.

“Our union met today and unanimously passed a motion to back whatever campaign there is to stop the deportations of these cleaners. The cleaners are an important part of the union.”

Graham Dyer, the UCU union president at Soas, was also at the protest. “I came in this morning to take part in a demonstration to support Stalin (a former worker at Soas who has been victimised by management after organising campaigns to improve workers' rights), only to find that the cleaning staff had been taken by immigration officials.

“The UCU is outraged. It's clear that management have been complicit in allowing immigration officials to come onto our campus.”

Sam, a student at Soas, spoke poignantly to the crowd about the raid. “Just imagine what it's like,” he said. “You get up and go to work expecting to come home later and empty the washing that you've left in the machine, pick up your kids, etc. But no. Instead you get taken away to be deported.

“I'm almost speechless at management’s behaviour.”

PROTEST

Monday 15 June, 8.30am, on the steps if Soas, off Malet Street, central London

---

© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.

Demonstration at SOAS in support of SOAs 9. URGENT action needed

Campaign email: freesoascleaners@gmail.com

Tony Benn, Jeremy Corbyn & others letter to Independent, Observer & Sunday Times

(we submitted this letter yesterday but it was not included for submission as far as i can see on the online versions of these three papers)

Stop Racist Deportations at SOAS

We are appalled at the actions of the immigration services, who with the aid of facilities contractors ISS conducted an early morning raid of SOAS recently. Nine cleaners were accused of working without valid documentation and are now being held pending their likely deportation from the UK.

Neither the contractors nor the university authorities had any problem with employing migrant labour with or without valid work permits so long as lecture theatres were cleaned at low rates and ISS were making sufficient profits.

The crime these mainly Latin American workers seem to have committed is to have campaigned for, and won, the London Living Wage and their union rights. In fact ISS had signed a union recognition agreement with Unison last week.

Unison members struck solidly last month in protest at the sacking of cleaner and union activist Jose Stalin Bermudez.

Evidence suggests that SOAS Management colluded with ISS and the immigration services to allow this shameful episode to happen and we believe that the raid took place to send a message to other groups of workers who may have been encouraged by the success of the Living Wage campaigns.

We demand an amnesty for all migrant workers in Britain.

Signed by (incl):

Tony Benn

Jeremy Corbyn MP

John McDonnell MP

Sandy Nicholl SOAS UNISON

Graham Dyer SOAS UNISON

Marya Ahmed SOAS Co-President

Elly James SOAS Women's Officer

Clare Solomon Former SOAS Co-President

James Haywood NUS NEC

Phemie Matheson NUS NEC

Pat Carmody CWU P&B Section Secretary

Petition for SOAS 9. Stop Racist Deportations

Please sign the online petition at http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/28557.html

DEMONSTRATION 

Monday 15th June

8.30am

SOAS Steps. 

Please bring Union banners and other visual, audio aids.

Stop Racist Deportations at SOAS

Another Education is Possible

Recently SOAS cleaners, through fighting back and uniting with students and other workers from other backgrounds, were able to win improvements in conditions and the London Living Wage.

At 6.30am on Friday the 12th June, without any advance warning SOAS cleaning staff were called to an emergency ‘Staff Meeting’, were confined in a room and then confronted by a team of 40 immigration officers who had been hiding under staged seating.

9 cleaners were arrested and sent to detention centres and are under threat of immediate deportation.

The outsourced cleaning company ISS and the schools management were aware of this intended raid and helped facilitate the removal of the cleaners.

We denounce the actions of the school and demand that academic institutions should not be complicit in assisting the Government in implementing their racist immigration programme. We find this particularly disgraceful given SOAS’s attempt to shake the reputation leftover from its colonial past. SOAS cannot lecture other countries about oppression when it complies in programmes such as this.

We cannot allow employers and the Government to use the threat of deportation to intimidate workers and prevent them from fighting to improve pay and conditions.

We urge you to show solidarity with the cleaners, UNISON and SOAS SU. We need to:

* Protest against the deportation of migrant workers and their families.
* Bring all workers in house, to receive equal treatment to SOAS staff, and force the university to take full responsibility for them.
* Formally disassociate from agencies such as ISS, and condemn such practice as witnessed at SOAS.
* Support calls for an amnesty for all migrant workers.

DEMONSTRATION Monday 15th June at 8.30am on SOAS Steps. Please bring Union banners and other visual, audio aids.

Tony Benn, John McDonnell and Ken Loach support SOAS 9

This post will be updated throughout this evening.

We have called a planning meeting TOMORROW, Saturday 13th June at 1.30pm to work out what to do next. Please  come along and bring people and ideas.

Meet 1.30pm in the lunch break of the Right to Work Conference on the grass outside SOAS

20.55 just got home from being on a wild goose chase trying to find out where any of the cleaners are.

The lies and bullshit coming from every angle at the immigration centres is unbelievable. 

We eventually managed to get hold of one of the cleaners being detained at St Thomas' immigration centre by mobile phone, despite being told that they were not there any longer. So we decided to stay and protest noisily outside for a few hours to show Carlos and Manuel that they have support.

We know that one is being taken to the single-men-only Dover detention centre and a few more are going to Yarlswood.

Tomorrow is the Right to Work Conference where occupiers, activists, union leaders and others will be coming together to discuss and plan more resistance.  You can register online or just turn up. 

Sessions include:

How to organise an occupation

Rights for the unemployed

Stop the scapegoating of migrant workers 

We have called a planning meeting in the lunchbreak to work out what to do next. Please  come along and bring people and ideas.

Meet 1.30pm in the lunch break on the grass outside SOAS

 

Press release for SOAS cleaners

At 6.30am on Friday the 12th June, ISS (the company who contracts SOAS’ cleaning staff) called a meeting for all SOAS cleaners. Within minutes the meeting was raided by approximately 40 immigration police, who detained all cleaners and arrested 9 people accused of working without proper documentation. These 9 people are now on fast-track to be deported from the UK.

Graham Dyer, Lecturer in Economics of Developing Countries and SOAS UCU Chair said: “It is no co-incidence that there is an immigration raid at a time when the UCU, Unison and the NUS are fighting against the victimisation of a migrant worker who has been at the heart of a fight that has improved the pay and conditions of workers here at SOAS. It is also not coincidental that ISS had only just signed a union recognition agreement with UNISON last week. Our fight has united lecturers, staff and students and has rocked SOAS management. Those managers are now lashing out. It is a disgrace that SOAS management saw fit to use a seat of learning to intimidate migrant workers. This is their underhand revenge and we will do all we can to stop migrant workers paying the price.”

SOAS Students’ Union and NUS conference have passed policy supporting the Living Wage campaign and the amnesty of migrant workers, and urge you to show solidarity with UNISON and SOAS SU in:

Protest against the deportation of migrant workers and their families.

• Bring the all workers in house, to receive equal treatment to SOAS staff, and force the university to take full responsibility for them.
  
• Formally disassociate from agencies such as ISS, and condemn such practice as witnessed at SOAS.
  
• Support the ‘Stranger into Citizens Campaign’ which calls for an amnesty for all migrant workers.
  

We urge student unions around the country to contact their UNISON branches in preparation for similar raids of outsourced staff, and campaign to provide them with in-house employment rights. Last week there was a threat of a raid at UCL, as witnessed at SOAS today, which suggests it could happen anywhere, and necessitates that as a National body we show solidarity with all of our workers.

Demonstrate at 4.30 today outside SOAS. Please come down, show your solidarity and prepare further action.
Contact suwelfare@soas.ac.uk or women@soas.ac.uk for more information.



Marya Ahmed SOAS SU Welfare and Education
Eleanor James SOAS Women’s Officer and NUS Women’s Committee

Ken Loach, director of the film Looking For Eric, message of support for SOAS cleaners

Ken Loach, director of the film Looking For Eric, stated:

"This raid is the action of a bully. Migrant workers are amongst the most vulnerable - poorly paid and far from home. Recent action by Unison to secure better wages and conditions at SOAS was good news. Now we wonder if the SOAS cleaners are being targeted because they dared to organise as trade unionists. We should all stand with them in solidarity in the face of this victimisation."

Please add more messages of support to the bottom of this post. Or email me.

I will collect them and pass them on.

Campaign phone numbers: 07971 302 349

(Live blogging NOW) SOAS raided this morning by Immigration Police. Urgent help needed

This post will be updated when i get more info...

UPDATE 15.44 

1 cleaner has been released.

3 are being held in old st police st

4 in Borough police station

One cleaner has agreed to be deported. She will fly out 4pm on Monday from Heathrow.

Those being held in Old St police station are scheduled to be deported on Monday.

Will be moved to Dover on monday

UPDATE: Basically, the cleaners were called into an emergency staff meeting at 6.30am this morning. They were then detained in the room (G2) until 40 robocop immigration officers surrounded them. They had been hiding in the room behind staging. This whole thing has been planned meticulously.

We can not get hold of any of the cleaners. This means thhey have had their mobile phones taken off them which is illegal. We still do not know where they are being detained.

Liveblogging from emergency Unison mtg

13.10. One of the cleaners 6 months pregnaant

Cleaners being held in detention centre near Gatwick (although i heard this from one person outside the mtg)

Being put on fast track for deportation

Governing Body being held at the moment in rm 116. We have people in there who will bring this up in the strongest possible manner.

We should protest at detention centre

It's outrageous that it is only the cleaners who have to prove where they come from

13.17 We should reiterate our call for bringing the outsourced services in house. ISS are complicit in this

Students ffrom the Detainee Support Society are fully on board

Lots of student support

Student Union will send out email and statement to all students

13.21 we should do a collection and make sure the families of the cleaners are also supported

ISS is well known for treating staff like this and employ large number of migrant workers

ISS actually said that they knew and allowed immigration in. why did they not just let the staff know in advance?

Immigration dressed like Robocop

SOAS management knew about raid in advance

13.36 what about the schools responsibility of duty of care to its staff

protest outside school at 4.30 TODAY

It's not coincidental that this has happened today given that we had a lobby of governing body planned for this morning over Stalin's cas but we were disrupted due to having to deal with this

13.51 mount pleasant post office also raided today

possibly UCL too

===============

This morning at 8, SOAS University was raided by Immigration police who rounded up 9 of our cleaners and are threatening to deport them tonight.

We have fought hard with the cleaners to get them union representation and a decent wage (which we have now got). many of them have been working here for years, and have their whole lives here in london..

Apparently this has happened at UCL too, and i believe on the tube where active cleaners were pulled up in front of management and subsequently fired because their working documents were not up to scratch

Staff at SOAS said it was a scene from Nazi Germany with all the cleaners lined up against a wall then shuffled into a room where they were locked up whilst having to fill out loads of forms. They were released individually only if they completed the forms correctly.

They have no access to lawyers or interpreters so I don't know if they all know exactly how to fill out the forms or whether they know exactly what is going on.

please offer your support by emailing MPs, MEPs, SOAS Management, anyone you can think of...and get in contact if you know any immigration lawyers. The Unison ones can only represent those already in the union.

thanks

this is the pathetic email we got from management assuring us that cleaning standards will be kept up! They should not be cooperating with the government on this. 

Dear colleagues

Officials from the Border Control Agency visited SOAS this morning

with a warrant to enter the premises and to carry out checks on

employees of our cleaning contractor ISS who were suspected of working

illegally.

We understand this must have been distressing for those involved, and

indeed our own colleagues. However we believe the checks were carried

out quickly and in a sympathetic manner.

We have been informed that nine people have been detained for further

questioning and ISS is liaising directly with the Border Control

Agency at this stage.

SOAS is legally obliged to co-operate fully with the authorities

regarding such matters and we would like to thank staff for their

cooperation and understanding at this time. We have received

assurances from ISS that the standard of cleaning in School buildings

will be maintained.

Alan Smith

Interim Secretary and Registrar

Throw eggs at griffin game. Eggsellent shot comrades.

http://extras.thesun.co.uk/flash/nick_griffin/shoot.html

I'm a bit slow on this story but...

On tuesday BRITISH National Party leader Nick Griffin was forced to abandon a press conference outside Parliament when demonstrators pelted him with eggs ( A SOAS .

Chanting “Off our streets, Nazi scum”, two hundred activists chased him down the street as his bodyguards bundled him into a car.

We built this demonstration primarily through twitter and texts. The info reached a T&G Union meeting in the area who promptly concelled the meeting and joined the protest. 

We all met at the tube because it is illegal to demonstrate or even gather outside the houses of parliament without prior warning.  Covering up our Love Music Hate Racism T-shirts and hiding our placards, along with all the trade union officials in suits, we did not look like a usual demonstration.  We walked slowly and quietly towards the press conference to not arouse suspicion and decended upon them. 

When we got close we ripped open our jackets to reveal our anti-fascism t-shirts, shoved our banners in the air and walked towards him chanting 'Nazi scum, off our streets'. 

He was clearly taken by surprise, not least when a SOAS student landed an egg directly on his face (fucking brilliant to watch!). 

the support from passers by was amazing. All the passengers in the open window big yellow duck bus/boat cheered loudly out the window as we chased him up the street.

Nick Griffins nasty thug security lashed out true to form smashing one woman protester squarely in the face.

He responded to our protest by calling us a bunch of 'lazy students, lecturers and parisitic trade union hardcore labour supporters'!!!

I received a message from someone who said 'I understand he was only pissed off because you didn't separate the whites first.' Another eggstremely eggsellent comment Peter!

Watch Sky news video HERE

And some more great coverage at UAF North London Blogspot HERE

Ken Loach and SWP on the need for left unity

From an interview with Martin Smith in the new Socialist Review:

"My feeling is that we need to think of the regroupment of the left in Britain in terms of the European left now. The European left is a project obviously bigger than any one group. I am very encouraged by the events in France right now and the development of the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste. The European left, which is so big, will just swallow up the differences between the different groups on the left over here. I've been in meetings where we've talked about this for 45 years, and organisationally are we any further forward in all that time? If you want to be depressed, that's the depressing thing. On the optimistic side the need just gets more and more intense. It was urgent after the Iraq war, but now even more urgent with the collapse of the banks and increasing unemployment, industries closing down and so on, and the environmental disaster that's awaiting the next generation. The pressure to unite just gets bigger and bigger. Every left meeting I go to is based on the fact that the crisis is about to engulf us all. It's not in the distant future. It's unfolding before us now. We've got to get together at some point. Living in separate tents isn't going to solve anything really."

Read the open letter from the SWP HERE entitled 'Left must unite to create an alternative'

TfL pay £2,700 per day for consultants - tube strike update

Don't believe the rubbish you read in the tabloids.

Tube strike: for justice and jobs

RMT members launched the first strike ballot in March this year  (Pic: » Guy Smallman)


by Matthew Cookson

Thousands of tube workers in the RMT transport union brought the London Underground system to a halt from 7pm on Tuesday with a 48-hour strike over pay, job cuts and management bullying.

Their dispute is crucial in the war to stop bosses and the government making ordinary people pay for the a crisis created by those at the top of society.

Everyone should back the tube workers’ fight. London Underground is cutting 1,000 jobs while Transport for London could slash 3,000 jobs. Neither company has ruled out compulsory redundancies, which would break an agreement with the RMT and Aslef unions.

Overwhelming

The London Underground and Transport for London workers voted overwhelmingly for strikes in a reballot triggered by management’s legal challenge to a successful strike ballot.

Read more HERE

© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.

Beats Beat Bullets and also beat the Nazi's

Last night i was disgusted to hear Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist BNP talk about war as if he was in favour of withdrawing the troops. He is an avid holocaust denier and would prefer to see all Jews living in Israel.

How dare the Fascist BNP claim they are anti-war when they declare war on everyone they don't agree with. (Read Stop the War coalitions release HERE)

How dare he say that the 'BNP has no problem with people who contribute to society wherever they were born' and then continue to say that they are 'a white only party because someone has to stand up for the indigenous people'  

How dare he say that 'the rivers of truth are flowing once again' continually saying that the 'dams on truth' are breaking. The Fascist Enoch Powell will be cheering him on from his grave.

Yesterday the BNP were given close to £1 million and those that haven't voted have allowed them to meet the euro extreme far right.

Come to Beats Beat Bullets to send a loud message that Fascists are NOT anti-war, they are not welcome here. They should go back to where they come from.

SOAS smash the BNP

Obama in Cairo LIVE

http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse?feature=ticker

"Republicans screw the Arabs. Democrats screw the Arabs, but with a smile," Cairo under siege

EXCLUSIVE from comrade Hossam: Cairo Under Siege Ahead Of Obama's Speech

Right before he took off from DC, on what the media has been depicting as some "odyssey," to address the Muslim World from Cairo, President Obama had described the 81-year-old Egyptian President Mubarak as a "force for stability." This week Cairo and its twin city Giza have been a showcase of what this "stability" cost.

The capital is under occupation. Security troops are deployed in the main public squares and metro stations. Citizens were detained en masse and shops were told to close down in Bein el-Sarayat area, neighboring Cairo University, where Obama will be speaking. In Al-Azhar University, the co-host of the "historical speech," State Security police raided and detained at least 200 foreign students, held them without charges in unknown locations. Exams were postponed in the major universities fearing demonstrations, and students were told to stay at home. And in several areas in Cairo and Giza, there will be in effect a curfew, where shops won't be allowed to open, citizens instructed not to open their windows. Almost everyone I know will be staying home tomorrow watching Obama's speech, not necessarily because they are keen on knowing what the freshly-elected US leader has to say to the Muslim world, but because they know it will be virtually impossible to move anywhere in the city on Thursday thanks to Obama's force-for-stability host.

Read more HERE

Party political broadcast from bonkers Joe!

Swine flu is rubbish

I have just heard that the University of East Anglia has decided to stop office-based recycling in an effort to 'limit the spread of potential cases of H1N1 (Swine Flu)'.

I'm no scientist but this seems a tad over the top to me. My guess is that they want to get rid of that pesky recycling malarky and save a few pennies. Does anyone know whether there is any weight behind their reasoning?

In the meantime, here is a great article cutting through the spin that we get from the mainstream media.

Swine Flu: the real dangerous swine wear suits

Feature by Mike Davis, May 2009

With deaths mounting in Mexico authorities warn of a swine flu pandemic. Mike Davis argues that governments, pharmaceutical companies and agribusiness create the conditions for these health crises.

Read the rest HERE at Socialist Review

Racists have no music video