A busy week again this week. Apart from my day job (yes I do have to earn my crust) I was at the Lambeth Green Party meeting on Wednesday night, where I met again our inspirational and hard working London Assembly candidate, Jonathan Bartley. I also met some other new Lambeth party members whom I had not met before, including one who shares my interest in theatre and writing and is a professional theatre director.Last night I went to the Steering Committee meeting of the Coalition of Resistance,where we reviewed COR's involvement in the November 30th demonstrations and we all agreed that both in terms of media coverage and mobilisation, COR had done really well - even forming the backdrop to Jeremy Paxman's report on the strike that night on Newsnight. We discussed next steps and prepartions for new anti-cuts activities in 2012. We also discussed the European dimension and the rain of fire and brimstone raining down on the peoples of Europe from their neo-liberal governments and technocrats.
Tonight I will be attending the book launch at Housman's bookshop of 'Stop the War. A graphic history' as a member of the national Steering Committee of Stop the War. I am growing increasingly worried about the prospect of war against Iran and the need for the anti-war movement has never been greater.
Finally, some details here of an event at which Jean Lambert, the Green MEP for London, is speaking:
Coalition Against Secret Evidence and The Cordoba Foundation present
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
TEN YEARS OF SECRET EVIDENCE AND HIDDEN SUFFERING
the past ten years… the secret evidence, unfortunately, remains just that!
Monday 19 December 2011 • 6pm – 9pm • London Muslim Centre
46 Whitechapel Road London E1 1JX. Nearest tube: Aldgate East / Whitechapel
Ten years ago, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the British government passed laws allowing them to detain and imprison foreign “terrorism suspects” without charge or trial. By December 2001, almost a dozen Muslim men, mainly from Algeria, had been detained and later became known, with others, as the “Belmarsh detainees”. They were held without trial or charge for over three years until the courts ruled this system illegal in 2004. The men were released but things did not get better for them or their families… control orders were introduced in 2005 and others were subject to harsh bail restrictions after being threatened with deportation to their countries of origin – Algeria, Jordan and Libya. Tagged, with restrictions on their freedom, all without having any idea of the reason why, this has been the life of at least 18 individuals and families over the past decade, with no end in sight… 10 years of not knowing the accusations, of coming up against a wall of silence and secret evidence by the Home Office in court, not knowing if they will be deported to countries that will torture, of abuse, misuse and being ignored by the wider community. At the same time, the British government is seeking to replace the control order regime with new Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (T-PIMs), to broaden the number of countries so-called terrorism suspects can be deported to without knowing the reason why and to harshen its anti-terrorism laws.
Enquiries:
reveal@coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com
info@thecordobafoundation.com
http://www.coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com/
Speakers include:
GARETH PEIRCE - British human rights lawyer.
JEAN LAMBERT - MEP (Green Party)
ANAS ALTIKRITI - CEO, The Cordoba Foundation
BRUCE KENT - Vice President Pax Christi.
ASIM QURESHI - Executive Director, Cage Prisoners.
Ten years ago, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the British government passed laws allowing them to detain and imprison foreign “terrorism suspects” without charge or trial. By December 2001, almost a dozen Muslim men, mainly from Algeria, had been detained and later became known, with others, as the “Belmarsh detainees”. They were held without trial or charge for over three years until the courts ruled this system illegal in 2004. The men were released but things did not get better for them or their families… control orders were introduced in 2005 and others were subject to harsh bail restrictions after being threatened with deportation to their countries of origin – Algeria, Jordan and Libya. Tagged, with restrictions on their freedom, all without having any idea of the reason why, this has been the life of at least 18 individuals and families over the past decade, with no end in sight… 10 years of not knowing the accusations, of coming up against a wall of silence and secret evidence by the Home Office in court, not knowing if they will be deported to countries that will torture, of abuse, misuse and being ignored by the wider community. At the same time, the British government is seeking to replace the control order regime with new Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (T-PIMs), to broaden the number of countries so-called terrorism suspects can be deported to without knowing the reason why and to harshen its anti-terrorism laws.
Enquiries:
reveal@coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com
info@thecordobafoundation.com
http://www.coalitionagainstsecretevidence.com/
www.thecordobafoundation.com
Supported by:
Campaign Against Criminalising Communities
Cage Prisoners
Islamic Forum of Europe
Newham Monitoring Project
Federation of Students Islamic Societies
Peace & Justice in East London
ALL WELCOME
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