by John Grayson The appalling, overcrowded, unhygienic housing offered to some asylum seekers and their young children is putting them at especial risk of Covid-19. A refusal of insanitary accommodation leads to threats of homelessness. John Grayson of South Yorkshire Migration & Asylum Action Group investigates the reality in Leeds, Halifax and Wakefield. Helen ‘I don’t
Read on »Posts Tagged: United Kingdom
White Finnish media story of the day: Muslims are grossly underrepresented in the media
Media studies that look into social ills like Islamophobia and racism in general in Britain offer us a view of how matters could be in Finland. With little scrutiny of institutional racism in the Finnish police, similar studies of the mainstream media still appear light-years away. A study published by The Muslim Council of Britain
Read on »Anti-immigration stances and policies of the United Kingdom will lead to its breakup
What three countries are officially multicultural? They are Canada, Australia and the UK. In the case of Canada and the UK, these countries adopted multiculturalism as a social policy to avert the breakup of their countries.
Read on »Brexit-inflicted UK is so racist that even white Europeans are targets of racism and rage
It would be wrong to conclude that Brexit is the cause of the racism we are witnessing today in the United Kingdom. Surprised? Not really. What would you expect from a country that has a dark history in global domination, exploitation, and genocide? The common thinking of some people about the United Kingdom is that
Read on »The “Trump effect” is now felt by UK Prime Minister Theresa May
After the shock result of the Brexit referendum became known in June last year, the populist-nationalistic forces thought that their time had come. The US presidential election result of November seemed to confirm such a trend.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: The Integration or Imitation Game?
Integration is a two-way process. Simply blaming migrants for failing to integrate or learn English isn’t a viable way forward. So it’s vital that migrant communities are involved in any discussion and development of a UK-wide integration strategy argues MRN Director, Fizza Qureshi.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: The challenges facing migrants’ rights campaigners in 2017
MRN’s new Director, Fizza Qureshi, welcomes the New Year and the major challenges it brings. The picture may look bleak, but that’s no reason for pessimism. It’s a spur to building alliances and campaigning harder for a rights-based approach to migration.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: [UK]Government agenda – Roll back the rights of all migrants
The policy pronouncements at the Conservative conference show how far the government is prepared to go to turn migration into a rights-free zone. Both EU and the third country migrants will lose out under these plans. We need a campaign that unites them all if rights are to be preserved.
Read on »(Institute of Race Relations) Post-referendum racism and the importance of social activism
A new report by social media activists on the spike of hate crimes immediately after the referendum on EU membership should prove uncomfortable reading for the Home Office.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Byron Hamburgers: When employers fail to do right by migrant employees
What else could Byron’s have done? The social media world was awash with attempted defences of the hamburger chain after it collaborated in the arrest of 35 of its migrant workers earlier in July. Our answer is they didn’t have to go along with the shabby act of entrapment of its staff, and they could have done so much more to push back against punitive, anti-worker rules.
Read on »Brexit proves (again) that Europe’s biggest threat was and still is nationalism and xenophobia
We speak of external threats like globalization and others like asylum seekers as threats challenging this great Post-World War 2 experiment called the European Project. While the achievements of the European Union are formidable taking into account that we’re not going after each other’s throats after 1945, there is one threat that is the greatest of them all and one we should pay more attention to: nationalism and xenophobia.
Read on »Brexit: Stoke the fires of natonalism and you’ll get burned
After the United Kingdom decided Thursday to exit from the European Union, the question remains: why? In many respects, the answer to that question is a similar one that you hear in some European countries why such-and-such country has seen the political rise of populist anti-immigration party. Finland is a good example of the latter. The
Read on »MP Jo Cox’s death revealed and reminded how important our struggle against barbarism is
On Thursday, we heard about the tragic killing of Labor MP Jo Cox, which was a stark reminder of the things she warned us about like hate speech, racism and outright hostility towards migrants and minorities. All we can do when such a heinous act gives us and our democratic institutions a blow is to stand strong.
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: Immigration detention – a tale of two reviews
Two recent reviews of immigration detention offer a contrast in their approach to the fundamental injustice of immigration detention and in their usefulness to campaigners.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Why I’ve decided not to become British
Is it worth spending just over £1,200 to become a British Citizen? After weighing up the pros and cons Noel Dandes thinks that, in his case, it isn’t.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: In this migration crisis, common humanity isn’t enough. We need to reimagine who ‘we’ are
One of the dominant features of the national discourse concerning the plight of the Calais migrants in recent weeks has been the dehumanising language applied to the men, women and children risking their lives in desperation to find lasting safety. This reached its peak with Prime Minister David Cameron referring to ‘swarms’ of migrants attempting to reach the UK and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond describing the ‘threat’ of ‘marauding’ African migrants.
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: One nation – but whose?
Frances Webber The first of a post-election three-part series on civil liberties in the UK examines the government’s proposal to replace the Human Rights Act by a British Bill of Rights. Prime minister David Cameron was quick to don the mantle of ‘One Nation Toryism’ after his party’s election victory. But the Tories’ priorities set
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: Why we should listen when the UN condemns the UK’s ‘extremist media’
Matt Carr Below we reproduce an article by author Matt Carr from his blog, Infernal Machine, on the current situation in the Mediterranean. British tabloid editors have never struck me as a particularly reflective and thoughtful breed of humanity, so I doubt they will be plunged into a mood of remorseful self-analysis by the very strongly-worded
Read on »Migrants are not a burden to Finland
The letter to the editor below could be perfectly well applied to Finland. In Finland, migrants and minorities are tired of being called a burden by opportunistic politicians that want to gain with xenophobic sound bites voter attention. Sensible Europeans know better and more of their voices are needed in the face of this
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Is the penny finally dropping? – Migration is a sign of how normal a society is, rather than a threat to its existence
Don Flynn* The fact that the government failed to reach its target for reducing net migration is bad news for them, but rather good news when considered as an indication of an economy not still mired in deepest recession. Read full blog entry here.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Reasons to be cheerful about migrants’ rights in 2015
Don Flynn* When someone gets around to writing the history of the UK immigration debate, there is a good chance that they will come to see 2014 as the year when things began to turn around and, eventually, tack off in a progressive direction. Read original blog entry here. Okay, against this sunny optimism
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Out with the old, in with the new: 2014 ends as it began
Awale Olad* It seems that 2014 will end with yet more news on immigration. This time it involves the Home Secretary, Theresa May, and her push to change the immigration rules in order to require that all international students graduating at UK universities leave the country on completion of their course. Read
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: David Cameron’s EU migration speech – what impact on migrants’ rights?
Ruth Grove-White* Today’s (28.11) speech from the Prime Minister has made a pitch for a new tough approach on EU migrant access to welfare, but it has taken us further away from the evidence-based debate on immigration that we need. Read full story here. David Cameron’s speech on EU migration, delivered earlier Friday, was
Read on »Do you think David Cameron should be given ‘a medal’ for immigration?
Finnish Prime Minister Alexsander Stubb continues to surprise us. This time he proposed giving the UK, or Prime Minister David Cameron, ‘a medal’ for immigration. Taking into account how Cameron sees himself threatened by the UKIP and how he’s caved in to anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric, the distinction proposed by Stubb is odd to say the
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Yes, migrants are net contributors, but they are also our partners in challenging inequality and injustice
Migrant Tales’ insight: Another fine essay by Don Flynn, which brings to mind recent claims by the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party that migration costs the country up to 2 billion euros. The estimation is only a guess by the PS and which forget to calculate that the majority of migrants in Finland work, pay taxes and consume.
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: Language testing of asylum claimants – a flawed approach
By Aisha Maniar Following a critical Supreme Court judgment on the Home Office’s use of controversial language analysis tests to determine the nationality of asylum seekers, Aisha Maniar asks: why does the government insist on using these tests? Read orginal posting here. Language is a crucial element of the identity of each and every one
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Court of Appeal rules against challenge to lawfulness of family immigration rules
Migrant Tales’ insight: The drama and pain continues in the United Kingdom after this unfair ruling… ________________ The long-awaited judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case ‘MM’ on the matter of the lawfulness of the UK immigration rules setting income levels for the sponsorship of non-EEA family members was made public this morning.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: No-one should be afraid to say where they are from
Roger Casale* The climate of fear and antipathy towards newcomers to the UK from Europe hurts individuals in their day-to-day lives. We in the UK should take a moment to reflect on what these negative attitudes and behaviours say about us as a national community. Migrants hold a mirror up to the host nation. What
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Immigration statistics to be debated for 3 hours in the House of Commons
Awale Olad MPs are set to debate the political minefield of migration statistics this Thursday, 26 June. The Lords will also debate the right to work for asylum seekers. Read full blog entry here. The Westminster Hall debate will be led by Bernard Jenkins MP, the Chair of the Public Administration Select
Read on »Challenging urban tales about migrants and ourselves should be our first and foremost priority
After contributing regularly for Migrant Tales and reading and answering some of the over 30,000 comments we have received in the past seven years, a bigger picture emerges. This has been reinforced by my work at a folk high school, where the majority of the students on campus aren’t white Finns. As Don Flynn of
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: #MigrantsContribute! promises an active campaign to advance positive arguments for migrants
Migrant Tales insight: Another excellent posting by Migrants’ Rights Network on how immigrant communities challenge politicians who spread lies and reinforce prejudices about migrants. We need such a campaign in Finland. Writes Don Flynn: #MigrantsContribute! is a social media-style name for a campaign that aims to bust into the mainstream with its core message that, far
Read on »What would you see if you looked in Jussi Halla-aho’s eyes?
Plans to give the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* a facelift and turn it into a mainstream party took another step in that direction when the new chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformist (ECR) group of the European parliament, MEP Syed Kamall, was satisfied with PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho’s explanation for his conviction for ethnic agitation. What else
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: £18,600 income requirement – pricing UK workers out of a family life
Ruth Grove-White* New research by MRN shows the uneven impacts of the minimum income requirement across the UK, and calls for change towards a fairer system for family migration. A few weeks ago, we were contacted by a lady called Margaret, who lives in South Wales. Margaret has worked for the past decade as a
Read on »Financial Times: Finnish and Danish MEPs “with criminal records” join Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s group
While some speculated that the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* and the Danish People’s Party (DPP), both with MEPs with criminal records, would be given the cold shoulder by UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, the opposite happened, writes the Financial Times. The two MEPs with criminal records are PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Is a new Immigration Bill to be announced in the Queen’s Speech?
Migrant Tales insight: Events in the United Kingdom resemble a self-fulfilling prophesy for white English and an ever-worsening and ever-hostile place for migrants and visible minorities. The treatment and approach to immigration of Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is shameful. It reveals more cowardice than sound judgement. The worst matter in the United Kingdom isn’t
Read on »The EU elections are a call for migrants and minorities to raise their voices and take charge of their future in an ever-hostile Europe
What does the election victory of anti-EU and anti-immigration parties reveal for the future of the EU, immigrants and minorities in Europe? The bad news is that matters will get worse before they improve, even if these parties didn’t get a clear mandate in the EU elections. Writes the Guardian:”But not by as much as
Read on »Anti-immigration Europe: The fruits you harvest depend on the seed you plant
In many respects, Europe looks like a region that is running scared with a notable part of its population seeking to support populist, anti-immigration and even neo-Nazi parties that offer no credible solutions to issues like rising unemployment, poverty and estrangement from our political institutions. If students from a small town in Eastern Finland did
Read on »Pew Research Center survey: Anti-immigration and anti-minority sentiment runs high before Euro elections
Pew Research Center, a Washington-based “fact tank,” reveals in a survey just before the European parliamentary elections on May 22-25 that anti-immigration and anti-minority sentiment runs in countries like Poland, Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy and Greece. Euro MEP candidates like Jussi Halla-aho and Juho Eerola of the PS have used anti-immigration sentiment to attract
Read on »Are politicians like Jussi Halla-aho and parties like the PS racist?
Jay Smooth offered in early March some good points on how to spot a racist by sticking to the that-sounded-racist conversation as opposed to they-are-racist conversation. The former conversation allows you to focus on what the person said and why what they said is unacceptable. The other one will take your focus away from the issue. Keeping
Read on »Announcement: 1001Nights | UK tour 2014
TOMORROW NIGHT I SHALL TELL YOU SOMETHING STRANGER AND EVEN MORE AMAZING… A FAMILY SHOW FOR AGES 6+ 1001 Nights collects together some of the greatest folk tales ever told. Here they are re-imagined by Shahrazad – a lively young girl who, torn between her old home in the East and her new life in Britain,
Read on »Institute of Race Relations: UKIP – legitimised by the media?
MT insight: UKIP’s Nigel Farage and Perussuomalaiset party’s Timo Soini are close ideological allies. The only difference between these two politicians in the cultural and national context. If Farage lived in Finland he’d speak like Soini and vice versa. Thus to understand the PS you would have to understand the UKIP. _________________ John Grayson examines
Read on »What can the PS mutate to if the political conditions are right?
In order to understand what a party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) are, look at how it rose to become Finland’s third-largest party in parliament in less than ten years. The growth of the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam PS has been impressive to say the least, rising from 5 MPs in the 2007 parliamentary elections
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Brokenshire vs. Cable – Is immigration good or bad for the economy?
Don Flynn* Is immigration just an accident, prompted by the selfish behaviour of the metropolitan elite, or a vital component in the functioning of a globalised economy? That was the issue at the heart of the spat between two government ministers last week. Decision on who is right will decide the future direction of immigration
Read on »Finland and Europe must not be lured into populism and xenophobia
Denials by party leaders like Timo Soini that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) isn’t a xenophobic party, and the meek response of Finland’s mainstream parties to such a threat, speak volumes of the present state of this country. Who helped the political careers of xenophobes like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others? Soini and the PS. Why
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: What is driving the ‘hostile environment’ idea (in the UK)?
By Don Flynn* The announcement of yet more changes to the immigration rules will cause anxiety to run down the spine of many a legal migrant as they struggle to understand whether it has implications for them. The government has declared that the intention behind the new Immigration Bill currently being considered
Read on »Racism in Finland: The media is part of the problem
A party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which has capitalized politically on xenophobia and racism, claims that the Finnish media picks on it unfairly. The fact is, however, that the PS could have never achieved what it did in the April 2011 election without the help of the media, which gave its racists inflated respectability and
Read on »How tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat reinforce our prejudices against immigrants and refugees
Tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat have a lot to learn about fairness, which is the cornerstone of all good news reporting. But tabloids aren’t interested in fairness but in sensationalism. A story by Ilta-Sanomat is headlined: ”Two Somalis use [fake] Yemeni passports to travel to Finland.” Even if the story suggests that these Somalis are committing a crime
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Immigration is an important factor in Conservative rise in the polls
MT comment: Solid analysis by Awale Olad on what role the anti-immigrant message will play in the polls and upcoming elections in the United Kingdom. The delicate balancing act involves anti-immigration rhetoric, which could be ignited by the government’s Immigration Bill, and scaring away those votes it needs to capture, according to Olad. With
Read on »UK study links hate crime with far right EDL
A study in the UK finds that members of the far right English Defense League (EDL) were linked to a third of the abuses against Muslims last year. Almost two in every three cases of anti-Muslim incidents go unreported in the UK, according to Teesside University’s Centre for Fascist, Anti-Fascist and Post-Fascist Studies. Read full report
Read on »Migrant Rights’ Network: Campaign for the Right to Family life – next steps
By Ruth Grove-White Those affected and campaigning against the new rules on family migration will know that we are fast-approaching their 1-year anniversary on 9 July. Over the next couple of months there is plenty that you will be able to do to raise awareness and ask the Government to think again. See original story
Read on »Should Finns trust the police?
“…when the laws have ceased to be executed, as this can only come from the corruption of the republic, the state is already lost.” Montesquieu (1689-1755) A survey by T-Media reveals that Finns trust the most the police, educational and justice system and the least the media, EU and employer’s associations. Of those surveyed, 69%
Read on »Migrant Rights’ Network: UKIP has an advantage that is not based on concrete policy proposals
By Awale Olad The aftermath of the UKIP surge in the polls in the local elections has led to a lot of soul searching in mainstream politics. To the detriment of the Conservative Party whilst also hacking away at both the support of the Labour and Liberal Democrats parties, UKIP emerged as the third most
Read on »How ideologically alike is the PS with the UKIP and BNP?
The recent local election victory of the anti-EU and anti-immigration UKIP of Britain is a good example of what Finland experienced with the rise of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in April 2011. While the United Kingdom and Finland are vastly different countries, the knee-jerk reaction of the ruling parties to right-wing populism and rhetoric is strikingly
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: EU Free Movement Under Threat
Stewart Jackson’s Ten Minute Rule motion to curb EU free movement rights passed the first hurdle on its way to becoming law. Let’s hope no one in government seriously considers it as official policy. Conservative MP Stewart Jackson continues his campaign against “barking mad” European Union law which supports the free movement of people across
Read on »Timo Soini on racism: See no evil, hear no evil
It is surprising how a politician like Timo Soini of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party can argue anything he wants on television about immigrants and visible minorities. His objection to positive discrimination on a debate on MTV3 Wednesday is a case in point. Migrant Tales has written in the past about colorblind racism, which is one of the most common
Read on »James and Jussi out of control
As the municipal elections of October near, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs, James Hirvisaari and Jussi Halla-aho, are doing everything possible to bolster the sagging popularity of the right-wing populist party. It’s unclear, however, if they are attempting to stir up support for the Suomen Sisu wing of the party or for the PS. In their usual style,
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: The battle on family migration will be a long one, but we can win
By Ruth Grove-White Every now and again there are changes to the immigration rules which even writers for the Daily Mail voice their objections to. The new rules on family migration to the UK, which came into force on Monday, represent a major assault on family life for Brits and migrants alike. Campaigners now need to
Read on »Go for the values and weaknesses of a group if you aim to destroy their self-esteem
How would you go about destroying the self-esteem of a group? If you were an anti-immigration politician, certainly you’d target the group’s values (religion) and exploit your racist arguments by pointing the finger at their most vulnerable weaknesses, like high unemployment. Prejudice and racism are diehard social ills because they take generations to wear off.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Border controls against Greece? Be afraid – be very afraid……
By Don Flynn The sun has been brilliant over (most) of the UK for four whole days in a row and we are all extraordinarily happy. But if there’s an inkling of truth in the weekend’s news that emergency border control plans are being prepared against the arrival of Greek citizens, abandon hope for the
Read on »Migrant Rights’ Network of the UK: The Elephant in the Workplace – Why it’s time we talked about migration and labour exploitation
Dr Sam Scott* Certainly, it is rare for evidence of worker mistreatment to come to the fore but this does not mean, in our opinion, that it is ipso facto rare. Partly, the challenge is one of identifying workplace exploitation and persuading victims to come forward with evidence. Partly, it is about how
Read on »Family reunification in the UK: ‘Keeping families apart’ – MRN briefing on family migration policy
The MRN (Migrants’ Rights Network) campaign on family migration releases a new briefing paper showing that a higher income threshold for family migration could shut out 50% of the UK working population from bringing a spouse or partner here – with ethnic minorities, women and children particularly hit.
Read on »Multiculturalism: An outlook on life that dare not speak its name…..
Remember the prime minister’s speech in Munich attacking multiculturalism exactly one year ago? We take a look here at the way opponents of his ‘muscular liberalism’ thesis have been considering the issue in the 12 months since..
Read on »BBC: Eastern European migrants ‘add £5bn’ to Britain’s GDP
Immigrants from eastern Europe have added almost £5bn (5.64 billion euros) to Britain’s economy since 2004, according to a report.
Read on »Finland also locks up asylum seeker children
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- A child in the Joutseno Immigration Removal Center.
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