[Imc-london-audio] stories for IMCLondon radio: part 1

[Douglas Carnall]

Two lesbian women who were legally married in a ceremony in Canada were
in the High Court yesterday seeking the same recognition for their
relationship from the British state.
Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger were declared "wife and wife" by the
British Columbia marriage commissioner at a ceremony in Vancouver in
August 2003. But when the UK's Civil Partnership Act became law in
December 2005, they weren't happy: it says that same-sex couples who
marry overseas "are to be treated as having formed a civil partnership".
Sue and Celia want the UK to recognise their marriage as a marriage, not
as a civil partnership. They argue Britain's position is discriminatory
under the human rights act which affords everyone the right to respect
for private and family life (article 8), the right to marry (article
12), and prohibits discrimination (article 14).
And the High Court judge who heard the preliminary hearing earlier this
year agreed saying "I consider that there is sufficient material
available for an argument based on principle that the requirement of the
Civil Partnership Act that a marriage between same-sex partners abroad
must, on registration, be treated as a civil partnership and not a
marriage, is on the face of it discriminatory on the grounds of sexual
orientation"
Wilkinson and Kitzinger were unhappy that their two year marriage became
registered as a civil partnership on the implementation of the Civil
Partnership Act in December 2005. " But civil partnership is a different
institution from marriage - a separate institution for same-sex couples
only, while marriage is reserved for different-sex couples only. This
maintains a symbolic separation of lesbians and gay men from 'normal'
society, sending out the inescapable message that our relationships are
not worthy of recognition through marriage. This discrimination is
demeaning and unjust.
Said OutRage spokesman Peter Tatchell, "The ban on same-sex marriage
signals the continuing second class legal status of lesbian, gay and
bisexual people. Civil partnerships are not equality. They are sexual
apartheid, with one law for heterosexuals, marriage, and another law for
gays, civil partnerships."

***

More than three hundred adult education tutors in Liverpool received
letters yesterday morning telling them that compulsory redundancies will
be made after a three month consultation. The council claims that 'only'
120 will go. 

This all comes after a government report published in January declared
that one in five lessons in Liverpool were "inadequate". As a result,
the government cuts its grant to the city by one fifth. Yes, you read
that right, that is their crazy 'logic'. If they had ADDED 20% to the
budget then it might have improved the 20% of lessons! 

Short-term courses with no end qualification are believed to be for the
chop. Many people join these courses to build up their confidence, after
having been out of education for decades. They then move on to GCSEs, A
levels and degrees. 

But perhaps more importantly, this is yet another example of how the
government considers that anything which fails to yield a financial
profit is somehow worthless. Ok, so some people won't further their
career by attending these classes. But might they meet people with
similar interests? Might they take up a new hobby? Might they (whisper
it) have fun? 

Labour councillor Joe Anderson - leader of the opposition in Liverpool -
said: "The government is not going to throw good money after bad. 

"I understand funding has been reduced, but we have to look at why that
happened. I believe it was because Liverpool was not producing a quality
service." 

The council is powerless, the opposition is spineless, the only thing
that can save the local services that ordinary Liverpudlians depend on
is action from ordinary Liverpudlians.

***

Last Sunday, News Of the World published a story by its journalist-
turned-vigilante Mazher Mahmood, who rounded up 70 'illegal' immigrants
and brought them to Colnbrook detention centre where 66 were detained by
police and immigration officials.
The irony was not lost on the Colnbrook detainees who pointed out that
his own name at least suggested that his own family had benefited from
immigration who responded with a letter calling him "a gutless,
incompetent bully" who "picks on foreigners because they are a soft
target," while And the notwats blog, which archives News of the World
stories for comment (as the paper's own website does not) has the
following cogent comment from Nell3:

"This is quite disgusting behaviour. Instead of this grabbing people on
false pretences, when official policies have forced them into poverty, I
would like to see the News of the World report the news of the world.
Where do these people come from? What have they experienced? How do we
really treat them? Would we like to be them for a day - how about News
of the World journalists actually pretending to be asylum seekers, and
see how funny it feels then?!"

Meanwhile the News of the World and five other tabloids have been
slammed by UNHCR report in their quarterly magazine "Refugees".

In the introduction, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António
Guterres says: "In some countries, deliberate attempts to dehumanise
asylum seekers are continuing, always presenting them as menacing
statistics, as criminals and bringers of disease, or as some other form
of generalised abstract aberration that is easy to hate." 

"In an increasing number of countries, asylum seekers - and the refugees
among them - have become a tool for political demagogues, or have been
turned into faceless bogeymen by an unscrupulous popular press." 

"Ill-informed or sloppy journalists or editors are one thing: they can
always be better informed. A media organization that deliberately
pursues an agenda which is applied to all its contents - not just the
editorials and opinion columns, but also the news coverage - is
something altogether more deadly."

No Borders and the National Coalition of antideportation Campaigns have
called for a picket of News of the World offices this Sunday at 11. For
more, see ncadc.org.uk

***


more to follow

--
Dougie Carnall
+44 (0) 7900 212 881
http://navarino.org.uk:8080/blog