[Imc-london-audio] stories for IMCLondon radio: part 2

[Douglas Carnall]

The not noticably reverend Robert West, who heads the BNP front-group,
the Christian Council of Britain has hit the news again just weeks after
leaving the Tories to join the British National Party. West, who
resigned his party whip just before disciplinary procedure took place to
get rid of him, was apparently delivering leaflets for the BNP in
Lincoln when he was accosted by a householder who was appalled not only
at receiving fascist rubbish through her letterbox but also at the fact
that it was apparently a vicar delivering it (West wears a dog collar,
though we've still yet to see any evidence that he's entitled to do so). 

Quite rightly, she berated this alleged vicar until she obviously
couldn't take the stress any more, went inside, got a bucket of water
and (allegedly) threw it over him. 

The BNP, who have accused Unite Against Fascism activists on a number of
occasions of being 'unBritish' for recommending people who are offended
by BNP leaflets to report them to the police for incitement to racial
hatred, immediately went to the police and reported the householder for
what they describe as 'a hate crime'. She now faces the ordeal of going
to court and having to defend herself against the curiously interesting
charge of making a nazi fake-vicar a bit damp. 

Of course, the BNP is entirely humourless about this whole thing,
claiming that the householder's behaviour '...is a direct result of the
constant media barrage of lies, deceit and slander of our good and
wholesome political organisation'. 

For more see Lancaster's Unite against fascism blog at http://
82.69.12.18/lancasteruafblog/


****

An 26 year old Sudanese asylum seeker who was to be evicted from his
accomodation and his benefits cancelled after his claim for asylum was
refused has obtained a temporary injunction from the high court
preventing the National Asylum Support Service from treating him in this way.

An application for judicial review was lodged questioning the lawfulness
of the National Asylum Support Service's practice of evicting asylum
seekers and stopping their benefits, once their application for asylum
has been refused. 

The application argued that the conduct of NASS, which is an agency of
the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office, amounts
to inhuman and degrading treatment and a violation of Article 3 of the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights.

Last Thursday Mr. Justice Langstaff granted an interim injunction
against the Home Secretary preventing NASS from evicting the claimant
and from stopping his benefits. 

***

Between 1969 and 1999 more than one thousand people died in police
custody in England. Not one police officer has ever been convicted for
any of these deaths. Tonight there's a screening of the documentary film
"Injustice", followed by a discussion with its director Ken Fero, and
the families of three of the victims at the Square, 21 Russell square.
The film took seven years to produce, and since its launch in July 2001
has had difficulty finding screenspace because of threats of legal
action by police officers and the Police Federation. Despite this it has
been shown at more than fifty international film festivals to
considerable critical acclaim, at the European Parliament, where it
sparked considerable debate, and at countless community screenings up
and down the land.
The BBC and Channel 4 have still decline to show the film because of the
police threat of legal action, so if you haven't seen it, now's your
chance! Get down there. Start time is 7pm; there'll be food after.

For more see injusticefilm.co.uk

***

More from Greece, where we reported from the European Social Forum last
month. This time it's the students, who are up in arms about a proposed
new policies from the Conservative government, which wants to amend
clauses in the Greek Constitution which states, amongst other things,
that education has to be public and free for all and that no police
forces are allowed to enter university grounds. All this has hitherto
made the enforcement of a neo-liberal agenda to the country's higher
education institutions particularly difficult.

However, the government there is now attempting to push forward crucial
changes in the functioning and role of the country's Higher Education
institutions. A so-called "committee of experts", appointed by the
government itself, has released a list of proposed changes, which
include de-registering students who fail to complete their course within
set time limits, removing the campus sanction which inhibits police from
entering unless specifically instructed to do so by the university's
"asylum committee", whose decision-making process is rather complex,
ending the free distribution of academic books to students (currently a
constitutional requirement for required reading), and ending the
administrative autonomy fall of academic staff.
The proposed law includes the editing of Article 16 of the Constitution
(stating all education should be public and free for all) in order to
allow for the foundation of Private Universities in the country.

These proposals have caused turmoil across the country's higher
education institutions. To date (3d of June), at least 182 University
Departmens and 60 Technological Institution Departments are occupied by
their students, the number growing continuously, with student
demonstrations have been taking place in major cities accross the country.

Here in Britain we can only gape in amazement at the remarkable freedoms
of the Greek system, and wish them well in their struggle...

****


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