'Still in chains? The experience of African asylum seekers and
forced migrants in Leeds'
Public Meeting 6-9pm (we start bang on
6pm!) Friday, 27 October Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre University of
Leeds
Next year, 2007, will see the commemoration of the bicentenary of
the parliamentary abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in the British
empire. But has African enslavement really ended? Leeds is host to
thousands of African people who have been forced to flee war,
persecution and poverty in their mother continent and come to Britain in
search of refuge and a better life. Yet most are living in day to day
destitution, fear of arbitrary detention and brutal deportations. Many
are trafficked as slaves, others are forced to work illegally to
survive, while work carried out byimmigration detainees is exempted from the minumim wage rule,
benefitting the global private companies operating detention centres. Worse
still, the recent Report by HM Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers exposed the
shocking conditions inside Britain's private-run detention centres with
African women rape survivors routinely locked up for months while fighting
efforts to deport them back to Sierra Leone, Uganda and the
Congo.
Why do Africans come to Britain to claim asylum? What is happening
in Africa? How are Africans treated when they arrive here? Do the legacies
of enslavement and colonialism continue today? How is Britain still
profitingfrom the exploitation of
African people in the 21st century? This public meeting aims to explore the
issues routinely hidden by the mass media and politicians, and create much
needed public awareness on the appalling system of asylum and immigration in
the UK - and the particular experienceof African people - in the run up to the slavery abolition hype in
2007.
Speakers and performances so far include:
Theatre under Fire
(TUF), exiled Zimbabwean group Kofi Mawuli Klu, Global
Justice Forum for Reparations Emma Ginn, National Coalition of
Anti-deportation Campaigns (NCADC) Steve Cohen, author 'Detention is
Freedom!' George Mwangi & Baba
Bari, ex-Colnbrook detainees and hunger
strikers
Open mic for Africans to share their
experiences
Plus films, stalls, campaigning information
Organised
by Leeds No Borders and School of Geography For more details, please contact
Stuart Hodkinson ([log in to unmask]) or Leeds No Borders on 07748010691