“Circumstances...cause me to focus on a
clampdown happening in the UK - where over-zealous immigration officers are
applying jackboot tactics to enforce some commercially wrong-headed, culturally
xenophobic, new policies.” Canadian musician/singer-songwriter Allison
Crowe commented after being held at Gatwick Airport, detained for 11 hours and
deported back to Canada at the beginning of her European tour, May 2009.
The campaign against the Home Office’s
restrictions on non-EU artists and academics has gained a huge momentum since
it was launched on 22 February 2009.
The petition has attracted over 6,150 signatories.
Despite malicious attempts by computer hackers to sabotage the petition, which
led to the site being down for a week, <http://www.pr-inside.com/petitiononline-com-goes-down-under-attack-r1323871.htm>,
this has re-doubled our efforts to reach the target of 10,000 signatories.
Please keep the petition alive by spreading the word and encouraging your
friends, colleagues and networks to sign <http://www.petitiononline.com/MCvisit/petition.html>
The Manifesto Club has launched a report
UK Arts & Culture: Cancelled, by Order of the Home Office, detailing the
damaging effect that these regulations are having on UK cultural life. The
report was launched on Wednesday 3 June.
See the coverage in The Times: <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6418997.ece>.
The report has been sent to Phil Woolas MP, Keith
Vaz MP (chair of the Home Office Select Committee) and Ben Bradshaw MP, the new
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, requesting their response. The
report is available in pdf format and can be downloaded from
<http://www.manifestoclub.com/files/UKArtsCancelled.pdf>
*****
Chris Gilligan
University of the West of Scotland (UWS)