Global Justice Glasgow

Dump Trump!!!

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The nightmare that is the current US President is on his way to the UK this week (if you hadn’t noticed) and he may be making a trip to Scotland at the weekend. So it’s time to let him know that his racist, sexist nonsense isn’t welcome here. There are two opportunities to make your voice heard:

Friday 13 July, 5-8pm, Glasgow – George Square

Saturday 14 July, 12pm, Edinburgh – gather at the Scottish Parliament for a march (past the US consulate) to the Meadows

More details here and here.

Scotland united against TrumpWe’re aiming to be at both demos, so come along and make your voice heard along with thousands of others.

Paddington at the Mela

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Paddington at the Mela - smallWe had a great day out in the marvellous Glasgow sunshine at the Mela, along with everybody’s favourite migrant from darkest Peru…

 

 

 

Though Paddington was none too impressed that his wee nephew had been detained by immigration officials on arrival in the UK…

Paddingtons nephew at the Mela

And it seems that the good folk of Glasgow are equally unimpressed with the current UK migration policy – more than 200 signed our petition against Theresa May’s terrible Hostile Environment policy, which denies migrants access to the basics of a decent life – healthcare, education, housing and employment. If you weren’t able to make it along to sign our petition, you can still email the Home Secretary here.

 

 

 

The sharp end of the ‘hostile environment’

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Dungavel solidarity gathering 11-03-18 - smallWe went along to the Mother’s Day Solidarity Gathering at Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre last Sunday. Really good to join our friends from Justice and Peace Scotland, Ayrshire Friends of Refugees, Global Justice Ayrshire and others in showing solidarity with the people locked up in “Scotland’s Shame”. Just the sight of all that barbed wire and the massive fences around Dungavel is enough to remind you how inhumane the UK immigration system is and how we desperately need change. At the very least, we need to ensure that there is some time limit to immigration detention and, ultimately, we should be moving away from detention altogether and working towards free movement.

It’s also important to remember that Immigration Removal Centres like Dungavel are just the sharp end of a much wider policy which aims to create a ‘hostile environment‘ for immigrants. Since Theresa May was Home Secretary  back in 2012, this policy has been bringing border enforcement into every area of life, dividing communities and creating a pernicious undercurrent of fear and suspicion which can’t be good for any of us.

The irony of M&S and Paddington

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Paddington M&S action - small2We went along to M&S on Argyle Street on Saturday 16th Dec, to highlight the irony of M&S using Paddington in their Xmas adverts. It’s great that they’re using a famous migrant in their ads and none of us would disagree with the #lovethebear slogan. Shame that they can’t see the irony of continuing to advertise in the Daily Mail, the paper that has done more than most to spread hate, racism and anti-immigrant feeling across the UK. The good folk of Glasgow were delighted to see Paddington whilst they were doing their Xmas shopping and we had some good conversations about the need to change the media messages around migration.

If you’ve got a minute to spare, you can sign People and Planet’s new petition to stop the media scapegoating ‘illegal’ migrants.

The Trump-monster in Glasgow

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22308798_1687781564627503_8860345322910113714_nThe nightmare-ish monster that is currently masquerading as the President of the USA turned up at the SNP conference in Glasgow on Monday. Fortunately we were there too, to make sure that delegates to the conference were well aware of the dangers of a US-UK trade deal – it could destroy our environmental protections, workers rights and public health legislation, just as TTIP threatened. And the UK Government is busy negotiating trade deals without any involvement of the devolved administrations. There was definitely a warm reception from SNP conference attendees (for us, not for Trump) – let’s hope the UK Government starts to listen too!

Amnesty Glasgow welcome all at GoMA

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Paddington’s adventures continue throughout Glasgow as this weekend he attended the Amnesty International photo exhibition, ‘I Welcome’ at the Gallery of Modern Art. The main exhibition hall was host to a powerful and moving collection of photography highlighting the multitude of issues and human stories that surround every number, every statistic we hear about migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

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With a performance of the Asylum Monologues, an exploration of the UK asylum system in the words of people who have experienced it, you can’t help but question your own identity in relation to your country – what it means to be migrant, what it means to be British and what consequences that has for those who aren’t.

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An excellent event organised by Amnesty International Glasgow West, we were lucky to join up with Refuweegee, Refugee Survival Trust and the British Red Cross to help challenge the harmful narratives around migrants pervading the media in spite of the overwhelming difficulties encountered by those suffering through no fault of their own.

If you haven’t already, make sure to tell Marks and Spencer’s CEO to stop advertising in the Daily Mail and pull its funding from the newspaper’s nasty and untruthful stories.