After the march, a rally was held at the city halls, were some important people lectured about stuff. There were info stalls from groups such as Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Scottish Refugee Council and some Glasgow Anarchists even managed to slip in and find a table for their leaflets, next to the Falun Gong meditators.

In previous years the march has been attacked by nazis, but this year there was no trouble, and, despite the drizzle, a happy atmosphere prevailed, helped along by a samba band and Scottish pipers, and some fancy flag-waving and singing from the Basque contingent.

There was, however, a bit of a change in mood when the news spread that a 32 year old Iranian refugee had been badly beaten up and stabbed in Glasgow's Sighthill estate the previous night. For report, see:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/12/47976.html

Refugee issues had been a theme of the day, as Scotland's refugee communities so often bear the brunt of racist government policies and media campaigning.

Violent attacks on refugees often follow the racist outpourings of the mainstream media. The government's anti-refugee rhetoric encourages nazi groups like the BNP, and pits working class Glaswegians against their refugee neighbours. The politicians and the bosses are the only ones who win when we fight amongst ourselves. We should be uniting to fight the common enemy of the ruling class.

For an example of the kind of racist propaganda put out by the press, see:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/11/47532.html

The latest legislative attack on refugees is the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act, which comes into force on January 8th.

See  http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=47513&group=webcast
for more details of this act, which, amongst other attacks on human rights, will withdraw all support for "in-country" asylum seekers and re-instates the "white list" of presumed safe countries from which no asylum applications will be entertained.

Fight racism. Fight capitalism.
Solidarity with refugees.
No war but the class war.