Birmingham: City of Migrants
Joyce Canaan for Birmingham ARC | 01.10.2008 16:43 | Anti-racism | Migration | Social Struggles | Birmingham
On Saturday 20 September 08 the Birmingham Anti-Racist Campaign organised a very successful event in Victoria Square celebrating the long history of migration that has made Birmingham the great city that it is today.
Photo by Kevin Hayes
The event was built around the Zimbabwean band Ngoma who played brilliant African reggae roots music celebrating the revolutionary traditions of Africa and the experiences of those forced to flee their homes and come to cities like Birmingham. Ngoma’s powerful music was interspersed with short speeches from refugees, asylum seekers, anti-racist campaigners and other citizens of Birmingham. These speeches and Ngomoa’s music sent out a clear and powerful message to all passerbys that Birmingham is proud of its multi-cultural past, present and future. Speakers were strongly critical of new Labour’s racist immigration policies and called for the rights of people to move freely around the globe, unrestricted by national border controls. It was pointed out many times that big business has the freedom to move where it wants and that freedom never gets questioned despite the often devastating impact big business has all over the world, especially in third world countries.
The public reception to the event was great; lots of people stopped, listened, signed our petition and discussed with ARC members the issues raised by speakers and by Ngoma’s message. We challenged the racist myths many people hold, myths pumped up by the media and government and did so in ways that encouraged participation and debate by all present. This was greatly helped by the weather; it was a brilliant warm almost summers day and at times hundreds of people were sitting in Victoria Squatre soaking up the vibes, enjoying the music and dicussing the issues raised by the speakers and ARC supporters. The event was a great antidote to the corporate musical mish mash blasted out by Virgin records and co a little bit further down Babylon Row. We will be back!
We were aware that at last year’s rally, members of Birmingham No Borders disagreed with our decision to have a banner stating “Amnesty Now”. But we were not aware, until reading an addition posted on our article promoting this year’s event, that NoBorders had decided not to work with us again because of this.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2008/09/408784.html?c=on#c203883
At last years event we had many other banners “No one is Illegal”, “Asylum is not a Crime” and “Freedom of Movement for All” and throughout the rally the message was firmly that of freedom of movement for all. ARC does not campaign around amnesty. It was felt that the “Amnesty Now” banner alongside a “No One is Illegal” banner was a way to challenge the idea of selected amnesty and to get the no one is illegal message across to members of the public. We agree with the Birmingham NoBorders statement on amnesty. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374302.html?c=on
We also agree with the politics of the wider NoBorders network.
We are confused by Birmingham NoBorders decision to no longer work with us or at least engage in our events of solidarity with migrants as our politics are not in conflict. We feel that likeminded groups should do all we can to seek out alliances with each other. If Birmingham NoBorders really does feel our politics are so much in conflict that they can not collaborate with us, we would welcome further discussion.
The public reception to the event was great; lots of people stopped, listened, signed our petition and discussed with ARC members the issues raised by speakers and by Ngoma’s message. We challenged the racist myths many people hold, myths pumped up by the media and government and did so in ways that encouraged participation and debate by all present. This was greatly helped by the weather; it was a brilliant warm almost summers day and at times hundreds of people were sitting in Victoria Squatre soaking up the vibes, enjoying the music and dicussing the issues raised by the speakers and ARC supporters. The event was a great antidote to the corporate musical mish mash blasted out by Virgin records and co a little bit further down Babylon Row. We will be back!
We were aware that at last year’s rally, members of Birmingham No Borders disagreed with our decision to have a banner stating “Amnesty Now”. But we were not aware, until reading an addition posted on our article promoting this year’s event, that NoBorders had decided not to work with us again because of this.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2008/09/408784.html?c=on#c203883 At last years event we had many other banners “No one is Illegal”, “Asylum is not a Crime” and “Freedom of Movement for All” and throughout the rally the message was firmly that of freedom of movement for all. ARC does not campaign around amnesty. It was felt that the “Amnesty Now” banner alongside a “No One is Illegal” banner was a way to challenge the idea of selected amnesty and to get the no one is illegal message across to members of the public. We agree with the Birmingham NoBorders statement on amnesty.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374302.html?c=on We also agree with the politics of the wider NoBorders network.
We are confused by Birmingham NoBorders decision to no longer work with us or at least engage in our events of solidarity with migrants as our politics are not in conflict. We feel that likeminded groups should do all we can to seek out alliances with each other. If Birmingham NoBorders really does feel our politics are so much in conflict that they can not collaborate with us, we would welcome further discussion.
Joyce Canaan for Birmingham ARC
Additions
sorry, wrong link
01.10.2008 17:38
The first link in the article above should have referred to the 'Addition' on the end of this article:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2008/09/408784.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/birmingham/2008/09/408784.html
arc
Birmingham No Borders' response
02.10.2008 10:25
There is no 'decision' by Birmingham No Borders to not work with the Birmingham Anti-Racist Campaign as such. Rather, we felt that we do not agree with ARC on certain issues, such as an asylum amnesty, so we decided to not get involved in these specific things.
We have a lot of respect for ARC and what they do, and we have personal friendships with some of them. However, there are personal and political conflicts between us and some new members who joined ARC recently; and, from experience, we are unable to work with these individuals.
As to the No Borders banners, we suspected they were being used as a 'Trojan horse', so were careful who to give them to if we could not participate - although, for this specific event, it was just a matter of bad timing (the banners were supposed to go to the Freedom of Movement protest in Manchester or the anti-fascist demo in Stoke).
Another difficulty in the relationship between ARC and No Borders is that ARC is mostly into social and public events, lobbying and the like, while No Borders is more into direct and confrontational action. But this, of course, does not mean the two groups cannot work together. Indeed, they have in the past, as with the joint pickets at the immigration reporting centre in Solihull a couple of years ago. However, differences have occasionally arisen while drafting leaflets, organising events or trying to push things further.
We would welcome an open discussion about these issues and encourage other No Borders groups around the country to do the same.
In solidarity,
We have a lot of respect for ARC and what they do, and we have personal friendships with some of them. However, there are personal and political conflicts between us and some new members who joined ARC recently; and, from experience, we are unable to work with these individuals.
As to the No Borders banners, we suspected they were being used as a 'Trojan horse', so were careful who to give them to if we could not participate - although, for this specific event, it was just a matter of bad timing (the banners were supposed to go to the Freedom of Movement protest in Manchester or the anti-fascist demo in Stoke).
Another difficulty in the relationship between ARC and No Borders is that ARC is mostly into social and public events, lobbying and the like, while No Borders is more into direct and confrontational action. But this, of course, does not mean the two groups cannot work together. Indeed, they have in the past, as with the joint pickets at the immigration reporting centre in Solihull a couple of years ago. However, differences have occasionally arisen while drafting leaflets, organising events or trying to push things further.
We would welcome an open discussion about these issues and encourage other No Borders groups around the country to do the same.
In solidarity,
Brum No Borders
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