Call out for day of action: Shut Down BMI Airlines- 20th Nov
No Borders South Wales | 18.11.2008 20:18 | Anti-racism | Migration
A call out for a national day of action to demonstrate against BMI Airlines' participation in the forced removal if migrants from the UK
http://noborderswales.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/shut-down-bmi-airlines-day-20th-november/ Everyday, an average of 180 migrants are deported from the UK. That's one person every eight minutes.
They haven't done anything wrong.
They are criminalised for doing what humans have done for thousands of years: moving in search of a better life. Moving to escape war, persecution, torture, physical abuse, poverty...
Governments across the world do not want us to see those being deported as people. They want to shroud them under statistics and treat them as pieces of meat.
Airline companies are a key link in the deportation industry. Without them it would be impossible for the state to implement this aspect of the migration regime and there can be no migration controls without deportations.
People being deported are often handcuffed on the flight and there have been numerous reports of physical assaults on people being deported by the security personnel who escort them.
On 20th September 2008, No Borders South Wales activist Babi Badalov was deported on a BMI flight to Azerbaijan. In an email following the deportation, BMI CEO Nigel Turner said that:
"I do not have the time or resources to investigate each case myself nor
do BMI”
But BMI were given plenty of information and time to 'investigate'. Despite hundreds of telephone calls, emails and faxes to BMI raising objections to the removal, they chose to ignore this and ensured that the deportation took place.
BMI employees told those ringing on the day that they could not refuse to carry people being removed and it was out of their control. However, other airlines have refused to carry out deportations in the past. XL Airways announced in 2007 that they would no longer carry refused asylum-seekers who were being forcibly removed from the UK.
BMI is the UK's second largest full service airline. By taking part in deportations, they do the governments dirty work for them and in the process, make money from human misery. In 2007 BMI reported profits of £15.5 million. How much of this was soaked in the blood of migrants who they deported against their will?
Following the successful day of action against BMI on October the 20th, No Borders South Wales are calling for another day of action to shut down BMI on the 20th of November.
We call on BMI to no longer take part in the forced deportation of migrants.
We are focusing this campaign around the 20th day of each month, after the date that BMI took Babi away from those who loved him and those he loved.
Please contact BMI and register your disapproval at their role in deporting people to places they do not wish to go back to, for whatever the reason this may be. Urge BMI to follow the other airlines who have taken an ethical stance and who refuse to carry out any more deportations.
On 20th November let's once again hit BMI with everything we've got! Ring, fax and e-mail the company as much as possible on this day and every month thereafter until BMI no longer take part this cruel practice.
BMI flights operate from the following UK Airports:
Aberdeen, Belfast (City), Birmingham, Bristol, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Jersey, Leeds Bradford, London City, London Gatwick, London Heathrow, Manchester, Newcastle International, Norwich.
BMI Contact Details
Head office
Donington Hall, Castle Donington, Derby. DE74 2SB
E-mail Nigel Turner, BMI Chief Executive Officer at:
nigel.turner@flybmi.com Switchboard
Telephone: 01334 854 000
Open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm
Customer Relations
Telephone: 01332 854 321
Fax: 01332 854 875
Open: Mon-Fri 9:30am-4:30pm
Reservations and general enquiries
Telephone: 01332 854854 & 01332 648181
Fax: 01709 314993
Opening hours: 7am-9pm
Bmi baby reservations
Telephone 01332 648181
Opening hours: 8am-8pm
STOP DEPORTATIONS!
No Borders South Wales
e-mail:
noborderswales@riseup.net
Homepage:
http://www.noborderswales.org.uk
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
North wales
18.11.2008 20:49
better not hold my breath.
Davey
please help
19.11.2008 00:27
I work with children with special needs (Ie. doing something useful). We need a lot more people to help us as there are so many kids who literally have nothing compared to mainstream children.
I think you would ultimately help society more by giving your time to help disadvantaged children who live in this country rather than illegal immigrants who ultimately are going to be removed from the country whether it is via Bmi or some other carrier.
My point is... you are not achieving anything, just causing hassle than ultimately will be worked around. Its all about priorities - give you time to real causes rather than futile protesting will achieve a lot more good.
Paul
to st. paul
19.11.2008 04:02
well done paul. well done you! are those the taxes that go into fuelling wars around the world, or those that pay off bankers?
----I work with children with special needs (Ie. doing something useful). We need a lot more people to help us as there are so many kids who literally have nothing compared to mainstream children.
being a bit presumptuous here aren't we paul? you've got no idea what the people who put this piece together do in terms of jobs (if they're unlucky enough to have them) or what other initiatives they're involved with. a question for you? would you be looking after these kids if you weren't being paid? come to think of it what are you doing on the internet? shouldn't you be out doing something useful. and when i say useful i don't mean a 'job', so many of these are useless and contribute nothing to the good of social life or the well being of the planet and its inhabitants. at least this initiative is trying to get people to act. to think about the role that the airline industry plays in doing the governments dirty work for it. this kind of criticism gets us nowhere paul. honestly mate, you've just spent some of your valuable 'free' time doing nothing for nobody. apart that is for yourself. you've boosted your own ego. painted yourself as a good guy. as someone who cares. do you feel better about yourself? has this comment enhanced your self esteem? sorry if i'm sounding a little harsh paul, its just that comments like this real do get on my nerves. what is it that you do (apart that is from being paid to care) that's so special.
------I think you would ultimately help society more by giving your time to help disadvantaged children who live in this country rather than illegal immigrants who ultimately are going to be removed from the country whether it is via Bmi or some other carrier.
i for one have no real interest in helping society. i want to drastically change it, to work with others to build real communities where people can support each other through mutual aid. i want to move completely away from the kind of 'charity' mentality that pervades your comment. you seem to look at the children you work with through eyes of pity rather than an as potential contributors to social life. by splitting people into those that deserve (disadvantaged children who live in this country) and those that don't (illegalised migrants) you help perpetuate a world where those in the group that you think you're helping will always be marginalised and put at the bottom of the pile. And while you're focusing your attention on such things, those that you really should be criticising - the rich and the capitalist system that maintains their dominance - are getting away with murder.
It's not the fault of migrants that the funding for social care is so inadequate, or so undervalued and underpaid that many people would rather work in mcdonalds. Indeed, ironically i think you'll find that a number of the people who find themselves working in the wider care sector are migrants (illegalised or otherwise).
------My point is... you are not achieving anything, just causing hassle than ultimately will be worked around. Its all about priorities - give you time to real causes rather than futile protesting will achieve a lot more good.
my point is paul that you lack imagination. you see the world through the eyes of the already given. through taxes, and mine vs. yours, deserving vs. undeserving.
why don't you, during your lunch break (you must have a little one surely?) spend some of your precious time getting your work colleagues together so that you can all collectively try to get a company that makes huge profits off deporting people - men, women and children (many of whom fall into your category of disadvantaged children who live in this country) - to change its practices. one company down and all that...
and if it doesn't work, you never know what you'll achieve until you try after all, well at least you can say that you spent some of your time that day thinking about, and doing something for others that wasn't done for money... go on paul you know you want to!
noah bordas
boring old plod comments again
19.11.2008 04:34
I wonder if you are on that list of BNP members?
Krop