...What's a shame the demands of Strangers into Citizens are some that Boris Johnson and several toffs, new labour and lib dems do agree with: path to citizienship conditonal to:
- 6 year proof of residence in the UK (if you came after you need not apply, or if where exploited doing cash in hand jobs and cannot prove you have been here...);
- a clean criminal record for you and all your family (when the vast majority of irregular immigrants had to break the law, i.e. present fake papers in order to get work and/or when they came here, since all avenues to migrate 'legally' have been closed except for the rich);
- good English (you try and go to English classes after working 12 hours or more);
-character references and a contract or sponsorship from an employer (just in case you were thinking to fight for better working conditions... forget about it!);
- a picture of the Queen hanging in your bedroom? (sorry I am not sure this is part of the conditions for earning citizenship, but all the others are!)
SiC means Strangers into Citizens but sic also means: I do not quite agree... The interests of migrant workers cannot possibly coincide with the interests of a minority in the ruling elite.

We met amongst comrades from Latin American Coordinadora and Campaign Against Immigration Controls; and we decided that something had to be done. We decided to form our own block and we distributed a leaflet explaining what our demands are: Papers for All - not amnesty for a few. We met at the Elephant and Castle and marched towards Trafalgar Square, with the Latin American workers associations, the Solidarity Federation, FRFI etc, and shouting papers for all / papeles for todos/as all the way... The weather was not too bad and we had quite a good time, and I am pleased to say that the crowd quite liked our slogans and repeated them gladly - unlike when, during the rally in Trafalgar Square, the organizers invited the people to sing 'God Save the Queen' : nearly nobody was up for it a part from a group of Catholic Chinese (it happened for real, it is not a joke). Queen not too popular amongst migrants communities.
In Trafalgar Square we met with more friends and decided to have a separate rally - finding it not quite interesting listening to church leaders and politicians. Members of the various campaigns spoke, i.e. Willis Cleaners, Columbia Solidarity, CAIC, Latin American Workers Association, International Federation of Iraqui Refugees - asking how they can deport people to Iraq after what they have done to their country, or what right have they got to decide who can come here from South America, after the West have pillaged all their wealth...and did the American Indians asked for papers to all the illegal immigrants that arrived there from Europe?
I ended up having a coffee with a friend who is an asylum seeker, she is getting sick with the worry and stress of living here 6 years, separated from her children and not knowing what will happen to her; recently she was detained and threatened with deportation. A man I know is about to be deported: he is a torture survivor, has even got a medical legal report, but that is not proof enough for the Home Office... he could 'relocate safely' according to the judge, so this evening they are going to take him from suicide watch and put him on a flight and there is damn nothing I can do about it.
Only a strong movement can challenge this brutal and inhumane system of immigration controls, so I live for the day I will see the migrants in their thousands, tens and hundred of thousands taking things in their own hands, with the support of their UK friends... for justice and rights for all.