Still We Rise

The Illegal Immigration Bill will withdraw the UK from the international refugee framework established after the ravages of the Second World War and the Holocaust. Dr. Peter Walsh is candid and forthright in his analysis, when this Bill becomes law, it amounts to Britain opting out of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has called the legislation a de facto Asylum Ban and without an international court that can pronounce on the legality of this remarkable step, refugees who arrive through irregular means face the prospect of not having their claims heard, rather they will be detained and deported to either their home country or Rwanda. Dr. Walsh is clear; this legislation is designed for deterrence. Will it work? The Bill is novel, its legality is in question. The Home Secretary has conceded she's uncertain about the answer. Fantastic insight and analysis.    

This week we are joined by Dr. Emelie McDonnell, a human rights and refugee advocate, with experience and expertise in human rights, refugee, and international law more broadly. We look at Britain's diminishing rights record through the lens of Human Rights Watch whose work across the world is well-established and respected. Britain has set itself on an extraordinary path with a raft of domestic legislation that criminalises people seeking asylum who arrive without prior authorization, in breach of its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention.   Not only that, it plans to outsource the processing of Refugees to Rwanda, a country with a very poor rights record. Domestically plans to repeal and replace the Human Rights Act are afoot. It's a truly precarious time for would-be Refugees. Emilie McDonnell talks us through the implications, she's clear, these changes are egregious and a flagrant disregard of international law.  An instructive compelling listen        

Over the last few months Nicola Kelly, a former Home Office Staffer and now journalist focused on UK immigration and asylum policy and human rights, has been looking at what's going on at the Home Office and the department its' become today. She reveals a culture of fear that emanates directly from Priti Patel's office, civil servants who feel morally compromised by strident policy positions, not least the Rwanda Policy. Morale is the lowest it's ever been. Faced with backlogs of over 100,000 asylum cases, Afghans living in hotels for over a year, Channel Migrants dumped in Napier barracks.  The department is too slow, too bureaucratic, too defensive and too hard-hearted. A compelling Listen.

Bill of Rights Synopsis Dominic Raab has set Britain on a course of travel that indulges its worst Brexit excesses. He famously said he didn't believe in social and economic rights and so it is no surprise that he sought to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill Of Rights Raab asserts that this Bill will give people more rights to free speech and limit ‘bogus' human rights claims. Not so says Liberty's Director Martha Spurrier. This Bill does nothing but limit and restricts people's access to their rights, it pits the British courts which she laments as ‘increasingly conservative' with the Strasbourg Court and deliberately sets them up for a collision course Martha gives us a historical masterclass on the vital role that the Human Rights Act has played in securing people's rights and holding public authorities and the Executive accountable A compelling listen.    

A Decade ago, the Former Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the most draconian internal border controls on people who she thought were living in Britain without permission. This onerous policy and accompanying legislation resulted in what we now know as the Windrush Scandal. British citizens, particularly those from former colonies were caught up in papers please checks at GP Practices, DWP Offices, in the NHS and landlords became border guards, mandated to verify documents demonstrating a right to stay in the country. Schools were checking children's documents. It was a horrendous decade of state-directed discrimination which resulted in the deportation of citizens and ultimately the resignation of the then Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Maya Goodfellow an Academic and Author of Hostile Environment- How migrants became scapegoats joins us to provide her analysis and reflections on this architecture of oppression. She is candid and forthright. Her analysis lays bare how discrimination is sewn into Britain's statutory landscape.

Clause 9- is the Deprivation of Citizenship. Who is a citizen in Brexit Britain or as we often hear, Global Britain? Well, Priti Patel has shown her hand and through the Nationality and Borders Act has Executive Power to exempt herself from notifying you if she deems that your continued enjoyment of citizenry is not conducive to the public good, that it is not in the public interest. With a stroke of a pen and time-limited appeal rights, anyone deemed to have fallen foul of this broad power can now be stripped of their British Nationality. There is a caveat and an interesting one, so long as you qualify for dual nationality, you're within her crosshairs. Alba Kapoor from the Race and Equality Think Tank, The Runnymede Trust joins us to explain the implications of the contentious Clause 9.

Over the last six months, many a Guest have lamented the Offshoring proposals in the government's New Immigration Plan. What appeared remote and a figment of either Priti Patel or some home office bureaucrats' fertile imagination has materialised in the form of a memorandum of understanding with the Rwandan Government. We speak to Dr Anne Neylon, a Law Lecturer at the University of Liverpool whose insight and analysis on the Rwanda Deal came to the fore in her Blog https://criticallegalthinking.com/2022/04/19/the-uk-rwanda-and-the-spectacle-of-deterrence/ So this Bilateral (political) agreement will operate outside Domestic and International law. People who arrive in Britain to claim asylum without prior authorisation face the prospect of screening tests which will determine whether their Asylum Claim is admissible. Should they be found to have no grounds nor protected characteristics, they face a one-way ticket to Rwanda, whom for the princely sum of an initial £120Million will accept this human cargo from Britain. This ‘spectacle of deterrence' as Anne so succinctly asserts, emulates the precedents set in Guam & Guantanamo Bay by the Americans, Nauru and Papua New Guinea by the Australians. Its Neo-Colonial in its expression and a dangerous assault on the spirit and letter of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. Anne's analysis at this moment is critical, instructive and is a learning opportunity for those who are minded to resist this shift to a bygone era.

The invasion of Ukraine has caused the largest displacement of people in Europe since the end of World War 2. Britain has responded to this tragic set of circumstances by using its best endeavours and asked its citizens to sponsor a Refugee whom they should house for at least 6 months. 200 000 people have signed up, at the time of recording, under 4000 visas had been processed. This social experiment in Human kindness and openness of heart is fraught with numerous challenges. We speak to Louise Calvey, Refugee Actions Head of Services and Safeguarding. She's unequivocal, the scheme is poorly designed and a charter for traffickers, malign & unsavoury characters. That they will exploit this scheme is inevitable, the Government's laissez-faire, find me a Refugee on Facebook scheme will create extraordinary challenges for an unprepared kind population. A comprehensive and compelling listen.

The invasion of Ukraine has caught the UK public's gaze in a way that no other recent war has. Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen's brutal wars have resulted in the displacement of millions of people, and yet some have had to seek sanctuary by risking their lives, not least on flimsy dingy's on the channel. Not only do they face a hostile welcome, but a Nationality and Borders Bill that seeks to criminalise them but not so for Ukrainian Refugees. They've had empathy on a scale Britain hasn't seen before, the mainstream media has framed their plight with compassion and humanity. We speak to Steve Valdez Symonds from Amnesty International, they have a proud record of advocating for the rights of all Refugees and Migrants. Most of the people they work with have had to endure an inhumane hostile welcome all over Europe. We ask, what's changed? So why are Ukrainian Refugees seen as different? 

This week we speak to the Refugee Council Chief Executive, Enver Solomon who is unequivocal, the Nationality and Borders Bill is an attempt to ‘drive a coach and horses through the Refugee Convention' and will create a two tier system of deserving and undeserving Refugees.  So are some Refugees more equal than other Refugees ? Listen.

Back in 2012, the then Prime Minister Theresa May, when setting out a remarkable new policy position on Border Enforcement, said, ‘ The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants. This policy resulted in the deportation of British Citizens from the Windrush generation who came to this country to rebuild the NHS but could not provide paperwork to prove their legal status. This shameful policy and the legislation that underpins it has not been repealed, but rather its tentacles have within their grasp people who've come to this country to seek sanctuary. We speak to the people who are working to dismantle it. It's a challenging listen, Solidarity.

What is life like as an Asylum Seeker? Why does Britain have an inhumane Asylum system? Why will Britain not expend all the patience and care and thought she possesses to help people in fear for their lives? The dynamics of prejudice, dehumanisation and maltreatment are hardly without historical precedent, they can be traced back to centuries of the slave trade, colonialism and Imperialism authored on this island. So it's not so much that any of this is new, it is the realisation that the deliberate and calculated nature of the mistreatment serves an incendiary electoral purpose. Beneath the ‘taking back control' slogans and toughening up the border regime is an inconvenient historical truth. When Britain led the drafting of the 1951 Refugee Convention in the aftermath of the horrors of the second world war, they didn't envisage that those who'd be arriving on its shores to seek protection would come from outside Europe, hence its initial temporal and geographical restriction, this changed when African, Asian and some Middle Eastern countries signed the 1967 protocol. What Governments of every colour have demonstrated through hostile Immigration rules is their uncomfortable with this reality,  but rather than be grounded in truth, they've over two decades created a hostile and inhumane Asylum system. So what is one confronted with when they arrive on Britains shores to claim Asylum? We speak to three young women whose lived experience is harrowing. The system is broken and no one should have to endure the hostility and indignity.

In this episode, we lift the veil on life inside the controversial Napier Barracks. Some members in society are systemically denied the right to basic rights, deprived of the right to a private space to sleep, denied the liberty to contribute economically, not seen as worthy enough to be protected from Covid infection, literally reduced to a Number! Amir was known in Napier Barracks by his room Number, dehumanised in the land of Magna Carta, his movements were surveilled day and night, merely because he fled to Britain to seek protection. He gives a harrowing instructive account of Britain stepping to the edge of the precipice, thank goodness He survived to share his Lived experience of abuse at the hands of an overreaching Home Office. If this doesn't prompt you to start an action to close these Barracks, perhaps you're part of the problem.  Shut Down Napier Barracks Now!  

Will Priti Patel really Criminalise Asylum Claims? Colin Yeo is unequivocal, Priti Patel plans to jail people who arrive through irregular means or without Pre Authorisation. The Nationality and Borders Bill currently going through Parliament and it makes the most extraordinary changes to how Refugees can claim Asylum in Britain. Stark and inconceivable! How will this affect the prison system? Colin Yeo a Barrister at Garden Court Chambers and founding Editor of the Free Movement Blog, breaks the Bill down to its simplest elements. A Must Listen!!! Visit https://www.freemovement.org.uk/author/colinyeo for more of his work.

We speak to Bella Sankey, Director of Detention Action, in this episode we discuss the harsh detention and deportation scheme the UK enforces on people seeking asylum. Last year 24 748 people were subject to indefinite Immigration Detention.  In the land of Magna Carta, people can be held by the state in prison like conditions with no time limit.  In the past 3 years the British Government has paid out £24million to 914 people whom the courts have deemed were unlawfully detained. How did we get here? https://detentionaction.org.uk/

Daniel Trilling spent six months interviewing politicians, civil servants, frontline staff, lawyers, judges, campaigners and ordinary people caught up in the system to ask one simple question: What's up with the Home Office? It culminated in this Guardian Article Long Read article titled.  Cruel, paranoid and failing: Inside the Home Office.  We spoke to him about this seminal piece of journalism.

In this conversation with Sonya Sceats Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture, we discuss the Nationality and Borders Bill which makes the most far-reaching changes to the UK Asylum System. Sonya is clear that these changes represent a fundamental challenge to the principle of Refugee protection as provided for by the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951. She asserts that this Bill breaches International Law and its two-tier system is an affront to fundamental tenets of International Human Rights and a regrettable regressive step. We discuss the return of Institutionalised Asylum Accommodation, criminalisation of vulnerable people merely seeking Sanctuary not least the appalling and incendiary proposals on offshoring. For more info please visit - https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/

COVID‑19 vaccines are intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The COVID‑19 vaccines are widely celebrated for their role in reducing the spread, severity, and death caused by COVID-19 but some communities are still hesitant to take the vaccines. We speak to Dr Maisun Elftise a General Practitioner about Vaccine Education and hesitancy in our Communities. It's informative and Instructive. A must listen. Sponsored by. NHS Coventry & Warwick Clinical Commissioning Group Coventry City Council Community Resilience Team

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience.* Zarah Sultana is a Young Conscientious Politician on a Mission. In October 2019, she was selected as the Labour candidate for Coventry South. She's just had her Jab, settles in and tells me it's the first time she's done an Interview in front of a Live Audience since Lockdown restrictions were lifted.  She's forthright and unambiguous about Her quest for Social Justice. She eviscerates Priti Patels ‘Evil' New Plan for Immigration, her disdain palpable. Tuition Fee Debt is an albatross around Students Necks that she wants rid of. She's instructive on Climate Change and lucid on how Coventry must situate itself for a Green Jobs Revolution. Searingly Honest and impassioned, a Must Listen!

This podcast episode was recorded in front of a live audience.* Aged 12, Gulwali survived a twelve-month trek from Afghanistan - crossing continents, suffering imprisonment and hunger, sailing across the sea in a tiny boat, and enduring a desolate month in the jungle at Calais, before he made it Britain. Here he was fostered, where he thrived in school and won a place to study at a top university.

"I'm Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive of Scottish Refugee Council, I arrived in the UK in the back of a Lorry' with these words Sabir disarms most." In this wide ranging conversation celebrating Refugee Week 2021 whose theme is ‘We cannot walk alone' Sabir laments Britain's proposed New Immigration Plan and chronicles his own journey to Leading through Lived Experience, his effusive and persuasive, Enjoy.

Britain is currently reforming its Asylum system and its Home Secretary, on the face of it, appears to have driven a coach and horses through the Refugee Convention of 1951. In this conversation with Dr Lucy Mayblin, A Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Sheffield, she talks to us about the Convention and breaks it down to its simplest elements. Is Britain on the brink of breaching its obligations by contemplating these far reaching changes? She explores what connects Colonialism and contemporary Asylum Policy. She confronts questions that almost seem incendiary, Is the Humanity of people seeking Asylum in Britain at best ambiguous? Where do conceptions of Humanity and differential rights derive, she situates them with histories of Hierarchical and exclusionary ideas over time. A Must Listen!

This week we speak to Alphonsine Kabagabo, Director of Women for Refugee Women. Alphonsine survived the Rwandan Genocide and is one of a handful of Lived Experience Leaders in the Refugee Sector. She's authoritative, steadfast and persuasive in this compelling conversation.

In this weeks Podcast we speak to Dr Kathryn Medien who is a Sociology Lecturer at the Open University. We examine her research into the development and use of internal borders in Britain as a form of racialised governance. She traces numerous elements of what we now know as the Hostile Environment to key Legislative changes in the 1970's & 80's.  

The 1992 Sarajevo Siege is seared in Zrinka Bralo's memory.  Nineteen years after seeking protection in Britain, she's now Chief Executive of Migrants Organise. In this conversation, Zrinka outlines what Britain needs to do about its contentious Immigration System. Visit https://firmcharter.org.uk/ for more information.

In this wide ranging conversation with Colin Prescod, the Chair of the Institute of Race Relations, we explore what role Race and Class play in 21st Century Britain.  He is lucid, bristling, provocative and picks apart contemporary Britain. In the aftermath of the Sussex's Oprah interview He speaks candidly on Race & the Royal Family, laments on that Boris Johnson encounter and is incandescent on Windrush. It's personal, historical and political.

In this podcast we talk to Ake Achi, the Founder and Director of Migrants at Work. We discuss the hurdles immigrants face applying for leave to remain, work permits and the working conditions in the UK.

In this episode, we speak with Last Mafuba the CEO & founder of Inini Initiative, a Coventry based mental health organization that works with people from the migrant community. Karen is a therapist for Inini. Please visit www.inini.co.uk for more info.

In this episode, we speak to Joseph a disabled asylum seeker who talks about his personal experience and views as a disabled applicant.  

On this episode, we are joined by Ellis, Moses and David who describe what it's like to live on just over £5 a day.

In this episode, we are joined by Loraine Mponela the current Carag chairperson. CARAG is a grassroots migrant-led community organisation based in Coventry. We believe that people affected by a problem are best placed to find the solutions. Our common cause is our lived experience of the UK Immigration system. We focus our energy and effort on dismantling its 'hostile' infrastructure and helping our communities settle in the UK. Join our community and let's achieve Social Justice together.  We discuss the work Carag is doing for the migrant community in and around Coventry.