Last night, Open Generation (a project developed by Migrants Rights Network in partnership with UNISON, NUS, Huffington Post and Be Inspired) hosted its first event -
‘The immigration generation gap’.
The event (which facilitated opportunity to explore young people’s attitudes, concerns and opinions on immigration and free movement) was chaired by Owen Jones and heard from a variety of speakers of different backgrounds and perspectives (one of which was UNISON’s NEC young members’ representative Dan Goodwin). The night also featured four short commissioned films by young filmmakers and saw performances from spoken word artists.
Just when you thought that you had read the ultimate drivel justifying welfare benefit cuts, another idiot makes the blood reach boiling point. The case in point this time is Janet Street Porter in Sunday’s Independent. In case you missed it, the entire piece is reproduced here:-
"One in four households now have servants, paid to carry out tasks we haven't the time or can't be bothered to do, according to a survey. Since the recession, more homes have three or more generations living together. In spite of this, more homes now hire in labor than in Victorian times; in 1870, one in six homes had paid help.
‘Public service workers in the frontline communities, our first-responders, are there to provide support to migrants in distress. The tragic accident on the Mediterranean coast of Lampedusa, is just one of the many cases we face’ says Public Services International (PSI) of the appalling tragedy which cost over 300 lives. PSI has documented how public services accessed by migrants, such as health, language support, social services and integration programmes have the first to be cut under austerity, creating a desperate situation for migrants and dire working conditions for public service workers who assist them:
http://www.world-psi.org/en/tragedy-lampedusa-underscores-psi-migration-demands
A case in point is the despicable Con Dem Immigration Bill which will impose draconian restrictions on the access of UK immigrants to the NHS and other public services:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10358569/End-of-free-NHS-care-for-migrants-under-new-bill.html
Hilary Wainwright writes that the values of solidarity, co-operation and fairness, and organisational logics of openness, plurality and mutual inter‑connection are fundamental for overturning the widespread public acceptance that there is no alternative to sacrificing public services to deal with debt; and for countering the persistent racism and scapegoating of immigrants and claimants:
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/feeling-our-way-forward/
We are all, rightly, Norwegian today. The inhumanity of the events is overwhelming - only tempered by the humanity of the collective response.
Today in Rome, UNISON Italian sister union CGIL is mounting a national demonstration for “the future of our youth and work”. Hundreds of thousands will attend the march to demand more rights and more democracy. Other demands are for more equality and justice to get out of the crisis. Another aspect of the march is to denounce the terrible living and working condition of many migrant workers in Italy. Here you can read the CGIL leaflet in English
http://www.epsu.org/IMG/pdf/ENG_volantino27.pdf
In a move which didn’t pass unnoticed by lovers of irony, Rupert Murdoch departed from the fevered anti-immigration rhetoric pumped out by his very own Fox News this week to argue in favour of amnesty for “illegals”, ahem sorry, ”responsible, law abiding immigrants who are in the US without proper authority”. Under questioning from Democrat congresswoman, Maxine Waters, Murdoch – himself an immigrant from Australia – claimed that: “We are not anti-immigrant on Fox News”. MediaMatters for America unfolds the tale....
http://mediamatters.org/research/201010010027
