Friday 31 May 2013

Visit to Cardiff




A group of us visited Woman Seeking Sanctuary Group in Cardiff to tell them about our campaigning history, what we have achieved so far, how we have done it and to invite them to join us in the next step - a national day of asylum seekers taking action against destitution.

Amie spoke about how when she got involved in Bristol Refugee Rights she was so shy and didn't dare speak out about what was happening but with lots of support, she began to take part in events where she told lots of people what it is like to live without anything - no rights to work, to housing, to a normal life.

Manesh spoke about how he started being allowed to go to college and how it was so important for him to learn to read and write in english. Then they turned round and told him he couldn't. He wanted to change this situation and so spoke out at a protest to stop cuts to english classes. from here he got more and more confident to take part in campaigning.

People listened attentively. They began to ask questions - aren't you scared that home office will punish you for speaking out and that it will jeapordise your case?

We were, but not any more. We know we have a lot of support and feel stronger because of this. We know people will speak out if the Home Office tries to deport any of us.




Thursday 30 May 2013

We have leaflets!

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Hard at work planning!
Here is a sneak preview of our leaflets from our planning meeting yesterday. We will be hitting the streets distributing some of our 6,000 leaflets from Monday, so you should soon find some somewhere in Bristol near you…. Or even better perhaps you want to help out with leaflet distribution? Contact asylumisnotacrime@mail.com to join us in leaflet distributing fun!

Wednesday 29 May 2013

We should be doing ourselves out of a job


Rose, a member of the dignity for asylum seekers planning group shares why she thinks the march on June 29th is so important.

Thursday 23 May 2013

Is this Sanctuary? A film showing how it feels to sign at the police station

Esam, a Kurdish asylum seeker from Iraq has made this film 'Is this Sanctuary?' about how it feels to go to the police station to sign for the UK border agency. He interviews asylum seekers before and after they sign and also those who support them.

We hope you find this film enlightening and we would like to invite you to join us on to march through Bristol with us on June 29th or to support asylum seekers in your city as part of our national day of action.You can read more about this on the rest of this website.



Sorry this video doesn't seem to be working in older versions of Internet Explorer, please update your browser to latest version of flash  or use google chrome or firefox browsers.

You are welcome to link to this page on facebook and elsewhere, (but please don't copy or embed the video), to help people see the reality of the fear and pressure asylum seekers are living with in Bristol and build awareness about our campaign for dignity for asylum seekers.

Please e-mail esam.bristol@mail.com if you would like to have a copy of this film suitable for group screenings or if you would like to invite him to talk about his film.

Friday 10 May 2013

Three Cities to take action on same day against Destitution




Plans are developing well for the shared day of action on the 29th June with three cities now confirmed and others hoping to organise something.

Yes!
Bristol
Glasgow
Manchester

Meeting to talk about it:
Sheffield
Cardiff
Nottingham
Oxford

Invited:
Coventry, London, Plymouth,
Hull, Gloucester,Swansea,
Newcastle, Bradford, Birmingham

Friday 3 May 2013

Video - Marching 29th June

We Want to Contribute - End Destitution of Asylum Seekers

Asylum seekers and supporters in Bristol are marching again this June as part of the growing national campaign to end destitution. They are inviting other cities to also take action on the same day.