Asian Dub Foundation’s terrible vision of Fortress Europe in 2020 was released in early 2003. The lyrics make chilling reading a decade and a half later. It was something of an instant classic that burnt itself out with one too many jump around sessions at leftie house parties in college. As clashes and scenes of tear gas flood in from the Hungarian border, the lyrics of the tune are shockingly … Read More
Blast From The Past.
Germany’s Interior Ministry has documented more than 340 attacks on refugee shelters this year alone. As these tensions rise an old anti-fascist punk song has been revived to give two fingers to the right. It’s now set to top the charts in a symbolic rejection of the miserable far right xenophobia and racism that broke out at Heidenau last month. All funds go to asylum support groups. If we were … Read More
Direct Questions.
The headline in Saturday’s Irish Times was disappointing. It turns out it was also incorrect. Stephen Collins misrepresented the Ipsos MRBI poll carried out for the IT when he wrote: A majority of voters believe asylum seekers should be kept under direct State provision rather than being allowed to work or claim benefits, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll. Asked what they think should happen, 54 per cent said … Read More
How Far Does €9.60 Really Go?
People have started to share photos of receipts for €9.60 or less to highlight just how little a child in direct provision is expected to live on. The Irish Refugee council are doing trojan work to highlight the realities of institutional living. This is their latest creative challenge to the public and a solid pop at myths around asylum seeking spongers taking over our shores. They are asking people to … Read More
Athlone Asylum Seekers Refuse Food.
Reports have just come in, via the Irish Refugee Council, that the residents of Lissywollen Direct Provision Centre in Athlone have been refusing food since yesterday. Those living there collectively outlined their main frustrations with management of the centre at the start of the month. So, far there has been no response. This not the first time that the catering company involved in running the centre has been shy when faced … Read More
Missing: Presumed Kidnapped By Australia.
153 Tamil asylum seekers and an unknown number of Indonesians aboard two boats have lost civilian communication for over 24 hours and are believed to have been taken by Australian forces. In a bizarre statement to press, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison refused to acknowledge or deny the boats’ capture or the existence of the refugees: More here on the case of the missing asylum seekers. Morrison is a fairly pernicious type, … Read More
Greens Get Kicking Over Eviction.
A squatted school set up to support refugees has been evicted in Berlin after a police lockdown. Police moved in, under the auspices of demands from local authorities that the asylum seekers move into official accommodation. Official accommodation like those pictured earlier today? The Gerhart-Hauptmann School in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district was squatted two years ago. The German Greens are coming in for particular bashing around the eviction. Their Kreuzberg mayor Monika Herrmann ordered police in to dismantle a … Read More
Freedom March.
Organisers of a five week long march highlighting the plight of asylum seekers across Europe, have called on activists to send in photographs of conditions in holding centres across the continent. The march ended earlier last week but a final demonstration is due in Brussels tomorrow. The photos above were sent in from a centre in Belguim. As the The Freedom March Facebook page sez: This is the real face of … Read More
Direct Provision: Where Time Becomes A Loop
Back in early October, something unusual happened – instead of recycling the reactionary moral panic of his listeners into stellar ratings, Joe Duffy turned his attention to the fate of those left languishing in direct provision. Rashers Tierney takes a look at our nation’s latest institutional wrongdoing. With Joe’s blessing, the oddball maze of myths and lies, the stories of free cars and prams and of eating up local authority … Read More
[Look Up] Bedlam in North Dublin
In these days of endless Church scandals, the role of the State in the abuse of the citizenry is often overlooked. Paul Reynolds opens the Pandora’s Box that is the history of Irish psychiatric healthcare. Grangegorman, in Dublin’s North inner city is perhaps the most striking example of Ireland’s journey through psychiatric healthcare. Built 200 years ago to the plans of London’s Bethlehem (‘Bedlam’) Hospital, it was at the … Read More