Cool series of photos from “new londoners” on their impressions in their recently adopted city:
“Shamin Nakalembe: When I first came to England it surprised me when I saw how many different cultures there were all living here side-by-side. I decided I wanted to somehow photograph these different traditions. I like performing and dressing up, so I imagined what different people might do, and how they might look. This is Janet Macintosh, who has just moved down from Scotland.”
U.S. Tourist Visas Restrictions Get Worse for Select Countries (via crooksandliars.com)
“From January 12, 2009, citizens from such infamous terrorist hotbeds as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Western Europe and several other nations around the world ordinarily covered under the Visa Waiver Program will be required to submit an application for authorization via the Internet before they will be allowed to enter the United States.”
Chagos Islanders (photo essay here) – who were kicked out of their homes by the British government in the 1970’s to build a U.S. military base – were DENIED the right of return. Super, duper, double, BOOOOOOOO!. The reason given? Total frickin’ paranoid bullshit:
Lord Hoffmann ruled the government was entitled to legislate for a colony in the security interests of the United Kingdom.
The US state department had argued that the islands might be useful to terrorists.
Lord Hoffmann said: “Some of these scenarios might be regarded as fanciful speculations, but in the current state of uncertainty the government is entitled to take the concerns of its ally into account.”
Useful to terrorists? Fuck, what place couldn’t be useful to terrorists? East coast airports were useful to terrorists on 9-11 – maybe we should evacuate them permanently too.
E.U. to Standardize Immigration Regulations - which probably means the xenophobic nutcakes will win out right?
The European Union – with some eight million undocumented migrants on its soil, but short of high-skilled migrants – is set to give a new boost to its ambition to establish common immigration and asylum policy.
However, organisations active in the area have expressed “strong reservations”, claiming that the security approach is getting the upper hand. [oh! there we go!]
At this week’s top-level summit in Brussels (15-16 October), EU leaders are expected to formally back the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, a set of political commitments in five areas – regular and irregular immigration, border controls, asylum policies and co-operation with countries of origin and of transit.
The pact states that the 27-nation bloc “does not have the resources to decently receive all the migrants hoping to find a better life” within its territory.
Incidents of self harm on the rise at immigrant detention centers, which, of course isn’t stopping people from campaigning for their expanded use. Yay! Up with suicide!
October 26, 2008 at 8:17 pm
The pact states that the 27-nation bloc “does not have the resources to decently receive all the migrants hoping to find a better life” within its territory.
simple eh? too many people, not enough resources.. the doors have got to close sometime. The EU are only reacting to mounting pressure in the form of more and more european countries electing right leaning parties… and who votes them in? The people do. The people who live there and have a right to express how they feel in regards to policy on immigration. It seems pretty clear which way the people are feeling – hence the current UK government scrambling to tighten the floodgates its had open for ten years now the economy has crashed and the usually low paid service sector immigrant workers will be burdening the welfare state.