Refugee Follow

KURDISH ASYLUM seekers are on hunger strike outside the Plymouth headquarters of the National Immigration Office. The protest started on Thursday 6 June following repeated attempts to obtain a hearing and acknowledgement of asylum rights.

THE FROZEN bodies of 19 asylum seekers were found last week buried under snowdrifts in the remote mountains of south east Turkey. The unidentified refugees included nine children found next to their mothers. All died for the hope of a better life in another country. There will be more tragic deaths if New Labour's home secretary David Blunkett gets his way.

Myth 1: Britain is flooded with refugees

NEW LABOUR claims that being hard on refugees and immigrants "is not racist". The Sun newspaper repeated this argument when it praised the government's tough asylum policy last week. Many of those who disagree with the Sun nevertheless echo some of these arguments.

NEW LABOUR ministers are repeating the lies of the racists and the far right. They say there are too many refugees and immigrants in Britain. But the numbers applying for asylum last year amounted to a minuscule 0.12 percent of the population.

"ASYLUM-VILLAGE invaded." "We just can't keep them out." These are just some of the scare stories over asylum seekers that have recently appeared in the British press. Below we expose the myths and argue why refugees should be welcome in Britain.

TWO demonstrations to highlight opposition to New Labour's attacks on refugees are planned next month. The protests came out of the 350-strong conference in Manchester in March that gathered together campaigners for refugees from across Britain.

REFUGEE children are not a problem in schools. Government policy and funding cuts are. That finding, in research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, shatters home secretary David Blunkett's scapegoating claim that asylum seekers are "swamping" schools and other public services.

THE ISRAELI government is trying to cover up its horrific war crime in the Jenin Palestinian refugee camp. Israeli troops sealed Jenin off for 13 days last month and attacked the camp. Three times Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has refused to allow a United Nations (UN) fact finding group into the camp. Socialist Worker spoke to Palestinians from Jenin.

They made Jenin a slaughterhouse "A TERRIBLE crime has been committed by Israel in Jenin refugee camp, and the world is turning a blind eye." That was how journalist Justin Huggler, writing in the Independent, described what happened in Jenin last week.

GROUP 4 is set to rake in greater profits from making the lives of refugees a misery. The firm, notorious for transporting (and losing) prisoners, has taken over Wackenhut Corporate Corrections.

Desmond's lies invade Express The Express under millionaire boss Richard Desmond has been at the forefront of whipping up anti-refugee feeling. It recently ran an article with the headline "Migrant Wave Swamps Tunnel". A picture appeared to show two refugees crawling through the fence near the Channel Tunnel terminal in France.