Little England in Fortress Europe
Simon Deville analyses the new Asylum and Immigration Bill, the effects of which will be felt by all black people. The weakened and divided Conservative party is trying to play the race card in the run up to the
General Election. But this legislation is also part of a co-ordinated Europe-wide attack.
* European Union THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTEGRATION of Europe is fraught with difficulties, but police and immigration authorities are finding it surprisingly easy to harmonise their repressive powers.
Changes to Social Security regulations, effective from February 5th 1996, withdraw benefits from in-country asylum applications (80% of the total) and all asylum seekers who are appealing an initial Home Office refusal to grant refugee status. These asylum seekers have lost their right to housing benefit. invalidity benefit and other means-tested benefits.
The Asylum and Immigration Bill will allow the Home Secretary to remove benefits from further categories of foreign-born residents, including those who have lived in the country for many years.
Britain's settled black community is largely the result of direct recruitment by British firms in the Indian sub-continent and the Caribbean, to provide the labour to fuel Britain's post-war reconstruction. Although many black people arriving in Britain found themselves excluded from higher paid jobs, housing and even bars and restaurants, those coming from British colonies had the right to abode in Britain and, in general, the same formal rights as other British "subjects."
When recession came, successive Labour and Tory governments passed legislation restricting immigration (1965-71). Nevertheless, all those with the right to live in Britain continued to have the same rights to welfare and social benefits as those born in England, Scotland and Wales. The vast majority of the settled black community today are British citizens. In fact, there is no legal category of immigrant.
This will change with the Asylum and Immigration Bill. The Bill also establishes a "white list" of countries from which asylum applications will automatically be refused. The Home Secretary will decide which countries are "safe," without recourse to parliament. The initial list includes Sri Lanka and Algeria. Nigeria was only removed from the list following public outrage at the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa earlier this year.
Many Tories spout chauvinist rhetoric about European integration. But they are very happy with the Asylum and Immigration 6 International Viewpoint
Bill's "safe third country" rule, which allows Britain to refuse asylum requests from anyone who has passed through another European Union state, or one of the East European countries which have association agreements with the EU. This new provision is part of an intricate network of "co-operation" between European states in order to bounce asylum seekers as far back towards their country of origin as possible.
The Asylum and Immigration Bill will make it a criminal offence to employ a person with no legal right to live in Britain. This will not just make it impossible for many refugees to earn even a minimum income. But, as similar legislation in other countries has shown, it will encourage employers to discriminate against black people in general when choosing new workers.
Measures to speed up appeals procedures will make it extremely difficult for asylum seekers to prepare documentation for their cases, particularly since legal aid will also be withdrawn for many refugees.
To implement these laws, there will now be numerous forms of internal immigration checks. Black people will be repeatedly asked to prove their right to live in Britain. The Tory Party might have again shelved their desire to introduce compulsory identity cards, but this new bill will effectively oblige black people to carry proof of identity and resident status at all times.
Although they are not obliged to do so under the new legislation, a number of hospitals have written to doctors in their area asking them to check the immigration status of patients, before referring them to hospital for treatment.
These legal attacks are part of a wider state offensive on black communities. This will only escalate racist violence and assist the growth of the far right. CJA
The police have been given much greater powers under the Criminal Justice Act, at a time when there is increasing public concern about police corruption and violence, particularly police violence towards the black population. The growing list of deaths and injuries of black people in police custody has increased public disillusionment in the criminal justice system. Senior police officers are responding by trying to blame black people for violent crime. The head of London's Metropolitan Police has even said that he "understands" the "noble cause corruption" that leads his officers to falsify evidence against those suspects who would otherwise be acquitted by the courts.
Paramilitary policing has been increasingly present on the British mainland ever since the miners' strike of 1984. This authoritarian style "law enforcement" is particularly oppressive in the inner-city areas, where many of the black population live.
Unusually, Britain's anti-racist movement has been united in its response. The Campaign Against the Immigration and Asylum Bill (CAIAB) has won support from Church organisations, anti-racist groups, refugee organisations, the Trade Union Congress, and many national trade unions, including the two largest, the UNISON public sector workers' union and the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). Top union leaders have done little to mobilise their membership on this question, but many branches have taken up racism and immigration issues, and co-operate with antiracist groups at the local level. A number of public-sector union branches have adopted positions encouraging their members to refuse to implement any regulations that require them to check the immigration status of the population they provide services to.
The problem is Labour leader Tony Blair. He is determined to demonstrate that his party is now "tough on illegal immigration," and at least as repressive as the conservatives on questions of law and order. There are rumours that if the legislation is passed by the current government, an incoming Labour majority would only repeal parts of the legislation. *