Migrants rescued by the RNLI from a boat crossing the English Channel, August 21 2023 Photo: EPA

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Wednesday, August 21, a raft of what she called "strong and clear steps" over the next six months "to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced". A Border Security Bill had already been announced in the King's Speech, with the intention of setting up a Border Security Command. [1]

The new measures include the immediate recruitment of up to 100 new specialist intelligence and investigation officers at the National Crime Agency (NCA) to "disrupt and smash criminal smuggling gangs and prevent dangerous boat crossings". The government also revealed plans to increase its detention capacity, with 290 new beds at the Campsfield and Haslar Immigration Removal Centres. Campsfield, near Oxford, had already been closed in 2019 following a long-running campaign, not least by those detained there who protested against their treatment with hunger strikes. So now this is set to be reversed. Haslar also, near Portsmouth, was closed in 2015 after a report described it as "expensive and damaging to detainees". The PA news agency reported that it understands that reopening Campsfield and Haslar is the first phase of a long-term plan to open a total of 1,000 beds across the two sites, a scheme which began under the previous government.

In addition, the Home Secretary announced a new intelligence-driven illegal working programme which will be rolled out to target, investigate and take down what Yvette Cooper's statement called "unscrupulous employers who illegally employ those with no right to work here".

"A range of sanctions, including financial penalty notices, business closure orders and potential prosecution, will be taken against those employing illegal workers," the statement reads. "Those caught working illegally and eligible for removal will be detained, pending their swift removal."

The measures also include plans for a large surge in enforcement and returns flights, with the aim of putting removals at their highest level since 2018. Home Office ministers have promised a "large surge" in returns flights for failed asylum seekers. The new plans mean more than 14,000 deportations by the end of the year, The Independent wrote on August 21. According to the same newspaper, official statistics show that, with "legal" and "illegal" immigration combined, some 1.2 million people moved to the UK last year, 85% of them from outside the EU.

Upholding the dignity and humanity of migrants

Amnesty International UK's Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme Director Steve Valdez-Symonds said in a press release:

"It's dismaying to see the new Government reheating the last Government's rhetoric over 'border security' and 'smashing gangs' even while neglecting the pressing need to provide safe asylum routes and a clear guarantee of asylum to refugees arriving here.

"People in urgent need - including those fleeing war and persecution in places like Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran - will keep coming to the UK and other countries, and the Government needs to establish safe routes that reduce the perils of dangerous border crossings and the risk of exploitation by ruthless smuggling gangs.

"This 'securitised' approach to asylum and immigration will simply deter and punish many of the people most in need of crossing borders, people who are therefore often most vulnerable to criminal exploitation.

"Increasing immigration powers - including to detain people - rather than making sure existing powers are only used where that is necessary and fair has for decades rewarded Home Office inefficiency and injustice.

"A new set of ministers promoting an age-old message of fear and hostility regarding some of the most victimised and traumatised people who may ever arrive in the UK, means that smuggling gangs and racist and Islamophobic hate-mongers at home are likely to feed off this to everyone's detriment." [2]

Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory, told The Independent that Yvette Cooper's announcement "lacked the detail required to know how the government plans to increase the removal of failed asylum seekers". He said: "There are different challenges the government faces in returning unsuccessful asylum seekers. Some may raise legal challenges against their removal, such as if they have formed family ties in the UK. A number of unsuccessful asylum seekers also come from countries to which we have recently struggled to return asylum seekers, such as Iraq and Iran. Some countries of origin may refuse to take back their own citizens. How exactly the government plans to deal with these challenges remains, for the time being, unclear."

The organisation Right to Remain, which campaigns for migration justice, stated: "This is yet another horrible development and cause for anxiety and distress for our communities. Month after month, people in the migrant community and those who support them are faced with cruel Home Office plan after cruel Home Office plan.

"That this announcement has been made not even two weeks after the horror of race riots in the UK is truly horrendous. At a time when racialised communities need to feel the solidarity of community and belonging, they are being made to feel even more unwelcome and unsafe.

"At Right to Remain, we firmly believe that no one is illegal, and that migration is a natural human phenomenon. Everyone deserves to be and stay wherever they need to be. We stand in solidarity with our community, and will provide updates as swiftly as we can." [3]

The Migrant Rights Network, in response to Yvette Cooper's statement, stated: "This announcement is consistent with the new-government's long-standing emphasis on deportation deals in the lead up to the General Election, including Starmer's insistence that people should be deported back to Bangladesh, as well as his desire to secure EU-wide returns deals. This echoed the former Prime Minister's agreements with Bangladesh, Frontex and the Calais Group." [4]

Defence of the rights of immigrants and the rights of all

While Starmer and the government have been making much of the necessity for cracking down and giving harsh sentences to the "far right" involved in the public disorder against immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, they are now pursuing a legal version of the same anti-immigrant outlook, especially against the refugees and asylum seekers who are attempting to find a way to Britain for refugee and asylum, despite all the dangers and difficulties.

In opposition, the mass of the people take the stand that it is just that Britain should be a refuge for all those fleeing slavery, genocide, colonial conquests, imperialist wars and coups d'etat. Especially the youth have been taking up the fight against the old colonial and anti-humane establishment, a fight which also has included the demand that the Israeli-Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people must be stopped and the complicity of the British government in this genocide be ended. The fight has included the tearing down and opposition to statues which exalt slavery, genocide and those who have committed crimes against humanity.

This is the background to the government's latest campaign to end so-called "illegal" immigration and to also take up the slogan to "stop the boats". While posed in the guise of ending the trafficking of people, which may well be criminal in itself, the plight of those human beings who are fleeing unbearable situations which the big powers themselves have caused is not being addressed or taken into account in practice by the Labour government. Instead, the government is continuing to dehumanise people who are desperate to build a new life and make their contribution to society.

The resistance of communities in unity demonstrations to the racist propaganda and the attacks on immigrants has demonstrated people's defiance of the direction that the cartel parties in Westminster are taking society. The mass of the people have shown that the future lies with defending the rights of all by virtue of their humanity, [5]

Defend the rights of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees!

Notes
1.In the notes to the Bill, the government confirms their intention to implement "fast track" returns for those from "safe" countries and ending the failed Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda. The reference to "fast track" return schemes, amongst other things, raises concerns about the necessity for schemes to comply with commitments under the Refugee Convention which aims to ensure people's claims are fairly and properly considered. Failure to do this has correctly led to the end of a fast track system in the past after it was found to be unlawful. A further concern was raised by Jeremy Corbyn in the debate on this section of the government's legislative programme. He asked Yvette Cooper: "The tragedy of desperate people dying in the channel is compounded by desperate people dying in the Mediterranean and the Aegean as human beings fleeing all kinds of horrible situations seek a place of safety. Is she co-operating with other European countries on a safe route for asylum seekers? Is she prepared to look in a much more humane way at the desperate situation facing people fleeing human rights abuses and wars around the world?"
2. 'Securitised' immigration measures will punish vulnerable people
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-securitised-immigration-measures-will-punish-vulnerable-people
3. Solidarity in the wake of Labour's immigration enforcement announcement
https://righttoremain.org.uk/solidarity-in-the-wake-of-labours-immigration-enforcement-announcement/
4. Deportations are about to ramp up
https://migrantsrights.org.uk/2024/08/21/deportations-are-about-to-ramp-up/
5. See also "Desperate Attempt to Promote an Anti-Immigrant Movement", Workers' Weekly
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-19/ww24-19-01.htm

Workers' Weekly wrote in its article on the desperate attempt to promote an anti-immigrant movement: "It is dangerous to see Keir Starmer and others demanding swift and longer jail sentences for those involved in 'far-right extremism', and a crack-down on social media, in response to the violence. Rather than tackling the problem of disenfranchised youth, investing in social programmes, and tackling the inequality arising from ensuring that the rich get richer, Starmer and others are taking a 'strong' line against violence, strengthening police powers, and using 'hate crime' and 'extremism' to control the political space." [1]

On cue, a week ago Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to crack down on people "pushing harmful and hateful beliefs", including extreme misogyny, as she announced what was described as a new approach to fighting extremism. This approach, however, is not new in the sense that it has been being developed, especially from the time of the Tony Blair government in 2001. Tony Blair infamously described "revolutionary communist and Islamist ideologies" as extremist. Indeed, 20 years later in September 2021, he was still elaborating this theme. For instance, in an article on the website Project Syndicate he introduced an article he authored with this paragraph: "Islamism is a first-order threat to the security of open, modern, culturally tolerant societies. Its defeat, like that of revolutionary communism, ultimately will come through confronting its violence and ideology with a combination of hard and soft power." [2]

This highlights that the issue with "extremism" is who defines it, and for what purpose, and with what means, including "hard power". The recent announcements by the Home Secretary demonstrate that once more, the executive is seeking to impose such definitions under the pretext of high ideals and criminalise the right to conscience. The specific ideal that Yvette Cooper is using in her latest announcement is that of treating misogyny as extremism. It is dangerous to see the government intervening in such a way in matters which can and must be sorted out among the people themselves. One of the most notorious examples is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of "anti-Semitism", in which any criticism of Zionism and, indeed, Israel itself is counted as being anti-Semitic Another is the definition of "radicalisation", which underlies the Prevent guidance for education and local authorities, aimed to "stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism".

Briefing the media on the plans to crack down on "extremist ideologies", Yvette Cooper said: "I have directed the Home Office to conduct a rapid analytical sprint on extremism, to map and monitor extremist trends, to understand the evidence about what works to disrupt and divert people away from extremist views, and to identify any gaps in existing policy which need to be addressed to crack down on those pushing harmful and hateful beliefs and violence."

Meanwhile, independent journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested by British police under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000) on August 15 at Heathrow Airport. As the World Socialist Web explained, "Medhurst is known for his journalism opposing US, British and Israeli war crimes in Gaza and across the Middle East, and has more than one million followers on social media."

Medhurst has denounced the accusations against him: "I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police. I am not a terrorist. I have no criminal record. Prior to this incident, I'd never been detained in my entire life. I'm a product of the diplomatic community, and I'm raised to be anti-war. Both of my parents won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work as United Nations peacekeepers. They had a tremendous effect on my world view and outlook and instilled in me the importance of diplomacy, international law and peace."

Medhurst explained in a video: "They arrested me - not detained, they arrested me - under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly, 'expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation', but wouldn't explain what this meant."

The provisions of the 2000 Terrorism Act, as amended in 2019, mean that a person can be jailed for up to 14 years for merely "expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation" and in doing so "is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation". As journalist and human rights activist Craig Murray declared, it is becoming easier to list the truly dissident UK journalists who have been arrested for terrorism than those who have not!

Craig Murray goes on to explain: "It is perfectly legal in UK domestic law for zionists to state that they support the Israeli Defence Force and they hope that the IDF kill every Palestinian in Gaza. Indeed zionists state this all the time, supporting an action that is entirely illegal in international law, and no action is ever taken against these zionists by the UK state. Members of the IDF who have actually participated in the genocide are able to come and live in the UK unmolested. In stark contrast to the illegal acts of the occupying power, the Palestinian people do have the right of armed resistance in international law. This right is founded on the right of self-determination in the UN Charter and is encapsulated in the First Protocol of the Geneva Convention (1977) Article 1 Para 4."

Kill the Bill Protest, Sheffield - Photo: Mike McCarthy

Murray continues: "The situations referred to [,,,] include armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. So, and it is absolutely important this is understood, the right to fight against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes is not only an absolute right in international law, it is also a specific right in UK law."

Murray concludes: "Any law which states you can be jailed for fourteen years simply for expressing an opinion is a very bad law, no matter what that opinion may be. To use such arbitrary power to seek to silence those who are opposing a most dreadful genocide, is the action of an over-mighty state led by evil people. [,,,] The reason for this galloping authoritarianism is of course panic by the political class that they have lost popular consent, particularly for zionism in view of the appalling genocide in plain view by the terrorist settler state." [3]

The conclusion must be drawn that the people, in examining definitions of "extremism" and "terrorism", must begin from their own vantage point, and not from the vantage point of the cartel parties in Westminster. The "hard power" and "soft power", which are espoused right from the person of state in the form of the King down through the old constitutional and governmental arrangements, must both be rejected as not being in our name, in the name of justice-loving people. The whole scenario of extreme-right and extreme-left with the government representing the centre ground, which is the only legitimate ground to occupy, must be rejected. On the contrary, what must be adopted and strengthened is the method of working and living where everyone is empowered to speak in their own name, come to appropriate conclusions which favour them, and set their sights eventually on building an anti-war government to replace the pro-war, anti-democratic, cartel party system which rules through the exercise of police powers. It is up to the working class and people to reject the control of the present political space by the use of tendentious definitions, and themselves occupy the political space by formulating the appropriate modern definitions and fighting for the rights of all.

Notes
1. "Desperate Attempt to Promote an Anti-Immigrant Movement", Workers' Weekly
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-19/ww24-19-01.htm
2. "Countering the Islamist Threat", Project Syndicate
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/countering-the-ideology-and-violence-of-islamism-by-tony-blair-2021-09
3. "Richard Medhurst and the Right to Armed Resistance"
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/richard-medhurst-and-the-right-to-armed-resistance/

Chris Coleman, the National Leader of RCPB(ML) giving the keynote speech at the Social Event to Honour the 75th Anniversary of the Birth of John Buckle

On Saturday, July 27, comrades, friends and family gathered in London to honour the 75th anniversary of the birth of John Buckle who, as General Secretary, was the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) from its founding on March 16, 1979, until his tragic death on November 27, 1983, aged just 34.

Attending this event were friends who had militated in the Party alongside John Buckle, as well as staunch activists from the present. The gathering featured an introductory speech by Michael Chant, General Secretary of RCPB(ML), a keynote address by Chris Coleman, the National Leader of RCPB(ML), and a personal and heartfelt talk by the Revd Graham Buckle, John Buckle's brother.

In honouring John's memory on this 75th anniversary of his birth, RCPB(ML) presented a newly published book of photographs along with a brief account of his contributions and qualities. In so doing, the Party also paid tribute to the sacrifices of all its comrades who, like John, have come forward at crucial times in history to contribute to providing solutions to serious problems of the times. The book's introduction stated that:

Introductory speech by Michael Chant, General Secretary of RCPB(ML)

"On this occasion, we call on everyone to be inspired by, and draw lessons from, John's example, taking up the tasks of our times centred around bringing into being the new forms, with new content, that unleash and channel the human power that is without limitations. Long Live the Memory of Comrade John Buckle!"

Following the speeches and reflections, a short film made by Stuart Monro on the occasion of John's 65th anniversary was shown displaying images and photos of John documenting his life as a revolutionary and comrade. In addition, next to the main table a striking banner was proudly displayed carrying the image of John Buckle. On this banner, beneath John's photo were the words of Hardial Bains, leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), spoken at the Memorial Ceremony held in tribute to John Buckle in December 1983. Comrade Bains said of John, "In the annals of the revolution and socialism, your name will always shine like a bright star".

After the speeches, film and much discussion, there was music with choral and solo singing performed in honour of John Buckle, and a buffet meal was laid on throughout the evening. The gathering was a powerful and moving event, very much appreciated by all the participants.

On this banner, beneath John's photo were the words of Hardial Bains, leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), spoken at the Memorial Ceremony held in tribute to John Buckle in December 1983. Comrade Bains said of John, "In the annals of the revolution and socialism, your name will always shine like a bright star".