General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Theresa May version of the Con's deportations but these are worse
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2018/apr/16/national-day-of-shame-david-lammy-criticises-treatment-of-windrush-generation-videoCaribbean Brits in their old age are being treated like animals.
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)Great speech by David Lammy.
malaise
(269,254 posts)lots of discussions - people are pissed at the treatment of our old folks.
To think that Britain begged them to come after they lost so many of their own working class in WW2 and of course to clear the land for the US bauxite companies.
Man to man is so unjust.
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)London Transport, The NHS, The Post Office .............we wouldn't have managed without the Windrush generation.
We know - anyway our leaders are in town for the Commonwealth Heads of Government and apparently there will be a meeting with your PM - much good since their treatment is related to her policies.
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)Hope they chew her up and spit her out.
malaise
(269,254 posts)Can't believe she didn't go to Parliament first
DemocracyMouse
(2,275 posts)spanone
(135,919 posts)csziggy
(34,139 posts)It began on 22 June 1948 when the ship MV Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, which brought workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands, as a response to labour shortages in the UK.
The ship carried 492 passengers - many of them children.
It is unclear how many people belong to the Windrush Generation, since many of those who arrived as children travelled on parents' passports and never applied for travel documents - but they are thought to be in their thousands.
There are now 500,000 people resident in the UK who were born in a Commonwealth country and arrived before 1971 - including the Windrush arrivals - according to estimates by Oxford University's Migration Observatory.
More: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43782241
I'd never heard of this situation so I looked it up. This article explains it succinctly and includes videos and links to photos.
malaise
(269,254 posts)and remember none of the then British colonies was independent so everyone was British.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)Unfortunately my American History Teacher didn't cover much after the "War of Northern Agression" and the World History teacher didn't cover much outside the US after the American Revolution (and not a lot before that). So I am very ignorant of most of world history, though I try to educate myself. That's why I looked this up.
It surprises me that the UK is being so aggressive about their treatment of the Windrush generation - as you say they were citizens of British colonies so they should be considered legitimate residents and citizens now. I would think that all they have to prove is that they lived there before 1971 when the immigration laws were changed.
I guess this is the same attitude that wants to exclude people of color from full participation in this country no matter where they were born or when and how they arrived.
malaise
(269,254 posts)And it's worse because they begged our folks to come after they killed off their own young men in war.
It's interesting that many of the anti-colonials in our islands and Guyana came from those who joined the British Army in WW1 and WW2.
I'd listen to them talking about the racism in the army. It was no different than the US.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)behind this kind of thing wherever it happens. We would do better to think not in national terms but in terms of what the different types of people found in all nations do with power when they get control of governments.
malaise
(269,254 posts)Last edited Mon Apr 16, 2018, 08:32 PM - Edit history (1)
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/oct/07/conservatives.race<snip>
He was the reason I could never truly feel British and he epitomised everything I detested about the Thatcher years. In an administration generously staffed by villains, he was easily the most loathsome. Margaret Thatcher's hard man, the Chingford skinhead, the Count Dracula of the Conservative party: he was Norman Tebbit and I hated him.
I hated him for many things - for telling the unemployed to get on their bikes, for the union- bashing and the BBC-baiting - but mainly I despised him for having coined the Tebbit test. It was the spring of 1990 when, in an interview with the LA Times, he suggested that a test of the loyalty of British Asians was who they supported in cricket: if they did not cheer for England, he implied, their allegiance to Britain was suspect. It was hugely provocative. In effect he was saying that if you were not with us, then you were against us.
No wonder Tebbit became such a hate figure for so many. For young British Asians like me, who failed his cricket test, he provoked fear and revulsion. Just as my father's generation had been taunted by Enoch Powell, I was terrified of Tebbit. I also wondered what he might say if I could talk to him directly. Would he be as cold and offensive if I could speak to him face to face? But what were the chances then of facing Tebbit? None.
-------------------
Tebbitt wanted both British Asians and Caribbeans to be deported if they cheered for their mother country's cricket team.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)An expert who's studied the rise of dangerous, authoritarian governments for 40 years advised that concerned citizens should watch for mean people. Mean people, and mean spirits, through dirty tricks and lies have gained a degree of ascendancy in both nations since 1980 or so, and many others.
This has been the zeitgeist of a frightening world that my grandchildren are growing up in. I worry that they will not be able to enter the world with the same brave, confident spirits and idealism of their parents. And yet, most people are not mean; many who have been voting Republican don't actually wish evil on others even though they voted for it. Mindless partisanship has them in thrall.
Solly Mack
(90,798 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)Thanks for the history lesson.
And fuck Theresa May.
malaise
(269,254 posts)There was a huge Windrush revival back in 1998 for the 50th anniversary. Not everyone ever wanted our people there even though they were as British as those in England. Just think Puerto Rico or even Montserrat after their massive volcano eruption back in 1995.
https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/arrival-ss-empire-windrush
panader0
(25,816 posts)Racism is so ugly.
Tatiana
(14,167 posts)Dammit, PREACH it Lammy, PREACH IT!
Now if one of our Dems could tell the their Republican counterparts the same damn thing.
Denzil_DC
(7,287 posts)It's taken an unbelievably long time for what's been happening to register (a lot of the credit must go to dogged reporting on the issue from the Guardian's Amelia Gentleman - https://twitter.com/ameliagentleman ) - but the dam has broken and even the Tories are finally embarrassed enough to at least act outraged.
Here's an explanation of the situation from an immigration and asylum barrister (sorry to Twitterphobes):
Link to tweet
?@ColinYeo1
The cross party consensus that Something Must Be Done is very welcome. The problem is that there is no quick fix. Short thread. 1/?
2/? The problem originated because previous system of Commonwealth citizenship and free movement was ending and status was conferred by law on people to safeguard them, but they did not acquire papers at that time. Explainer:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/why-caribbean-commonwealth-citizens-are-being-denied-immigration-status/
3/ For decades those people did not need papers and no one bit racists questioned their right to be here or that they belonged. That changed under Home Secretary Theresa May when she introduced what she called the hostile environment.
4/ Since 1996 employers had to check employee immigration papers *in theory*. New laws in 2006 started to enforce this with big fines. But these privatised immigration checks were still limited in scope.
5/ In 2012 T May announced the hostile environment and brought it into law with Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016. Now landlords, banks and public servants had to do papers, please checks on other citizens. Explainer:
https://www.freemovement.org.uk/hostile-environment-affect/
6/ At same time immigration fees have been ramped up 20% per year to astronomical levels, rules made more Byzantine and raids in workplaces, colleges and streets have been more visible. All to deter migrants coming and encourage them to leave to try to meet net migration target.
7/ It is this hostile environment that has cut off the Windrush generation from employment, housing, healthcare and more. Home Office requires proof of residence since 1973 they simply do not have.
8/ Home Office is paranoid that non-entitled migrants might benefit from rules so requires super strict proof. Officials worry that people are lying about their long term residence, basically.
9/ So the idea of an amnesty is a non starter. These people are lawfully resident *if they can prove they are entitled*. They dont need an amnesty. The problem is 1. They are being asked for proof because of hostile environment and 2. The level of proof is totally unrealistic
10/ Rolling back the hostile environment and repealing 2014 and 2016 Acts is needed as well as more humane and realistic approach in these cases. But Theresa Mays culture of hostility has spread all through society and will be hard to undo. END
Here's David Lammy's ferocious speech in Parliament earlier today (again, sorry, via Twitter):
Link to tweet
✔
@DavidLammy
When my parents came here they arrived as British citizens. This has come about because of the hostile environments policy begun by Theresa May. If you lie down with dogs then you get fleas. This is where so much anti-immigrant rhetoric gets us #Windrush
There was an apology of sorts from Home Secretary Amber Rudd in the House of Commons in response, but also the revelation in a TV interview by Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes that some people have been wrongfully deported, and the Home Office apparently doesn't know how many (yes, Twitter again).
Link to tweet
✔
@Channel4News
The Immigration Minister apologises to people from the so-called Windrush generation and admits some were potentially deported to the Caribbean by mistake.
Watch our series THE WINDRUSH GENERATION: FIGHTING TO BE BRITISH https://www.channel4.com/news/the-windrush-generation-fighting-to-be-british/?1
malaise
(269,254 posts)are too much to bear - Caribbean leaders are under pressure to force May and her fellow racists to sort out this mess. These are now old people in lock ups, being deprived of health care and even being deported when many of them have no family in these islands.
Denzil_DC
(7,287 posts)One fortunate lever at the moment is that the government is desperate to try to line up some trade deals - well, any trade deals at all - with the Commonwealth countries to make up for the loss of trade once Brexit fully bites. May at first stonewalled and said the issue wouldn't be on the agenda for the HoG meeting, but she's since backtracked (as if she had any real choice).
It's just one poll, but if it's any consolation, for once this seems to be an immigration issue that's stirred the British public in a humane direction:
Link to tweet
?@jimwaterson
YouGov has done the first polling on Windrush generation issue and pretty much everyone in Britain aside from a handful of UKIP voters wants this sorted. (Support for their right to reside is slightly higher among older voters than younger voters.)
https://yougov.co.uk/opi/surveys/results#/survey/59c510c1-4156-11e8-8feb-f36816a7f072/question/81af9294-4156-11e8-8feb-f36816a7f072/age
Whether this starts a groundswell against the UK's other revolting immigration policies (not a week goes by without news of another family, not just those from the Windrush generation, who've settled here legitimately from abroad, being torn apart because of bureaucracy or forced to leave the country altogether), we'll have to wait and see. And this will all only get worse as the government grapples with the problems of what to do about EU citizens' status after Brexit.
As for the Windrush folks who've suffered, they don't just need reinstatement and apologies, they need meaningful compensation, and I hope they get it.
malaise
(269,254 posts)Very important
Denzil_DC
(7,287 posts)Let's heap some more on May (this really is her shitshow, has been for many years - and Lammy's speech absolutely nailed it):
Only a few weeks ago, the PM insisted on a harsh line on Commonwealth immigration
For years, the governments approach to Windrush children with immigration problems has been both absurd and cruel.
Over the past five months, as this scandal gradually unfolded, the Guardian has documented numerous cases of retirement-age UK residents who have described how the Home Offices refusal to believe that they are in the UK legally has ruined their lives. Many have cried as they explained how upsetting it is to be classed as an illegal immigrant after more than 50 years in the UK, studying, working, bringing up children in a country they believed to be their own.
...
Ministers are promising now to deal with cases sensitively. Lets see if that sensitivity actually materialises. Its worth remembering that, less than a month ago, Theresa May chose to take a very harsh position on this issue.
She was called on at prime ministers questions to look into the case of Albert Thompson (not his real name) who is still being refused free NHS treatment by the Royal Marsden Hospital, five months after his radiotherapy was due to start. She showed no sensitivity to the case and refused to intervene, stating that Thompson needed to evidence his settled status in the UK. Thompson, a Jamaican-born son of a nurse who has lived and worked in the UK since he was a teenager, 44 years ago, remains profoundly worried about the impact that the delayed treatment is having on his health.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/16/windrush-u-turn-welcome-but-theresa-may-policy-cruel
She was an atrocious Home Secretary (something about that office seems to breed assholes), and is an utterly useless Prime Minister. If she had any shame, she'd resign.
TubbersUK
(1,439 posts)I knew that the government's position was unpopular but hadn't seen any numbers until now.
Denzil_DC
(7,287 posts)It's plain legality - these people don't need amnesty, they're citizens, end of story. Now sort out the bureaucracy and stop victimizing people with no evidence. I can't imagine it's not going to lead to compensation cases, and I hope the damages are punitive. The longer it goes on, the more it'll cost. And the more our country's reputation gets dragged through the mud.
Like I said, it's just one poll so far, but it's interesting that older people are more supportive, whereas with immigration issues, it's usually the younger generations. I doubt there are many other issues where we'd see anywhere near 78% agreement, though!
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)Not surprised, and angry!
HipChick
(25,485 posts)sunk like a rock..
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210500281
Denzil_DC
(7,287 posts)I was thinking of posting about it myself, but the print media were slow to catch up, and anyway, I had a feeling any GD thread of mine might plummet, too!
HipChick
(25,485 posts)and the British Army was there trying to get recruits and promising UK citizenship in return...
malaise
(269,254 posts)Hannity and Cohen took over
HipChick
(25,485 posts)They are sick
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Racism on steroids
malaise
(269,254 posts)Amber Rudd yesterday admitted members of the Windrush generation may have been kicked out of Britain by mistake.
The Home Secretary conceded she did not know whether Caribbean migrants who came here in good faith after the Second World War had been wrongly removed.
In farcical scenes, ministers at first appeared to admit some had been horrendously kicked out, then insisted they hadnt, and then said that they didnt know.
Miss Rudd faced a call to resign and was summoned to the Commons to apologise for the fiasco. Labours David Lammy told fellow MPs it was a day of national shame.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5622997/Amber-Rudd-faces-call-quit.html#ixzz5CxqWlMmO
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
malaise
(269,254 posts)<snip>
Amber Rudd has resigned as home secretary after repeatedly struggling to explain her role in the unjust treatment of Windrush generation migrants.
The home secretary had faced mounting pressure over her role in setting the culture and policies that led to long-term residents of Britain from Caribbean countries being denied healthcare, pensions and benefits, and in some cases being threatened with deportation.
Rudd had been due to appear before parliament on Monday to explain apparent discrepancies between her evidence to the home affairs select committee last week and a memo leaked to the Guardian that linked her to targets for removing migrants.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)A Tory is a Tory! Vote for Lib Dems, Vote for Labour, vote tactically, keep the Tories OUT!
malaise
(269,254 posts)and her own son was involved in an attempted coup elsewhere in Africa. They don't want you in their country and they want to steal yours. When racism is one of the driving forces of your foreign policy, expect institutional racism, you are going to promote institutional racism at home.
Cameron was just another racist.