Why are immigrants under attack?

I’m not sure if you’ve notice but for the past two weeks it feels as though immigrants have been under attack and I say that meaning in many different ways. The news has been plagued with issues of overcrowding in Britain, immigrant workers taking “British jobs” (that people don’t want to do) and illegal immigrants. I’m sure the bloody far right British National Party (BNP) is loving all of this hysteria.

To top it off government figures reveal that the numbers of people attacked because of their race or religion is soaring.

Just going slightly off track, I remember earlier in the year I had an engineer come to my home to fix my boiler. It was a coincidence at the time but one of those deplorable day time talk shows was on television discussing immigration. The engineer clipped a bit of what was said and he started going on a rant about how Africans and Eastern Europeans are swindling the country out of social benefits. He actually said “People like you from the Caribbean have paid your dues”. It begs the question what the rest of the population thinks but then again perhaps I’ve already answered my question.

Should I feel lucky that I escaped his rant because my parents come from the Caribbean. And does he even realise that I was born here, it’s a stupid question really because what came out of his mouth is a sure sign that he would be ignorant of that fact.

Personally I believe that if people want to better themselves they should be able to move around freely wherever they want. My mother came to the UK as an immigrant from Barbados and I’m glad she had the choice to do so.

Don’t be swayed by the Ken Machine

I like Ken Livingstone, he’s a political rebel, he’s a decent London mayor and if I think about it there really isn’t anyone else out there who I’d like to see represent London. But is it me or does Kenny think that we’re all suckers for money or a quick save.

His latest gimmick pre mayoral elections – he’s announced that he’ll be freezing all single fares on public transport across the city. Yippee!! We yell – not really, I don’t think anyone is actually rejoicing in the announcement, because fares are ridiculously dear at the moment anyway.

So from next January all public transport will keep their current fares (that’s of course until he wins his next term as London Mayor). So those of us on Oyster cards can continue to pay single fares on the tube for £1.50 whilst those who don’t have the “big brother” cards will have to fork out a hefty £4.

I hear that at the moment only three per cent of tube fares are now paid in cash – my theory is that once everyone moves onto Oyster you can bet that those prices will soar!

So Kenny’s bid for the Mayor of London is away and running …I wonder what other treats the other candidates are likely to dish out to the London public!

On May 1, 2008, we get to vote. Oh but I’ve forgotten some of our other candidates: We have the Conservatives batty Boris Johnson, the Respect Party’s “cult SWP group” Lindsey German and representing the Lib Dems is Fiyaz Mughal who sadly only had two people attend a conference he was holding about his candidacy bid.

The choice is yours London – you decide, despite there not being much choice at all.

Kenny has actually denied that he is using the announcement of freezing travel fare as a ploy to win votes – he said: “You have a 25-year record of me cutting fares whenever I’ve got the chance.”

But you know what I would like to see if those periods of cutting fares coincide with his bids during mayoral elections.

Fighting 25 years for freedom

The Guardian bagged the first ever interview in Britain with the activist Mumia Abu-Jamal. It’s a pretty decent interview written by Laura Smith.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2198557,00.html

And to answer Guardian 2’s (G2) headline question – he is definitely a political prisoner, cop-killer doesn’t even come into my thoughts.

I remember earlier this year people were protesting outside the US Embassy in London to demand his release, I think that was on the same day of his appeal in America. He must have one of  the best legal teams out there so dedicated to his struggle.

I’m 27 right now, the same age when he was incarcerated and I can’t even comprehend what he has gone through. Prison is one thing, to manage writing five books on an old type writer and to continue speaking out against injustice is just incredible. I can see how easy it would be to fall into a depressed state, I’m sure he’s gone through those periods, but he’s fought through all of that.

To be accused of shooting an officer with flawed evidence is just completely surprising and questionable as to why he’s still behind bars.

I sincerely believe that Abu-Jamal was targeted by the FBI because of his political activism in exposing injustice, police brutality and his affiliation with The Black Panther Party. Look at what happened to Assata Shakur, she had to flee the States for similar reasons – her autobiography is definitely worth reading.

I’ve heard there are more than 50 political prisoners still incarcerated across US State Prisons today. I’m guessing most likely many of them will die in prison – the price many have paid to speak out against injustice.

I am an activist…

Spread the word: www.iamanactivist.org

Did I forget that this is East London

In the early hours of this morning I woke up to the sound of banging on my door, it bloody freaked me out. A man that lives down my street was rambling and shouting. So there I am twitching the curtains hoping that he doesn’t see me peeking at him because I know that if he does he would be out there for much longer. Thank goodness my brother and neighbour came to sort him out.

The guy is Irish but of Egyptian origin, he kept slurring the words “I’m an Egyptian paddy”. He was drunk and high from snorting coke. I’m not sure if it was the cause but he told my brother and neighbour that his mother-in-law had passed away but I’m guessing there was much more to it.

My neighbour was great, by the time that the police came, he was trying to calm the guy while pulling him away from another neighbour he was annoying. The police were sh*t, instead of jumping out of the car to sort out the situation they just sat in their car seats hurling the odd comment at him.

That’s one thing I like about where I live my neighbours a hilarious bunch of sorts I suppose including me.

There’s my dreadlocked neighbour who always sits outside his house drawing on some weed (apart from when its extremely cold), he always welcomes me with a smile, a chat and throws some of the best summer barbeques. Then there’s the gay Chinese “sales man” – I put that in speech marks because he’s basically one of those people who sell pirate DVDs (The quality is terrible so I stopped buying from him). Then there’s good ol’ Albert, in his late 70s, his curtain doesn’t stop twitching, he knows everybody’s business – He’ll know your business before you even do.

And there’s twitcher number two – an Indian lady, also masterful in the art of knowing everyone’s business but she is one of the most thoughtful and kindest.

We have people from all over the world on my street from all walks of life, East European, African, there’s a Greek family and then there’s the single mother with five kids. So you see my street has it all. The drama! There’s been a lot of criminal activity, police raids on homes where there were found to be stacks of pistols and automatic guns.

I remember when I was living in a flat a few years ago and my neighbour at the time was seen running down the street with a knife in his hand chasing some guy. I’m not sure what it was about, all I know is that the man escaped – Who needs Eastenders or shows like the Bill because the drama takes place right outside my door.

Stop free racist exposure…

Why are we giving individuals Like the undeniably racist scientist James Watson any exposure at all. It just fuels more tensions and gives free promotion to his undeserved book. (I shouldn’t even comment about it on here but it had to be said!!)

Instead we should be giving more exposure to the unveiling of Oliver Tambo’s sculpted bust in London, someone who was one of the leading anti-apartheid activists in South Africa!

It’s a weighty debate

I’m tired of government reports. They have this irritating way of implementing their favourite tagline – “these following recommendations should be taken”, but I always wonder whether anything actually becomes of these recommendations. And I do particularly find these reports a waste of government money especially when every year the same reports come out but just angled slightly differently.

Ok so the weight debate rears its head again and this time “a UK government study” claims that obesity is not the fault of people themselves but in fact the availability of cheap foods, Labour saving devices like the microwave and our inactive lifestyles, all said to be contributing factors. The study says that the government should be doing its utmost to stop Britain “sleepwalking” into a growing crisis.

With the fast paced lifestyles we lead I can see why it can be easy to adopt a lifestyle where we choose to eat meals that are readily available at the dial of a number.

But we are far from stupid, we certainly know whether the food we’re eating is good for us or not. The real issue is whether we care. I would say I eat pretty healthily but I can’t speak for others.

The number of healthy eating programmes made, particularly led by channel 4 with for example Jamie Oliver’s School Dinners were, I guess, supposed to shock kids and adults into eating healthier, but it hasn’t worked. Some parents actually rebelled by selling school children greasy chips and I’m sure many people have resorted back to the chicken nuggets made up of all the chicken leftovers.

So a lot of the blame should lie with parents who do need educating. The government can help but it is not solely their responsible because they can’t force people to do what they want (Although they may try).

The costs of obesity reached about £7bn in 2002 due to health care costs and loss of earnings because of health related problems. I’m not sure what the statistics are today but I’m sure it has increased.

I haven’t read the recommendations but I hear that the government plan to implement some kind of strategy to reduce the majority of those obese by 2050. Obesity is a problem for us all, let’s just hope it doesn’t escalate any further…

Britain’s immigration muddle

An interesting read…Comment is Free

Ming the Merciless calls it quits

Sir Menzies Campbell or as I prefer to call him Ming like in the comic strip Flash Gordon, as Gordon’s archenemy Ming the Merciless, evil ruler of Mongo. It’s quite fitting actually, because once again Ming has been defeated.

It was inevitable. The amount of opposition he was facing I’m in no way surprised that he handed in his resignation. His own party members turned against him, rampant vultures, pecking at every move he made, no wonder he gave up. It’s blatantly obvious that he would have stayed as the party leader if it wasn’t for that.

Anyway, enough of the comic strip analogy, Ming is far from evil in my opinion and from what I’ve seen on television debates he seems quite aware of what is happening in our communities and the “politics” apparent with politicians in both the Labour Party and Tory party.

But his reign crumbled at its roots. The mini mutiny that took place within the Lib Dem Party, with party members arguing that Ming was not the right person to continue leading their party but what they really meant to say was that he was too old – too traditional to be the Party leader.

Of course from the party standards his experience and insight count for nothing, it seems as though they feel that a younger, fresher face would perhaps bring the party back to being a real opposition – it did achieve a slight bounce up during the aftermath of the Iraq war but they failed to draw on that and ever since they’ve been sitting very quietly on the sidelines.

I see Ming as a very good politician but he doesn’t have the appeal that his predecessors have had, which is a shame. It looks likely that now party members have got their way they plan to get a media savvy “wannbe” opportunist leader in his place.

Good Ol’ Desmond’s

I love this intro and the series itself – it summed up the African Caribbean experience of those who came to England, plus the first and second generation born here. It had to be one of the funniest comedies on television of that time.

I suppose you could say it was our version of The Cosby’s, but I did relate to Desmond’s more because it was targeted to regular working class families in England.

A show famously centered around a barbershop about the people who lived there, worked there and visited it. The peculiar regulars who never came in to get their hair cut were the main attractions. The banter between Micheal (The African proverbial King) and Porkpie (The irate man who loved to complain) were some of the highlights of Desmond’s for me.

Not forgetting Desmond the main star of the show, his wife and kids. Everything about the show was a picture of how inner-city communities looked and felt.

So I’m pleased they’ve brought it back to tv, although I can’t watch it because it’s on the cable station Trouble! But at least I can buy it on DVD.

Trix Worrell is the great writer behind the show and I think he even wrote for a few shows on The Cosby’s. Nothing has matched the quality that the show possessed. Its successors have failed to reach that success, some such as The Crouches which was an abysmal stereotypical comedy which unsuccessfully captured the attention of audiences.