Econometrician by trade, asylum seeker by necessity, deported by a racist government.

I remember last summer sitting out on my front wall . Camara would walk past several times a day on his way to pray. We would exchange greetings and smiles, share news and reflections on the workshops we did together. Gentle exploratory steps to build trust and friendship.

What name can I give to that moment when anothers life becomes bound up in your own?

A year later I sit on another wall. A faded red painted wall outside the Bristol Central Mosque. Camara and his friends would sit here socialising after prayers. I often waved and exchanged greetings as I passed by.

I pass by today and Camara is not there. I stop and sit on the wall. Tears come quickly. Camara is gone. Disappeared. Deported.

His full name is Koniagi Camara. He is from the Gambia. Econometrician by trade, asylum seeker by necessity.

On the 18^th July he was detained while signing at Trinity police station. Many people have to sign at police stations and reporting centres around the country because of their immigration status and at any point are at risk of being detained and deported.

That evening I strapped a giant heavy suitcase on the back of my bicycle and wobbled his paperwork related to his asylum case over to the police station. He did not get to see a duty solicitor until a week after he was detained and then this duty solicitor did nothing.

I also took him a new pair of shoes as he had been on his way to get some new shoes as his old ones were damaged. That's what detention is. Ripping people out of their lives with no warning. This is violent.

We have spoken daily since his detention. His voice comes filtered through the impacts of barbed wire, air less rooms and fear. He is in Colnbrook Detention Centre with removal directions for last Saturday.

 

Camara's strength has been a source of inspiration for me, with much of his strength coming from his Muslim faith. Fear, anxiety, anger doesn't dominate him yet they are all present.

Despite much effort, we did not have enough time to stop his deportation. We spoke as he was in the car on the way to the airport. He was full of love for all the people who had stood by him against this injustice.

The government appears to go out of its way to create a dehumanising and traumatic system for aslyum seekers. This needs to be challenged and changed. I thought to ask what a humane and dignified asylum system would look like, yet then I think maybe we are creating it. A grassroots popular system of welcome based on solidarity and needs, and a recognition of the impact of colonialism and neocolonialism on migration.

I don't sleep much on Saturday night. His phone is switched off. At 8.30am it starts to ring. A foreign sounding ring. He is gone.

Yes to Life, No to the Mine - Si a la Vida No a la Mina

(vea abajo por el español)
I wanted to write some poetry, I wanted to write some lyrical words, and what I seem to have written is anger and outrage manifested in these words. No apologies, just a heads up.

I walk through Belgrave, central London. It is a neighbourhood for the super rich, a neighbourhood build on the wealth of British colonialism and this wealth taken through a violent history of genocide, trickery and exploitation has never been returned.

Belgrave hits the human spirit hard. My eyes take in the white mansions and bullet proof 4x4's and the message that global wealth continues to be concentrated in central london. The tough lives of friends and unknown friends in Colombia and elsewhere are shaped by this power that resides in central London. I feel a combination of small, sick, angry and determined.

Thousands of miles away people are just waking up, excited and anxious. In a few hours time 12,000 people will be taking to the streets in the Colombian city of Ibague in the “Carnival for the Defense of Life”.

AngloGold Ashanti has been given the go ahead to open what will be – if we don't stop them – the largest opencast gold mine in South America. They are the third largest gold mining multinational in the world, and became so due to their history of getting rich by colonialsim in Africa. The city of London invests and profits from their mines.

From school kids to elderly people, 12,000 will fill the streets with a clear unequivocal united view “We want water, we want to live, Anglo Gold Ashanti leave this country in peace.”

Six hours earlier we are shouting the same words in the heart of the beast of capitalism. “We want water, we want to live, Anglo Gold Ashanti leave Colombia in peace.” Words break the silence of the fake peace of London. Words stretch across time and space, united in our sense of horror of what peoples lands would become if the mine goes ahead.

People are opposed to the mine as it will cause destruction to their environment – water, biodiversity, land - on which their lives in the region depend. The Colombia Solidarity Campaign have just published a great report "the Quest for El Dorado in Cajamarca".

A friend on the London demo had just returned from the Lake district and the reality of what La Colosa opencast gold mine means is made real by imagining gold being found in our beautiful lake district. Mountains removed to dig it out, huge slag heaps and contamination of Liverpool's and Manchesters water supplies with cianide. Would this be acceptable? Would Mancurians be expected to suffer so that others could profit? Is it that it is not in some peoples land but it is ok in someone elses?

Our silence on these questions could be their death toll. Silence is complicity in murder. And i don't use these words lightly. Pause. Stop, please consider them a moment.

Please consider this for a moment.

In Colombia 24,000,000 hectares of land are under threat of being mined. 

Protected areas and mining requests

The area in red is equivalent to the size of the UK.

I personally struggle to believe this, it seems beyond comprehension. I don't want to believe this. but it is fact.  My words seem pathetically insignificant yet my totally necessary. 

Where will people live? What will they eat? What air will they breathe? What will they drink?

Much of the investment that is driving this mining boom comes from London and the money made from this mining will flow back in to the city of London.

Meanwhile the poor and landless on our own island are being told to accept the privatisation of what little common resources we have left, such as libraries and the NHS, because the country is skint. This morning at work I was told that I have to cut an elderly disabled womans morning visit by a carer by half because there is a crisis and "we need to save money". This is a lie. It is a lie with brutal consequences for people. We are being told we need to save money so that those with capital can take even more. 

Colombians are being told they need to accept the privatisation of their gold. We are being told we need to accept the privatisation of our health care system.

A torrent of justifications are thrown at us, creating an ideology that convinces us that the only option is the privatisation of our common resources. It is not the only options. 

12,000 Colombians showed us it is not the only option. People came out on the street on Ibague on Friday shouting "Yes to life, no to the mine". 

Lets join them with our own twist relevent to our situation. 

 "yes to life, no to the mining of our NHS and welfare system for private profit."

Si a la Vida, No a la Mina

Quería escribir algo de poesía,  quería escribir algunas palabras lírica, y lo que me parece que he escrito es la ira y la indignación manifiestada en estas palabras.

Camino por Belgrave en el centro de Londres. Es un barrio de los súper ricos, un barrio construido por la riqueza del colonialismo británico, una riqueza tomada a través de una historia violenta de genocidio, el engaño y la explotación. Es una riqueza que nunca ha sido devuelto.

Belgrave golpea duro el espiritu de humanidad . A mis ojos observan las mansiones blancas y 4x4 blindados y la mensaje visual de que la riqueza del mundo sigue concentrada en el centro de Londres. La vida dura de las amigos y muchos compañeras en Colombia y en otros lugares se forman por este poder que reside en el centro de Londres. Me siento una combinación de ser pequeños, enojados y decididos.

Miles de kilómetros de distancia la gente está despertando, emocionados y ansiosos. En pocas horas 12.000 personas se tomarán a las calles en la ciudad colombiana de Ibagué en el "Carnaval para la Defensa de la Vida".

AngloGold Ashanti ha dado luz verde para abrir lo que será - si no se lo impidamos - la mina a cielo abierto de oro más grande de América del Sur. Se trata de la tercera mas grande multinacional de de oro en el mundo, y fue así debido a su historia de hacerse rico por el colonialismo en África. El centro financiero de Londres invierte y saca las ganancias de sus minas.

Desde niños a personas mayores, 12.000 se llenarán a las calles con una perspectiva unida "Queremos agua, queremos vivir, Anglo Gold Ashanti salir de este país en paz."

Seis horas antes, estamos gritando las mismas palabras en el corazón de la bestia del capitalismo. "Queremos agua, queremos vivir, Anglo Gold Ashanti salir de Colombia en paz." Las palabras rompen el silencio de la falsa paz de Londres. Las palabras se extienden a través del tiempo y el espacio, unidos en nuestra sensación de horror de lo que pasaría al territorio de Cajamarca si la mina sigue adelante.

Las personas se oponen a la mina, ya que causará la destrucción de su medio ambiente - el agua, la biodiversidad, la tierra - en el que la vida en la región dependen. La Campaña de Solidaridad con Colombia acaba de publicar un informe "la búsqueda de El Dorado en Cajamarca".

Un amigo en la demostración de Londres acababa de regresar de la región de los Lagos en el norte de Inglaterra y la realidad de lo que La Colosa significaría se haga mas real imaginando si el oro se encuentra en nuestro region de lagos tan hermoso . Montañas destruidas para cavar, enormes montones de escoria y la contaminación con Cianide del agua de las ciudades de Liverpool y de Manchester ¿Sería esto aceptable? La gente de Manchester se debe sufrir para que unos pocos podrían beneficiarse? ¿Es que no esta bien en algunos pueblos de la tierra, pero está bien en otros? Será eso una postura racista?

Nuestro silencio sobre estas cuestiones podría costar la vida de gente. El silencio es complicidad en el asesinato. Y yo no uso estas palabras a la ligera. Pausa. Pare, por favor considere por un momento.

Por favor, considere esto por un momento.
En Colombia 24 millones de hectáreas de tierra están bajo amenaza de ser extraído.

El área en rojo es equivalente al tamaño del Reino Unido.

Personalmente me cuestra trabajo creer esto, parece más allá de la comprensión. No quiero creer que sea la verdad. pero es un hecho. Mis palabras parecen patéticamente insignificantes sin embargo totalmente necesario.

¿Dónde vivirá la gente? ¿Qué van a comer? ¿Qué aire respirarán? ¿Qué van a tomar?

Gran parte de la inversión que está impulsando este boom de la minería viene de Londres y el dinero obtenido de esta minera fluirá de nuevo a la zona financiero de Londres.

Mientras tanto, los pobres y los sin tierra en nuestra propia isla se les dice a aceptar la privatización de los recursos colectivos que nos queda, como las bibliotecas y el servicio nacional de salud. Dicen que el país está sin ni un peso.

Esta mañana en mi trabajo me dijeron que tengo que cortar el apoyo por una anciana discapacidatada a la mitad debido a que hay una crisis y "tenemos que ahorrar dinero". Esto es una mentira. Es una mentira brutal con consecuencias para muchas personas. Se nos está diciendo que tenemos que ahorrar dinero para que los que tienen el capital puede tener incluso más.
A los Colombianos se les dice que tienen que aceptar la privatización de su oro. Se nos está diciendo que tenemos que aceptar la privatización de nuestro sistema de salud.

Add caption

Un torrente de justificaciones se lanzan a nosotros, la creación de una ideología que nos convence de que la única opción es la privatización de nuestros recursos comunes. No es la única opción.

12.000 colombianos nos mostró que no es la única opción. La gente salió a la calle en Ibagué el viernes y gritaron "Sí a la vida, no a la mina".

Unamonos con nuestro propio toque pertinentes a nuestra situación.

 "Sí a la vida, no a la minería de nuestro sistema de salud ni el sistema de bienestar social por el beneficio privado".

altruism while ignoring our own oppressions

Joyce is a shortish women with piercing blues eyes. She pulls up a seat next to me at the meeting in the working mens social club. I read her clothes and accent, working class. We are here to talk about how to fight back to prevent the rich from taking the little that remains of peoples means of survival. We begin to get to know each other with hushed conversations reflecting on what the bigger group is talking about.

We are talking about the divide between rich and poor on this island. She focuses her reflection, not on material wealth, but on relationships across class and how we get divided by them. She says with clarity “I wouldn't like to be rich because then the poor wouldn't like me”. A desire to live in a classless society because only then can we relate to each other as humans.

She was here, not because of herself “I am doing ok, I have a roof and my pension, I am getting by, but I came here to support my friends” pointing to two people she had came in with. She echos a sentiment I heard often in Colombia. Young women at a workshop in La Vega, Catatumbo, tell us how they are ok and they want to help the people less well off than them.

What is this pattern of people choosing to play down their own oppressions, to think they are ok and to be altruistic all about?

The altruism is uplifting. Rather than “charity which hands down from above” what both Joyce and the Catatumbero women seems like an “altruism that reaches across with solidarity and empathy”, as equals.

Playing down their own oppressions is to accept daily reality as it is, it is to not risk anything for fear of disappointment, it is to fear hope itself.

To name oppression is to dream of changing it. I ask the question against.

What is this pattern of us choosing to play down our own oppressions, to think we are ok and to be altruistic all about?

She goes on to tell me that she works as a cleaner a few hours a day. It is not worth the money she is paid but she enjoys doing it. She likes making the place clean. It gets her out the house. Again she does not question the shit wages which you can barely survive off for doing such an important job but rather she focuses on taking pride in what she does. Amelia, from Ciudad Bolivar, Colombia said the same. While society fails to value the cleaning work that her and Joyce and millions of other women do around the world through mass exploitation, on an individual level they strive to live with dignity by valuing it for themselves.

She shows me how I too have also been trying to create meaning and value, to be satisfied withh the work I have been doing in Health and Social Care at the council. I get why we do this. But valueing what we do each day seems to easily turn in to being satisfied with how things are.

I hope that young women in Colombia while valueing their role of keeping their family home clean can demand respect for the work they do and continue to push the boundaries of what their social role is. I hope that Joyce while valuing her cleaning work can demand respect from society for the work she does, which would be minimally reflected in better wages, and can have the opportunity to get out of the house to do other fun things. 

I hope I can value my skills assessing elderly and disabled peoples personal care needs and set up the care and support they need to have a dignified life while dreaming of being able to do this in a work place where my work is not so tightly controlled and monitored, and where I am not pressured to “save money”, words if more truthful would say “save money for the rich”. I am dreaming of us demanding that peoples needs must shape social services budgets, not the other way round.

* names are changed as I did not ask if I could write about them.