OVER ANY 12-month period, more than 10,000 people go through the immigration detention system as Britain tightens up its immigration and asylum policies as part of 'Fortress Europe'.
Nowhere is more symbolic of this state racism than the purpose-built detention centre at Kidlington, near Oxford.
Opened last December, the purpose behind Campsfield was dramatically revealed when hundreds of Jamaican visitors were detained over Christmas, most of them being taken straight from the airport to Kidlington.
Since 1988 the number of people deported from Britain has doubled to more than 5000 a year. Mass arrests of 'illegal' immigrants are being compounded by harsh new measures against asylum seekers.
Asylum seekers already in the country are now automatically treated as illegal entrants' and liable to be detained.
Suspicion of 'overstaying' is being used as the new 'Sus' law. It is now very comnis Skinner • Dawn Primarolo mon for black people to be stopped and taken into custody, and even detained for several days if they cannot provide immediate proof of identity.
The situation of detainees as Campsfield and other prisons and detention centres is often harrowing. People can be locked up for anything from a few days to 18 months.
Often no one knows where they are, and the detainees, many of who do not speak English, have little information of how their case is progressing or when they are likely to be released.
Hunger strikes
In March detainees in several centres went on hunger strike in protest against these conditions. The detainees are Britain's forgotten prisoners.
Over the past two years we have seen a big rise in the fight against fascism and racist attacks. This is as it should be. But that work must be complemented by confronting state racism and by taking up the difficult fight of winning support in the labour and FULL movement for opposition to racist immigration controls and asylum laws.
The June 4 demonstration Campfield detainees cheer on protestors outside the Kidlington centre takes place exactly six months after the opening of Campsfield. Support has already come from a wide MARCH to rally 2pm at the gates of CAMPSFIELD detention centre SPEAKERS include JEREMY CORBYN MP, MARC WADSWORTH (ARA), BOB PURKISS, chair TUC race relations committee, MOHAMMED IDRISH STOP the detentions and deportations!
Asylum is a human right! range of organisations including ARA, Southern Region UNISON, South East Region TUC and Oxford TUC.
DEMONSTRATE for Britain's Forgotten Prisoners! JUNE 4, 1994 (feeder march leaves St Giles, Oxford at 10.30am)