OPPOSITION to the Asylum and Immigration Bill and the governments slashing of benefits for asylum seekers is growing.
Local campaign have been formed in most major cities. Public meetings have been or. ganised and large numbers of coaches have been hired to take people to the national demon. stration on February 24.
Local groups such as the one in Peckham in South East London are monitoring the effects of the benefit cuts and are demanding that the local council should give support i relugees are thrown on to the street. Like other labour authorities, the council has so only said that it will not evict people who lose benefit and go into arrears.
In Islington on February 5, came into effect, children of relugees and their friends protested in a vigil outside of the town hall.
The following evening a public meeting sponsored by several local anti-racist groups took Speakers included Jeremy cordyn MP and shadow social security spokesman, Chris Smith, who stopped short of say. ing that a future Labour govern. ment would re-instate the Mohammed Sekkoum of the Algerian Refugee Council said that the fate of Algerian asylum seckers in Britain was being determined by a trade deal in which Chirac had given John Ma. jor and British Petroleum a slice of the cake in a contract for oil.
Jeremy Corbyn said that Brit. ain had never been the safe haven it claimed to be.
Successive governments, including Labour ones had failed asylum seekers and introduced racist immigration legislation, added the Labour MP.
Corbyn stressed the impor tance of the campaign and said that everyone should be at the demonstration on Saturday February 24.
Brlan Gardner
Socialist Outlook 97 • February 17, 1996.