The murder of Kurdish refugee Firsat Yildiz Dag in Sighthill has brought the debate on asylum seekers onto the streets of Glasgow. On August 25 a march of over 800 people from Sighthill took place under the slogans: "Sighthill united, against poverty, against racism. Asylum seekers welcome".
Amongst the demands is the call that money Glasgow Council received from the Government for receiving asylum seekers should be spent in regenerating Sighthill.
Firsat’s murder was one incident in a steadily rising stream of attacks on refugees throughout the city, especially in Sighthill. Such has been the fear amongst refugees that many have demanded to be relocated in London to escape the racist insults and attacks. In the aftermath of the murder, the Council has temporarily suspended locating refugees in Sighthill.
In the most appalling reaction to the murder, the Daily Record regurgitated Turkish Embassy propaganda claiming that Firsat was a bogus asylum seeker.
Their article seemed designed to justify racist attacks and exacerbate the feeling amongst the poor residents of Sighthill that refugees were getting special treatment. At the same time, the paper also came close to branding all residents of Sighthill racist.
The Record’s stance provoked criticism across the political spectrum. Its offices were picketed and its editor publicly isolated by other media figures on Scottish Newsnight. Whilst it did not apologise, the Record was forced to change its line to calling for more resources for Sighthill.
Sighthill is one of the poorest areas in Glasgow in a city with 7 of the 10 worst health areas in Britain. Sighthill is amongst them. The scheme has been run down over the past 20 years and used as a sink estate for the poor and homeless. It is completely cut off from amenities – most of the supermarkets have moved out while only off licenses and expensive small shops remain.
When the asylum dispersal programme was mooted, Glasgow city council responded quickly...
The city had thousands of empty houses, many likely to be demolished, all a drain on Council resources. The Council leaders saw the dispersal programme as a financial lifeline.
The Government would pay to have houses renovated which would mean work for Council building workers. School rolls would expand and local shopkeepers would have higher takings. The government would pay the rent
The Council’s enthusiasm was immediate – it did not consider the social consequences.
They had to identify the areas of the city in which the refugees would be housed. Officers considered not only vacancy levels but also the existing ethnic mix. The parts of the City which were chosen included Pollok-shaws and Pollokshields where refugees has been reasonably well integrated.
Sighthill had a large number of vacancies, but its ethnic population was largely Chinese. Officers indicated early in 2000 the problems that would arise from siting refugees in an impoverished area like Sighthill and that there would need to be support services and other resources put into the estate if this was going to work.
These recommendations were either vetoed or ignored by the council. Only now after the attacks and murder are similar proposals resurfacing.
Like everywhere else Glasgow suffered from the general chaos of the dispersal programme. People arrived at different times and different numbers than expected.
Practical problems result from this. Houses are made ready for a certain time: if no one arrives, the houses have to be shuttered up – otherwise it is likely to be stripped of all furnishings and fittings within a few hours.
Such was the chaos that Glasgow stopped the dispersal programme after a fortnight until better communications were established with London.
If communication with London was poor, Glasgow Council’s communication with its citizens was non existent.
Initially residents in Sighthill were told Kosovans were coming – which is what the council was itself told.
However when the government changed this plan, the council remained silent. Local people were given no information about what was going on in Iran or Kurdistan or Afghanistan.
Refugees from over 20 countries, speaking over 20 separate languages, were dumped in a relatively small scheme in Glasgow.
The Glasgow council translation service has no service in some of the relevant languages, and inadequate resources for others. The demand for its services has risen over 10 fold in the last year and it is not coping.
Police and social workers have been unable to communicate with many refugees and hence attacks were officially unreported. In practice the police had no presence in Sighthill (as in many schemes in Glasgow) and denied there was any problem until a stream of victims appeared in the national press.
Finally a series of community initiatives have been taken by the police, but they will only persist if they are closely monitored.
The major problem is the poverty and ignorance of the community. People saw flats being done up for people they knew nothing about while their houses remained in a state of disrepair.
And this took place in a situation where both the main political parties and the press were whipping up a witchhunt against supposedly bogus asylum seekers as freeloaders.
The Council has done nothing for existing residents, who have been demanding housing repairs for years. An essential demand has been for a community drop-in centre where people can meet – this has been refused on cost grounds for years. As in other schemes, youth gather in gangs and attack strangers. In Sighthill when they attack asylum seekers this appears, – indeed may be – racist.
The Scottish Socialist Party has always campaigned against the government’s dispersal policy. The SSP together with the SWP and others were instrumental in setting up the Glasgow committee to Welcome Refugees to provide practical support and raise awareness in the local communities that refugees were coming and to make them welcome.
This umbrella organisation has been at the forefront of campaigning on the issue and has linked with existing community and anti racist campaigns. As refugees became established in localities, more local campaigns were established which linked to community organisations.
In Sighthill the problems of poverty were identified early and taken up. With the attacks on refugees, the role of racism in the attacks came up. The police had identified a number of youth who were regularly attacking asylum seekers.
The Council decided that this was racial harassment, and decided to evict the mother of the youths. At a meeting with the local community the Campaign to Welcome Refugees including Tommy Sheridan were made aware of the real anger at the way the community was being treated by the Council and the ignorance about the real position of refugees.
By acting against one tenant, the Council was compounding its own lack of investment and education and would only foster racist reaction.
A campaign to unite the local residents and the refugees to demand improved facilities in Sighthill was established, Sighthill United. A letter opposing the eviction of the mother was sent to the Council and the press by Tommy Sheridan, Bill Speirs of the STUC and various anti racist campaigners.
These events preceded the murder and the BNP-related riots in England.
At the same time as these discussions were taking place, the BNP were beginning to organise. The BNP has had a presence in Scotland for some time and has in the past worked to involve Loyalists around Rangers and attack the Asian population in Govanhill.
They have been prevented from holding anything other than clandestine meetings for some years and in general have been prevented from open leafleting.
After their successes in England, the BNP threatened to hold a series of meetings in Scotland. A vigorous response by local activists including ANL and SSP members in Pollokshields saw 300 demonstrate at a few hours notice and saw the arrest of BNP leafleters. The meetings were called off.
The ANL were planning a series of meetings throughout Britain and included one in Glasgow. Unfortunately at this stage the murder of Firsat took place in Sighthill.
The ANL meeting had apparently been called without discussion within the SSP.The SSP had decided the emphasis of the response to the murder was to promote a campaign against the conditions leading to racism, poverty and ignorance – using the Sighthill United campaign. This took place in the context of the Record accusations that the whole of Sighthill was racist.
Then ANL posters went up around Sighthill with the slogan "No Return to the Holocaust". Leaders of the SSP were furious with the SWP, the main movers in the ANL.
They felt that since the SWP is also part of the SSP leadership, they should not be acting in a way which was in fact against party policy. Heated discussions took place within several Glasgow SSP branches and the West of Scotland Committee of the SSP and a resolution criticising the SWP platform was passed.
In the event the ANL meeting took place with representatives of the STUC and Tommy Sheridan speaking. The open airing of political differences (which were very small on matters of strategy, rather more so on tactics) has been seen as very beneficial.