Campaigns

Asylum/Group 4
The planned closure of Campsfield Immigration Detention Centre near Oxford is clearly a victory for years of tireless campaigning inside and out, but the disturbances and devastating fire at Yarl's Wood the following week clearly demonstrate that only the spin has changed in the government's policy of locking people up indefinitely without charge or trial for the heinous crime of moving around.
As well as calling for the closure of Campsfield (and an end to all immigration detention) campaigners have always highlighted the inhuman conditions inside what is effectively a prison. These include: bad and scarcely adequate food (at the time of the protests inside Campsfield in 1997, the detainees complained of meals that sometimes consisted of nothing but plain boiled rice); almost non-existent healthcare ('take two paracetomol and go to bed'); stupid, petty rules and conditions (blu-tak is banned in Campsfield, and every fifteen minutes fire procedures are broadcast over the PA into every room); and above all, contempt and racism from the guards, who were found to have lied in court and deliberately framed detainees during the 'Campsfield 9' trial following the disturbances in 1997. But all this is over, surely?
Not at all. The private company that runs Campsfield, Group 4, also runs Yarl's Wood. The regimes appear similar- the disturbances were allegedly sparked off after detainees objected to an elderly woman being handcuffed before being taken to hospital (she had been requesting medical treatment for three days). Emma Ginn, from the Campaign to 'Stop Arbitrary Detentions at Yarl's Wood,' said: 'since the camp opened there have been daily complaints about the delays in access to medical treatment and delays in moving people to hospital. There have also been complaints about limited association times - bad food - delay of incoming phone calls - use of handcuffs when detainees are taken to court, the dentists, or to hospital - unequal distribution of a weekly £2 telephone card to all detainees - neither detainees or visitor are allowed pen and paper during visits - childrens' access to education very poor.' It is worth remembering that food, healthcare and education in the camp are paid for by Group 4 - hardly surprising they pay as little as they can get away with, when any savings go straight into their profits.
Group 4 and their low-pay, low-brain staffing policy is certainly to blame for the atmosphere at the centre. It must also be held responsible for leaving detainees, including a woman with a two-month-old baby, stood outside for several hours in sub-zero temperatures on the night of the fire, and for not giving out adequate information for friends, family and lawyers concerned about detainees after the fire. However, the blame for their being there in the first place must rest with the government, as must responsibility for the absence of a sprinkler system in the timber-framed building, despite one being recommended by the local fire service when the camp was under construction.
The closure of Campsfield is a step forward in the struggle for human rights for asylum seekers, but it will take more than that to convince the government to put human life and human dignity ahead of private companies' profits.
Contact: Campaign Against Arbitrary Detention, Emma Ginn 0778 6517379

Hackney NOT 4 Sale!
The people of Hackney are still struggling against massive cuts and wholesale privatisation in the face of fudge from the local and national government.
Central government has agreed a £25m grant to the council in exchange for 10% increase in council tax and £13m in cuts in 2002-3 alone. While some small victories have been won - for example Marcon Court Community Hall will now not be sold after campaigning by the local tenants and residents association, and some park services have been saved - battles are still going on over selling off housing and other property; nursery and library closures; cuts to workers' pay and conditions; massive damage to youth and elderly people's services; and most recently attempts to cut back travel passes for disabled people.
Hackney's situation is in effect a microcosm of the Third World debt problem - the borough has to pay £75m on debts with the Public Works Lending Board in Whitehall resulting from mismanagement by previous administrations. As a result, essential services are being cut and resources (mainly buildings and land, in Hackney's case, rather than minerals or forest as in the South) being sold off to the private sector to bring in cash. Also, the dire situation leaves the administration's economic policy at the mercy of its creditors' whims - here as in Africa or Latin America, this means privatisation, public sector pay cuts (for the masses, of course, not the bosses) and service cuts to fund debt repayments. The government could arrange debt relief in order to save services for the poor of Hackney, but that would upset the financial markets who expect a nice return on their government bonds…
None of this exonerates Hackney Council, however. For example, they were responsible for the disastrous deal outsourcing housing benefit provision to private company ITNet in 1997, which left the council with a bill of around £38m (mainly from errors and overpayments) when the contract was finally terminated last April. It is unlikely that Hackney Council will be able to regain any of this money from ITNet through the courts. In the meantime, ITNet built up a backlog of over 120,000 backlogged items of correspondence, housing benefit claims were taking months to process and unknown numbers of people lost their homes in the private sector. The scale of the cock-up even led to speculation that it was part of a plan to gentrify Hackney by forcing out the poor, since some of those losing out would inevitably leave the area. To add insult to injury, ITNet recently reported annual profits of £12.6m.
Contact: Hackney Not 4 Sale!
Box 7 136-138 Kingsland High St. London E8 2NS Tel: 07950 539 254 email: hackneynot4sale@yahoo.com

Genetix RoundUp™

Canadian Farmers Sue Monsanto and Aventis
Canadian organic farmers have launched a class action lawsuit against Monsanto and Aventis CropScience (now owned by Bayer) to seek compensation for damages caused by their genetically engineered canola (oilseed rape) and to obtain an injunction to stop the introduction of genetically engineered wheat by Monsanto.

Bayer Blockaded
On 24th January, as German multinational Bayer launched on the New York Stock Exchange, activists blockaded its UK headquarters in order to highlight Bayer's status as Europe's biggest GM crop company, following their takeover of Aventis CropScience.
At dawn, a group of over forty people arrived at the Bayer complex in Newbury. Using tripods and lock-on arm tubes they blocked car entrances to the HQ and later a number of the building's doorways. Several others briefly occupied part of the offices. Workers were unable to enter the Bayer multistorey car park and many were prevented from reaching their desks. After a blockade of the site lasting over three hours, activists left peacefully with no arrests. Bayer is in the process of acquiring Aventis' GM crop interests. The majority of crop trials in the UK this year will be run by them.
For more info on Bayer check out the protesters' website at: www.bayerhazard.com. The Corporate Watch profile of Bayer will be available on our website soon.