As part of our ongoing conversation series LGSM Learns and to mark LGBT History month, we will be discussing criminalisation and deportations at this special event.
When: Thursday 04th February 2021 - 18.30-19.30
Where: Zoom - the link will be sent on the day. Make sure you register to receive it.
Price: Free
The experiences of being criminalised, of being told we are ‘illegal’, is part of the history of the LGBTQ+ community.
Today, it is migrants who are criminalised, detained, deemed ‘illegal’. This has only become more violent with the Covid 19 pandemic, heightened policing of communities of colour, and continuing detention and deportation of migrants regardless of the risk of infection.
Most recently, the Tory government has proposed cutting the minimum prison sentence required to trigger deportation from 12 months to 6 months, ramping up their attacks on already marginalised communities. It’s more urgent than ever to challenge these racist mobilisations of “criminality”.
LGSMigrants exists as a solidarity group because this history of criminalisation unites queer people with migrants, refugees, and all groups at the sharp end of government oppression. We do not exist in mutually exclusive communities; our struggle must be intersectional and coalitional.
How can abolitionist politics help us to dismantle these violent processes of racist criminalisation and detention? Join us with a panel of activists to find out what is happening right now and what we can do to offer solidarity and support.
Speakers will include:
- Mary, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)
JCWI has campaigned for justice in immigration, nationality & asylum law since 1967. They undertake policy work, campaigning and direct legal advice and assistance on asylum and immigration matters.
- Hajera, Abolitionist Futures
Abolitionist Futures is a collaboration of community organisers and activists in Britain and Ireland who are working together to build a future without prisons, police and punishment.
- Catherine, SOAS Detainee Support (SDS)
SOAS Detainee Support attempts to break the isolation of immigration detention, and supports people to take control of their cases and resist their imprisonment and deportation.
About LGSM Learns:
LGSMigrants are hosting an ongoing conversation series with different groups and organisations relating to migrant and refugee rights, activism and solidarity, to find out what is happening and how we, as groups or individuals, can act in solidarity.
Safer Spaces Agreement:
By attending our events, you agree to our Safer Spaces Agreement. The basic tenet is respect. LGSMigrants is committed to making our events as safe as possible, whilst recognising that it’s not possible to create spaces that are completely safe for everyone.
- Respect each other (our backgrounds, identities, ideas and bodies) and respect the spaces we create together and are part of.
- Everyone has an equal right to be heard and an equal responsibility to listen – be aware of how people might express themselves differently to you.
- However strongly you feel about a particular topic, abuse is never tolerated. Respect other people’s right to speak.
- Any behaviour that demeans, marginalises or dominates others, or perpetuates hierarchies, is not welcome.- Identify your own privileges – the things that sometimes give you an easier ride than others – and try to be aware of them.
- Be aware of the range of people’s identities (gender, race, class) and avoid making generalisations or assumptions about people.
- Be aware that anyone in the space could be a survivor of a particular form of oppression, for example, violence or racism.
- If someone is feeling uncomfortable, do not hesitate to raise this.
- It is everyone’s responsibility to challenge prejudice and oppression, and if we ignore it we are complicit in it.