Join us today!
Printable version
Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/481/2267
From The Socialist newspaper, 4 April 2007
Leicester protesters challenge Home Office
A LIVELY and very tuneful demonstration of the Congolese community took place in Leicester on 28 March protesting at deportations of Congolese asylum seekers back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Steve Score Leicester
The march, supported by Leicester Civil Rights Movement, Leicester Socialist Party and Leicester University Socialist Students, was one of seven taking place around the country.
In recent elections, Western-backed Joseph Kabila came to power in the DRC. It's claimed that this heralds a "new period of peace". But following a horrific war that saw the deaths of four million people since 1998, Congo is still not safe for the return of refugees. Last week clashes between government forces and opposition militias resulted in 600 dead.
Chairman of the Leicestershire Congo Community Association, Pastor Desire Mutumba said: "We have reports that people who have been sent back to Congo have been visited at night by the secret service, taken to prison, tortured and treated in the most inhuman way you can imagine. They say 'you are traitors who fled the country'."
A Home Office official report on the DRC says there is no risk to failed asylum seekers forcibly returned to Kinshasa, but there is to be a Country Guidance Tribunal to challenge this.
Congo's vast mineral wealth continues to be exploited for the profit of rich multinationals whilst its population live in poverty.
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 4 April 2007:
Children suffer in low pay Britain
Socialist Party editorial
Iran - Sailors fall victim to imperialist policies
Socialist Party news and analysis
Blair: No solutions to crime or crowded prisons
Waltham Forest protest - more memorable than Prince Charles!
Commemorating the abolition of the slave trade
Socialist Party reviews
Education
Take national action to defend education
Labour's market policies damage education
Privilege and privation in our schools
NUS leadership abandon fees fight
PCS takes industrial action
London strikers close passport office
PCS members take industrial action
Campaign for a New Workers Party
How to stop the BNP: Build a political alternative
Campaign for a New Workers' Party
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Ammanford home care workers march
Asylum
Leicester protesters challenge Home Office
Workplace news and analysis
Trade union leaders heckled over inaction
Action needed as Ford bosses close Leamington plant
Greenwich: "We've got to strike"
Burslem postal workers strike again
Northern Ireland
British government and local parties retreat on water charges
Home | The Socialist 4 April 2007 | Join the Socialist Party
2020