As @UnisNotBorders approaches another yr of organising during the Covid pandemic, we want to share highlights of what we've done in 2021 & what we hope to accomplish approaching our 6th yr of advocating for migrant university staff & students against #HostileEnvironment.
January 20201
@UnisNotBorders kept the pressure by amplifying in @FT the how UK universities were putting migrant student into destitution & how #NRPF, #HostileEnvironment & marketised higher education are all harming migrant students during pandemic: ft.com/content/3ab6be…
Emma Hardy invited @UnisNotBorders to a meeting on the 9th March, but we declined b/c she failed to answer our letter. Hardy blocked us on @Twitter for calling attention to her hypocritical attitude re-migrant students. Full details here: unisresistbordercontrols.org.uk/2021/03/11/emm…
April 2021
@UnisNotBorders supported @infogamerist to remain in the UK & gathered support on the ground from @ucu in addition to organising a letter sent to @pritipatel & @NicolaSturgeon receiving 400+ signatures. Diane & her partner were able to successfully remain in the UK
May 2021
During the 2nd year of the pandemic, @UnisNotBorders continued to give online workshops, such as this one we facilitated on the #HostileEnvironment & marketised higher education concerning migrant staff & students, hosted by both @UEA_UCU & @UnionUEA on the 18 May.
June 2021
@UnisNotBorders facilitated a session at the @BorderAbolition two day conference to discuss how precarious migrant-led organisers can protect themselves & their voices within academic, media, & NGO spaces.
July 2021
@UnisNotBorders took a two month break from non-urgent casework after non-stop organising without a period of rest since the beginning of the Covid pandemic in the UK.
August 2021
@UnisNotBorders interrupted our rest break & set up the #CheveningCorrupt Twitter Storm addressing the deplorable manner Afghan @CheveningFCDO were being treated by the UK gov. We demanded that their scholarships resume & that their families be allowed into the UK.
During the pandemic we continued to support migrant students & staff with our on-going casework support as we have been doing since the start of @UnisNotBorders in 2016.
For 2022 we have major hurdles; the first being the Nationality and Borders Bill, that will make the lives of all migrants (documented, undocumented, & asylum seekers) even more precarious.
We look forward to working with migrant-led & migrant unions in stopping the bill.
The other hurdle is stopping the intensification of border controls via the #HostileEnvironment within UK unis.
In 2018 we found that 51% of uni staff & students didn't understand how border controls operate in their unis.
Knowledge is power- contact us for a workshop.
Everyone @UnisNotBorders wishes our supporters a safe & healthy 2022 🎉. Please continue to 😷& remember to ventilate your office & other shared communal spaces to prevent the spread of Omicron.
Remember to keep that 🔥 in your belly & turn rage into transformative actions.
While the VC enjoys his Christmas, @UnisNotBorders has been assisting @USSU International Student Officer, @caituee on cases of migrant student homelessness @SussexUni. These cases are part of systemic issues including #HostileEnvironment + marketised higher education.
Student A is a migrant postgrad @SussexUni with their family (partner & 3 children). They arrived in October 2021 & since, have been moving from short-term let to another w/o any stable, long-term housing. Student A & their family's mental & physical health are deteriorating.
Student A's children have not been able to enroll in school since coming to the UK because of a lack of stable housing. Student A's has been so focused on finding housing that they can't focus on their coursework.
There have been a lot of superficial discussions re- clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill which seeks to remove British citizenship without notice.
What isn't being discussed is clause 9 relation to extending UK's counter-terrorism/War on Terror laws.
Firstly, clause 9 didn't come out of nowhere. During the early days of the War on Terror, @UKLabour included the deprivation of British nationality section to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.
The deprivation of British nationality within the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 meant that if a British-dual national committed acts that seriously prejudiced the interests of the UK and it's overseas territories that their British citizenship would be revoked.