Tag Archives: Stansted 15

APOLOGIES FOR DISRUPTING YOUR SERVICE, WE WERE SAVING LIVES

The ‘Stansted 15’, a group of peaceful protesters who include former LUSU President Laura Clayson, have been found guilty by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court under the little-used Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990 of disrupting the services of an aerodrome, ‘in such a way as to endanger or be likely to endanger the safe operation of the aerodrome or the safety of persons at the aerodrome.’ Sentencing has been set for the week commencing 4 February and the maximum sentence is imprisonment for life.

As reported in subtext 181, and expanded on by Chris Witter (see letters, below), their ‘crime’ was to disrupt the deportation of undocumented immigrants, many of whom may face persecution or worse in their countries of origin, via charter flights. Thanks to their intervention, 11 people who would have been deported are still in the UK, challenging their withdrawal. The legislation used to prosecute the Stansted 15 was drafted to protect civil aviation in the UK from terrorists, but – unless the group wins their appeal – could now be used more widely to suppress non-violent protest.

This week’s Lancaster Guardian carries an interview with Laura Clayson, who claims that the 15 ‘are guilty of nothing more than intervening to prevent harm’:

https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/history-will-vindicate-us-says-ex-lancaster-uni-student-found-guilty-of-terror-charges-1-9490992

A demonstration, to ‘Stand with the #Stansted15 for International Migrants Day’, is planned for Tuesday 18 December in Lancaster. Details at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/308318683356062/

LETTERS

Dear subtext,

Many thanks for your recent focus on opposing racism and fascism on campus.

In relation to this, we cannot do enough to highlight the grave injustice that is the prosecution of the ‘Stansted 15’ for taking courageous direct action to halt charter flight deportations – a despicable and legally dubious practice that directly endangers the lives of deportees. For the crime of acting in defence of human rights and taking on Theresa May’s beloved ‘hostile environment’, these brave people are being charged with ‘Endangerment of an Aerodrome’, contrary to section 1(2)(b) of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, which is a very serious charge carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. This has prompted Amnesty International to express ‘serious concern’:

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/stansted-15-amnesty-observe-trial-amid-concerns-anti-deportation-activists

It is worth noting that Laura Clayson, former LUSU President, is one of those facing prosecution. I’m sure many on campus will still remember this very popular, principled, energetic young woman. They may also remember that she was, in all probability, reported to police by the University for holding ‘extremist views’ – namely, that bombing Palestine and fracking should be opposed:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/02/anti-terror-bill-making-radical-ideas-crime-campus

(Following the mandatory ‘Prevent’ training, I’m given to understand that labelling your left-wing students ‘extremists’ is a practice officially known as ‘safeguarding’…)

For those who desperately want to oppose the upward surge of racism and fascistic ideas in recent years, here is an opportunity: there are many positive things that can be done to support the Stansted 15 in opposing racist Home Office policies, including writing to MPs, letters to the press and donations to support the Stansted 15 and their cause.

More information on this can be found here:

http://enddeportations.com/category/stansted-trial/

https://www.facebook.com/EDeportations/

https://chuffed.org/project/end-deportations-charter-flight-action-trial-related-costs

In solidarity,

Chris Witter

***

Dear subtext,

There must be a group of people who when they hear/see/read the name Mark E Smith automatically think of our esteemed Vice Chancellor. Within this assembly of folk, there will be some who read the New Statesman. This particular weekly journal has a regular slot where a subscriber is invited to select whom they would like to see on the cover of the New Statesman. Imagine how perplexed and concerned (or elated) the said group of people were, when perusing a recent (9-15th November 2018) edition, to discover that Fergal Kinney of Hackney, East London had chosen Mark E Smith.

Yours,

Ian Paylor

***

Dear subtext,

I feel like wading in somewhat on the white t-shirt issue that’s been plastered all over the news. Honestly I’m a little disappointed that some drunken idiots trolling for reactions has caused such an uproar while more physical safety concerns have ended up being swept under the carpet.

In my fresher’s week, someone I was living with was displaying outright predatory behaviour towards myself and at least two other girls, and though we all complained nothing was done and we got to feel unsafe in our accommodation for the rest of the year. I know someone else (also female) who was the victim of a physical attack by a male student and to my knowledge, no action was ever taken against the perpetrator.

I can’t help feeling like the University cares more about maintaining an illusion of safety, than actually making the University safe.

Name supplied

CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: GROUNDED

Former LUSU President, Laura Clayson, stands on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court with fourteen other defendants charged with ‘terrorism related charges’; ‘endangering an airport’. The group known as the Stansted 15 are facing potential life sentences after grounding a charter flight on which 57 people were being deported to Nigeria and Ghana. Many of those on board have since been granted leave to remain through legal challenges to their deportations.

Many of the activists are affiliated with the End Deportations Now movement, which aims to stop the inhumane practice of deporting people at a moment’s notice to potentially unfamiliar and unsafe places – places that, as recent press stories have highlighted, they may have never even seen as an adult. The deportees are often asylum seekers, many of whom have fled dangerous and hopeless situations and have built a life in the UK. Many people consider the deportation of these people a violation of human rights and a number of organisations, including Amnesty International, are calling for an end to the practice. Amnesty consider the Stanstead 15’s charges to be political in nature and are monitoring their case. (https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/stansted-15-amnesty-observe-trial-amid-concerns-anti-deportation-activists)

Although it may seem that the charges against the defendants are disproportionate and thus unlikely to hold, the recent case of the Frack Free Four, three of whom were sentenced to fifteen or sixteen months each in prison for non-violent direct action, sets a scary precedent for harsh and extreme sentencing of peaceful protesters. One hopes the case in question does not follow suit. In a democracy much shaped by positive social changes brought about by peaceful protest, these recent rulings are an unwelcome insight into the current attitude of the justice system. The ‘hostile environment’ which Theresa May initiated for people from outside the UK now extends to their defenders and peaceful protesters in general. To tar these protesters with the brush of terrorism and threaten them with life imprisonment is absurd and cruel. As one of Laura’s friends observed: ‘Can you think of anyone less akin to a terrorist? The lass vomits unicorns and rainbows.’

The Stansted 15’s trial started on Monday 1st October and is scheduled to last six weeks. You can find out more about the End Deportations Now movement, and keep up to date with the trial via http://enddeportations.com/. Please show your support by sending messages of solidarity to End Deportations Now, contacting your MP (e.g. was anyone from the Windrush generation on board?) and spreading the word about the #stansted15 on social media. Please send solidarity messages to the 15 at enddeportations@riseup.net.

Read about the Frack Free Four here: https://reclaimthepower.org.uk/news/support-the-frack-free-four/