UK

PMQs: Rishi Sunak fact checked yet again for misleading £900 tax cut claim

Those earning less than £26,000 a year will actually be worse off

Hannah Davenport 

Today

Left Foot Forward

The Prime Minister once again made a misleading statement during PMQs in which he claimed the government was cutting taxes by £900 for all working people, leading fact checkers to call him out.

Desperate to distract from the fact Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson oversaw the largest tax rises since World War Two, despite claiming to be the party of low taxes, Sunak has peddled the line that workers are set to be £900 better off soon.

He has previously made the claim on social media and during interviews to promote the government’s 2p cut to national insurance (NI) announced in Jeremy Hunt’s last Budget.

This is despite fact checkers repeatedly chastising the PM over the claim. Following PMQs today when Sunak announced “this week we’re cutting taxes by £900 for everyone in work”, the UK’s leading fact checkers Full Fact were quick to debunk it.

“This isn’t correct, for at least two reasons”, Full Fact responded.

Firstly, fact checkers highlighted that the £900 figure refers specifically to the impact of NI cuts, not taking into account other tax changes such as the online freezes to NI and income tax thresholds. These freezes mean the savings for someone on the average salary (about £35,000) are substantially smaller.

Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that, once all tax changes are factored in, the average worker only stands to save £340 in 2024/25, while those earning less than £26,000 a year will actually be worse off.

Only those earning more than around £50,000 will see overall savings of £900, the think tank found. I guess for Sunak that represents the ‘average’ worker.

The fact checker also highlighted that the £900 figure refers to the combined impact of two reductions in National Insurance, one of which was introduced in April but the other came into effect in January, so the figure reflects the combined four percentage point reduction.

In the longer term, the IFS has estimated that people will end up paying more tax, with the average £35,000 earner seeing a net tax cut of just £140 by 2027/28. The Office Budget Responsibility has predicted an additional 2.7 million will move into the higher tax bracket by 2028.

One X user commented: “Yet again, @RishiSunak lies about tax cuts, despite having been corrected before. Gaslighter extraordinaire.”

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward

New UK law ends 38 inquests into deaths during Northern Ireland's "Troubles"

Reuters
Wed, 1 May 2024 

High Court judgment in landmark legal challenge to the UK government's Troubles Legacy Act, in Belfast


BELFAST (Reuters) - A total of 38 inquests involving the deaths of more than 70 people during Northern Ireland's "Troubles" will not go ahead after a disputed new British law came into effect on Wednesday, Northern Ireland's Chief Justice's office said.

Victims' families, human rights organisations and all major political parties in Northern Ireland - both British unionist and Irish nationalist - have condemned the law which proposed offering immunity from prosecution for those who cooperate fully with a new investigative body.

Belfast's High Court ruled in February that the offering of conditional amnesties to ex-soldiers and militants was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), but it did not stop the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) body itself being set up.

Its establishment ended previous methods of examining how some of the 3,600 people died in three decades of confrontation between Irish nationalist militants seeking a united Ireland, pro-British "loyalist" paramilitaries and the British security services.

The conflict was largely ended with a 1998 peace deal.

Inquests that were halted included 14 that had already commenced but had not yet produced any findings, and some that were referred by the Attorney General as recently as Tuesday, hours before the cut-off.

The families of victims whose inquests have been stopped can request that the ICRIR body investigate the circumstances of the deaths under a different procedure.

Britain has defended the law, saying prosecutions linked to the events of up to 55 years ago were increasingly unlikely and it is also appealing the High Court's decision on the proposed amnesties.

Britain's Labour Party, clear favourites to win the next UK election due within months, has pledged to repeal and replace the legislation including restoring inquests and the option of civil cases.

The Irish government is mounting a separate legal challenge against Britain at the European Court Of Human Rights over the new law.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; editing by Michael Holden)


N.Ireland 'Troubles' families defiant as UK amnesty law kicks in

AFP
Tue, 30 April 2024 

More than 3,500 people in three decades of sectarian violence over British rule in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s (-)


When a coroner's inquest into the unsolved murder of Sean Brown during Northern Ireland's "Troubles" was relaunched last year, his family hoped their long search for justice could bear fruit.

But with a controversial new UK government law in force from Wednesday, their efforts -- and those of other families of victims in the bitter sectarian conflict over British rule -- have hit a roadblock.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 is designed to draw a line under the three decades of unrest, which killed more than 3,500 people, ministers say.

Notably, it will halt inquests, civil cases and criminal prosecutions for crimes related to the conflict and grant immunity to former combatants on all sides.

But relatives of those who lost their lives say it extinguishes any remaining hopes of justice for their loved ones.

Critics include victims' rights groups, all political parties in Northern Ireland, the UN and the EU's Council of Europe.

London has also been sued by the Irish government at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

- 'Hiding secrets' -

According to the UK government, some 1,200 deaths from the Troubles, which ended in a landmark peace deal in 1998, remain under investigation.

In 1997 Sean Brown was abducted by pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries in Bellaghy, 50 miles (80 kilometres) west of Belfast while he was locking the gates of the Wolfe Tones Gaelic sports club.

The 61-year-old father-of-six, who was chairman of the club, was shot minutes later at a nearby village.

His body was later identified by his brother Chris.

"He was just an innocent guy and pillar of the community, he was taken out to intimidate that community," Chris Brown told AFP at the scene.

Decades later, the Brown family are still waiting for information about what actually happened.

Opponents of the new law say its essence is to protect British army and security force veterans who served in Northern Ireland, as well as paramilitaries.

Earlier this year the relaunched Brown inquest was told that more than 25 people, including state agents, were linked by intelligence material to his murder.

"We were completely gobsmacked when we heard that," said Brown's daughter Clare Loughran in the Wolfe Tones clubhouse.

"We had suspected some state involvement all along but to hear it read out in court, we were devastated. Why did so many people want to hurt my Dad?"

That limited release of information came after UK state agencies applied for multiple redactions on sensitive files related to the murder.

The coroner in the case branded the disclosure process by British state agencies as "deplorable and frankly inexcusable".

Niall Murphy, the Brown family's lawyer, showed AFP the released intelligence files at his Belfast office. Most of them were blanked out.

"Every single page, this is the physical method by which the state hides its secrets," said an exasperated Murphy, leafing through one of the dossiers.

"Even the material that is not completely redacted is so heavily redacted as to be completely incomprehensible, it deprives families of access to justice," he said.

The new law is "the act of legislative thugs, abhorrent to the international rule-of-law principle and in clear breach of the European Convention on Human Rights", he added.

- Little faith -

After May 1, all so-called legacy cases will be transferred to a new body -- the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

But families of victims have little faith.

"We don't feel that there will be a true, open and honest look at individual cases from the ICRIR, or that it will be something that families will want to comply with, as the British government for so long seem to have been hiding information and facts from families, from inquests, and from the public," said Loughran.

The main Labour opposition's Northern Ireland spokesman Hilary Benn also questioned the credibility of the ICRIR in the UK parliament last week.

According to the head of the ICRIR, the new body will prove doubters wrong.

It will strive to be "independent and impartial" and dedicated to the pursuit of "the unvarnished truth" for bereaved families, Declan Morgan told the Belfast Telegraph newspaper this week.

Loughran promised that her family would not give up chasing the truth, despite the closure of legal avenues.

"People will say, 'look, why don't you try to move on, the Troubles are over', but we can't, we will keep seeking justice, to respect the memory of victims," she said.


Heaton-Harris says UK-Irish relationship ‘strong enough’ to deal with legacy row

Cillian Sherlock, PA
Mon, 29 April 2024

The relationship between the UK and Ireland is “strong enough to deal with” a dispute over new legacy laws, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has said.

From Wednesday, responsibility for dealing with hundreds of unresolved cases will pass to a new truth recovery agency, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

The Legacy Act includes a limited form of immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences to those who co-operate with the new body.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin (Yui Mok/PA)

The legislation has been opposed by all Northern Ireland political parties as well as victims’ organisations.

The Irish Government has also launched an interstate case against the UK at the European Court of Human Rights.

In addition, a judge at Belfast High Court ruled that the provision for conditional immunity was not compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The UK Government is appealing against that finding.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris discussed the row with Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) in London on Monday.

Mr Martin said he “understands” the UK Government’s concerns about Ireland’s interstate case against new legacy laws.

He said the Irish Government took the decision to take the case “reluctantly”, and added: “Today I heard the British Government’s concerns about the case directly – I understand them.”

Speaking to reporters at the BIIGC, he said: “Equally, I hope that they understand our concerns and our sense of how we got to this point.

“My Government and every Irish government will always defend the central importance of the European Convention of Human Rights to the Good Friday Agreement – the ECHR is integral to the Good Friday Agreement.”

Mr Martin, who is the Irish foreign minister, said Ireland had a “desire to do right by the victims”.

Asked if the Irish Government would co-operate with the the ICRIR, he said Ireland was awaiting the outcome of legal challenges against the laws – which include its own interstate case.

He said: “We intend to have further meetings with victims’ groups in terms of where they see the situation now.

“Our ultimate objective is to do right by the victims and the families of the victims.

“As I meet more and more groups, there are younger generations coming through. So this isn’t going away, so to speak.

“Many of the younger generations of families are very determined to carry on the campaigns and to get resolution, so all of us – and we may have differences in approach – but I think all of us share a genuine desire to do right by the victims and the families of the victims.”

Mr Heaton-Harris told reporters that Ireland and the UK are “bound to” have various political debates.

He added: “But I’d like to think our relationship is strong enough to deal with all of those issues.”

However, the under-secretary of state for Northern Ireland said Ireland’s interstate case was “premature and unnecessary”.

Speaking at the same press conference, Lord Jonathan Caine also denied that the Legacy Act was a “cover-up” and said the ICRIC would provide answers “far more effectively and for many more people” than current mechanisms.

He added: “I would reject completely any suggestion that this is about cover-up because the new body will have access to far more state records than has ever been available to any such body in the past.

Chris Heaton-Harris and Micheal Martin with Lord Caine (Yui Mok/PA)

“What we are trying to do here is deliver as much information and as many answers as possible to those victims and survivors who actually want them and, of course, join this process.

“I’ve never shied away from the fact that there will be some things that emerge that are difficult for the UK Government and the British state.

“There’ll be things emerge which are very difficult for paramilitaries and former paramilitaries as well, but the intention behind this legislation is to allow victims to get more answers, more information against the backdrop where the current mechanisms work for a very small minority of people in Northern Ireland – and the chances this far on of successful criminal prosecutions is going to be vanishingly rare.”

The Northern Ireland Secretary also defended the establishment of the ICRIR as a move in “an important direction”.

Mr Heaton-Harris said the new body would have a “huge budget”.

Mr Martin told reporters there was discussion about a number of legacy issues including the Dublin-Monaghan bombings as well as the killings of Sean Brown and Pat Finucane.

He added that the Irish Government would fully co-operate with the UK’s Omagh bombing inquiry, amid calls for tandem public inquiries in both jurisdictions.


Seamus Dillon and Springhill inquests among hearings winding up ahead of deadline

David Young
Mon, 29 April 2024 

Relatives of those was killed during the Springhill Westrock killings, outside the coroners court at Laganside in Belfast on Monday -Credit:Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Final hearings have been taking place in a series of legacy inquests in Northern Ireland as part of an intensive court schedule ahead of Wednesday’s legislative guillotine.

Coroner investigations into Troubles-related deaths must cease on May 1 under the terms of the Government’s contentious Legacy Act. Cases that are awaiting the delivery of findings, after all the evidence has been heard, can be brought to conclusion after the deadline.

On Monday, final submissions were heard in the inquests for five people killed in shootings involving the British Army in the Springhill/Westrock area of west Belfast in 1972.

Read more: Families of UVF victims outraged as Secretary of State blocks inquest finding

The inquest for Seamus Dillon, a doorman shot dead outside a nightclub in Dungannon in 1997, was wound up with the coroner expressing disappointment at the failure to finish the case before the deadline.

A hearing was also held on Monday for the series of inquests related to claims the RUC operated a shoot-to-kill policy in the early 1980s. The coroner is due to deliver remarks in that case on Tuesday.

Ahead of the deadline, several inquests have already been halted due to the extent of sensitive evidence that has been withheld from the cases.

The coroners in some of those instances have urged the Government to initiate public inquiries, so the material redacted as part of the Public Interest Immunity (PII) process can be properly examined.

In some cases, the Government has initiated legal action to prevent coroners providing summaries – or gists – of the matters subject to PII applications by the security forces.

Former republican prisoner Mr Dillon was gunned down by the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) outside the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon in 1997. The shooting was seen as a revenge attack following the murder of LVF leader Billy Wright in the Maze prison hours earlier.

In the final inquest hearing in the case, coroner Richard Greene said the inquest could not conclude due to a failure to complete the PII deliberation process.

A solicitor for the Dillon family accused the state parties of using the PII process to “run the clock down” ahead of the deadline – a claim denied by counsel for the state.

Mr Greene expressed regret that the inquest had not completed and stressed there remained a need for a human rights compliant probe into the death.

“It is of very great personal and professional disappointment that as corner I have been unable to complete this inquest,” he said.

“The death of Mr Dillon was a brutal and wholly unnecessary murder of a wholly innocent man who was going about his lawful work when he was shot by terrorists.”

Mr Dillon’s widow Martina, who was involved in a recent legal challenge that found aspects of the Legacy Act unlawful, said her fight for truth would continue.

Outside court, she said: “I feel a bit deflated but I intend to fight on. I’ll fight until I get the answers, until I get the truth and justice that my husband is entitled to.”

On Monday morning, families of those killed in the Springhill shootings walked together into court. Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accompanied them.

Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein's Aisling Reilly outside the coroners court for the Springhill Westrock inquest -Credit:Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Natasha Butler, whose grandfather Paddy Butler was among those killed, said the Legacy Act was denying many families “truth, justice and accountability”.

“We pray for all the families who are getting…truth and justice ripped away,” she said.

Ms Butler added: “Truth and justice will not be denied to the Springhill/Westrock massacre families.”

ABOLISH PRISONS

A seventh inmate dies at Wales' troubled Parc Prison

Wayne Hay is the seventh prisoner to have died in the jail in just over two months


Conor Gogarty

1 MAY 2024

Parc Prison (Image: Wales News Service)

An inmate has died at a troubled Welsh prison. Wayne Hay, 47, is the seventh prisoner to have died at Bridgend's HMP Parc in just over two months.

A spokeswoman for G4S, the private firm that runs Parc, said Mr Hay died on Tuesday. "His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with his family and friends," she added. "As with all deaths in prison, this will be investigated by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and the cause of death is for the coroner to determine."

WalesOnline has asked G4S and South Wales Police whether the death is being treated as suspicious. The force previously said it was treating two of the six Parc inmate deaths between February 27 and March 19 as non-suspicious, but believed the other four to be drug-related. Detective Steve Jones said in March that "a fast-track process has been undertaken and identified the presence of nitazene-based substances in connection with all four deaths". The psychoactive substance spice was identified in connection with two of the four deaths.

We recently revealed allegations from former Parc prisoners and staff of severe violence, drug dealing and corruption in the jail. 

You can read more about the crisis at Parc here.

Imprisoned Workers Bring State Lawsuit to Abolish Involuntary Servitude in Alabama’s Prisons

On International Workers’ Day, suit challenges constitutionality of government actions to punish resistance to forced labor among majority-Black prison population

May 1, 2024, Montgomery, AL – On International Workers’ Day, six incarcerated people are bringing a state court lawsuit against Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) Commissioner John Hamm with the goal of abolishing involuntary servitude in the state’s prisons. They are asking a state court to declare that recently enacted state laws and policies violate the state constitution, which, as of only two years ago, makes slavery and involuntary servitude illegal in prison.

A notorious prison system, Alabama’s is the most overcrowded in the country, operating at over 168 percent capacity, and, while Black people make up 26 percent of the state population, they account for 53 percent of the prison population. Until the fall of 2022, Alabama still permitted slavery and involuntary servitude in prisons, exploiting an infamous loophole in the Alabama Constitution and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But following a successful labor strike by incarcerated workers, Alabama voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that expanded the ban on slavery and involuntary servitude to prison. With their state court lawsuit – the first of its kind – the plaintiffs seek enforcement of the amendment.

In response to the labor strike, the state implemented three laws that authorize punishment for incarcerated people who resist forced labor: Governor Ivey’s Executive Order No. 725, ADOC Revised Administrative Regulation 403, and revisions to Section 14-9-41 of the Alabama Code. This lawsuit challenges those two executive actions and Section 14-9-41—all of which prohibit incarcerated workers from refusing to work and authorize punishment for such refusal. People incarcerated by ADOC are routinely punished, or threatened with punishment, for declining to work; such punishment can include loss of earned good time credit, solitary confinement, transfer to a higher-security (and more violent) prison, and loss of contact with loved ones.

“We chose to file this case on May 1, in solidarity with workers around the world, because ending forced prison labor in ADOC isn’t just about stopping the State’s extractive profiteering from the labor of Black people – both inside and outside of prisons. It’s also about eliminating the control that forced prison labor enables the State to exercise over Black people – an extension of the control exerted by the State through slavery, the Black Codes, convict leasing, and Jim Crow,” said CJ Sandley, Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents the workers through its Southern Regional Office.

The six plaintiffs –Trayveka Stanley, Reginald Burrell, Dexter Avery, Charlie Gray, Melvin Pringle, and Ranquel Smith – have all been punished or threatened with punishment for resisting forced work. The lawsuit requests a court order to stop the defendants and their agents from subjecting them to forced prison labor and involuntary servitude, or threats of forced prison labor and involuntary servitude, for not working or refusing to work, and to declare certain state legal measures authorizing such actions unconstitutional. Their suit also asks the court to expunge from their records any relevant disciplinary reports and behavior citations issued after November 28, 2022, when the new constitution was ratified.

“I am motivated by my passion to fight for an end to all injustice. That passion burns brighter than my fears. We must stand for something or we will fall for anything. This lawsuit is about the unpaid, overbearing state jobs that I, as well as my fellow inmates, are being forced to work against our will. According to Article I, Section 32, this is against the law,” says Plaintiff Trayveka Stanley, currently incarcerated at Montgomery Women’s Facility in Montgomery, Alabama.

According to Plaintiff Reginald Burrell, who is incarcerated at Decatur Work Release in Decatur, Alabama:“The most influential public officials in the State of Alabama today remain loyal to and act in unity with their racist slave legacy from the Confederacy and the Jim Crow era, continuing to deliberately make, enforce, and defend bad policy decisions and practices, knowing it results in the demise, disadvantages, and disenfranchisement of poor whites and African-Americans, perpetuating hopelessness, despair, and excessive suffering in our lives today, and knowing it induces, in many circumstances, desperate choices under duress, to give themselves reason to enslave us through incarceration by the Alabama Department of Corrections for the sole purpose of continuing forced labor, slavery, and involuntary servitude in this state.”

Currently incarcerated at Elmore Correctional Facility, Plaintiff Ranquel Smith said of ADOC’s system of forced labor, "Being at work release can get stressful sometimes. I fully understand that at work release you get a little freedom, such as working a free world job, taking home passes, and much more, but all that can be taken away so fast by refusing to work a job that's not fit for you or not in your best interest. You will receive a disciplinary write-up and/or have good time taken away. To me, that's not being treated fairly at all.”

Alabama is one of several states to join the growing movement to abolish prison slavery and involuntary servitude at the state and federal level. Voters in Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, and Vermont have approved similar changes to their states' constitutions to remove the loophole permitting slavery as a form of punishment for incarcerated people.

With a strategic Southern Regional Office centered in Jackson, Mississippi, the Center for Constitutional Rights’ Southern Justice Rising initiative represents our deepened, renewed institutional commitment to liberatory movements in the Southern states like Alabama. We have worked closely with generations of Southern freedom fighters and continue that historical work by partnering with Southern grassroots movements, human rights defenders, and community organizations fighting to transform material conditions, dismantle systems of oppression, and advance visions of collective liberation today.

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org.

UK

Civil service union tries to BLOCK Rwanda crackdown claiming its members could be breaking international law if they implement PM's scheme - as first migrants earmarked for removal flights are detained

By DAVID BARRETT HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR and KATHERINE LAWTON
2 May 2024


The latest in a long line of legal challenges was launched against the Rwanda policy tonight by a civil service union, who claimed its members could be breaking international law if they implement the scheme.

The first migrants earmarked for removal to Rwanda were detained on Wednesday.

The dramatic immigration raids were a major boost for Rishi Sunak as millions of voters head to the polls in Thursday's local elections.


Images showed handcuffed migrants being placed in prison-style vans following an undisclosed number of arrests nationwide. Further operations are planned.

Detainees will get legal aid to potentially challenge their inclusion in the scheme.

Other legal challenges are also expected, and on Wednesday night the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, lodged an application for judicial review. The union said it was concerned Home Office civil servants could be in breach of international law as they implement the Safety of Rwanda Act.

The legislation gives ministers the ability to ignore late-night 'pyjama injunctions' issued by Strasbourg's European Court of Human Rights. FDA general secretary Dave Penman said: 'The Government has had plenty of time to include an explicit provision in the Act regarding breaking international law commitments which would have resolved this, but it chose not to.

The first illegal migrants set to be removed to Rwanda have now been detained


Operational teams within the Home Office have been working at pace to detain individuals
Labour MP demands Rwanda policy should be scrapped immediately

'Civil servants should never be left in a position where they are conflicted between the instructions of ministers and adhering to the civil service code, yet that is exactly what the Government has chosen to do. Faced with a Government that is prepared to act in this cowardly, reckless way, it is left to the FDA to defend our members and the integrity of the civil service.'

The raids were the first concrete sign that the £500million Rwanda scheme could finally take off after years in limbo.

READ MORE:

More Rwanda raids are coming, promise Home Office after up to 20 illegal migrants are detained in dawn arrests for deportation - as union says it has launched a judicial review into the controversial bill

But on Wednesday night the latest in a long line of legal challenges was launched against the Rwanda policy by a civil service union. It claimed its members could be forced to break international law.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said immigration teams were 'working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here' so removals flights can get off the ground.

The Home Office said the Rwanda removals programme, code-named Operation Vector, began on Monday lunchtime and will involve 800 uniformed officers from its Immigration Enforcement unit.

Migrants arrested at their shabby properties had earlier failed to attend appointments at immigration offices, it is understood.

A Home Office spokesman said the detentions were 'another milestone' toward the Government's pledge to bring in the Rwanda scheme and 'stop the boats'.

Photos showed immigration teams were equipped with battering rams but the equipment was not needed, sources said, and Operation Vector was described as 'fairly peaceful' with very little resistance. However protest groups have carried out a series of demonstrations outside Immigration Enforcement premises in Salford, Croydon, Swansea and Solihull this week, with at least ten arrests.

A source close to the Home Secretary said: 'During the detention operations ahead of getting flights to Rwanda there have been incidents of people trying to disrupt lawful enforcement operations. Police have arrested people involved and helped enforcement officers perform their duties unhindered.

The Home Office yesterday confirmed there were 268 arrivals across the Channel by small boat on Tuesday

The dramatic immigration raids were a major boost for Rishi Sunak as millions of voters head to the polls in Wednesday's local elections

'Attempts to disrupt this detention activity will be dealt with because the principle has to be: mobs don't decide who can or cannot stay in the UK and the only people who would welcome it if they did are criminal smuggling gangs.'

Mr Cleverly said: 'Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it.'

Eddy Montgomery, Home Office director of enforcement, added: 'Our specialist operational teams are highly trained and fully equipped to carry out the necessary enforcement activity at pace and in the safest way possible. It is vital that operational detail is kept to a minimum, to protect colleagues involved and those being detained, as well as ensuring we can deliver this large-scale operation as quickly as possible.'

READ MORE: First asylum-seeker is deported to Rwanda under Rishi Sunak's migrant crackdown: African man is handed £3k of taxpayers' money and flown to Kigali after losing bid to stay in Britain

Migrants detained this week have been taken to Home Office immigration removal centres where they will await allocation to a Rwanda flight. It means they will be in detention for between nine and 11 weeks until the first take-off, which Mr Sunak has indicated will be in mid-July.

Officials 'fully expect' that detainees held this week will apply for bail, most likely after being in the centres for four weeks.

If bail is granted they will be placed under enhanced conditions in a bid to avoid them absconding, it is understood.

Officials have insisted they have 'robust' measures in place to trace anyone who tries to flee. Ahead of the scheme's roll-out, the Home Office has increased the capacity of detention centres to more than 2,200 beds, put 200 caseworkers in place to quickly process claims and trained 500 escorts to accompany migrants on the flights.

The Safety of Rwanda Act became law on April 25 after a long and fraught passage through Parliament. Along with a new treaty with Kigali, ministers believe they have overcome legal objections raised about the policy by the Supreme Court last November. It emerged earlier this week that one African migrant has already left the UK for Rwanda under a separate voluntary scheme. He will receive up to £3,000 plus a five-year support package.

The Home Office yesterday confirmed there were 268 arrivals across the Channel by small boat on Tuesday. The running total since the start of the year is now 7,567, up 22 per cent on the same period last year.

FDA union general secretary Dave Penman confirmed it had launched a judicial review of the Rwanda bill

More than 7,000 migrants have already crossed the Channel so far this year in small boats
Migrants seen arriving at Dover as Rwanda crackdown gets underway

The Home Office is poised to launch more raids in a bid to round up migrants it wants to deport to Rwanda after a series of dawn arrests this week.

Up to 20 illegal migrants were detained in the UK-wide operation, which saw immigration officials take people, including women, into custody.

The Government department has refused to release many details about the arrests, but has suggested that more raids could happen as part of the 'large-scale operation'.

It said that it intends to get planes to the east African country underway in 'the next 9 to 11 weeks', after the Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week following a troubled journey through Parliament.

James Cleverly has hailed the start of the operation as 'a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration'.

It comes amid the FDA union launching a judicial review into the Rwanda bill as it accused the government of being 'cowardly' and 'reckless' for 'ignoring legal conflicts for civil servants'.

The Home Secretary said: 'Our Rwanda Partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we have worked tirelessly to introduce new, robust legislation to deliver it.

'Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.

The action is a part of the plan to deliver flights to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks. Pictured: A flight to Rwanda in 2022

Last year, there were 67,337 asylum applications to the UK. Of those, 29,437 came from people who arrived in small boats. The Government claims the Rwanda scheme will act as a deterrent, however it only has the capacity to send 200 people a year to the East African country

The Hope Hostel in Rwanda (pictured) is one of the locations migrants will be sent to

'This is a complex piece of work, but we remain absolutely committed to operationalising the policy, to stop the boats and break the business model of people smuggling gangs.'

Union FDA announced it had launched a judicial review of the Safety of Rwanda Act.

Its general secretary, Dave Penman, said they weren't prepared 'to shy away from it as we must protect the interests of our members and the integrity of the Civil Service Code'.

He said: 'This is not a decision that we have taken lightly. The government has had plenty of time to include an explicit provision in the Act regarding breaking international law commitments which would have resolved this, but it chose not to.

'Civil servants should never be left in a position where they are conflicted between the instructions of ministers and adhering to the Civil Service Code, yet that is exactly what the government has chosen to do.

'This is not an accident, or down to poor drafting. It's a political choice from the government, made not for the good of the country but to avoid upsetting either of the warring factions within its own party.

'It's also irresponsible. Those seeking to undermine the integrity and impartiality of the civil service have seized on the difficulties the government has had in implementing this policy, to accuse civil servants of acting politically.'

Enforcement action is said to have taken place throughout the UK - in England, Wales and Scotland as well as Northern Ireland - since midday on Monday.

Children are not expected to be detained as part of the operations.

Home Office Director of Enforcement Eddy Montgomery said: 'Our specialist operational teams are highly trained and fully equipped to carry out the necessary enforcement activity at pace and in the safest way possible.

'It is vital that operational detail is kept to a minimum, to protect colleagues involved and those being detained, as well as ensuring we can deliver this large-scale operation as quickly as possible.'

It is not known at this stage how many people have been held in total.

The Safety of Rwanda Act became law on April 25 and, along with a new treaty with Rwanda, ministers believe they have overcome legal objections raised about the policy by the Supreme Court last November.

First migrants set to be deported from UK to Rwanda detained

The UK home office faced questions over its ability to track down thousands people it had earmarked for removal to Rwanda

Downing Street denied decisions to detain asylum seekers were connected to the upcoming local elections. UK home pffice/PA

WED, 01 MAY, 2024 -
FLORA THOMPSON, CHRISTOPHER MCKEON AND DAVID LYNCH, PA

The first migrants set to be deported to Rwanda have been detained.

The UK home office said a series of operations took place across the country over the last few days, with more activity due to be carried out in the coming weeks.

It comes amid the UK government’s bid to get flights to send migrants to the east African nation off the ground by July, after the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law last week.

The announcement was made after figures showed Channel crossings had reached another record high and ahead of what is expected to be a testing set of local and mayoral elections for Rishi Sunak across England and Wales, in which his Conservatives are likely to suffer heavy losses.

(PA Graphics)



The home office faced questions over its ability to track down thousands people it had earmarked for removal to Rwanda.

According to a UK government document released this week, only 2,143 out of the 5,700 people identified for removal to Rwanda “continue to report to the Home Office and can be located for detention”.

Published on the home office website on Monday, the document also acknowledges there could be further delays to deportations caused by MPs making last-minute representations to suspend removals.

Officials have not yet said how many people have been detained, or where they were taken into custody.

Home office director of enforcement Eddy Montgomery said it was “vital that operational detail is kept to a minimum, to protect colleagues involved and those being detained, as well as ensuring we can deliver this large-scale operation as quickly as possible”.

Meanwhile there have been reports a failed asylum seeker has become the first to volunteer to be sent to Rwanda after being offered £3,000 to do so, prompting criticism from political opponents.

A Labour Party source said: “Is there any more blatant sign that (former immigration minister Robert) Jenrick was right about this all being symbolic before an election than this mad flurry of stories?

“The core substance though hasn’t changed. This is a tiny scheme at an extortionate cost and the criminal gangs will see through this con.”


Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “Instead of headline-grabbing schemes that will waste time and resources and are unleashing even more human misery, we need a fair and controlled asylum system. The government must focus on processing asylum claims efficiently and fairly.”

Downing Street denied decisions to detain asylum seekers were connected to the upcoming local elections.

Mr Sunak's press secretary said: “From our part there isn’t really a day to lose when people are dying in the Channel having been induced into boats by gangs.

“People are ultimately breaking into our country so of course we want to get moving as rapidly as possible and the PM has always been consistent that he would move as quickly as he could.”

The man, who has not been named, is understood to have accepted the offer under the voluntary scheme some weeks ago and is now in Kigali, with the Sun reporting his flight left on Monday evening.

(PA Graphics)

The policy, expanded to include Rwanda earlier this year, is separate from the Government’s plan to deport migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel.

UK business and trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch told Times Radio this news should be “trumpeted” and demonstrated Rwanda was safe.

The British government’s plan to give migrants a one-way ticket to Kigali – in a bid to deter others from crossing the Channel – is yet to be tested, with the latest legislation aimed at making it legally sound having passed into law just days ago.

Mr Sunak last week said it will take between 10 and 12 weeks for deportation flights to Rwanda to begin, meaning they will not start until the summer.

Provisional figures show 7,567 people have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the journey.

UK

Journalists at STV return to the picket


Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) who work at STV take part in a picket outside their studios in Glasgow, after rejecting the company's latest pay offer, May 1, 2024

JOURNALISTS at Scottish Television (STV) have once again taken to the picket lines over an ongoing pay dispute.

All news output at the station, including the flagship News At Six was halted as members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) fight for a 6 per cent pay rise from an outgoing £900,000-a-year chief executive Simon Pitts.

Strikers took the opportunity of the one-day action to take their case to the company’s AGM being held at its headquarters in Glasgow’s Pacific Quay on Wednesday.

NUJ national organiser for Scotland, Nick McGowan-Lowe, said: “It is disappointing that once again our journalists are having to head out of the newsrooms and into the shareholder AGM to find out answers to resolve this dispute.

“A tiny fraction of Simon Pitt’s bonus would be enough to resolve this dispute for all 90 of the newsroom’s staff and still leave him paid vastly more than the director-general of the BBC — an organisation that is over 45 times larger than STV.”

An STV spokesperson said they “remain open to further dialogue,” but branded the NUJ’s pay claim “unrealistic and unaffordable.”

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2024

Union ‘optimistic’ as STV staff go on strike for second time in pay dispute

Journalists walked out on Wednesday (Andrew Milligan/PA)

By Lucinda Cameron, PA Scotland

More talks with management are expected after STV journalists walked out on strike for a second time in a dispute over pay, a union organiser has said.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is seeking a 6% pay rise for members at broadcaster STV to “keep pace with inflation” during the cost-of-living crisis.

NUJ representatives and staff attended the STV annual general meeting (AGM) in Glasgow on Wednesday where they put questions about the dispute to the board.

Nick McGowan-Lowe, NUJ national organiser for Scotland, said they are optimistic the industrial action and attendance at the AGM has “had the desired effect” and said that more talks with management are now planned.

The action by NUJ members at STV across Scotland will disrupt news programming on Wednesday, with the flagship STV News At Six programme due to be replaced by Sean’s Scotland, and network show Peston aired in place of Scotland Tonight.



The action has disrupted news programming (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr McGowan-Lowe said there was a “strong” presence on the picket line in Glasgow, where staff were joined by colleagues who had travelled from Dundee and Edinburgh.

He said: “We put questions to the board about the dispute highlighting that, and as a result both the chair and the chief executive have committed to get back into talks as soon as possible.

“At the moment the next step is more talks to moving towards a resolution so we remain optimistic that today’s strike action and attendance at the AGM has had the desired effect.

“I really think we showed our strength today and I’m hoping that management at STV have understood that they need to take control of this dispute and sit round the table to work out an agreement.”

The strike comes after union members walked out for 24 hours on March 28 and the latest pay offer put forward by the company was rejected by staff.



The union said more talks are expected (Andrew Milligan/PA)

NUJ members at STV around the country including Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow walked out for 24 hours on Wednesday.


On the picket line in Glasgow they held banners calling for “Fair pay for journalists” and “Fair pay now”.

An STV spokesperson said: “STV has always been open to dialogue and today both our chair and chief executive reiterated the company’s willingness to continue discussions and hope for a swift resolution.”

The company added: “We’re disappointed that following discussions and an enhanced offer being made, members of the NUJ have decided to proceed with strike action on May 1.

“We understand that almost half of NUJ members voted to accept the enhanced offer, which included a bonus payment for all STV staff.

“We remain open to further dialogue but the NUJ’s claim for an above inflation pay increase of 6% – nearly twice the current level of inflation – is unrealistic and unaffordable. We have made clear that we will not agree a separate deal for NUJ members in excess of the award for all colleagues; and we maintain that our pay offer is both fair and financially responsible in the current economic climate.

“Alternative programming will be in place of news output.”

 

Opinion: Time for Scotland to follow the rest of the UK and punish violent partners who cause pregnancy loss

by Mary Neal, The Conversation

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

On May 2, the Scottish Parliament will debate whether it should be a crime in Scotland to cause the loss of a partner's or former partner's pregnancy through violence or abuse.

In not having such a crime already, Scotland is an outlier in the UK. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, someone who attacks a pregnant woman and causes the loss of her viable fetus can be charged with the crime of "child destruction" as well as being charged for assault. This has been the case in England and Wales since 1929, and in Northern Ireland since 1945.

The case for a new crime in Scotland is clear, and the most appropriate way to create it would be to amend the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. The Ministry of Justice categorizes "child destruction" as a "domestic violence offense" in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

It is well known that domestic abuse can escalate during pregnancy or may begin when a woman becomes pregnant, even where the relationship has not previously been abusive.

During the past few decades there has been a rise in the number of prosecutions for child destruction, and victims of the crime have spoken about how important it is to them that the loss of their pregnancy is acknowledged in a separate charge, as opposed to merely reflected in sentencing.

This stands to reason: the loss of a wanted pregnancy is a unique and traumatic kind of harm to a woman, distinct from the injury suffered during an attack. However, while the law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is able to acknowledge this kind of serious harm, the law of Scotland currently cannot.

Harrowing cases

Domestic abuse during pregnancy is no less an issue in Scotland, of course, and there have been harrowing Scottish cases which, had they occurred elsewhere in the UK, would undoubtedly have resulted in charges of child destruction.

Scotland does have one existing crime—the common law crime of "procuring abortion"—which perpetrators in Scotland could be charged with. The crime of abortion has never been used in this way, however, and with good reason. The harm of losing a wanted pregnancy through violence or abuse is wholly different from a situation in which a woman has decided that she no longer wishes to be pregnant.

Legally, these scenarios must be kept separate. The creation of a new crime would ensure that they are.

In the rest of the UK, the crime of child destruction is deeply entangled with abortion law, and this has been problematic. Because anyone can be guilty of the crime of child destruction, it can be used to prosecute women who end their own pregnancies after the point of viability—now judged to be 24 weeks.

In practice, women are almost never charged with child destruction, and there has been only one conviction. The possibility exists, however, and one recent prosecution involved a woman being investigated for three years and taken to court before the case was dropped due to "evidential difficulties."

Scotland can avoid any risk of prosecution for pregnant women by creating a new crime that sits firmly within the framework of domestic abuse legislation, and that can only be committed by partners or former partners. Framed in this way, the sole purpose of the crime would be to recognize and punish a unique kind of harm to women, and neither pregnant women nor their doctors could be charged with it.

The proposed Scottish crime could also improve on its UK counterparts in another way. Elsewhere in the UK, perpetrators can only be convicted of child destruction if it can be shown that they intended to cause stillbirth.

This can make it difficult to hold attackers to account for the loss of the pregnancy. They can only be convicted if they admit that they intended to end the pregnancy or if there is evidence to indicate such intention; for example, if they attempted to coerce the woman into having an abortion, targeted the woman's stomach in the attack or made statements of intent during the attack. If none of this can be shown, no conviction for child destruction would result.

Campaigners in England have complained that the difficulty of proving intention shields perpetrators. Learning from this, Scotland could allow the crime to be committed through recklessness, making it easier to convict those responsible by removing the need to prove intention.

On May 2, Holyrood can take an important step in the right direction. Instead of remaining the only part of the UK that lacks a specific crime punishing this kind of behavior, Scotland can take the lead and develop a truly workable and woman-centered approach to this particularly intimate and distressing kind of harm.

Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Scotland's hate crime law: The problem with using public order laws to govern online speech

RIP
Jeff Lynne announces death of ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy at 76



Electric Light Orchestra keyboardist Richard Tandy has died at the age of 76 (Yui Mok/PA)

By Laura Harding, Deputy Entertainment Editor

Today 


Electric Light Orchestra keyboardist Richard Tandy has died at the age of 76.

The news was announced by ELO leader Jeff Lynne, who paid tribute to a “remarkable musician”.

Tandy was responsible for helping to shape the sound of the British rock band, best known for hits such as Mr Blue Sky and Last Train To London.

Lynne wrote on social media: “It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of my long-time collaborator and dear friend Richard Tandy.

“He was a remarkable musician & friend and I’ll cherish the lifetime of memories we had together.

“Sending all my love to Sheila & the Tandy family.”

Tandy, who was born in Birmingham, joined ELO after the release of the group’s first album in 1972.

He initially played bass guitar but became the keyboardist after Roy Wood left.

He also played the Minimoog synthesiser, a Wurlitzer electric piano, the clavinet, Mellotron and piano, to help shape the band’s unique futuristic sound.

He also lent his voice to the 1977 hit Mr Blue Sky.




Dire Straits, Thin Lizzy, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company and Electric Light Orchestra at the launch of the record The Summit in an attempt to raise money for sick children (PA)

He was a core member of the band through ever-evolving line-ups, alongside Lynne and drummer Bev Bevan, until they split in 1986.


When Lynne reformed the band as Jeff Lynne’s ELO in 2014, Tandy joined again.

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2017, and was described as Lynne’s “multi-instrumentalist, co-orchestrator and valued musical partner

R.I.P.

The death of Reader’s Digest is no laughing matter

Without it we are that little bit more dependent on the internet 

 OPINION

By Lucy Mangan

May 1, 2024 

A woman buys a Reader’s Digest magazine from a vending machine in London in the 60s (Photo: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images)

So farewell then to one of the great pleasures of my youth and one to which I was very much planning to return in my old age – the Reader’s Digest UK.

After 86 years, this – may we say iconic? I think we may – monthly publication will no longer be published in the UK, with editor-in-chief Eva Mackevic citing the notoriously challenging magazine market in this upended era of the internet as the reason for its decline and final fall. No more Amusing Anecdotes, Humour in Uniform, Points to Ponder, Quotable Quotes or Personal Glimpses. You will have to find other ways to prove that It Pays to Increase Your Word Power and move yourself Toward More Picturesque Speech.

The satisfyingly chunky issues of Reader’s Digest (if you haven’t had the pleasure, they were half the size of a standard magazine format and about twice as thick) became a famous staple of doctors’ and dentists’ waiting rooms almost from its inception.

It was founded in 1922 by Dewitt and Lila Bell Wallace, two years after they got married, and was launched from the basement of a speakeasy in Greenwich, New York. Not the most obvious home for a staunchly conservative magazine, but it didn’t stop it becoming a phenomenon. Within seven years it was pulling in $900,000 a year, via 290,000 subscribers, and was well on the way to becoming the international bestseller that would peak with over 23 million readers worldwide.

I became one of them at about the age of eight, when I discovered my grandma’s collection, neatly stacked on top of and below her bedside table. They were just the right size for my childish hands and I quickly became absorbed by the seductive mixture of quizzes, features and dramatic real life stories that seemed so long to my young self then that it would be many years before I realised that the Digest was in the business of condensing books – indeed, digesting them, one might say – rather than commissioning original stories.

No matter. I read about the intricate workings of the eye, the discovery of a woman’s brain tumour by the strangely hollow sound she heard when she scratched a certain spot on her scalp and, best of all, the true life tale of a man called Poon Lim. His merchant ship was torpedoed during the Second World War and he survived for 133 days at sea on a life raft before he was rescued by collecting rainwater in a canvas jacket, fashioning fishing hooks out of a torch wire and nail, drying the fish over a hemp line and drinking the blood of seabird he caught after a storm wrecked all his precious provisions. I had never read a true-life tale before and its details have lived in me for nearly 40 years. I would love to read it again. I suppose I could track down the book it came from on the internet, but that seems rather inappropriate in the circumstances.

A digest is a taster for a multitude of things – more than you could, for most of history, easily lay hands on via your own efforts. Those chunky tomes brought me myriad delights and exposed me to stories, scientific discoveries, daft jokes and family anecdotes (probably too many of which I still remember 40 years on, instead of where I put my keys, the Christmas decoration and…and…that thing, you know, that I need for the doodah. It’ll come to me).

Reader’s Digest will be remembered with great affection by millions. Without it we are that little less civilised, that little less well off, that little bit more dependent on the internet and to being worn to a single, homogenous mass by its algorithms. I learned “homogenous” from It Pays to Increase Your Word Power. It really does, you know. It really does.

UK

RESCUE SEALS
Seal releases halted after fish stock concerns

Sarah-May Buccieri,

BBC News

BBC   The release of rescue seals in the River Nene has been 'paused'

The RSPCA has paused releasing rescued seals into a Lincolnshire river after concern they have been damaging fish stocks.

The Angling Trust said seals had become “apex overwhelming predators” of freshwater fish in the River Nene.

The RSPCA has suspended releasing seals into the river at Sutton Bridge.

The charity said it would gather data and evidence and "consult with partners".

Rob Harris, chairman of Peterborough & District Angling Association, said anglers had gradually noticed fewer fish in the river.

“We then found fish carcases and fish which were half alive,” he said.

“Then we saw the seals hunting them."

The RSPCA said it always took "great care" when releasing seals

According to Mr Harris, a recent survey analysing the fish population in the River Nene highlighted there were “zero adult fish” in the water.

He said the decline in numbers followed seals becoming "apex overwhelming predators" in the river.

Mr Harris said some fish had become “stressed” after being hunted by the seals, as they were found “hiding in backwaters”.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: “We always take great care when we release seals in order to give them the best chance at surviving in the wild.

"However given the concerns, we have paused releases in this location while we gather further data and evidence and consult with partners”.

FRANTZ FANON’S INSIGHTFUL ANALYSIS: 5 TRANSFORMATIVE LESSONS FROM ‘THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH’

IKRAAM SHARIF (AUTHOR), CHARLIE SØRENSEN (EDITOR)
November 22, 2023

Frantz Fanon examines the effects of colonialism in his book ‘The Wretched of the Earth’ (TWOFE) by reviewing the decolonisation process and global advancements in freedom. This book also emphasises how colonialism reduced the human dignity of those violently colonised and the clear need for a robust response to remove colonialism as well as its overall effect on the psyche of the people.

Frantz Fanon was a well-known author and scholar. He was born in 1925 and raised in Martinique’s French territory. Thus, his firsthand experiences with racism, colonialism, and the regal control of global powers directly influenced his commitment to the topic.

This book review discusses the varied concepts of colonialism, violence and psychology and the book’s relevance to society to summarise the book’s impact.


“In the colonies the truth stood naked, but the citizens of the mother country preferred it with clothes on: the native had to love them, something in the way mothers are loved.”J.P Sartre & F. Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.
The Dynamics of Violence and Decolonisation in Fanon’s Perspective

In the first chapter, ‘Concerning Violence’, we are introduced to the first concept – violence. Frantz Fanon emphasises how decolonisation is inherently violent. Colonialism is fierce from the start and never stops being violent. He notes that “their [the colonies] first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together […] was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and canon” (Fanon, 1963, p.36). Violence is the only way for it to end.

He emphasises the value of self-respect and self-discovery, one of his defences against violence. This focus deserves praise since it is global and addresses all colonised people. According to Frantz Fanon, excessive violence enables the colonised to realise that he is not who the coloniser has made him believe he is via belittling, vilifying, and punishing him.

To “[drive] into the locals’ heads the concept that if the settlers were to depart, they would at once fall back into barbarism, degradation, and bestiality,” the coloniser not only “distorts, disfigures, and destroys” pre-colonial history but also psychologically degrades the native (Fanon, 1963, p.210). Here, Fanon creates a striking portrait of the colonised people’s lack of regard for themselves before the liberation that violence grants them. He emphasises that the colonised should not look up to or idolise the settlers.
Fanon’s Exploration of Colonialism’s Psychological Impact

The native is free from “his inferiority complex and his despair and inaction; it makes him fearless and restores his self-respect,” according to Fanon, who describes violence as a “cleaning force” (Fanon, 1963, pg. 94). Once more, Frantz Fanon uses emotive language that tremendously appeals to colonised readers. To portray something as unpleasant and destructive as violence in a good light is an intriguing idea.

A revolution’s use of violence can bring people together and spark a national movement where they can vent the repressed wrath caused by colonialism. Sonnleitner notes in ‘Of Logic and Liberation: Frantz Fanon on Terrorism’ that it is “personally therapeutic” (Sonnleitner, 1987, p.291). Using the adjective “therapeutic” to describe something violent and oppressive, such as colonialism, can arguably be disrespectful to the colonised.

However, whether you agree with Fanon’s moral argument when colonised people have been denied a means of expressing their sentiments for so long, his claim that violence fosters self-respect can be valid.

Fanon claims violence must be acknowledged. As we have seen, he contends that using violence brings about self-respect, self-discovery, and independence. Yet, he goes on to devote chapter five, ‘Colonial World and Mental Disorders’, to the mental illnesses and disorders that are direct results of violence in colonial times.

As readers, we are simultaneously being considered to understand that Fanon is arguing the justification of violence to gain self-respect and how it can damage the psyche of the native people – so which one is it? Does violence damage the mind of the colonised, or does it leave the colonised the ability to fight for freedom and against oppression?
Reconciling Violence with Mental Health in Colonial Contexts

Fanon claims violence must be acknowledged. As we have seen, he contends that using violence brings about self-respect, self-discovery, and independence. Yet, he goes on to devote chapter five, ‘Colonial World and Mental Disorders’, to the mental illnesses and disorders that are direct results of violence in colonial times.

As readers, we are simultaneously being considered to understand that Fanon is arguing the justification of violence to gain self-respect and how it can damage the psyche of the native people – so which one is it? Does violence damage the mind of the colonised, or does it leave the colonised the ability to fight for freedom and against oppression?
Frantz Fanon’s Legacy and the Continued Relevance of ‘The Wretched of the Earth’

Fanon maintains that the atmosphere of a “Manichaean world” (Fanon, 1963, pg. 41) is a primary reason for the general decline in mental health throughout the colonial era. This analogy is for the colonial world, which is morally distinct and geographically separated into two zones.

The author describes this dichotomy when he writes about how the settler’s realm is physically advanced, secure, and clean, and it is abundant with all the resources required for a sustainable way of life; “a well-fed town, an easy-going town; its belly is always full of good things” whilst the town of the colonised is “a place of ill fame, peopled by men of evil repute … hungry town, starved of bread, of meat, of shoes, of coal, of light” (Fanon, 1963, pp.38–39).

The juxtaposing language used to explain the opposite nature demonstrates how the settlers could prosper in the land that belonged to someone else – the natives. Essentially, “Manicheism […] dehumanises the native [and] it turns him into an animal” (Fanon, 1963, p.42). Thus demonstrating that colonisation has dehumanising effects on the people and the nation and causes negative emotions such as bitterness and resentment.

As a psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon holds the same position that the brutality of colonialism has contributed to an increase in mental illnesses and disorders. In chapter five, Fanon meticulously identifies the subtle differences among the many instances of mental illness brought on by colonial violence.

Fanon is aware of a direct relationship between the two concepts, which tends to have a long-lasting effect even after decolonisation. Therefore, Fanon’s claim that violence is a “cleansing force” (Fanon, 1963, pg. 94) is weak because he has already explained in detail how targeted acts of violence and an overall climate of physical insecurity cause a wide range of mental disorders, such as depression, PTSD, hallucinations, and many others.
The Algerian War: A Deep Dive into Colonialism’s Psychological and Physical Traumas

In his book, Fanon explores the Algerian War and how colonialism is a “fertile purveyor for psychiatric hospitals” (Fanon, 1963, p.249). As the war for freedom progressed, there was significant damage to the people that left them institutionalised in hospitals. He writes case studies on person B, an Algerian man who had “insomnia and persistent headaches” (Fanon, 1963, p.254) and how B’s wife had been “dishonoured” by a French officer who told B to forget about her (Fanon, 1963, p.255).

This is another illustration of the heinous atrocities of colonialism. The fact that B’s wife is raped to get close to B underlines the utter dominance of the French colonists over the Algerian people. However, it is interesting to note that in all his cases, Fanon focuses on the impact of the physical violence of colonialism and does not include how sexual violence was used in the Algerian war.


This point is not to diminish the physical violence of colonialism. But if violence is to be considered, all types of violence must be included – especially sexual violence. Branche explores in ‘Sexual Violence in the Algerian War’ (2009) how sexual violence was prevalent in the Algerian War and how “rapes happened, and repeatedly happened” (Branche, 2009, p.248).

She explores how the systematic use of sexual abuse was a technique of cruelty and humiliation (for both men and women) committed by the French army. It was a brutal, dehumanising, and consistent torture, and although death was typically the outcome, it was not the intended outcome.

Colonialism directly links to other types of violence different from physical violence. Branche examines this when Fanon does not discuss it in his book, though it is crucial to understanding colonialism and violence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Branche, R., 2009. Sexual Violence in the Algerian War. In: D. Herzog, ed. Brutality and Desire: War and Sexuality in Europe’s Twentieth Century, Genders, and Sexualities in History. [online] London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp.247–260. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230234291_10.

Burke, E., 1976. Frantz Fanon’s ‘The Wretched of the Earth’. Daedalus, 105(1), pp.127–135.

Fanon, F., 1963. The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.

Ighilahriz, L (2001) Algérienne (gathered by Anne Nivat), Paris: Fayard/Calmann-Levy.

Sonnleitner, M.W., 1987. Of Logic and Liberation: Frantz Fanon on Terrorism. Journal of Black Studies, 17(3), pp.287–304.