Leaflet distribution at Green St market Thurs 29th May

Green street is a big, vibrant, indoor multiethnic market in West Ham open 4 days a week. We found out that a successful campaign had resisted a proposed development of the market by ASDA but there seems to be an underlying threat from potential developers with apparent benign neglect of the market structure. Seven of us came to Upton Park at 11am and at first split into two groups to distribute bustcards in different languages. People in the market were responsive to the information distributed and were also telling us about their personal experience of raids in the market. One of the first people that we encountered recounted a big raid on a Friday last year and he said that “Fridays have never been the same since” suggesting that the atmosphere and the business of the market was badly affected. Other people we talked to said that small scale immigration raids were happening regularly, as recently as last week.

The flyers were well received in the market and it became apparent that people were unaware of their rights, felt intimidated and felt powerless to challenge the immigration enforcement officers who, it seems were often mistaken for police officers. As well as  informing people of their individual rights in a raid, it was useful to inform shopkeepers that they are not obliged to give immigration officers consent to enter, and that they can only enter the premises without this when they are in possession of a warrant or an Assistant Director letter authorising entry.

During the distribution, it was great to see that stall holders and shopkeepers were already starting to talk to each other about the information, and we got the feeling that solidarity was starting to grow immediately around the topic.

This was really encouraging for us and made an enjoyable day feel massively worthwhile. On reflection, we also felt that it would be easy for a couple of people to do something similar in their local market or shopping street. We feel inspired to start doing that more in an autonomous way. The bustcards are downloadable and printable from https://network23.org/antiraids. Just choose the languages that you want, or contact us at antiraids at riseup.net (replace the “at” with “@”) if you need a supply and you want to publicise your own event. We look forward to hearing your stories of distributions in your local areas and please send them to us.

There are also several events coming in the future that you can join, check
https://network23.org/antiraids/2014/05/12/new-events-listing-for-anti-raids-network-this-mayjune/.