Hell no, they won't go!
After the extraordinary intervention of students from a Glasgow high school, the deportation of a family of asylum seekers from Scotland to Kosovo was put on hold. Mr Murselaj, his wife, Tade, and their children Agnesa, 15, Gentian, 12, and Leonard, 9 – a Roma (Gypsy) family – were taken from their home early one morning by 14 Home Office officials after their asylum application was rejected. Within three days, a petition pledging support for Agnesa and Gentian was signed by hundreds of students at Drumchapel High School, where they were both pupils. Emma Clifford, 16, who helped organize the petition, said: ‘I’m just disgusted. I’m friends with a lot of asylum seekers at the school and a lot of them are scared it could happen to them. The support we got for the petition was unbelievable.’ The school has a high proportion of asylum seekers. Although the students come from widely different backgrounds, they are united in condemning the treatment handed out to the Murselajs.
Both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the British Foreign Office have expressed concern over the persecution of Roma people in Kosovo, who are perceived to have sided with the Serbs in the war against ethnic Albanians.
Join over 10,000 people just like you. Get e-mail updates about new content, issue alerts, contests, and more!
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
New Internationalist (NI) workers' co-operative exists to report on issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for global justice.
Except where otherwise noted, images on this site are copyright of the photographer/illustrator or representative agency.Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
