Free Ubaka!

Here is another heart rending story of how our country treats asylum seekers that have fled to Britain in the belief that here they may be free from the persecution they suffered in their home country- only to find that they are treated just as badly here. Ubaka was due to be deported back to Nigeria yesterday, but was not sent because his children refused to cooperate with the authorities. They don't want their dad to be sent back to the land where he has already been shot for speaking out for human rights.Here is Ubaka's story in his own words.




Stephanie 12, Desmond 11 and Raphael 6, refuse to leave Yarl's Wood

Fortunately we were not removed yesterday cos the children refused to be removed as Desmond was terrified went into tears and went under the bed refusing to be pulled out, after several persuasion and trial by the detention officer to pull him out. The immigration officer told him that she will be back in couple of days with another date of removal. Stephanie since after she harmed herself by incision on her wrist she is right has ever been under suicide watch by the detention officers. As the day goes by I see my daughter completely diminishing lost her mind she has refused to talk to neither any body not eating nor a drink of water. The detention offers has arranged for Stephanie to see the doctor but she has also refused to see the doctor she is just covering her head with duvet. She is in great fear of returning to a country where she has no life, where her father was shot, where she has been brutalised as she witnessed many torture, a country where we have watched our heads.

Please help!! This mental torture is slowly killing my daughter, her siblings Desmond 11yrs and Raphael 6yrs are so sad that they run under the bed when they hear a knock at the door, she still says she will kill herself, she is devastated I can't seem to calm her down she has not used the tooth brush since we arrive Yarl wood and she has looks as if she is waken up from sleep all the time, her the condition remains the same the security officials have changed shifts overnight to ensure she does not proceed to suicide. I am loosing it Please help! Some one help!!!
Thank You all,

Ubaka K. Nwose

Please as a matter of urgency sign our online petition
http://www.gopetition.com/online/27357/signatures.html

For more information please see the Sheffield CDAS website
http://www.cdas-sheffield.org.uk/

Green Party leader coming to Sheffield

Great news! Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MEP is coming to Sheffield to appear on Radio 4's Any Questions.The BBC Radio 4 show 'Any Questions?' will be
broadcast live from Longley Park 6th Form college Drama Studio on the evening of May 22nd 2009.

This is your chance to participate in a National favourite radio programme!
Your question could be put to politicians and VIP's.

Tickets are now available on a first-come-first-served basis. To book a
ticket please e-mailAQ@longleypark.ac.uk or telephone 01142 625757.

Please note that no one under age 14 can be allowed in the audience and a
limit of 2 tickets per applicant applies. For further details please visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/anyquestions

Arrive from 6.45 and no later than 7.15. Programme broadcast at 7.30pm on Radio 4 followed by the Any Answers phone in.

Mark Thomas says "Vote Green"

Very pleased my favourite comedian has endorsed the Green Party- thanks Mark- and glad you like the sandals!

You can see Mark at Sheffield Memorial Hall on June 1st.

More local renewables

It's encouraging to see the new bungalows and apartments on the Wybourn are going to have lots of eco friendly features- solar panels and green roofs. They are being built on the corner of Manor Oaks Road and Manor Oaks Place. See the Sheffield Telegraph for more details However many other buildings are still being built around the city with very little concern for the environment.

If the Greens were in power all new homes would be designed for low energy use and the installation of solar panels on all new buildings would be mandatory. We would encourage the conservation of resources by removing VAT from insulation and would make more grants available for measures that reduce energy loss from houses.

Water-saving devices would be fitted in all new and renovated buildings. We would
protect the countryside and urban open spaces by introducing independent environmental impact assessments when development is proposed on greenfield
sites. We would make the planning system more democratic and accessible to people.

We would make funding available to local authorities so they can provide good and well-maintained council houses. The Green Party is opposed to the privatisation of ownership and/or management of social housing and we are against the transfer of council housing to ALMOs (Arms Length Management Organisations) because the system provides inadequate representation for tenants. When an ALMO exists, the Green Party will seek to ensure that tenants are able to participate meaningfully in its management, and, that the housing is returned to local authority control should the majority of tenants wish it. Public services, such as council housing, should not be funded through private finance, eg the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) because of the burden to society in the longer term. George Monbiot recently wrote a particularly damming article about how we the taxpayers are being fleeced by PFI's especially the new one to widen the M25-"the biggest weirdest rip off yet". In Sheffield the Council and the Government have just agreed a massive PFI to upgrade the cities roads, despite opposition from the Green Councillors.The 25 year contract is ridiculous when climate change is forcing us to rethink the way we travel, and the scheme will cost us the tax payers far more than if we paid for it outright in the first place.

Ian Tomlinson RIP

This video shows the events that led to the death of Ian Tomlinson. Having witnessed similar police behaviour at the demo against the G8 meeting in Sheffield, where I experienced a "kettle" I am afraid it comes as no surprise to me. I hope the investigation will reveal the truth and the identity of the ruthless bully who should be arrested immediately. See fellow blogger Jim Jay's comments on this.

G20 protests in London

I wasn't at the protests this week in London, but it is clear there has been an awful lot of misrepresentation of events about it in the press. This video clearly shows how the police penned in protesters, using truncheons and shields to batter protesters. This wasn't at the site where anarchists smashed a window at RBS, but was at the peaceful climate camp demo. Protesters were penned in for 7 hours, with no access to food, water or toilets. It seems to me that most of the extremists on the video are wearing police riot kit.

See the Green Party website for more details.