• All 22 players sit in silence before AEL Larissa versus Acharnaikos
• Club attacks ‘brutal indifference of EU and Turkey’ to refugee crisis

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/30/greek-match-delayed-players-sit-down-protest-migrant-deaths

A Greek second-tier league match was delayed on Friday when players staged a sit-down protest against the death toll of migrants trying to reach the Aegean islands.

The gesture of solidarity took place before the game between AEL Larissa and Acharnaikos in the Thessalian city of Larissa.

As the match kicked off all 22 players plus coaches and substitutes sat in silence for two minutes in a show of respect to the hundreds of refugees who have lost their lives trying to escape conflict or persecution in countries such as Syria and Iraq.

An announcement over the club’s PA system stated: “The administration of AEL, the coaches and the players will observe two minutes of silence just after the start of the match in memory of the hundreds of children who continue to lose their lives every day in the Aegean due to the brutal indifference of the EU and Turkey.
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By: Harsha Walia
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Why-Migration-Should-Be-Central-to-Paris-COP21-Climate-Talks-20151125-0011.html

Climate refugees and displaced peoples bear the brunt of environmental violence.

“We live in constant fear of the adverse impacts of climate change. For a coral atoll nation, sea level rise and more severe weather events loom as a growing threat to our entire population. The threat is real and serious, and is of no difference to a slow and insidious form of terrorism against us.” – Prime Minister of Tuvalu Saufatu Sapo’aga at the United Nations

In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, world leaders are closing their borders to refugees and cracking down on civil society participation in the upcoming climate negotiations. Over the past 15 years, the War on Terror has allowed for increased state powers while curbing fundamental rights, especially of racialized bodies marked as threats. Meanwhile, violence against the majority of humanity – including the devastation caused by climate change in places like Tuvalu – continues on with international impunity.

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IMMIGRATION CHANGES:

It’s official – second class citizenship goes into effect

Last Friday, part of Bill C-24 went into effect, officially creating a two-tier citizenship system. As a result of this new law, dual citizens and people who have immigrated to Canada can have their citizenship taken away while other Canadians cannot. The government’s press release last week tried to justify this discriminatory law by raising the threat of “jihadi terrorism,” but Bill C-24 could easily be used against non-terrorists—for example, a journalist who is convicted of a “terrorism offence” in another country for reporting on human rights violations by the government.

Read more: https://bccla.org/2015/06/its-official-second-class-citizenship-goes-into-effect/

Hundreds make final bids to stay in Canada after deportation hold lifted

Mr. Lafleur is one of 3,500 people in Canada – 3,200 Haitians and 300 Zimbabweans – who were affected when the federal government lifted a hold on deportations to their home countries in December, deeming the situation in Haiti and Zimbabwe to be stable. Those without status were given six months to apply for residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/hundreds-make-final-bids-to-stay-in-canada-after-deportation-hold-lifted/article24728764/

New Tory legislation will force deportation of foreign criminals and strip them of refugee protection

The government’s plans is to change several acts to make it easier and faster to remove non-Canadian criminals out of Canada, including some who have already been accorded refugee protection and permanent residency status, he said.

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/new-tory-legislation-will-force-deportation-of-foreign-criminals-and-strip-them-of-refugee-protection

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VIDEO: “Guantánamo of the Pacific”: Australian Asylum Seekers Wage Hunger Strike at Offshore Detention Site

A massive hunger strike is underway at what some are calling “the Guantánamo Bay of the Pacific.” TSome have barricaded themselves behind the detention center’s high wire fences; others have resorted to increasingly drastic measures such as drinking washing detergent, swallowing razor blades, and even sewing their mouths shut to protest their confinement.

Watch Democracy Now video here: http://www.democracynow.org/2015/1/22/guantanamo_of_the_pacific_australian_asylum

Are you already violating the feds’ new anti-terror bill?

Harper introduced Bill C-51, a sweeping piece of legislation that covers everything from what you’re allowed to say and write to who can board a plane, what happens to your tax information and how long you can be detained without charge.

 http://globalnews.ca/news/1803553/are-you-already-violating-the-feds-new-anti-terror-bill/

My call from a former hunger striker inside the Lindsay Superjail

In recent months I’ve been receiving collect calls from a man who’s being held at the Central East Correctional Centre, also known as the Lindsay Superjail. He’s one of about 200 immigration detainees who began hunger strikes at the jail in September 2013 to protest lengthy detentions and seemingly endless immigration hearings. More than a year later, many of them are still in a maximum-security purgatory that sounds like hell on earth.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/my-call-from-a-former-hunger-striker-inside-the-lindsay-supe/

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1) Video: Comedian’s take on immigrants stealing jobs in Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4kvY9bVDi0&feature=youtu.be

2) Video: Migrant baby Alpha born in jail, still there https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9pgveUowjw

3) A bad year for Canadian citizenship “The reform has made it possible for citizenship to be withdrawn at the whim of politicians. In the year to come, it will become clear which citizens will be targeted for removal and who will be extended the privilege to belong.”. Read more: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/01/03/a_bad_year_for_canadian_citizenship.html

4) Border Services ramping up arrests, advocates say “Nearly 600 people in the Pacific region were removed between April and November. Community groups who work with undocumented migrants are reporting an increase in arrests of workers by the Canada Border Services Agency in recent months.” Read more http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Border+Services+ramping+arrests+advocates/10461322/story.html#ixzz3LeqyCzit

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