Our revised list of demands (unfortunately our computer had a trojan horse which meant we lost the document that we had worked hard on to word water tight so had to re-write it again late last night. We hope the school take it on face value based on the general gist and dont conitune to provaricate over the odd incorrectly worded statement.)

This morning the school responded by saying no to all of them except number

SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, W1

Students at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) have occupied the director's offices in protest at the detention and deportation of nine cleaners [video]. Immigration officials detained the cleaners after an early morning raid on Friday last week. At least five have already been deported - some to Colombia, which has an appalling track record of targeting trade unionists.

Over 50 people are involved in the occupation. They have issued several demands to the Soas directorate. These include the immediate release of the detainees who remain in Britain, to campaign for the return of the cleaners who have already been deported, to bring all contract workers in-house and stop the use of contractors to run services, and to stop immigration officers from coming onto the campus.

Updates Tues 16th: 
SOAS management stated that an injunction had been served on the occupation with "immediate effect", but in fact it turned out to be an application for an injunction that that will be dealt with by a judge at a hearing on 22nd June. A well attended rally and demonstration took place in the afternoon [pics]. The occupiers published a revised list of demands.

Update Wednesday 17th: The occupation ended at 12.30pm today. After several rounds of intense negotiations, the occupiers and the management reached an agreement in which the management agreed to all five demands put forward by the protesters, albeit in a not-very-committing way. See report and video.

Previous IMC-London Feature | Justice For SOAS Cleaners blog

Brief interview from the picket line of the Tube strike that lasted from June 9 - June 11 2009, from http://libcom.org

See: http://libcom.org/library/picket-line-interview-striking-tube-worker-june-2009

DEMONSTRATION Monday 15th June at 8.30am on SOAS Steps. Please bring banners and other visual, audio aids.

We denounce the actions of the school and demand that academic institutions should not be complicit in assisting the Government in implementing their racist immigration programme. We find this particularly disgraceful given SOAS’s attempt to shake the reputation leftover from its colonial past. SOAS cannot lecture other countries about oppression when it complies in programmes such as this.

On Friday 12th, SOAS University was raided by immigrantion police, who rounded up several cleaners employed by ISS contractors amidst threats of immediate deportation. The detained persons are held at Old Street and Borough Immigration Centre and are set to be deported on Monday. SOAS staff and students have condemned the raids in a press release.

Updates Monday morning: A demonstration has taken place at SOAS at 8.30am, and another one has been called for the afternoon at 4.30pm, whilst the SOAS directors office has been occupied to demand the release of the 9 cleaners arrested on Friday.

Updates Friday eve: Following a call for solidarity, more than 100 people assembled at the steps of SOAS in the afternoon in an open assembly to discuss a response to the morning's raid, whilst a group of people made their way to Communications House to try and make contact with those detained. There are also reports that one detainee is set to be deported tonight, and the rest on Monday.

Call Out | Free SOAS Cleaners blog | Living Wage Campaign | Justice for Cleaners Campaign

Without any advance warning from their ISS bosses nor the university management, SOAS cleaning staff were confronted by a hefty team of immigration officers at 6.30am this morning (Friday 12 June). Fearful cleaners were detained on SOAS premises as the officers demanded to see their papers. Some were taken into rooms of the university to be interviewed. A shocked witness said that someone had to intervene when a heavily-pregnant cleaner was being manhandled by immigration officers. Nine cleaners were taken away by Immigration Officers.

Dateline: RMT Picket Line, Seven Sisters, London, UK, 13:00, Thu 11 Jun 09 – On the second day of the London Underground Two Day Strike, pickets from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers stake out an autonomous space for Industrial Direct Action, outside Transport for London’s new Pleiades House offices in Westerfield Road, N15 5LD. With red and green flags flying high, a BBQ replacing the more traditional brazier, and toots of support from passing drivers, the strikers were in high good spirits at the success of their action, while remaining angry at their betrayal by the class traitors in ASLEF HQ.

This morning at 8, SOAS University was raided by Immigration police who rounded up 9 of our cleaners and are threatening to deport them tonight.

We have fought hard with the cleaners to get them union representation and a decent wage (which we have now got). many of them have been working here for years, and have their whole lives here in london..

From the Lasthours blog:

The Anarchist Movement Conference took place recently. But did it fuel enthusiasm and inspiration or did it highlight old divides. Below is a report back from the two day event.

See: http://www.lasthours.org.uk/news/report-back-from-the-anarchist-movement-conference/

From the Guardian website:

Of the 2,500 who volunteered to join the fight against Franco's fascists, only a handful survive. Yesterday, seven of them travelled to the Spanish embassy in London to receive Spanish passports in recognition of their actions

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2009/jun/10/spain-international-brigade-veterans

Lecture Theatre 106, First Floor, Roberts Building, UCL, Torrington Place (opposite Waterstones, Malet Street).

A detailed account and analysis of the struggle of Ford-Visteon car manufacturing workers who occupied and picketed their plants after being sacked when their employers declared themselves bankrupt.

See: http://libcom.org/history/report-reflections-uk-ford-visteon-dispute-2009-post-fordist-struggle

In light of the recent Visteon occupation here in London, it's interesting to get a perspective on how people are doing the same things elsewhere.  Here's a report by Marie Trigona about a recent factory occupation in Argentina: http://www.zmag.org/zspace/commentaries/3886

Below is a list of suggested activities from the Strike Support Group that comrades, and their groups, could do to support the up and coming tubeowrkers strike on June 9-11th

The following notes are an attempt to capture the spirit of the discussion of one of the groups at the Anarchist Conference 09.  The format of the conference was novel and worked very well - everyone who joined was taken away from their "normal" affinity group and placed in a discussion group with a selection of other people who weren't in the same organization, so that each group became to some extent a cross-section of the anarchist movement in the UK.

Each paragraph below represents a different person speaking, so the perspective shifts quite a bit, but it is interesting to observe how strangely coherent the whole discussion proved to be.

With the economic crisis hitting people hard, there's no need any longer to explain to people that capitalism is a crazy and destructive way to run the economy - people are talking about it all over the country. Against this backdrop, 300 people met for the Anarchist Conference '09 at Queen Mary, University of London during the weekend. People shared their ideas about fighting repossessions and evictions, ecological issues (and their co-optation), militant squatting for housing, workplace and school occupations, and hundreds of other tactics for self-organized trouble-making during a time of crisis. 

There was a major intervention by a group of anarcha-feminists during the conference plenary, featuring a video (on youtube) projection calling out the sexists in the movement for the hypocrisy and stupidity of their political attitudes.

Conference: Read more | Callout | Interview with organisers | Conference Website | Short Report | Anarcha-feminists take action

Issues:  Two days of discussion | Does your mum know you're an anarchist? | A Critique of Anarcho-sexism | Why Indymedia Sucks

Dateline: London & Brighton pub, Peckham, London, UK, 22:00 Fri 05 Jun 09 – On the day of Gordon Brown’s forced emergency cabinet reshuffle, Mr Mayhem, Teenage Man, Saddam & the Look-Alikes, Bloco de Louco and other left field luminaries were celebrating “The Death and Astonishing Resurrection of THE Labour Party” in a superb squatted pub in Peckham. For twelve long years, the war criminals, torturers, financial fools, and expenses cheats of “New” Labour have been fraudulently stealing working peoples’ votes for their own nefarious ends, so NOW is the time – as the logo of THE Labour Party has it – for a sea change in political engagement: “LABOUR – TAKE THE POWER”!

Dateline: Bank of England, London, UK, 12:30, Thu 04 Jun 09 – Marking the 20th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of our brother and sister students and workers by the Chinese State’s “People's Liberation Army” (ironic killing joke unintended) in and around Tiananmen Square on 04 June 1989, the CIRCUS of TIANANMEN links the ongoing exploitation of Wage Slaves by the Banksters of England and China with the wholesale industrial-scale slaughter of those who would challenge the exploiters' power over us.

Freedom newspaper was present at the meeting to set up a support group for the tube workers and their up and coming strike.

A Demo against Starbucks by the Space Hijackers (www.spacehijackers.co.uk) and The Reverend Billy (www.revbilly.com) in the form of a mock funeral. Sunday 31st May 2009

The Moth Club, Valette Street, Hackney Central (corner Morning Lane)

The latest issue of Freedom newspaper has an indepth interview with one of the Enfield workers active in the recent Visteon dispute who won a major victory recently against car giants Ford over redundancy payments when the enire UK forceforce was made redundant.

Saturday, 30th May was Independence Day in Haringey, north London, as the neighbourhood declared independence from "party politics, religion and government agencies, where individuals and groups in Haringey can organise collectively, exchange ideas and make their own decisions that affect their lives." 

The event combined workshops, film screenings, bike repairs, music, a history walk, and refreshments into a community-organized day of learning, discussion, and strategy. Dozens of community organizations took part.

Photos and Report | Haringey Independence Day website | Haringey Solidarity Group

London & Brighton pub, 139 Queens Road, Peckham, London SE15 2ND
• Location & Public Transport Map: http://tinyurl.com/TLP-rising-map
• Facebook Event Page: http://tinyurl.com/TLP-rising
• Event Flyer: http://tinyurl.com/TLP-rising-flyer

From the Morning Star:

JUSTICE for cleaners union activist Alberto Durango hit back at bosses on Friday for using immigration raids to "victimise" employees organising their workplace.

Mr Durango, who is a prominent campaigner for migrant workers' union rights, was hauled away by police and immigration agents after he turned up for a meeting with his bosses at the London offices of the Lancaster Cleaning Company.

The Unite union member, who helped organise other cleaners on Lancaster's contract at Schroder's Bank in the City earlier this year, was arrested on suspicion of using false documents - despite having worked for the company for more than 10 years.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/britain/bosses_using_raids_to_target_activists

From http://libcom.org/news/visteon-workers-reject-insulting-offer-17042009

Sacked workers of car parts firm Visteon taking part in pickets and occupations against job cuts have rejected an "insulting" cash offer from bosses.

The workers have vowed to fight on until they get their contractual entitlements. Supporters are urged to donate to help the ex-employees continue their struggle, visit the occupied Belfast plant and assist with picketing the Enfield plant, which had its blockades strengthened following the announcement.

From http://libcom.org/news/university-bosses-get-massive-pay-rises-despite-tough-times-29042009

Union are angry as university bosses received an average pay rise which vastly exceeds current pay offer to employees.

Unions have expressed distaste at the news that university senior managers (Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Deans, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer, and Support Directors) received a pay increase in 2008 of 5.5%. This comes after the University and College Employers Association (UCEA) this week offered higher education (HE) unions 0.3% pay rise this year. The 5.5% pay-rise in 2008 for senior managers slightly bettered the 5.3% they received in 2007.

It has also been revealed that UK university vice-chancellors received an average pay increase in 2008 of 9%. Many vice-chancellors earn more than the UK Prime-Minister.

From libcom.org:

Local government workers have rejected a "pitiful" 0.5% pay offer as college staff turned down a 1% cost of living pay rise.

The offer to Council workers is worth just 3p an hour to 150,000 low-paid workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Movie of Defend The Right To Protest: Kettle Scotland Yard