Vasiliki Scurfield calls for action after her son Kosta died in action with YPG in Syria
Vasiliki Scurfield said: I would like to start by taking this opportunity to thank the Kurdish people from the Rojava region for looking after my son and honouring him and for their support in his repatriation and the financial assistance they’re giving us for this. Continue reading “Vasiliki Scurfield calls for action after her son Kosta died in action with YPG in Syria”
Federica Mogherini: Please don’t let the Mediterranean be a graveyard for migrants.
To the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, We call on you urgently to reinstate a comprehensive search and rescue operation for migrants in the Mediterranean and to ensure that the treatment of all migrants is based on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Please sign this here: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Federica_Mogherini_Please_dont_let_the_Mediterranean_be_a_graveyard_for_migrants
QARN response to the APPI into immigration detention
Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network – QARN: response to the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Immigration Detention Report released 3 March 2015
‘We detain a lot of people, some for a very long time, all with huge uncertainty, and we have very limited processes for individuals to challenge that detention’.
‘Crucially, this panel believes that little will change by tinkering with the pastoral care or improving the facilities. We believe the problems that beset our immigration detention estate occur quite simply because we detain far too many people unnecessarily and for far too long. The current system is expensive, ineffective and unjust.’ Continue reading “QARN response to the APPI into immigration detention”
Kobani and Rojava
Congratulations to the Kurds in Kobani and Rojava for looking after each other and the area, for Kurds and others who live peaceably with you. Well done the women who have worked so hard to change the way things are done, and to the men who did not stand in their way.
I was not impressed to read about women taking up arms, and was dsappointed to see the Facebook glorification of these women because it seems tokenistic, but when my friend Houzan Mahmood reframed it – the women were protecting themselves and all that is important to them, not relying on anyone else – it all made sense. In some ways it makes them less of a target if they can defend themselves. Women are so often used in war. Continue reading “Kobani and Rojava”
Kurds, Syria, asylum and politics
I’m not good at keeping this up to date, but I’d point you to:
999 NHS Raise the Call
#NHSPledges @999CallforNHS Continue reading “999 NHS Raise the Call”
Kurdish folk songs – Kurdistan
This is so beautiful: Kilam/Stran/ Goranî Kurdî “Silemano, Jin û Hebûn, Hawarê Gulê, Chimenê, Lo Berdê
from Zagros Kurdistan Medes Aryan Toros: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLikBEslrQoXGs8DSahKipA
Trip to Dublin 18 – 20 June 2014
For my 60th birthday, my kids Jessie and Amy, and Jessie’s Scott took me to Dublin for a few days. It was fabulous, what a lovely place.
We wandered around the Temple Bar shops every day… http://dublinstemplebar.com/goingout.php
One of the first Fairtrade Cafes in Dublin’s fair city
Newroz! Piroz
March 21 
A traditional holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Kurdish people from a mythical tyrant is under threat…
It is Newroz festival today. Newroz means ‘new day’ in Kurdish.
They say this ‘new day festival’ is being celebrated in all Eastern cultures but for Kurdish people it means a lot more than a new day that says spring is coming.
Once upon a time, there was a cruel commander whose name was Dehak (Zuhak), in Mesopotamia. Continue reading “Newroz! Piroz”