In early October, Right to Remain attended a strategy and planning meeting in Birmingham with other regional organisations. Conversations about the current political climate, and the challenges we are facing turned into reflections on how our organisations started out and why we exist.

Our director Eiri reflected earlier this year on how Right to Remain began as the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns or NCADC, led by its first Coordinator and effectively our founder, John O. We started off in a humble space in the Asian Resource Centre in Handsworth – a legendary centre for many people who knew it, and a place that is remembered today by those who set it up and spent time there. 

In discussions at the meeting, the centre was described as ‘a place we felt proud of’ where equality and diversity was the norm. As various people added their comments about their experience of working in the centre and with the organisations based there, there was a sense of nostalgia and longing for a similar space of solidarity to exist today. 

Others commented on how difficult it has become to find what we need, with many services moving online and restricting access for migrants, alongside the general hostility and disconnect we are experiencing as a society and as individuals. Despite these challenges, we reminded ourselves of the strengths we could find in our collective memory of resistance and solidarity that could encourage change reflecting the best of what we hope for.

We were reminded of how strong the community felt organising anti-deportation campaigns and fighting together for community members’ right to remain many years ago. We came together to protect people who had come into our communities, built connections and shared their time, space and energy with us. A ’legendary’ space became that because of the actions that took place there. These are actions that we can still take and we all agreed that this needs to happen again now.

Right to Remain has developed and expanded to become an anchor for migration justice, campaigning through These Walls Must Fall, and creating the toolkit, which has become a vital resource for our communities. We work to build knowledge, solidarity and power. We also continue the original fight to challenge immigration enforcement, in the spirit of those who challenged deportations over 20 years ago in that small, local space. Our local communities remain a powerful force of good: people continue to stand up against hate and division, as each counter demonstration against the far right illustrates. 

Together, we can build power:

• Join us for the Week of Solidarity to End Immigration Detention by joining a local gathering or organising your own action (include link to all events)
• Sign the petition to Stop the expansion of Immigration Detention

These Walls Must Fall. No One is Illegal.

Right to Remain is part of the Anti Racist Movement (ARM) alongside BLMUK, Maslaha and Migrants Organise. ARM is developing a movement that defends migrants and creates conditions for racial and economic justice for all through relief, repair and restructure. Read more about what this means and how you can get involved here.

– Louise Watts, Legal Education Officer