Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Junk Journalism

Sister of Mercy | 06.09.2001 10:36

Sue Carroll, colunmist for the Daily Mirror says that the government won't broach the subject of refugees for fear of being branded "barking-mad-racists." She obviously has no qualms about that herself!

I found the Daily Mirror in the gutter, where it belongs, but since I don’t buy or read the propaganda press, out of curiosity I picked it up to see what drivel the brainwashed masses are being fed. There was the usual ‘celebrity’ trivia on the front page, but inside something more sinister was lurking, Sue Carroll.

In an unbridled Xenophobic tirade, she urges our troops to be deployed in preventing “rogue refugees” breaching our borders. What was once described as a ‘flood’ of immigrants, is now called a “tidal wave” by Sue Carroll, although the way she portrays asylum seekers as “swarming” the Channel Tunnel in a “violent stampede” sounds more like a mega tsunami!

She says hordes of “fit” young men are “raiding the tunnel” encouraged by a generous “package of rights to benefits” like vouchers, which they have the audacity to openly exchange for cash! She implies they have no desire to contribute to our economy, happy to depend on hand-outs.

The truth is, in Europe refugees have no right to work, in Britain they do, that’s why they come…

I challenge Sue Carroll to live on vouchers for one week, and see if she can carve a “better way of life” for herself. Although admittedly, it would be still better than anyone’s lifestyle in the Third World!

She writes, “the people swarming the tunnel do not look in poor health, impoverished or overwhelmed by misery.” Perhaps she should visit the Pakistani camp, from which many Afghans are fleeing and see if she could survive there, for even one week! Or stay in a Balkan village reduced to rubble by NATO?

She says, British people’s tolerance is being “stretched beyond endurance” by these “chancers.” That may well be true of her and the mindless Mirror readers she writes for, personally I welcome ALL victims of global injustice and inequality, many who are escaping from poverty, oppression, war, torture, mines and starvation, otherwise they would prefer to remain in the country of their birth, rather than be detained in a UK prison cell.

Sue Carroll claims genuine refugees like Africans are welcome here(?) Many Nigerian, Sierra Leonian and Congolese women and girls, the victims of rape, abuse and bereavement have their applications rejected. More alarmingly an unknown number of child refugees disappear from social services care, which the police conclude have been taken by traffickers for prostitution, forced labour and crime, worth an estimated $7 billion globally. Many get no refugee status and by the time they reach eighteen years, are deported.

A Sri Lankan boy, Kannan, aged twelve, whose mother was shot, sister was raped then shot, baby sister was strangled and father was blown up in a truck by Tamil Tigers, is typical of the orphaned children arriving in Britain. The odds are so stacked against them, that their pride, determination and dignity is impressive, they want to study and feel included, yet according to the Refugee Council, 1,400 asylum-seeking youngsters have no school places.

Unfortunately however, Sue Carroll’s tawdry tabloid journalism will have the desired effect and create a backlash, with children like Kannan becoming the target for racial abuse. So, they next time a Kurd is stabbed in Sitehill, or an Asian’s house is fire-bombed, the Daily Mirror can take full credit.

Sister of Mercy

Comments

Display the following 7 comments

  1. pulling the wool — Mustermann
  2. Wouldn't it be just great...... — jen
  3. bobby brown — spelling
  4. riters — dwight heet
  5. Rite on! — Archibald
  6. Zero tolerance — WPC
  7. False Scribes — Isaiah
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech