Women demand equal rights as citizens

Scan page 6

sexism and racism built

ON -GRAUP Whitelaw... adminisiers a wrare man's law

immigration law

'IMMIGRATION laws are racist and sexist. Nationality laws are racist and sexist.' These words opened the London Conference on •Women, Immigration and Nationality' on Sunday 24th. For the rest of the day, over 200 women discussed the effects, of the complex legislation and official forms of harassment of them: and shared their own, often harrowing, experiences of this raciall and sexual discrimination.

The basis for today's racist and sexist Immigration and Nationality Acts was laid at a Commonwealth conference in 1947.

The 'citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies' (CUKC) was created for inhabitants of the UK and of Commonwealth countries not yet independent. (Inhabitants of independent Commonwealth countries would become citizens of that country, although they would still be British subjects, thus retaining the right of free entry to live and work in Britain.)

Everyone born in the UK and colonies after January 1, 1948, was a CUKC by right of birth. But only fathers could pass on this citizenship to children born outside the UK and colonies, and only if they were married to the child's mother.

The other ways of acquiring UK citizenship were registration and naturalisation. A woman of any nationality married to a UK&C citizen man had an absolute right to register as a UK&C citizen. But a man married to a UK&C citizen woman could not.

The citizenship rights of a woman were defined by those of her husband. Women who were UK&C MARIA Cuenca Luna from North West London has been threatened with deportation to Bolivia.

The reason is that she has left a violent man. The Home Office allows her no right to stay in the country independent of the man she was with.

Maria's young child, Fenena, who wås born in London, will also be forced to leave the country.

Maria Cuenca Luna was even accused at her appeal of having tolerated Peter Lancaster's violence just in order to stay in the country.

The same threat of deportation for leaving violent Det faces Najat Chafee into tarth West London)

d Hatine Bahambe from

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BANGLADESH

WELFARE ASSOCAATION SMASH citizens had no right to bring an 'alien' husband into the UK, nor (later) the right to bring a husband o face Leeds.

The Home Office message to black women is clear. 'We'll only let you in if you want to live with a man. If he beats you, then you must accept it.

'If you leave him then it was only a marriage of convenience, and then we will deport you and your child.' The link between the oppression of black people and women could not be more clear. •Friends of Maria and Fenena, c/o 146, Kentish Town Rd., London NW1. •Friends of Najat Chaffee, c/o 138, Miner Ave., London NW10. •Friends of Halimat Babambe, Box HB, 59, Cookbridge St., Leeds LS2 3AW.

Rio STOP THE UNITEL ACIST BILL AR.L who was himself at UK&C citizen to Britain. The first stage, definition of woman's nationality through her hsuband, then led to an official policy of expecting a woman's place of residence to be defined through her husband's.

This was introduced in the new immigration rules of 1969 - by then Home Secretary, James Callaghan. All women, including those born in the UK, were excluded from settling. in Britain with a Commonwealth husband, unless she would suffer "exceptional hardship' (almost impossible to prove) if she moved to her husband's country.

This was defended by Home Office Minister, Merlyn Rees; 'immigrants should live in the man's country, not the woman's.' Divide The 1971 Immigration Aci furthered the racist and sexist divide. It created the category of patrials, who were free from immigration control or restrictions on employment. These rights are usually MIGRANTS ACTION Mari gained from nationality or citizenship. Yet the main qualification for being counted a patrial were: being born, adopted or naturalised in the UK, or having a parent or grandparent who had become a UK citizen by one of those means.

With patriality being so closely linked to descent, patrials are generally white, non-patrials black.

Canada

So white people, born and brought up in Canada, for example, are not UK&C citizens (they are Canadian) but if one of their grandparents was a UK&C citiren they would be natrics, and could fret.: enter Britain.

However, a black East African, with UK&C citizenship, would be a nonpatrial, and have no rights to come to Britain.

Furthermore, a wornan Commonwealth citizen married to a patrial man gains patriality herself: a man cannot gain patrial status through marrying a patrial woman.

Since the 1971 Act, most changes in Immigration law have been by changes to the rules; an easy, quick process.

The changes have again restricted the rights non-British men to live in Britain with British wives, including 12 month 'trial period' to prove a lattage genune This as defended by Willia Whitelaw (now Home Secretary): 'the abode of the husband ... should naturally be viewed as the natural place of residence of the family ?

A husband can also be refused entry if the immigration authorities have reason to believe' (in practice, no 'reason') the couple have not met: a elear attack on Asians who practise the arranged marriage system.

Restrictions have increased on the entry of dependents, including the infamous 'virginity tests' of 1979, and delays growing to nearly five years in the 'special voucher system' (allowing a fixed number of immigrants each year).

Separation of wives and husbands has also caused women great problems in bringing children into Britain.

While on the one hand treating the woman consistently as th dependent in the marriage, the laws also operate against families being together in Britain. But however hard it is to unite families and heterosexual couples, there is no recourse in law at all for gay couples.

As if all this legislation were not enough, we're now faced with the 1981 Nationality Act, coming into force on January 1, 1983.

This Act attempts to 'remove some of the ossible future sources c immigration' Willia Whitelaw, 1978) by using

Women

new laws on nationality.

Whereas before, the immigration to Britain of UK&C citizens has been controlled, it will now be made impossible by creating new categories of citizenship in place of UK&C citizenship with no entry rights at all.

The Act has been hailed as 'non-sexist'; but this is only true in reverse. Instead of allowing wives to pass citizenship to their husbands, the Act removes the right of husbands to pass citizenship land thus settlement and employment rights) to their wives.

Women married to UK citizens, who have had a right to become UK citizens themselves through registration, will have five years to register. This right will stop on January 1 1988, and in this 5 year transition phase will not apply to divorced women or widows.

This is only a briet outline of how the racism and sexism of immigration and nationality law affects black women. There are many, many people who have suffered under it, some of whom have campaigned against the controls, and a few of whom have won their cases.

Even for those who live in this country already, racist checks in schools, dole offices, hospitals are creating a society little elevated from. apartheid South Africa.

The Women, Immigration and Nationality Conference has sent a telemessage to William Whitelaw, opposing the tightening of immigration and nationality controls.

The women left the conference determined to fight to defend our sisters from any racist attacks, and to campaign to sweep the Statute Books free from all racist and sexist laws.

SO there is somebody out there!

Forty women came to the : Women's Fightback AGM in London on Saturday 23rd, from as far away as Edinburgh. Their ideas and suggestions showed that the bulletins, newsletters and newspapers we've been sending out for the past year have been read and acted on.

So what about next year? Sisters agreed with a resolu tion from Manchester Women's Fightback that the paper should appear monthly: local groups need it to sell in shopping centres and on estates (as well as at work) to reach the mass of working class women.

We agreed on a drive to collect standing orders and elected a new Editorial team, so we should have the money to publish monthly, and a group of people to nag if we don't.

Ideas and suggestions flowed on how to strengthen the campaign and paper in its various areas of work. Women's Fightback has been in the forefront of the Labour Party Women's Sections, and a proposal to set up a Labour Women's working group was carried.

This should help to circulate Ine Labour Women's newsletter more regularly (and spread the donkey-work of producing it) and will take further ideas to the newly elected Steering Committee. A Women's Fightback Labour women's conference is already scheduled for November 27.

Suggestions were also made to improve coverage of women's activity in the trade unions, and of women's struggles in other countries: possibly more working groups, reserving pages in the paper, or allocating areas of iesponsibility to the Editorial Board.

Above all, women who read Fightback must be encouraged to write andi send in articles. And we need to crystallise more active local groups out of the very widespread but often passive support for Women's Fight-! back.

One activity which will draw all these strands together is the build up for the Women's March for Jobs planned for next summer. We hope the March will arrive in towns to meet up with local activity and the AGM agreed that local campaigns must be built up now.

The obvious current focus is the campaign against UB671.

The women at the meeting showed a feeling which is far more widespread. In the Labour Party, in the Unions,: and at the dole queue, women are fighting back!

Scan page 7

Socialist Organiser no: 106 October 28; 1982 Page GM bosses eased out John De Lorean, hard-headed capitalist governments in Puerto Rico and Dublin looked askance at his schemes, yet Labour minister Roy Mason couldn't wait to hand over the millions. Harry Sloan reports.

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paged victence

WORKERS d' ASSOCTATION QWER HAME SINGH INDIAN #KERS

MACIST AMPAIG BLAD

FIGHT HERE TO

Local gramps key to proper