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RAPAR

Seventh Annual Social Work Action Network Conference (SWAN). What happened to anti racist social work? Friday, March 30 th 2012. RAPAR. Working Together To Achieve Equal Human Rights. Dr Rhetta Moran. It’s alive and kicking! …and it needs to be…. Racism, Asylum and Social Work

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RAPAR

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  1. Seventh Annual Social Work Action Network Conference (SWAN) What happened to anti racist social work? Friday, March 30th 2012 RAPAR Working Together To Achieve Equal Human Rights Dr Rhetta Moran

  2. It’s alive and kicking! …and it needs to be…

  3. Racism, Asylum and Social Work • Political-Legal-Ideological context • Theoretical framework underpinning our work • Researching in action: • intervening, exposing, organising… • Case study example

  4. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK Before 1997 – Labour Govt said little about Asylum and Immigration….6 lines in the 1997 party manifesto Political landscape is transformed by 2003 What happened in between?

  5. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 1999 - Accommodation continues to be available to people failed by asylum system but cash is stopped

  6. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 1999 - Accommodation continues to be available to people failed by asylum system but cash is stopped • 2000 – NASS takes over responsibility for asylum system

  7. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 1999 - Accommodation continues to be available to failed asylum seekers but cash is stopped • 2000 – NASS takes over responsibility for asylum system • 2001 – Jack Straw moots concept of “overhauling” 1951 UN Convention on Human Rights (refugees vs. asylum seekers)

  8. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 1999 - Accommodation continues to be available to failed asylum seekers but cash is stopped • 2000 – NASS takes over responsibility for asylum system • 2001 – Jack Straw moots concept of “overhauling” 1951 UN Convention on Human Rights (refugees vs. asylum seekers) • 2001 Intolerance of refugees and asylum seekers is particularly acute in the UK (Council of Europe Racism Commission Report, 2001, BBC News 03.04.01. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1257321.stm)

  9. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 2001 [CRE is ] failing to challenge the creation of new structures of discriminationthat provide the ideological space in which racism towards asylum seekers becomes culturally acceptable” CARF, 2001. License to hate. Campaign Against Racism and Fascism 62. June-July . www.carf.demon.co.uk/feat52.html

  10. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • March 2002 - Asylum seekers prohibited from working

  11. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • March 2002 - Asylum seekers prohibited from working • Effectively makes legal entry to claim asylum impossible… • legitimating concept of asylum seeker as ‘illegal’ • The Star and the News of the World begin talking about people seeking asylum as “this scum” … focus is on Sangatte…closing it…ideology of the border However, before the media campaign (2002 onwards), despite marked increase in numbers of people claiming aslum, % of people who put it as their main concern in single figures (Dean M (2011). Democracy under attack. Policy Press)

  12. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • March 2002 - Asylum seekers prohibited from working • The Star and the News of the World begin talking about people seeking asylum as “this scum”…focus is on Sangatte • December 2002 - of 40 organisations working with people seeking asylum in England and Scotland, 85% reported to the Refugee Council that clients experienced hunger

  13. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • 26th Jan 2003 – 40000 of 240000 people with failed asylum applications deported….Tony Blair’s response: • “If the measures that we’re taking … just coming • into effect now … if those measures don’t work • [i.e. destitution for newly arriving people] then we • have to consider further measures, including • fundamentally looking at the obligations we have • under the convention of human rights.” • BBC Breakfast with Frost. BBC Breakfast with Frost Interview: • Prime Minister Tony Blair. January 26th, 2003.

  14. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • February 2003 – Blair announces intention to halve asylum numbers within six months…. projected figures based on 2002 new rules and Sangatte closure

  15. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We recommend that such people be granted a temporary status which will allow them to support themselves.”

  16. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We recommend that such people be granted a temporary status which will allow them to support themselves.” “It is difficult to envisage a case where a person could be destitute without there being a threat of violation of Articles 3 and 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights”

  17. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: • “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to • people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We • recommend that such people be granted a temporary • status which will allow them to support themselves.” • “It is difficult to envisage a case where a person could be • destitute without there being a threat of violation of • Articles 3 and 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights” • Continuous and deepening violations since 2003… • compounded by • illegal warfare NOT social welfare

  18. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: • “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to • people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We • recommend that such people be granted a temporary • status which will allow them to support themselves.” • “It is difficult to envisage a case where a person could be • destitute without there being a threat of violation of • Articles 3 and 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights” • Continuous and deepening violations since 2003… • compounded by • illegal warfare NOT social welfare • increasingly profound socioeconomic divisions

  19. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: • “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to • people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We • recommend that such people be granted a temporary • status which will allow them to support themselves.” • “It is difficult to envisage a case where a person could be • destitute without there being a threat of violation of • Articles 3 and 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights” • Continuous and deepening violations since 2003… • compounded by • illegal warfare NOT social welfare • increasingly profound socioeconomic divisions • attacks on multiculturalism

  20. POLITICAL-LEGAL-IDEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK • Joint Committee of Human Rights, 2003: • “We believe that it is absurd to refuse leave to remain to • people who, for whatever reason cannot be removed. We • recommend that such people be granted a temporary • status which will allow them to support themselves.” • “It is difficult to envisage a case where a person could be • destitute without there being a threat of violation of • Articles 3 and 8 of the European Commission of Human Rights” • Continuous and deepening violations since 2003… • compounded by • illegal warfare NOT social welfare • increasingly profound socioeconomic divisions • attacks on multiculturalism • rise of the far right

  21. MATERIAL REALITY NOW World Asylum claims at highest level since 2003.

  22. MATERIAL REALITY NOW World Asylum claims at highest level since 2003. The number of refugees seeking sanctuary in the world's richest countries rose 20% last year, says UN.

  23. MATERIAL REALITY NOW World Asylum claims at highest level since 2003. The number of refugees seeking sanctuary in the world's richest countries rose 20% last year, says UN. Afghans - more than 35,700 Afghans asked for asylum last year in the 44 industrialised countries surveyed, a one-third increase on 2010. Followed by Chinese and Iraqis

  24. MATERIAL REALITY NOW • World Asylum claims at highest level since 2003. • The number of refugees seeking sanctuary in the world's richest countries rose 20% last year, says UN. • Afghans - more than 35,700 Afghans asked for asylum last year in the 44 industrialised countries surveyed, • a one-third increase on 2010. • Followed by Chinese and Iraqis • Overall, asylum applications to the 44 industrialised countries surveyed rose 20% in 2011, to 441,300 from 368,000 the previous year. (Guardian newspaper) • http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/27/asylum-claims-highest-since-2003?newsfeed=true

  25. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges:

  26. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language

  27. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate

  28. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective

  29. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective - Intersubjective (between people) reality is fundamentally affected by socioeconomic[cultural] position

  30. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: • - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective - Intersubjective reality is fundamentally affected by socioeconomic(cultural) position - Competing views of reality held by different population groups co-exist in space and time

  31. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: • - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective - Intersubjective (between people) reality is fundamentally affected by socioeconomic[cultural] position - Competing views of reality held by different population groups co-exist in space and time - Continual process of struggle, ‘contest’, over what the dominant meaning of reality is, and over means of communicating reality

  32. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective - Intersubjective (between people) reality is fundamentally affected by socioeconomic[cultural] position - Competing views of reality held by different population groups co-exist in space and time - Continual process of struggle, ‘contest’, over what the dominant meaning of reality is, and over means of communicating reality - What comes to prominence results from the contest: it is a refraction, not reflection, of reality

  33. Meta-theory: language creation from below (3) • Volosinov (1986 (1929)), disappeared in 1930’s Stalinist purges: - Experience of human reality is communicated through language - Critical purpose of language is to communicate - Reality is both objective and intersubjective - Intersubjective (between people) reality is fundamentally affected by socioeconomic[cultural] position - Competing views of reality held by different population groups co-exist in space and time - Continual process of struggle, ‘contest’, over what the dominant meaning of reality is, and over means of communicating reality - What comes to prominence results from the contest: it is a refraction, not reflection, of reality • How has this approach helped to shape the way we • approach social work?

  34. Physical Context: Social- economic- cultural- political Material conditions, specifically situated in time and space: e.g. housing, employment, mix of people, form of government

  35. Physical Context: Social- economic- cultural- political Dominant Ideologies Super-ordinate, refracted views about asylum seeking Material conditions, specifically situated in time and space: e.g. housing, employment, mix of people, form of government

  36. Physical Context: Social- economic- cultural- political Dominant Ideologies Contests over who is the person seeking asylum & why are they Communicative action between people about asylum Super-ordinate, refracted views about asylum seeking Material conditions, specifically situated in time and space: e.g. housing, employment, mix of people, form of government

  37. Physical Context: Social- economic- cultural- political Dominant Ideologies Contests over who is the person seeking asylum & why are they PERSON SEEKING ASYLUM The ‘inner speech’ deriving from their lived experience SOCIAL WORKER/PERSON WITH CITIZENSHIP/STATUS Communicative action between people about asylum Super-ordinate, refracted views about asylum seeking Material conditions, specifically situated in time and space: e.g. housing, employment, mix of people, form of government

  38. Physical Context: Social- economic- cultural- political Dominant Ideologies Contests over who is the person seeking asylum & why are they PERSON SEEKING ASYLUM Their ‘inner speech’, deriving from their lived experience SOCIAL WORKER/PERSON WITH CITIZENSHIP/STATUS PAR PAR Language/Action Action/Language Communicative action between people about asylum Super-ordinate, refracted views about asylum seeking Material conditions, specifically situated in time and space: e.g. housing, employment, mix of people, form of government

  39. RAPAR’s Evolution 2000-2001: ground level reactions to forced dispersal

  40. RAPAR’s evolution 2000-2001: ground level reactions to forced dispersal 2001-2002: pre 9/11, refugees, academics, practitioners organise together and create a limited company and registered charity

  41. RAPAR’s evolution 2000-2001: ground level reactions to forced dispersal 2001-2002: pre 9/11, refugees, academics, practitioners organise together and create a limited company and registered charity 2002-2007: Salford based. Action Learning Model that tracks the practical consequences of the policy (international and national ) trajectory

  42. RAPAR’s evolution 2000-2001: ground level reactions to forced dispersal 2001-2002: pre 9/11, refugees, academics, practitioners organise together and create a limited company and registered charity 2002-2007: Salford based. Action Learning Model that tracks the practical consequences of the policy (international and national ) trajectory 2003-2005: Concerted efforts to shutRAPAR down…..coinciding with the war against Iraq

  43. RAPAR’s evolution 2000-2001: ground level reactions to forced dispersal 2001-2002: refugees, academics, practitioners organise together and create a limited company and registered charity 2002-2007: Salford based. Action Learning Model 2003-2005: Concerted efforts to shutRAPAR down…..coinciding with the war against Iraq 2007- now: City Centre Manchester. Starting from the lived experience of the person who is a refugee – work out, with them, how to set out what they need and how to make it happen

  44. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example • Referred via London • Woman, late 30’s, 5th floor flat, outskirts Manchester • Seven years in UK, refused almost 2 years ago • 2 years old, very sick, child with British father – estranged • On section 4 support, in receipt of voucher not cash

  45. Presenting Issues • Accommodation: stairs, no washing machine, no hoover • Isolation: physical (support groups) and organisational (advocacy/interagency working) • Child’s treatment adherence and management: keeping/reaching appointments; alerting health system when needed • Mental Health (Mother) • Paediatric Development (Child) • Immigration case without a legal representative

  46. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example What do we do? The presenting client is living their complexity • enable them to re-present that complexity, to themselves and you in the first instance, in writing, in a structured, chronological, detailed, and documentarily evidenced way

  47. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example What do we do? The presenting client is living their complexity • enable them to re-present that, to themselves and you in the first instance, in writing, in a structured, chronological, detailed, and documentarily evidenced way Explore • Overarching Context/Environment: • Reasons for the “push” factors that led to flight from home • UK Legal status as sub-human

  48. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example What do we do? The presenting client is living their complexity • enable them to re-present that, to themselves and you in the first instance, in writing, in a structured, chronological, detailed, and documentarily evidenced way Explore • Overarching Context/Environment: • Reasons for the “push” factors that led to flight from home • UK Legal status as sub-human • Self – confidence and Sense of Self Worth • Who are they? • What can they do? • Who can they work with?

  49. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example What do we do? The presenting client is living their complexity • enable them to re-present that, to themselves and you in the first instance, in writing, in a structured, chronological, detailed, and documentarily evidenced way Explore • Overarching Context/Environment: • Reasons for the “push” factors that led to flight from home • UK Legal status as sub-human • Self – confidence and Sense of Self Worth • Who are they? • What can they do? • Who can they work with? • Material bases of the health needs

  50. RAPAR Casework (ACT) Example What do we do? The presenting client is living their complexity • enable them to re-present that, to themselves and you in the first instance, in writing, in a structured, chronological, detailed, and documentarily evidenced way Explore • Overarching Context/Environment: • Reasons for the “push” factors that led to flight from home • UK Legal status as sub-human • Self – confidence and Sense of Self Worth • Who are they? • What can they do? • Who can they work with? • Material bases of the health needs • Whether and how to use the legal framework

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