Please Support Ahmed

Ahmed Abdullah was one of the folk who worked extensively on the NothingAboutUs project.....Ahmed now desperately needs the help of right-thinking people in Scotland and the wider UK.

Ahmed Abdullah

Ahmed was detained on Friday morning when he went to report at the UKBA reporting centre. He is now facing forced removal from UK for Monday 11th June on a Qatar Airways flight to Dar Es Sallam, Tanzania at 21.30 hours.

Ahmed was one of several men made homeless by the Y-People charity two weeks ago when he returned home to his flat to find his locks had been changed without warning after he had been to report at the UKBA on Brand Street.  Since being forced to leave his home he has been staying with a friend in Govan and trying to put his life back together  - see here 

Flags made by Govan and Craigton Integration Network and Alex Bowie for NothinAboutUs they spell out the message 'Do You See Us?' and were hung along the fence of the Showpeople's site in Water Row, Gova

This is a letter from Alex Bowie the artist who worked on NothingAboutUs with Ahmed:

On Friday, one of the young men who worked extensively with me on the flags and building our armada boat, Ahmed Abdullah, was detained at Dungavel Detention Removal Centre.

I have known Ahmed for about 4 years, and he is a very inspirational guy. We are about the same age and have had many conversations on the difference in our upbringings, and our hopes for the future. Ahmed has thrown himself into the community. He attended college for two years and took part in every course on offer to him. His access to college was stopped when he lost his government support, but he continued to be active. He has done courses with camcorder guerillas, taken part in the GCIN forum theatre group, and was very enthusiastic and a great contributer to Nothing Without Us. 

26th April 2012

1. The FINAL Armada building workshop at the GalGael Trust - details here

2. RAFT BUILDING with Martin Campbell and Hannah Brackston (Nomadic Workshop)......11am -1pm....in the open at Govan Cross. More details - here

work-in-progress: the raft

3. Hoisting of the remaining Govan Flags....Alexandra Bowie and Fiona Fleming lead their installation crews to position 2 more sets of newly created flags.....Afternoon...Govan Cross (Govan New Chursh and Showpeople's Site)

'Gather' Flag by Fiona Fleming and Platforum

And finally.....Happy Golden Wedding Anniversary to  Matt Baker's Mum and Dad. Helen Macgregor and David Baker were married on 26th April 1962 in Ayr Old Kirk. Congratulations!!

156 Refused Refugees Forced into Destitution in Glasgow April 2012

One of the Govan Flags designed and made by Asylum Seekers in Govan as part of NothingAboutUs

Really disturbing news reached us yesterday from people in the group that have been working with Alexandra Bowie to make one of the sets of Govan Flags that will be flown next week as one of the ways of communicating across the river. Please watch the video below which describes the desperate situation that 156 people now find themselves in - these are people who have come to our country because the situation was so desperate in their home country that they needed to flee to safety.

video - here

 A public demonstration has been arranged but the members of the Govan group have little faith in this - suggesting that it is 'always the same people  who go and who hear what they have to say'.....they are very positive, however, about the very different audience that will see their flags in Govan and hear their voice in that way.