Technology as a tool for resistance in the UK's immigration system

June’s OBX Connects is about how technology can be as a tool for upliftment, resistance and resilience.

June 17th to 23rd is Refugee Week. Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.

Rossana Leal : Founder and CEO: Refugee Buddy Project:

We will hear from the Refugee Buddy Project, a refugee and migrant-led charity based in Hastings supporting people from refugee backgrounds with a buddy programme, advocacy, and financial and emotional support. The Refugee Buddy Project leads on Refugee Week in Hastings. Founder and CEO Rossana Leal will talk about the important work of the project and also about the campaign against immigration detention centres and in particular centres like Northeye in Bexhill, an ex-Pr*son site, where the Home Office is proposing to set up a 1200 bed centre. This would be the largest detention centre in the UK.

Every year 28,000 people are held in immigration detention, while they wait to find out if they will be deported from the UK. These are Pr*son-like places, where people are detained for administrative purposes, they have not been found guilty of a crime and they don’t know how long they will be there for. The UK is the only country in the UK which practises indefinite detention.

Lamin Joof: a musician, a chef and a trustee: Hear Me Out:

Lamin Joof is a musician, a chef and a trustee at music charity Hear Me Out. Hear Me Out runs music workshops, gigs and radio stations in immigration detention centres and runs bands on the ‘outside’ platforming musicians who met whilst they were in detention and tracks written in detention centres. Lamin has been incarcerated in 3 immigration detention centres in the UK, which is where he met Hear Me Out. He is now lead singer of the Hear Me Out band. Lamin will speak about his experiences in immigration detention, and about how music technologies helped him to cope. He will also talk about projects he has been involved in following his release from immigration detention where technology has been used as a means of amplification, awareness raising, connection and solidarity.

Presentations will be followed by a panel discussion.

For more information check out:

https://www.therefugeebuddyproject.org/

https://hearmeoutmusic.org.uk/?p=1&m=p&v=d&s=lamin-joof

https://hearmeoutmusic.org.uk/

https://refugeeweek.org.uk/

Photo credits:

Andrew Grainger and Akil Wilson

About OBX Connects

OBX Connects is a series of monthly talks and meet-ups for people working with creative technology. The talks are free, and open to everyone. If you are an artist, maker, technologist, engineer, dancer, musician, activist or just curious about what we do, come along to find out more!

There'll be a pop-up bar open from 6:30 for you to buy drinks, and the talk will start at 6:45. During the evening there will be an opportunity for you to share your ideas with the community, call out for collaborators, or perhaps plan ways to move your project forward.

Admission is FREE! However, due to limited capacity, we kindly request you to RSVP in advance.

Access Info

The event will be held at the Observer Building in Hastings.

The Observer Building is best reached by public transport. Buses 20 / 21 / 22 / 99 stop close by, and the train station is 0.3 miles. There is on street pay and display parking nearby.

The main entrance (on Cambridge Road) is step free, with a ramp from the pavement and there is a lift to the mezzanine floor.

Disabled parking bays are available on Cambridge Road.

Please email [email protected] or call us on 01424 235600 if you have any questions or you’d like to discuss any access needs with our team.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road, Hastings, United Kingdom