Refugee Tales to open with a Forum at Kent

Organised by Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and the School of English at the University of Kent, Refugee Tales 2016 will open with day-long Forum on Sunday 3 July.

Being Detained Indefinitely: A Day of Thought, Performance and Action features an exceptional line-up of speakers, writers and activists including Ali Smith, Shami Chakrabarti, Marina Warner and Ben Okri.

The first Refugee Tales took place in June 2015, walking in solidarity with Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigration Detainees, from Dover to Crawley along the North Downs Way. Working directly in collaboration with those who have experienced the UK asylum system, leading writers told a series of tales en route. Through that sharing of other people’s tales the project gathered and communicated experiences of migration, aiming to show, in particular, what indefinite detention means. This year Refugee Tales will walk again, from Canterbury to Westminster, opening with this Forum at the University of Kent and closing with an evening of performance and reflection at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

The UK continues to be the only country in Europe which routinely detains migrants in prisons (a practice which is unlawful in the rest of the EU) and where people can often be detained indefinitely, often for years on end. The purpose of the Forum is to communicate the facts and experience of indefinite detention, while setting the policy in a wider human context and making the case for change. Speakers will include former detainees, activists, writers and academics and themes for discussion will include: Time and Detention, Economics of Detention, Movement, Stories and Language. The day will end with a keynote from patron Ali Smith on what can be done to tackle one of the most important civil liberties issues in the UK today.

The forum is open to everyone: activists, academics, students of politics and literature and members of the public with an interest in asylum and detention.

To buy tickets for the Forum please go to the Refugee Tales website where you can also download a full programme.

If you have any questions about arrangements for the Forum please get in touch at refugeetales@gdwg.org.uk. More information about Refugee Tales 2016 can be found at www.refugeetales.org.

Image credit: Freedom by Sulaj