last night

I have finished my 14 nights of sleeping outside to raise awareness about homelessness. Last night Peter joined me in the Friends Meeting House garden and I managed to persuade Sarah and Belinda to sleep inside. It was a stormy night and without the protection of the overhang I needed my bivvy bag for the first time.

After breakfast 12 of us sat round the table to see what we could do about homelessness, particularly for those without recourse to public funds. Bho talked about the Hope Destitution fund and plans for some Hope houses. We discussed the enormous problem of changing public perception of migrants as takers instead of givers and of the issue of homeless families. We talked about the reluctance of much of the 'third sector' to remember their core values and challenge their funders. It was a good meeting but sadly know one new to the issue was there. No-one new who had seen me sleeping outside or had read about me in the paper or heard me on the radio. They were all good people already concerned about homelessness. Perhaps next week others will come forward.

At lunch time we performed our final Peace Festival action when a large group of us in mysterious white overalls with the Pax thumb print on the back stood in the Upper Precinct and looked up to Antonio from the walkway above delivering a speech inspired by the 'I have a dream' speech of Martin Luther King. Afterwards we unfolded huge banners which said 'In our hearts we all dream of peace. Together we can make it happen.' It was magnificent and a moving end to the festival.

I have put the speech below as a final message of this blog. However it was sad and slightly unnerving that when a group of us in our white overalls went to the shop in the Arcade which we had been using as a base for festival activities, to pick up the loud speaker system for the speech, we discovered that some one had superglued the shutter lock and we could not get in. It may well have been the person who had glued yet another racist paper cutting on the door. It was too late at that stage - 15 minutes before the performance - to come up with an alternative. But Antonio has a fantastic voice and excellent delivery. He was heard. We must not be silenced because our questions and our messages are too important. We must continue to find creative ways to be heard.

The speech

I am very humbled to join with you today, to mark the end of Coventry Peace Festival

My name is Antonio de Jesus Nunes. I am from Cabinda, Angola, Africa and I am a refugee in Britain. I have the privilege of standing here today, inspired by the great African American Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King who famously said ‘I have a dream’.

Sixty years ago, to end all wars and for the maintenance of peace, the world produced a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

But sixty years later, the world is still not at peace. Sixties years later, people still suffer the chains of discrimination.

In a sense we've come here to cash a cheque. When the architects of Peace and Justice wrote the magnificent words of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, they were signing a promissory note to which every Human was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men and women, yes all human beings would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".

It is clear today, that Britain and Europe, most African States, most of the world in fact, have defaulted on this promissory note. But we refuse to believe that the banks of peace and justice are bankrupt. We refuse to be to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults within the human hearts. And so, we've come to cash this cheque, a cheque that will give us upon demand the riches of peace and the security of justice.

We come also to remind the world of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time to make real the promises of peace. Now is the time for total nuclear disarmament and universal cease fire all over the world. Now is the time to make justice and peace a reality for everyone. The world must understand the urgency of the moment and that our lives are inextricably linked with everyone on the planet. We have to realize that our well being is bound with the well being of the other.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. We can never rest as long as the Human is still victim of the unspeakable horrors of war whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Darfur or Palestine. We cannot rest as long as the world's major powers possess nuclear weapons capable of destroying the world many times over.

We can never rest while Africa, a very rich continent is still engulfed in poverty, civil wars and famine. We cannot rest while its leaders have enormous bank accounts and continue to buy weapons to further oppress their own people and while the West sell them those weapons and still milks Africa of its natural resources.

We can never rest while Africans, and other oppressed people who try to escape terror in their own countries are made to sink on boats or languish in detention centres right here in Britain and are subjected to draconian immigration laws.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still share that dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Human HEART. I too have a dream that one day the world will rise up and “hold these truths to be self evident, that all humankind is one family."

I too have a dream that we will one day soon, live in a world where there will be harmony, universal and perpetual peace, true brotherhood and sisterhood among all nations, all peoples and across every area of human endeavour.

I dream that all across Europe and right here in Britain, political parties like the BNP, with its racist policies will apologise to the world.

We need hope. With this hope, we will be able to reduce the mountain of despair to rubble. . With this hope, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood. With this hope, we will be able to work together, to sing together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will one day soon live in a free and peaceful world, where everyone is valued and respected.

And if the world is to be at peace, this must become true.

And so let peace ring from the cold mountains of Afghanistan.

Let freedom and security prevail right here on the streets of Britain .

Let freedom and security roll through the deserts of Iraq.

Let peace and prosperity be a reality in the whole of Africa.

Let peace and freedom ring all over the world, from every hill and from every mountainside, from every city and village, from every country and continent.

We will then be able to sing in the words of the old Negro Spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

help

My last night in New Union Street was a peaceful one and I slept very well, accompanied by Nancy who had come over from Birmingham. It was good to get some media coverage yesterday on Touch Radio and today on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. There was also a piece in the Telegraph headed 'Penny comes in from the cold for meeting' which advertised the meeting tomorrow - Saturday at 9am at the Friends Meeting House, Hill Street, - when hopefully we will have lots of people who want to do something about homelessness. I'll report back about the meeting in my final blog tomorrow.

It will be a fitting day to finish on the anniversary of Coventry Blitz, reminding us that war destroys homes, people, families and communities. I have done this sleep out during the Peace Festival because of the connection with homelessness and war and refugees and at a more local level the injustice of poverty. I am concerned at the rising levels of homelessness - in Coventry and worldwide. I am concerned that it has almost become acceptable to think that some people somehow don't deserve a home - and the right to work and marry; that if they are homeless they must have done something wrong. I am concerned that refugees the world over are being prevented from starting a proper life again after the trauma of war. It is almost as if there is a perception that there are too many people in the world and so inevitably they can't all be part of society - that there is not enough room.

But there is enough room and we all matter. We all have something to offer the world and when things are going well for us we can think about those who may need some temporary help. We all need a bit of help sometimes. Closing our eyes to poverty and destitution makes us less human. I do not have the answers. I am doing what small things I can do and I am sure that if we think about this together we will be able to make progress and lessen poverty and destitution and change the processes which cause it. And we will all benefit.

young people

I realised last night that all the people we didn't know who had offered us money during the sleep out or had come up to us and shown concern, were young people. Young people are often seen as some sort of threat which is so unfair. And young people understand fairness very well.

One young Somalian friend had inspired us to do a very positive Peace Festival event today in the same space that we had the detention cage last week. He had spent time in detention so he knew what it was like, but what he wanted to say was thank you to the culture which had accepted him. He said lets also think about the good things about British culture like the full English breakfast! So this morning on Shelton Square pavement we chalked a huge plate of sausages, bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, toast and black pudding. Round the edge we wrote on his behalf 'Dear People of Coventry, thank you for welcoming me to your lovely city. British culture is great. Aziz from Somalia'.

Later on, in the square outside Oxfam, we performed our short play about statelessness called 'We don't want you. Go away!'.It tells the story through song, mime and narrative of a young man fleeing torture and coming to England in search of safety. He gets refused asylum and is made homeless. Eventually he is put in detention but a year later the Home Office have been unable to get entry papers to his country of origin and he is released back onto the streets. In the closing scene everyone he approaches turns their back on him. It is a powerful piece.

A distressed stateless man from Palestine came to see me shortly after I had got home. Palestinians are never sent back. He is homeless and has been getting by with help from friends for many years but is getting more and more anxious and rarely sleeps. He is a physiotherapist and has been here since 2000. What had triggered the visit was that a young Kurdish man from Iraq had apparently been found dead in his flat in Hillfields earlier in the week. Mohammed was convinced he died of stress. Apparently he was 28 and had come here when he was 19 and had been refused asylum. We rang the Home Office to see if we could get any update on Mohammed's case. In trying to find out details the man on the phone told him he shouldn't be in this country. When he put the phone down Mohammed was angry - 'he should not have said that- he is meant to be a professional". He sat for a while and then said 'I am a Muslim and don't believe in suicide, but if something doesn't happen soon I am going to kill myself. I cannot go on like this. If I kill myself I will get rest".

Young British people can also experience problems. Earlier I had popped into Connexions to find out the benefits situation because I know it is complicated between the ages of 16 and 18. Apparently if they are in full time education or training they can get income support but if they are working and lose their job they can only get JSA if they can prove they are in hardship which has to be done through Connexions. (they need to get income support or JSA in order to get housing benefit) They cannot take out tenancies but they may be able to get housing through the Cyrenians Young People's Direct Access which can give them 28 days accommodation (depending on availability) or there is the Foyer but there are long waiting lists there. Apparently the YMCA is planning a state of the art new project in Coventry. In between applications for support or waiting on waiting lists young people who have left home often experience homelessness. Usually they cope by 'sofa surfing' around their friends. But not everyone can do that. They are particularly vulnerable at this time in their lives. Connexions are great though - I have heard a lot of praise from young people about them.

It is raining hard as I write this. I soon need to prepare for my last night in New Union Street. Tomorrow I will be sleeping out at the Friends Meeting House after our evening Peace Action gathering, and then on Saturday night I will be back in my own bed. I am lucky.

failure

Micki was with me again last night. Some-one trod on her in the night, she thinks accidently. I dreamed I was very carefully and deliberately run over by a car. We are very low down when we are on the pavement. We may be open to some of the risks which homeless people face but we are not homeless or pretending to be homeless. We are there in solidarity with homeless people and to highlight the many issues surrounding homelessness.

Homeless people are often seen as failures in some way. People talk about 'failed asylum seekers'. School produces a huge sense of failure for many children. Some parents tell their children they are useless. People are not failures. The institutions fail people. 'Refused asylum seeker' is a more accurate description and puts the emphasis on the system and not the person. Primary schools try very hard to make education enjoyable and inclusive but the early exam systems produce huge pressures for everybody and work against that. It is good that SATS are being reduced.

There is this given assumption that competition is healthy and necessary. In fact co-operation is much more productive. A co-operative game is much more fun for everyone. On a global scale we need to co-operate with each other to create a just and peaceful world and to properly address climate change. Co-operation involves communication and understanding each other's needs.

Homeless people are not failures. Some people have a whole string of problems - redundancy, relationship breakdown, financial crisis. For some of those the safety net of benefits is not there.
Some have no recourse to public funds at all, some get in a muddle with the benefits system. If the person who experiences those multiple problems has had positive messages from home and school about them being a valuable resourceful person s/he will manage that well. People who come here from other countries - whether as economic or forced migrants - tend to be courageous resourceful people. But some refugees are badly traumatised by war and loss and some British homeless people have had a lot of negative experiences.

We need to change the systems which create failures and which limit people's natural resourcefulness.

trafficking

Micki and her friend Keir and also Sam were my companions last night. It was Micki's birthday so it was very special to have her with us. We took some photos.

Micki and I share a concern around trafficking - along with many other people. Trafficking is a complex and hidden issue. There are three main reasons people are trafficked - sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced labour. Desperate people agree to being trafficked with promises of a better future but actually they become slaves. The threat of reprisals against your family make it hard for trafficked people to come forward. If they do run away they become homeless as they have no recourse to public funds and the trafficker or the people who have kept them in servitude will have kept their passport.

Since 2006 there has been a UK Human Trafficking Centre which is trying to help the victims. and catch the traffickers. At one time a victim would most likely have been put straight into a removal centre and deported but now they are offered support by partner agencies in the voluntary sector, although they are usually repatriated eventually. The Home Office have identified 108 trafficked adults and 40 children in the last 3 months.

In Coventry a group of us have been trying to get funding to do some work on child trafficking - particularly around helping people who may come in contact with them to recognise the signs. Very often young people who arrive here as unaccompanied minors will disappear and reappear a year later.

Like homelessness, trafficking is another of those hidden tragic issues, full of secrets and fear.

We didn't talk about trafficking last night though. It was Micki's birthday and I was determined we should spend some time talking about her! In remembering the highs of last year and her hopes for the future, Micki said that one of the valuable things she had learned was the difference between pitying people and respecting them. I have talked about victims in this blog and although we should notice and do everything we can to stop all forms of oppression, we must not forget that people have amazing strengths and courage. Respect is a good positive value.

cold conditions and friendship

It was much colder last night and I was glad I took a blanket with me as well as my sleeping bag. A couple from Emmaus came by to check I was not on my own but I had my friend Janet with me who stepped in at the last minutes when the planned companion was not able to do it. Although I write this as my blog and my sleep out in fact it would have been impossible to do without the support of many other people who have accompanied me as companions or have covered my work at the Peace House or have given it press coverage or have generally encouraged me. Thank you to all of you.

Friendship is worth so much. Most of the people who come here in search of sanctuary and are refused asylum - which is about 70% - are too frightened to return. If they don't have children they find themselves out on the street, forbidden to work or claim benefits. Most of them get by with the help of friends. We ran the second day of our listening project today and I was reminded of this when an Algerian friend spotted me in my tee shirt (worn over lots of layers of clothing!) and came to talk to me. The tee shirt said 'Here to Listen' and on the other side asked the question 'How has migration affected your life?'. There were 6 of us at the train station asking this question. Like the sleep out, it is part of our Peace Festival programme.

My Algerian friend had been an asylum seeker and now had a British wife and 3 year old son. He talked of the years of fear when he had been refused asylum and before he had met his wife. Every time he saw a police officer he feared he would be detained. We talked of people we knew and of those Algerians now in detention. I was very moved when he said that that all the Algerian friendship group make sure they put money into a kitty every week and once a month he arranges to visit one of the friends in detention and take them the money. We agreed that I would come with him next time he went to see Karim.

I spoke with a woman from Saudia Arabia who said she was a student in London but found Coventry much more friendly. She said that other students don't want to offer friendship outside the university so her friends there are all from her country which she is sad about.

I spoke with three friends from Warwick University who had just got back from a sponsored hitch to rasie money for Amnesty International. The challenge was to get as far as you could in 36 hours with no money. They had got to Amsterdam and back which was pretty good going.

One of the other listeners spoke with a young asylum seeker from Iran who was catching a train to Birmingham to get medical help. He was very distressed and had been harming himself by cutting his head.

Brendan and benefits

Tim and I were a bit late going to sleep last night. I had taken our neighbours some tea and had a good chat with Mary as she approaches her seventh winter outside, when along came Brendan. He had seen my photograph and the article in the paper and seemed pleased to come across me in the street.

He appreciated what we were doing but wanted us to know that people are homeless because they chose to be. He is also homeless and sleeps on the sixth floor of a nearby car park. He reckons there are 40 people sleeping out in Coventry and offered to take us to meet some of them. It was a good offer and something the Cyrenians may find helpful when they do their rough sleepers count. But we didn't go last night.

He was a friendly guy and was bemoaning the fact that people don't smile and say hello if they walk past someone they don't know. In the summer he goes on the festival circuit with friends in a van and enjoys the feeling of community but when the season is over he goes back to sleeping outside.

He talked about how people get into problems because housing benefit is now paid directly to the person and not the landlord. It takes several weeks to come through and so when the first payment arrives it is a large amount of money. For some people the temptation to spend it on something other than rent is very great and then they get evicted and housing benefit won't help them again until they pay it back. They become homeless.

We are aware of other problems people experience with housing benefit when they get temporary jobs. This is particularly an issue for refugees who have their status and therefore are allowed to work and want desperately to work having been barred from working while they were waiting for a positive decision on their asylum claim. But it is an issue for anyone on housing benefit who finds temporary work. Of course you have to inform housing benefit that you are now working but very often by the time housing benefit stops the work has also stopped. Again people find themselves getting into arrears through not filling in the complex forms in the right way.

Brendan seemed annoyed with homeless people and what he saw as their victim mentality. It was hard to find space to put an alternative viewpoint but we had a few attempts. He often repeated that if migrants can come into the country and get a house straight away then so can British people if they get their act together.

Eventually we shook hands and he started to go but he was worried about us sleeping in such an open place and took Tim off to show him a much safer space for us to bed down. We thanked him but explained that we needed to be seen. He said he wanted to read his name and about our meeting in the next article in the paper, and left.

It was colder last night and being Saturday it was quite rowdy but we managed to sleep.

It is not surprising that some poorer people feel the most put out by migrants - whether forced or economic. It is in the poorer areas they live and it is the low paid and temporary work they tend to do. In this recession it is the poorest who suffer most.