Under the sacred arches of London's Thameslink Service on Saturday 8th March, the inaugural TROUGH will take place; a night of live music, dancing, and fervent raffle-ing.
Live sets performed by Berlin-based legend Safejas, and SE London-based BOLB, will be followed by a formidable line-up of John Voyage, Lauri, and Esther on the decks.
All profits from the night will be donated to Captain Support - a network of activists across Europe supporting people criminalised for facilitating freedom of movement.
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Since 2018, the number of people crossing the English Channel on ‘small boats’ in search of safety has risen year on year. With fewer options to ‘safe and and legal routes', irregular journeys by sea has become for most, the default option. In 2022, the government amended and expanded the Immigration Act, so that charges can now be brought against anyone arriving via irregularised means, and for facilitating those arriving via irregularised means. Maximum sentences have also been significantly lengthened. For facilitation (including boat driving), under Section 25, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
Captain Support in the UK are supporting around 200 people who have been charged and imprisoned for arriving in the UK, or for ‘facilitating the arrival of others’ through piloting the dinghy they travelled in. Many of those who piloted the dinghy did so under duress and/or because they had no other way of crossing the border to seek safety.
All profits from TROUGH will go to their fundraising campaign to support people in prison. This will go towards email credit to send letters to people inside and cover the credit for their response; stamps; phonecalls and canteen funds for those in prison; transport for visiting friends, family and CS visitors; solidarity letter writing events.
You can read more about this specific fundraising campaign here.