by Lin James
The Hassockfields / Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre opened for business in December 2021, set up to house up to 80 women held in indefinite detention after being refused the right to remain. This isolated Centre is just one link in a chain of such centres housing people who are being shuttled around, not knowing if they’ll be deported or just moved on. There have been regular protests at the site since August 2021 – Saturday demonstrations twice a month organised by the “No to Hassockfields” campaign, and a monthly inter-faith prayer vigil held on the first Sunday in each month.
The Jewish Bloc’s usual contribution to the Derwentside Vigil is to break the 15 minute silence with verses from psalm 37, chanted in Hebrew and then read in translation. On Sunday 2 August our usual chanter wasn’t there, so I tried breaking the silence instead with the inclusive Ose shalom (“kol ha-olam v kol bnei adam”) and a bit of Pirkei Avot. I found that it’s a lot harder to sing into silence than I’d remembered, it’s a long time since I last busked. I explained that after the Romans destroyed the Temple, the rabbis tried to find ways for Jews to live in a broken world, and quoted my favourite (& I think most inclusive) version of “three things”: Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel used to say: on three things does the world stand: On justice, on truth and on peace. (1.18)
I love this, because they are so perfectly plaited together: without truth, no justice, and no justice, no peace. Standing on that Durham hillside, so near to the women held there who can’t see us or hear us, makes that message very stark and very present.
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