Stop the war on asylum seekers
CDAS supporter | 06.02.2003 10:59
Open Statement to the Media from the Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers
(please follow link to site, add your signature to the statement, get friends/colleagues to sign, help raise money to publish it)
(please follow link to site, add your signature to the statement, get friends/colleagues to sign, help raise money to publish it)
We the undersigned condemn utterly the hysteria about asylum seekers being whipped up by sections of the media. We are deeply concerned at ministerial statements which have encouraged the hysteria, and Tony Blair¹s pledge to re-examine Britain's obligations to international conventions on asylum.
War is the biggest producer of asylum seekers. For a government at the forefront of both pursuing armed interventions and arming international conflicts, scrapping this country's provision of asylum to those fleeing persecution would be absolutely shameful.
Sections of the media have tried to draw a link between asylum seekers and terrorists. Now politicians and even liberal church leaders are proposing to lock up thousands of innocent, desperate people for 'security checks' because of the alleged actions of a tiny handful of individuals. Whole communities now run the risk of being branded as 'criminals'.
The Labour government is legitimising racism in order to divide us. It is an old, and often-repeated, trick used by desperate politicians. Asylum seekers are not to blame for a welfare state starved of resources, crumbling schools and hospitals, poverty pensions and inadequate housing.
The biggest beneficiaries of the media's hysteria and the government's racist policies are the Nazis. Nick Griffin, the British Nationalist Party's leader, has claimed the Home Secretary David Blunkett as his best recruitment agent. Blunkett's ever-toughening policies on asylum, far from marginalising the Nazis, have helped them score a fifth council victory.
The biggest victims of the hysteria and the racism are asylum seekers. Three have been murdered on the streets of this country in the past two years alone. Dozens have been severely beaten, hundreds abused.
Now government legislation is set to make asylum seekers even greater targets for racist abuse.
Blunkett's claim that multiculturalism in Britain is a 'coiled spring' reeks of hypocrisy when his government is creating the conditions for increased racial tension.
His warning of 'vigilante' attacks smacks of double standards when New Labour has criminalised asylum seekers.
We call on the government to honour its obligations to international agreements on refugees and asylum seekers, stop the racist persecution of asylum seekers and stand up to the racists and bigots instead of pandering to them.
We applaud the benefits of living in a multiracial and multicultural society and believe we are all beneficiaries of a society to which immigrants have made a major contribution.
War is the biggest producer of asylum seekers. For a government at the forefront of both pursuing armed interventions and arming international conflicts, scrapping this country's provision of asylum to those fleeing persecution would be absolutely shameful.
Sections of the media have tried to draw a link between asylum seekers and terrorists. Now politicians and even liberal church leaders are proposing to lock up thousands of innocent, desperate people for 'security checks' because of the alleged actions of a tiny handful of individuals. Whole communities now run the risk of being branded as 'criminals'.
The Labour government is legitimising racism in order to divide us. It is an old, and often-repeated, trick used by desperate politicians. Asylum seekers are not to blame for a welfare state starved of resources, crumbling schools and hospitals, poverty pensions and inadequate housing.
The biggest beneficiaries of the media's hysteria and the government's racist policies are the Nazis. Nick Griffin, the British Nationalist Party's leader, has claimed the Home Secretary David Blunkett as his best recruitment agent. Blunkett's ever-toughening policies on asylum, far from marginalising the Nazis, have helped them score a fifth council victory.
The biggest victims of the hysteria and the racism are asylum seekers. Three have been murdered on the streets of this country in the past two years alone. Dozens have been severely beaten, hundreds abused.
Now government legislation is set to make asylum seekers even greater targets for racist abuse.
Blunkett's claim that multiculturalism in Britain is a 'coiled spring' reeks of hypocrisy when his government is creating the conditions for increased racial tension.
His warning of 'vigilante' attacks smacks of double standards when New Labour has criminalised asylum seekers.
We call on the government to honour its obligations to international agreements on refugees and asylum seekers, stop the racist persecution of asylum seekers and stand up to the racists and bigots instead of pandering to them.
We applaud the benefits of living in a multiracial and multicultural society and believe we are all beneficiaries of a society to which immigrants have made a major contribution.
CDAS supporter
Homepage:
http://www.defend-asylum.org
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
War on Asylum Seekers
10.02.2003 10:06
I have been sickened by the way that the mainstream media and politicians have sought to demonize and dehumanize refugees. And it depresses me that the vast majority of the population only have access to the myths, lies and half-truths and misrepresentations that are made available to them.
Those of us who have struggled against the popular perceptions must all feel at times - as I do - that we are fighting a losing battle.
Clear statements like this will not perhaps win the battle, but they will show those in civil society who manufacture and manipulate public opinion that we are watching.
(btw, maybe I'm being a bit slow here, but how do I sign the statement? It isn't clear when you follow the links).
Steve McKee
Hypocrisy
10.02.2003 10:41
Congratulations on this Open Statement, though. Hope it gets wide coverage.
Danny
Homepage:
http://www.smavennel.org.uk
CONCENTRATION CAMPS
10.02.2003 13:15
Do you remember the TAMPA, where the Australia government was going to allow 433 refugees to drown, the sievx where they did let 353 refugees drown, the concentration camp in Woomera, the hell hope of Nauru.
England, you went there before with concentration camps on an island on the other side of the world. It's now called Australia.
It's seriously disturbing to hear a couple of little white men planning to blow Iraq to smithereens while at the same time planning to reduce the human rights of the victims.
It's about time the Anglo's of the world said "we ain't taking this shit no more, we want to defend the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees and refuse to allow our spiteful and gutless governments of little white people destroy their rights for political populism."
Fair dinkum, what the hell do Howard and Blair think they are doing?
Marilyn Shepherd
e-mail:
shepherdmarilyn@hotmail.com