Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
Revolutionary
Socialism in the
21st Century

Protesters say ‘Syrian refugees welcome here’

Luke Cooper

LC_syria_refugees_welcome_1

 

Luke Cooper reports on a day of protests in solidarity with refugees from Syria. The original article appeared on Left Unity, with additional reports on International Socialist Network. Many thanks to Luke for the permission to re-blog.

Protesters demonstrated in London, Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow and Oxford on the 16th June over the government’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis. The protests coincided with the beginning of Refugee Week – a series of events first initiated back in 1998 to tackle the hostility to asylum seekers that we are still living with to this day – and brought together migrant rights and Syria solidarity campaign groups.

Under pressure to make a commitment to support Syrian refugees by both UN High Commissioner on Refugees, which is seeking to resettle 30,000 in the next year and up to 100,000 in 2015-2016 in richer nations, and signatories to an Early Day Motion on the crisis last autumn, the government announced in January a ‘Vulnerable Persons Relocation’ scheme for Syria. The commitment was extremely low in comparison to other Western nations, with the government promising to take ‘several hundred’ of the ‘most destitute’ over two to three years and refusing to actively participate in the UN programme but set up a smaller scheme in parallel.

Six months later, however, and only 24 refugees have been brought to Britain under the much vaunted assistance programme. As campaigners, we labelled this for what it evidently is: a disgraceful reneging on Britain’s nominal commitment to provide humanitarian support and relief to the Syrian people.

In launching the day of action, we brought together Syrian activists, organised under the auspices of the Syria Solidarity Movement, and refugee rights campaigns, the Movement Against Xenophobia and No One Is Illegal.

As we developed links with Syrian asylum claimants, it became clear that the protest could not remain restricted to simply the issues of resettlement through the government programme, but also had to raise and publicise the terrible treatment of those Syrians who had made it to Britain by their own means, and were now experiencing the imposed poverty and bureaucracy of our asylum process.

Like all asylum claimants, they are not allowed to work with adult asylum living in abject poverty on just £36.62 per week in cash for living expenses, and were facing long delays in the processing of their claims, with some case taking up to six months.

LC_syria_refugees_welcome_2

In London, around 50 people joined our protest at the Home Office. Speeches were kicked off by a former Syrian asylum seeker who has now won leave to remain in Britain – a fact naturally greeted with loud cheers from protesters. The Labour MPs John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, and Fabian Hamilton (pictured above) all came down to show their support for the protest, and are committed to keep raising the issue in parliament.

Fabian Hamilton is the MP for Leeds North East, and has spoken out on behalf of asylum seekers facing delays in the processing of their claims at Waterside House, the Home Office’s immigration processing centre in West Yorkshire. Addressing the rally, he also spoke about his visit to refugee camps surrounding Syria, and the terrible hardship those who made it to these camps were experiencing. Indeed, as in nearly all refugee crises, the burden is overwhelmingly carried by the poorest states – a fact that led us to chant, ‘You let in only 24, Lebanon has a million more’.

Natalie Bennett, the leader of the Green Party, also addressed the protest, putting the refusal to make a serious commitment to Syrian refugees in the context of wider public attitudes to immigration and refugees we had to challenge unequivocally.

Left Unity was also proud to be represented at the protest. National spokesperson Pete Green supported a comment earlier made by No One Is Illegal activist Dave Landau attacking all immigration controls, and said, ‘our position is very clear that we are for no borders – that all migrants and refugees should be welcome here’. He also added, that if “the British values being touted by the Tories mean taking just 24 Syrian refugees from the current crisis – then they certainly aren’t my values”.

Clara Connolly, an immigration lawyer and activist with the Syria Solidarity Movement, made a powerful speech on behalf of the campaign arguing that we must never forget that it is the Assad’s regimes on-going war on its own people, supported by foreign powers such as Russia and Iran, that has caused the current refugee crisis, which has led to some 6.5 million Syrians being internally displaced.

Movement Against Xenophobia activist Zoe Gardiner, spoke of the capitalist logic of the government’s commitment to Syria, For while it is a significant source of humanitarian aid this ‘effectively amounted to paying other states’ still insufficient sums to deal with a refugee crisis that Britain was refusing to seriously respond to.

LC_syria_refugees_welcome_3

All the campaigners present were determined to make this the beginning of a long-term campaign to raise Syrian refugee rights and challenge the public debate on Syria more generally. Please like and keep checking the Syria Solidarity Movement Facebook page for more information about upcoming protests and events.

Further reports

Leeds

LC_syria_refugees_leeds3
“Over 40 were in attendance at Waterside House, the Home Office centre in Leeds, to protest against the treatment of Syrian refugees. It was a lively demonstration, calling for greater rights for the few that have made it over to the UK, and for greater provision for more refugees to come into the country. Several organisations supported the demonstration, and were invited to speak, including Leeds No Borders, South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Awareness, Leeds Friends of Syria, Syrian Community of Leeds, Syrian Association of Yorkshire and Leeds Revolutionary Socialists. The action followed other solidarity actions and events in the city, and will hopefully be built up for future events.”

See the Leeds Friends of Syria group for more information.

Liverpool

LC_syria_refuees_liverpool_3

“Around 20 people marched through the centre of Liverpool for a protest outside the UK Border Agency offices to highlight the situation of Syrian refugees. Dr. Haytham Alhamwi, director of the Manchester-based Syrian ‘Rethink Rebuild Society’, spoke of the drawn-out process that Syrians who do make it to the UK face, often waiting up to 6 months in poverty and destitution simply for a substantive interview. Martin Ralph brought solidarity from Liverpool TUC and invited Syrians to address trade union meetings after Liverpool University UCU recently passed a motion supporting Syrian students and popular committees such as the Union of Syrian Free Students. The newly formed Merseyside Syria Solidarity Movement – UK plans to continue political and practical solidarity over the coming year.”

Oxford

LC_oxford_syria_solidarity
Nick Evans writes: “Members of Oxford Solidarity for Syria joined with migrant and refugee support activists to protest at the shameful treatment of Syrian refugees by the British government. Passers-by were shocked to discover just 24 Syrian refugees have been brought to Britain.
Meanwhile some of those Syrians who do find their way to Britain find themselves locked up in places such as Campsfield immigration detention centre, just outside Oxford. There was a meeting of the Campaign to Close Campsfield later that evening.”

Glasgow

LC_syrian_refugees_glasgow
Graham Campbell writes: “There were around 20 people in the Glasgow protest, from groups including Syrians in Scotland association. A statement from Katy Clark, Labour MP for South Ayrshire, was read out. Clark called on the UK Government to open up to Syrian refugees. There were chants of Free Free Syria.

The demonstration was organised by the Unity Centre Glasgow. There were other speakers from Student Action for Refugees (STAR), Movement Against Xenophobia and Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees. Graham Campbell from the Movement Against Xenophobia steering group reminded people how Glasgow as a city had shown solidarity over 12 years with refugees, and talked about how an independent Scottish government could close nearby Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre and make the migration and asylum system fairer.

Josh Brown from Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees talked about how Scotland’s Syrian community had shown solidarity with the Egyptian, Libyan, Tunisian revolutions and with Palestine, and about the UK government’s responsibility for some of the underlying causes of the crisis in the Middle East.”

See Glasgow Free Syrians and Unity Centre for more information.

SHARE

0 comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GET UPDATES FROM RS21

RELATED ARTICLES

Migrant farm workers fight for justice in Britain

A report on a migrant farm worker’s protest and the campaign for rights for workers on seasonal visas

Building Fortress Britain: Labour’s policies on immigration 

Labour intensifies deportations, workplace raids and migrant exploitation.

Black Bundists: Remembering Flame

Revisiting Flame and anti-racist struggles 1970s Britain

We will not be silenced

Joint statement with movement organisations on the events of 18 January on the PSC national demonstration for Palestine.

Video | Capitalism and development in China and North Korea

A discussion of the development of China and North Korea through the lens of state capitalist theory

Lebanon: imperialist penetration and anti-imperialist contradictions | Part 3

What are the prospects for a nascent left in Lebanon, and how do we strengthen anti-imperialist resistance from Britain?

What trade unionism? A transport strike case study

A case study of a dispute which illustrates the impact of different models of trade unionism and some of the challenges facing workplace activists.

A year of the Palestine movement in Manchester

The story of 10 months and 400 actions in Greater Manchester, from marches to direct action.

Greater Manchester mental health early intervention service strike

Video report from the Greater Manchester mental health early intervention service strike picket line