Here I am, sitting in bed at 6.49, first mug of tea drunk, Wordle completed, headlines read, wondering how it is that a person can say she would:
“love to have a front page of The Telegraph with a plane taking off to Rwanda, that’s my dream, it’s my obsession.”
Does this person - Cruella Suella Braverman, the UK Home Secretary - not understand what refugees have been through?
...you
have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
no one burns their palms
under trains
beneath carriages
no one spends days and nights in the stomach of a truck
feeding on newspaper unless the miles travelled
means something more than journey.
no one crawls under fences
no one wants to be beaten
pitied
no
one chooses refugee camps
or strip searches where your
body is left aching
or prison,
because prison is safer
than a city of fire...*
How can she ignore the fact that most people who come over the channel in small boats have a legal right to sanctuary here, to claim asylum?
My dream is different from hers. My dream is that a UK government will treat refugees kindly, that the many who have been tortured will be cared for with sensitivity and tenderness.
Refugees seeking asylum need safe routes so they don't have to risk their lives in small boats crossing the Channel.
The government eventually gave safe routes to Ukrainians by screening them abroad. They could do it for all people fleeing war and persecution and seeking safety here in the U.K.
 |
| Hugs My line drawing |
If you care about this as much as I do, please consider supporting one of these charities:
Safe Passage works to unite child refugees with relatives here, and campaigns for safe routes for refugees.
Refugee Action has been supporting refugees and people seeking asylum since 1981.
Care4Calais and Detention Action support refugees and are challenging the government in court on the Rwanda policy.
*excerpt from the poem Home by Warsan Shire
No comments:
Post a Comment