Twitter (now X) is a hotbed of anti-migrant racism. Notably, anti-immigration tweets spread one and a half times quicker on the site when it was Twitter than pro-immigration posts. What’s more, a tiny number of users expressing anti-migrant sentiments were responsible for both the production and spread of this content.
These are the results of a study of more than 200,000 tweets from 2019 and 2020 on the social media site. Of course, this was before Musk took over the site – showing that some of the problems were there already.
Twitter: a hotbed of anti-migrant racism
Andrea Nasuto and Francisco Rowe of the Geographic Data Science Lab at the University of Liverpool in the UK, have presented these findings in the open-access journal ‘PLOS ONE’.
Nasuto and Rowe analysed 220,870 immigration-related tweets posted in the UK from December 2019 through April 2020. Specifically, they applied natural language processing methods and social network science to explore the three factors. To do so, they built a ‘ChatGPT-like’ language model to identify different stances towards immigration.
Their analysis confirmed a high degree of polarisation between networks of pro and anti-immigration Twitter users in the UK during the study period.
While, the pro-immigration community was 1.69 times larger in number than the anti-immigration community, they had far less reach. Crucially, the anti-immigration community was more active and engaged to a greater degree with each other’s content.
In particular, they identified how anti-immigration content spreads 1.66 times faster than pro-immigration content.
Significantly, they found that within the anti-immigration community, the top 1% of users generated about 23% of anti-immigration tweets.
Largely, bots weren’t hugely influential for either pro or anti-immigration tweets. Overall, they appeared to make up less than 1% of all key producers and spreaders of pro or anti-immigration content.
From social media to real-world violence
There were other stark differences between pro-immigration and anti-immigration users on the platform too.
The top 1% of pro-immigration posters generated almost half the proportion that anti-immigration users produced. This was 12% to anti-immigration users 23%.
Furthermore, the difference was even more pronounced amongst those who disseminated this content. Anti-immigration users comprised over 70% of top 1% spreader accounts – those that retweeted posts. On top of this, while the top 1% spreaders of anti-immigration users generated over 21% of the total retweets of this content, pro-immigration spreaders in the top 1% accounted for markedly less than this. They retweeted little over 6% of the total pro-immigration retweets.
The researchers noted the potential for online anti-immigration content to provoke real-world harm, including violence. On the basis of their findings, they suggested that efforts to curb online hate content might benefit from identification and monitoring of highly active anti-immigration users.
The authors stated that:
A concentrated effort by a few can amplify a message far beyond its origins, redefining the power dynamics of social media.
Crucially, in the research itself, the study authors suggested that:
The extent of the polarization in the online public debate on immigration-related issues in the UK could enhance online violence which can ultimately trickle down to physical actions towards migrants and minorities.
Therefore, the findings are particularly pertinent in light of the UK’s recent race riots. Notably, the authors argued that:
The speed at which anti-immigration content circulates is more than just alarming—it’s dangerous. England’s recent events reveal how fast online narratives can incite real-world violence.
Of course, the data pre-dated these recent events. However, the authors essentially suggested that if this anti-immigration trend has continued on the platform, this type of real-world violence could easily be the result.
Other studies have revealed how the right-wing has swelled on the platform under Musk. And given disinformation on X was partly to blame for fanning the flames of the fascist far-right pogroms, this assessment seems plausible.
The new study might have analysed Twitter from 2019 to 2020, but it still holds relevance for the ongoing impacts of unfettered bigotry festering online. When racist vitriol spills over from social media, marginalised communities will pay the price.
Testimonies from Home Office and security staff show repeated use of force on distressed detainees
The “inhumane” treatment of migrants rounded up in a “futile” operation for the now scrapped Rwanda scheme, has been laid bare in testimonies from Home Office staff that reveal force was used against distressed detainees.
Internal documents disclosed to the Observer and Liberty Investigates under the Freedom of Information Act also reveal four recorded instances of migrants attempting to harm themselves after being apprehended.
The president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF) has accused Italy’s hard-right government of seeking to criminalise humanitarian aid to drowning refugees. This comes as a court suspended authorities’ blockage of its ship.
The organisation’s search and rescue vessel, the Geo Barents, has been at port in Salerno, Italy, for two weeks. The ship was placed under administrative detention by Italian authorities, a decision MSF have appealed.
On Wednesday afternoon, that appeals court suspended the order. An MSF spokesperson confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that this ruling allows the Geo Barents to be “free to return to the Mediterranean.”
Desperate refugees Doctors Without Borders want to help
Ahead of the decision, MSF’s president surgeon Christos Christou, said Italy’s accusations that the group had failed to provide timely information to coordinating authorities during multiple rescues it carried out on August 23 were baseless.
He accused Italy of creating obstacles to saving refugees in the Mediterranean, and told AFP:
I felt I had to come here (to Salerno) to advocate about how unfair it is to detain the Geo Barents for 60 days while there is so much happening in the Mediterranean
Under Italy’s law, vessels operated by rescue charities are obliged to only perform one rescue at a time. It’s a system the groups claim is inefficient and puts lives at risk.
Christou said that on August 23, having just completed a rescue and following instructions from Italian authorities to head to port, it witnessed another refugee boat in distress and went to help. He said:
People were jumping into the sea. They were there, helpless, without any life vests.
We were trying to contact the Libyan coast guard again but there was no response. Looking at the people in the sea, in that moment the only thing you must do is to offer a hand and pull them out of the sea.
‘Pattern of obstacles’
The detention of the Geo Barents was the ship’s third such blockage under an Italian decree-law from January 2023 that has also led to the seizure of rescue ships from humanitarian charity groups such as France’s SOS Mediterranee and Germany’s Sea-Eye and Sea-Watch for periods up to 60 days.
Like Wednesday’s decision by the Salerno appeals court, other courts have similarly overturned such detention orders, most recently in June.
Christou said Italy’s detentions of NGO rescue vessels fit a “pattern of measures and ways to create obstacles to what we do in the Mediterranean”. He continued:
With this government in Italy we can clearly see the intention: they really want to criminalise the humanitarian aid provided by civil sea rescue ships.
Ahead of the court ruling, the interior ministry spokesman declined to comment to AFP on the matter.
Italy’s interior minister Matteo Piantedosi has previously said the “rules of conduct” for the charity ships are intended to “make their activity more functional” in coordination with Italy’s coastguard, which rescues the bulk of refugees.
Rescue groups are also ordered to disembark refugees at faraway ports, adding to time and cost.
Since 2017, Italy and the UN-backed Libyan government in Tripoli have partnered on a controversial EU-endorsed refugee deal. Human rights groups say it pushes thousands of refugees back to Libya to face torture and abuse under arbitrary detention.
Dead and missing
The crossing from North Africa to Italy or Malta in the central Mediterranean is the world’s deadliest migration route. At least 2,526 refugees died or went missing there last year, and at least 1,116 this year so far.
That is out of the estimated 212,100 refuges who made the crossing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The group has counted more than 17,000 dead or missing since 2014.
The number of refugees crossing the central Mediterranean has dropped by about a third this year, according to border agency Frontex.
But refugees are opting to cross to Europe using new, dangerous routes, said Christou, citing surges this year in routes from Africa to Greece or to the Canary Islands, leading to “more people dying.”
Those routes “were not on our radar until recently,” he said.
The European Union, Christou said, “is failing in providing collective solutions”, with most funding for migration going to security measures rather than humanitarian ones. He explained:
More drones, more fences, more coastguard… instead of humanity and treating people with human dignity.
Christou’s comments and the actions of organisations looking to save drowning refugees should be the responsibility of governments. However, Fortress Europe is more invested, as Christou argues, in drones and fences that police its borders and have coastguards that watch people die. Protecting borders instead of people can only ever be cruel and callous.
Five rich men disappeared in a tourist submersible, and the rich world was obsessed with them. In the same week, 750 poor people were crammed onto a fishing boat called the Adriana that the rich world let sink. On the sub were two billionaires, two millionaires and a millionaire’s son. One of the millionaires and his son were from Pakistan, the same country from which many of the migrants on…
Review finds research did not meet ‘minimum standards’ for assessing whether Rwanda was safe place to send people
The last Conservative government relied largely on evidence from Rwandan officials in its assessment of the country as a safe place to send asylum seekers, an official report has found.
This brave journalist and young women like her are bearing the brunt of the failed democratisation project: ‘Hope is fading’
In the final days of the Afghan republic – in defiance of a looming takeover by the Taliban – the Hazara journalist Mani sang revolutionary poems in public in Kabul about women, freedom and justice. Now she is on the run, waiting for the Australian government to grant her a humanitarian visa.
It’s three years since Australia pulled its final troops out of Afghanistan. Their presence over two decades saw the country emerge from the ashes of civil war, embrace a relative peace and a fragile democracy before falling back into the darkness of fundamentalism under the Taliban.
Mendis, who stayed in Manchester church for two years in 1980s to fight deportation, has died aged 68 in Germany
Refugees and human rights activists are making their way to Bremen in north-west Germany for the funeral of a man who fought for freedom and safety for asylum seekers.
Viraj Mendis came to prominence after seeking sanctuary in a Manchester church where he spent two years in the 1980s. He died aged 68 on 16 August in Bremen, which offered him sanctuary after he was deported from the UK.
Alaa Jamal’s pain and suffering is wound so tightly around her heart that it shields it from all the horrors she’s lived through. So even though she’s in the crosshairs of Netanyahu’s hatred’s sights, her heart beats unceasingly, in defiance of what the Occupation has done to her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to keep the remnants of her family alive: a one year old son named Eid and a three year old daughter named Sanaa. Alaa calls her daughter Princess, an apt nickname for Alaa’s life has always been a fairytale, just one punctuated by war every two to four years. Birth, war. School, war. Adolescence, war. Friendship, war. Family, war. University, war.
Then, when she was eighteen, Mohammed came, and Alaa forgot about the wars. Instead, she says, “A great love story arose.” Handsome, smart, and strong, Alaa knew they were meant for each other. He was a civil engineer, and she, a future architect. He proposed on Eid-al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice. Alaa’s parents agreed, and the lovebirds married. In photographs they’re the quintessential couple. He’s sharp in casual clothes, she’s dazzling demure in repose.
“I was so happy dressed in white,” she says, reminiscing about her wedding.
And for a moment, I could see Alaa, smiling with the groom in the midst of her fairytale. Two children later, it would end. Now, the only white garments worn in Gaza are shrouds for the dead.
When the war began, Alaa was at the hospital with her infant son. Eid had been born with an enlarged heart and needed close supervision whenever he was ill. Now, Alaa found herself trapped with him, as fighting raged on all around her. Israeli soldiers raided the hospital and dragged people out of their beds to kidnap or kill. Terrified, Alaa grabbed her son, ripped out the IV in his arm and ran out the back of the hospital, covered in his blood.
Alaa ran all the way home, but when she arrived, things got worse. The neighborhood children were playing in the street in front of her house. A missile landed on the next block, and a large piece of shrapnel was sent reeling from the resulting explosion towards the children, decapitating Mohammed’s 12-year-old cousin Badr as Alaa watched. Mohammed’s father was next.
Alaa was still in shock when the Israelis dropped leaflets ordering them to go south. She left first, taking the children. Mohammed was supposed to follow a few days later. In the meantime, their neighborhood was destroyed one block at a time. Dozens of Alaa’s friends and relativesweremartyred—wedded to the land they loved in the ultimate sacrifice. Day-by-day, hour-by-hour, with each new message, Alaa learned of their deaths. And it was there, among the hordes of refugees walking south along the sea of Gaza, that Alaa’s fairytale life finally came to an end:
“My brother Bahaa was volunteering to drive refugees trapped in the fighting to safety. Mohammed was with him, when the Occupation shot up the car they were in. My brother was wounded, and Mohammed tried to drag him to safety. That’s when they shot my husband in the face. Somebody called an ambulance, but the Israeli soldiers wouldn’t let the paramedics through. They bled out for charity.”
Alaa began to weep.
“The Occupiers refused to let anyone collect the bodies for burial. My beloved husband and brother became food for stray dogs and crows.”
Alaa didn’t have time to properly mourn. Even after reuniting with her remaining relatives, things continued to get worse. As the days and weeks rolled by, they faced a lack of clean water, food and medical care. Winter came, and they had nothing to keep them warm. Everyone was malnourished and sick.
Eid and Sanaa went to the hospital to get treated for starvation with a nutrient IV drip. The elderly had no such luck. Three different times Alaa woke up on a cold morning to find one of her aunts dead. Their bodies simply couldn’t produce enough heat with so little food to eat. I wondered about her own health.
“How much weight have you lost since October 7th?” I asked.
“Thirty pounds,” she said.
I wanted to know more, but Alaa steered the conversation back to her children.
“My daughter Sanaa lost her ability to speak after her father died. She was in shock, depressed, and fell seriously ill. I tried to comfort her. Then one day she began to sing: ‘When I die, I will go to Heaven to be with my father.’”
Sanaa’s understanding of the afterlife allowed her to be a child again.
By April, when I met Alaa, the food situation had improved. But in May, Sanaa contracted hepatitis C and wouldn’t eat. The hospital fed her through another IV. In June, Eid got a bacterial skin infection on his face. Day-by-day I watched it spread in photographs Alaa sent me. The hospital in Deir al-Balah wanted one hundred dollars for the medication. One hundred more than what was reasonable. I used my connections in Gaza to get a charity to pay for it. But Alaa wouldn’t leave her children alone to retrieve the medicine. She was afraid she’d come back to find them dead. Her father went instead. Just in time too, because the skin on Eid’s face began to rot as it decayed. With all his other health issues, it could have been the end of him.
Eventually, Alaa realized that she needed to make a future for her children. She began to study online to finish her degree. She’s already started on her senior project: designing a rehabilitative mental health center for healing from PTSD. She wants to build it as soon as the war stops. It’s part of her overall plan: “I want to make Gaza beautiful again.”
In the meantime, she’s desperately trying to raise money to buy a tent. It’s crowded and unstable the way she lives, always shuffling around between her remaining relatives. Whenever I try to get a charity to help her, she asks if she can work for them. How can she simultaneously work, mourn, study, raise children and survive? Her life is one of incomprehensible contradictions.
“I hope God will compensate Alaa for her loss,” one of her relatives told me.
I concur, if things go well. If they don’t, Alaa tells me what will happen next: “I am an ambitious person, and I love life very much. But I know that one day my blood, and the blood of my children, will water this land.”
As the new Labour Party government panders to the right-wing fascists in the wake of the UK race riots, a migrant rights non-profit has exposed its latest plans for the violent, racist sham they are.
Notably, the group has called out Labour’s immigration raids as:
a form of racist kidnapping and an extension of colonial divide and rule tactics
Labour’s ‘hostile environment’
As the Canaryreported, on Wednesday 21 August, Labour announced that the government aims over the next six months to:
to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers for five years. The goal is to remove more than 14,000 people by the end of the year, according to the Times.
The new Labour government intends to increase detention capacity at removal centres and sanction employers who hire people with no right to work in the UK.
Now, the Migrants’ Rights Network has produced a report exposing the abhorrent racism at the heart of Labour’s new policies.
Its new ‘Hostile Office’ report is titled ‘Immigration Raids: An Anatomy of Racist Intimidation’. The Migrants’ Rights Network and academics Monish Bhatia and Jon Burnett collaborated on the new analysis. As it says on the tin, this delves into the government’s use of immigration raids against migrants communities.
Unsurprisingly, far from fomenting the violent deportation aims of the state, it found instead that these function as a “fear mechanism”. In other words, the government uses these as a form of racist intimidation, to divide racialised communities.
The Migrants’ Right Network therefore argued that:
Raids are meant to humiliate, intimidate, racially subjugate and inflict harm on the “Other”, specifically migrants and/or racialised people.
Raids and racial profiling
Notably, the new report revealed that authorities have targeted South Asian communities the most. Between January 2022 and September 2023, immigration enforcement officials conducted a disproportionate number of raids on Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani nationals. While people of Asian heritage made up just 9.3% of the population, the state carried out 50% of the 19,895 immigration raids during that period against them.
Central and Eastern Europeans were the next largest group authorities targeted at 21%. Following these groups, the stated had targeted Albanian nationals and Romanian nationals most, in 8% and 7% of raids respectively.
The charity has also released groundbreaking research mapping the location and frequency of raids. Crucially, it showed that immigration enforcement often carry these out either in city centres on businesses, in areas with significant racialised populations, or in significant areas for migration routes.
In particular, authorities executed the greatest number of raids in Belfast, Northern Ireland (1,277), and Stranraer in Scotland (1,102), around their harbours. These are all areas covered by Operation Gull, the joint border policing exercise between police and immigration services in the UK and Ireland.
Similarly, authorities had implemented a high number of raids in areas of London and Birmingham with high racialised populations.
Raids and deportations on the rise after Tories’ racist bills
Given immigration enforcement’s focus on these communities, the report challenged the:
efficacy of the intelligence used versus the influence of racial profiling.
Critically, it demonstrated that raids are highly secretive and ambiguous. For instance, it underscored that it is unclear how officials conducting the pre-visit checks determine the immigration status from surveillance at the premises, or how thorough these checks are. Instead, the report suggested that most immigration raids take place as a result of low-grade intelligence such as ‘tip-offs’, including fabricated reports from rival businesses or gossip.
Significantly, the report highlighted how raids had sky-rocketed. In particular, it found that:
The number of immigration raids increased by 68% from September 2022 to September 2023. Almost constantly since March 2023, more than half of people present at an immigration raid have been arrested. The arrest rate peaked at 64.24% in April 2023 and has only fallen below 50% twice – to 47.31% and 47.83% in May and August 2023, respectively. This is a significant increase: before August 2022, the percentage of people arrested following an immigration raid was largely between 25% and 30%.
Alongside this, the report identified how the deportation rate appeared to ramp up in tandem:
From January to August 2022, the median deportation rate following an immigration rate was 6.26%. Between September 2022 and February 2023, this increased to 9.17%. The largest increase in deportation rates following an immigration raid rose to 14.83% in March 2023 and 19.95% in April 2023.
Notably, it highlighted how the state had increased these after passing the Tories’ racist anti-immigration acts. Specifically, the spike in arrests in deportations followed the state putting the Nationality and Border Act into effect in July 2022, and the Illegal Migration Act in July 2023. Given this, it stated that the timing reinforced:
the function of immigration raids as a fear mechanism and as ‘political theatre’. These two pieces of legislation created new immigration offences for which people might be arrested, increased punishments for existing offences, expanded powers for Immigration Enforcement (and other agencies) and sought to reduce legal protections for migrants in conflict with the law.
Labour: fomenting ‘state-sanctioned fear’
Largely, the report concluded that immigration raids were a tool of “state-sanctioned” fear against racialised communities across the UK.
CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network Fizza Qureshi said:
Raids are an extension of colonial ‘divide and rule’ tactics that pit neighbours, colleagues and the wider community against each other and while inflicting fear. It’s time to send a clear message to the State that we will be holding them to account for the intimidation of racialised communities. I hope this report marks the beginning of an organised effort to scrutinise incredibly secretive operations, and encourage more community-led pushback to these raids.
Echoing this, academics and co-authors of the report Monish Bhatia and Jon Burnett said:
Raids are a mechanism to create State-sanctioned fear. They are utilised as part of attempts to disrupt and intimidate communities. They turn neighbour against neighbour, and legitimise the idea that they need to exist. This report makes it loud and clear that raids are part State violence and part political theatre.
And Home secretary Yvette Cooper’s latest parade of deportation policies and goals cannot be extricated from this racist political pantomine either. Needless to say, it’ll do nothing but stoke more fear and division against migrants and racialised communities. And much as the Tories toxic anti-immigration acts and raid culture have done – fan the flames of fascist bigotry festering on this racist island.
Twenty-six members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority drowned when their boat capsized as they were trying to flee to Bangladesh, witnesses said, an accident likely to compound fears that the largely Muslim community is facing a new round of genocide.
Rohingya living in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have been caught in crossfire between ethnic minority insurgents fighting for self-determination against Myanmar’s military, with both sides accused of killing them.
Some analysts have warned that the latest attacks are worse than those inflicted on the community in 2017, when a Myanmar military crackdown against Rohingya militants triggered an exodus of some 700,000 people to Bangladesh.
As then, Rohingya are again fleeing the violence to Bangladesh, many crossing a border river in small boats.
On Monday, a crowded boat crossing the Naf River to Bangladesh sank killing 26 of those onboard, witnesses said, the latest in a spate of deadly accidents on the river.
“There were 30 people on the boat including 18 children. Only four survived. The rest died,” said one of the witnesses who declined to be identified because of security fears.
Rescue workers searching for bodies had found seven victims, including four children and a pregnant woman, he added.
Aung Kyaw Moe, deputy minister of human rights for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, said the boat was heading to Bangladesh because of intense fighting in Maungdaw township on the border between junta troops and the Arakan Army, or AA, insurgent group.
“They fled for their lives. They were worried about where the heavy artillery would fall,” he said. “The Naf River is dangerous because of the ebb and flow of the tide. They had to risk their lives.”
Aung Kyaw Moe said the situation in Rakhine state was confusing because some areas were controlled by junta forces while others were in the hands of the AA, with tens of thousands of Rohingya caught up in the conflict.
The AA draws its support from the largely Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community, the majority in the state. The rebels are fighting Myanmar’s military for greater autonomy, in alliance with ethnic minority forces from other areas and democracy activists who took up arms after the army overthrew an elected government in 2021.
Both sides have been accused of killing Rohingya, with AA fighters blamed for attacking people believed to be supporting junta forces.
On Aug. 5, dozens of Rohingya people were killed by fire from heavy weapons as they waited for boats to cross to Bangladesh, survivors told Radio Free Asia. Some survivors said the AA was responsible though the insurgents denied that.
On Aug. 12, Human Rights Watch said both the junta and the AA had committed extrajudicial killings and widespread arson against Rohingya, Rakhine and other civilians in Rakhine state.
“Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said the group’s Asia director Elaine Pearson. “Both sides are using hate speech, attacks on civilians, and massive arson to drive people from their homes and villages, raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”
The recent attacks on Rohingya were “worse than in 2017” and represents a “second wave of genocide”, two experts told a press briefing in the United States this month.
There were about 60,000 displaced people in Rakhine state before the latest round of fighting resumed late last year but now there are more than 500,000, aid groups there say.
Echoing growing concerns about the Rohingya, the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network, or BHRN, called on Wednesday for the international community to protect Rohingya, particularly those in Maungdaw.
It cited witnesses as saying many Rohingya had been killed in boat accidents or from bombs on the banks of the Naf River. The group cited witnesses as saying AA fighters had torched Rohingya homes in Maungdaw.
“These problems started when the junta forcibly recruited Rohingya for military service,” Kyaw Win, director of Burma Human Rights Network, told RFA. “If there are violations by AA troops on the ground, the AA needs to be exposed and action needs to be taken.”
The AA, in an Aug. 18 statement, accused “Muslim armed forces” of setting fire to homes and it warned that rights activists making accusations could affect harmony between ethnic groups. The AA said it had evacuated nearly 20,000 people, including Rohingya, from embattled Maungdaw town and would move more to safety.
Kyaw Win said forces opposed to the junta throughout the country, including the National Unity Government and other insurgent groups, had been reluctant to criticize the AA, their anti-junta ally.
But he said the international community should investigate the AA’s actions and take measures, including sanctions, if necessary.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
The Labour Party government has announced new measures to curb the arrival of asylum seekers on boats from France and to step up the removal of failed asylum seekers. This includes increasing capacity at detention centres pioneered under Tony Blair’s government. It shows that, far from offering ‘change’, Labour has effectively played into the far-right’s narrative in the wake of the recent race riots – with some accusing it of legitimising them.
Labour: stop the boats and send them home
Labour said 100 new “specialist intelligence and investigation officers” would be recruited to the National Crime Agency (NCA) to help dismantle smuggling gangs that run the dangerous Channel crossings.
The Home Office added that the government also aims over the next six months to achieve the highest rate of deportations of failed asylum seekers for five years. The goal is to remove more than 14,000 people by the end of the year, according to the Times.
The new Labour government intends to increase detention capacity at removal centres and sanction employers who hire people with no right to work in the UK. Home secretary Yvette Cooper said:
We are taking strong and clear steps to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced.
Stopping the small boat arrivals was a key issue in the 4 July election, in which Labour won a thumping majority.
Labour: back to the even badder old days
Within days of taking power, prime minister Keir Starmer scrapped a controversial scheme to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, which had been a flagship policy of the last Conservative government.
Starmer has instead pledged to dismantle the people-smuggling gangs who organise the crossings and are paid thousands of euros by each migrant.
The Home Office is recruiting a so-called Border Security Commander who will work with European countries against the people-smuggling gangs.
Starmer has also pledged with French president Emmanuel Macron to strengthen “cooperation” in handling the surge in undocumented migrant numbers.
The Home Office said the NCA is pursuing about 70 investigations against criminal networks involved in people trafficking. It said the government would issue financial penalty notices, business closure orders and bring possible prosecutions against anyone employing “illegal” workers.
The department also said it was adding 290 beds to two removal centres and redeploying staff to try to remove failed asylum seekers at the highest rate since 2018. The Home Office did not give figures on the numbers involved.
Starmer giving credence to the far right
However, people on X were quick to point out just what Labour was doing:
Yvette Cooper’s borders announcement today is a betrayal of everyone who voted for change.
Ten days since racists attacked asylum seekers & mosques & today Labour announce they’re ramping up the failed narrative that we can just get rid of the people we don’t want here. #r4today
Minnie Rahman of migrant rights group Praxis accused Labour of “legitimising the far right”:
Labour are legitimatising the far-right today by targeting asylum seekers (again) less than 3 weeks after a wave of violence. The policies announced today are a jumble of measures that won’t resolve anything. More of the same.
And, as the Green Party’s Peter Underwood summed up – Labour has still done nothing about safe routes:
Far-right thugs – Labour are recruiting 100 Specialist Staff to hunt down refugees and send them to the camps
A Government with any sense of decency would provide safe routes for asylum seekers and give them the help and support they deservehttps://t.co/syZ3joTjqU
Enver Solomon, of the Refugee Council, accused the government of “wasting taxpayers’ money on expanding detention places” and said it should be investing in voluntary returns programmes.
If you treat people with respect, humanity and support them to return, many more people return.
Enver also urged ministers to focus on providing safe routes to deter small boat crossings, arguing “unless the government also provides safe routes, it won’t succeed”.
Ultimately, it seems that Labour is quite happy to continue the Tories ‘hostile environment‘ for refugees and asylum seekers – which is exactly what the far right want.
I recently retired and finally said goodbye to the classroom.
As a teacher of ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages), I had the great privilege of working with around 75 different national and cultural groups.
Many of my students were refugees from overseas.
And whilst I was supporting my students with their English – including everything from beginners English to proficiency levels – I am sure that I learned more than I taught.
It’s a career that started out quite unexpectedly, but which has since shaped my life.
Wind back many years, Auntie Anita, my first husband’s aunt, was nagging me to visit her at work.
She was a secretary at a public Northern California adult educational centre about ten miles from where we lived. And she though it’d be just my thing.
I’d taught four years of high school by that time and given it up to raise a toddler. Now, I was thinking of part time work.
“But I don’t have the right credential to teach adults,” I protested.
It didn’t work. She persisted.
“I can get you a temporary credential” she continued. “And you’ll have a year to get the permanent one. You’re right for the job.”
And so, she did. My first class was at night in downtown Oakland, California.
A cosmopolitan city if ever there was one! I had students from at least a dozen countries that first night.
I was given very broad curriculum guidelines, and I did a lot of creative “ad lobbing” as it was my first class. It went great!
The evening flew by, and by the end of the class everyone was smiling. I knew this was the right setting for me.
So, I continued part time, had a second baby, and changed to a school closer to home.
I was still teaching at night with a class full of adults who worked during the day, and though tired, came to night school, optimistic and cheery about getting ahead in American society.
I knew then that I’d not go back to teaching high school. I proceeded to get my credential in adult education.
We also welcomed people from dozens of other countries, from Argentina to Mongolia.
I spent the next years in urban areas teaching English as a Second Language, cultural diversity awareness in the business sector, and basic reading skills to recently released prisoners.
I did so for a total of 40 years.
That, coupled with early years working in Alaska, gave me a complete window on the world.
Thanks to social media, I’m still in touch with dozens of former students, and have accepted invitations to visit them in half a dozen countries where they live.
I consider myself very lucky indeed!
Auntie Anita, one of the most persistent people I’ve met, harangued and dispensed lots of unwanted advice.
But, she was on target. I was right for the job.
Watching my students develop their English language skills was an absolute joy.
As was, learning from them.
Lessons learned: around the world in a classroom
I may have been the teacher, but I really do feel that this incredible experience taught me much more.
Here’s what I learnt!
1. Don’t stereotype people
Just because a person comes from a certain culture, it does not make them a spokesperson for the whole culture.
Each person is an individual with their own experiences, views and lived experiences.
Plus, what I also discovered is that cultural communities are very diverse.
Not all people from the same place are alike!
Whether from a minority of majority community, each culture is rich in language, history, culture and beliefs.
Get to know the individual on their terms – you’ll learn a lot more.
2. Be aware of inter-communal biases
It goes without saying that we should welcome migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to their new home.
And that includes: ensuring that we’re not fostering any space for racism, discrimination and exclusion.
Negative stereotypes, scapegoating of communities and cultural biases are everywhere (no thanks to the media!).
So, as in point #1, firstly: check yourself for conscious and unconscious biases.
Secondly: we need to also understand, recognise and mitigate for inter-community biases and conflicts.
No community is immune from negative biases. There are internal biases and racism with many cultures – not just our own.
So, whatever the history (e.g. religious, ethnic, “caste-based”, gender and socio-economic difference/conflict), be ready to recognise biases and work against them.
3. Seeking refuge is a right not a choice
People leave their home countries for a variety of reasons – and causes.
Displaced by the effects of climate change, poverty, conflict, persecution (relating to one’s faith, gender or sexuality) – there are countless reasons.
But one common denominator is this: life. To live in freedom, safety and security.
I can safely say that after my experiences, many people who change countries usually do so out ofnecessity – not because they want to do so.
Moving country is challenging in any context – some more complex and challenging than we could ever imagine.
4. Language is fundamental
Learning the language of anywhere you’re living is critical. It opens so many doors – economic and social, cultural.
From accessing medical services, going to work and making new (and varied) friends – language is crucial. It really is key to integration.
Of course, people come with vastly varied experiences and levels of education.
Some may by fluent in the national language, others a little rusty. Some may be starting from scratch.
Everyone has different histories and needs. And how fast people learn a new language often depends on whether they plan to stay in the new country.
Again: each context is different.
Language is key to integration – but it’s not the only element.
As a society, our strength lies in our respect for diversity and ensuring equity across the board.
5. Trauma travels with you
The resilience of people can be astounding – including the coping skills people bring with them.
Yet, whilst, you’re looking to the future – but the past can travel with you.
People who come to a new country may have suffered immense hardship/trauma – and therefore struggle with conditions such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and/or anxiety.
For refugees and asylum seekers in particular, the affects of trauma from conflict/violence (personal loss/grief and displacement) and persecution/torture (physical, sexual, phycological abuse), require empathy, care and potentially professional support.
When counselling someone, empathy and compassionate listening are critical.
I however personally always try to give suggestions for concrete actions – whilst of course ensuring that my advice is informed and useful.
Signposting may be the best advice you give.
6. Experiences vary greatly across generations
First generation immigrants face many challenges and hardships, including potential language gaps, financial struggles, cultural shocks and emotional trauma (see point #5).
These challenges are usually different to that of their second-generation children (and subsequent generations).
Children who are born in the new country or arrived at an early age generally find it easier to carve out their own sense of identity, embracing both their own native and the national culture of their parents’ adopted country.
Parents may be determined to re-create a sense of the home culture in a new place but can become frustrated when their children will not or cannot accept that.
As a result, their children may struggle to manage both the expectations of senior members of their family, alongside their own experiences and wants/beliefs as a second/third generation migrant/refugee.
Of course however, every family, individual and context is different.
7. We share more in common
Whilst the world is so wonderfully diverse, we’re all human. And we’re actually more alike than people may think.
Yes, we’ve got far more in common than any differences among us!
Of course, our experiences and our upbringing all shape us, our beliefs and our view on the world.
But, when it comes down to it, we all share the same foundations, feelings and wants of being human.
What’s more, each of us keeps on learning and changing throughout our lives.
Cross-cultural learning can bring not just a great sense of discovery, but also solidarity and teamwork to the classroom.
8. A smile goes a long way
You may speak different languages, you may have been born in different countries – or even continents – and you may be at different stages in your life…
But I can guarantee one thing: you all welcome a friendly face!
Gunfire, explosions, flames, and death haunted Lee in his internally displaced persons camp almost daily.
“One night, explosions erupted near the camp, along with the sound of fighter jets,” recounted Lee, whose surname is being withheld due to security concerns.
“My parents woke me and we rushed to hide in the ditch outside. When it was over, we learned a bomb had damaged the community center. Worse, someone died that night.”
Lee, 18, became a refugee in his own state of Kayah (Karenni) following Myanmar’s Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that toppled the elected National League for Democracy government, and sparked an ongoing civil war.
A BenarNews photographer was allowed to travel across the border to the camp from Thailand, under an agreement that its location and the date of the visit would not be disclosed to ensure the residents’ safety.
Lee lived in a bamboo hut with a thatched roof built by his father in the camp. The encampment lacks electricity and water and houses more than 100 people in dozens of shelters.
“Every morning, we walk to bathe and collect water from the camp well,” Lee said. “On Friday evenings, we trek four hours to a camp near the Thai border to charge all our devices for the week ahead.”
The camp has a basic clinic and a barebones school sitting on a hillside with bamboo classrooms topped by tin roofs where children can continue their education despite the circumstances. The teachers, refugees themselves, are paid 1,500 baht (US $42) monthly. Most school supplies come from international non-profit organizations.
“I dream of going to university,” Lee said. “I wish for a safe country to welcome my family – any country ready to accept refugees like us.”
Shortly after speaking with BenarNews, Lee’s dream came true. He and his family relocated to a new country where he has a chance to pursue his educational aspirations.
The hut Lee’s father built is occupied by another young man from Kayah state whose mother was killed in the civil war.
He lives there with just his guitar as company.
A Karenni boy plays in the refugee camp near the Thai border in this photo taken in mid-2024. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) Residents walk to and from a well to collect water for their families in the Myanmar refugee camp that has no running water or electricity. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) Students walk to their homes for lunch at the Myanmar refugee camp in mid-2024. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) People are gathered to bathe near the well, the only source of water at the refugee camp in Myanmar near the Thai border in mid-2024. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) A refugee plays the guitar for entertainment at the Myanmar camp for Internally Displaced Persons. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) Some Karenni girls wear traditional skirts as they attend the camp’s only school. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) A woman with a scar on her arm seeks treatment at the camp’s barebones clinic. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) Men play volleyball as they do each evening in the refugee camp. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews) A view of the makeshift homes of Myanmar residents who have become refugees in their own country. They built their houses on a hillside to avoid detection by Burmese junta planes. (Nattaphon Phanphongsanon/BenarNews)
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Nattaphon Phanphongsanon for BenarNews.
Fundamental rights body warns of flawed approach to credible accounts of ill-treatment and loss of life
Authorities in EU member states are not doing enough to investigate credible reports of violations of human rights, including deaths, on their borders, an EU human rights body has said.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said human rights agencies and NGOs were reporting “serious, recurrent and widespread rights violations against migrants and refugees during border management” but despite “credible” reports many were not investigated.
Just hours before Friday’s opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics, a series of apparently coordinated arson attacks were reported on France’s high-speed rail network. No one has claimed responsibility yet. Before the games, protests highlighted the displacement of thousands of migrants, unhoused people and other vulnerable communities as “social cleansing.” We go to Paris for an update with…
Keir Starmer’s ‘left-wing’ Labour Party government said on Thursday 25 July it had deported 46 people to Vietnam and East Timor, after ditching the previous Conservative Party administration’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda. As people pointed out on X, the underhandedness and hypocrisy of these Labour deportation flights was clear to see.
Labour: we won’t deport you to Rwanda – but Vietnam is nice this time of year
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper this week said flights initially intended to fly undocumented migrants to the east African nation would instead be used to deport foreign criminals and immigration offenders.
The chartered return flight, which took off on Wednesday and arrived on Thursday, is the first ever to East Timor and the first to Vietnam since 2022, her department said.
“Today’s flight shows the government is taking quick and decisive action to secure our borders and return those with no right to be here,” added Cooper.
Labour has scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda plan. The UK Supreme Court had deemed it illegal under international law. Not that this stopped the Tories – who just changed the law. Nor was it the reason Labour has stopped it.
Cooper this week called the Rwanda scheme, intended to deter migrants making the Channel crossing in small boats from northern France, “the most shocking waste of taxpayers’ money” she had seen. Of course, she failed to mention its illegality and inhumanity.
The Tories had spent £700 million on the scheme but only four migrants had relocated to Rwanda – and they went voluntarily.
She also told parliament Sunak’s government planned to spend more than £10 billion on the scheme in total.
Short shrift to Cooper
However, people gave the news of Labour’s deportations a turning over on X.
One user pointed out that this was hardly a win:
Rwanda scrapped & Bibby Stockholm to close – great news! But really it’s the bare minimum.
At the same time as announcing these wins, the government has launched more immigration raids & a deportation flight to Vietnam.
Someone though Cooper and her cronies could do with a trip themselves to Vietnam:
I propose that we use the flights scheduled for Rwanda to deport the entire Labour front bench to Vietnam instead. They might actually learn something about Socialism over there! https://t.co/mq8ofPB5e5
— Hon. PolProf of Agile Ceremonies (@CeilNoyle) July 23, 2024
Labour’s approach is to prioritise returns of failed asylum seekers to designated safe countries. This is, it claims, to ease a huge backlog in the claims system – and NOT to pander to right-wing racists, obviously.
It also wants closer cooperation with Europe to “smash” the people-smuggling gangs behind the Channel crossings. So far this year nearly 16,000 people have come ashore. Of course, Labour couldn’t possibly make safe and legal routes for migrants, could it?
Vietnamese nationals accounted for 20% of undocumented migrants between January and March this year, Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said.
In March this year, Sunak’s government launched a global social media campaign. It was aimed at Vietnam in particular, to deter people from using the route.
On Wednesday 24 July, a gang of British people-smugglers were jailed. It was after they tried to hide two Vietnamese migrants in a hidden compartment of their campervan. This was as they travelled between France and the UK.
Eleven people have been convicted in the UK in connection with the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants who were found in the back of a lorry in 2019 after being smuggled from northern Europe.
Nothing left wing about Labour deportation flights
Home Office plans to remove dozens of people to Vietnam today, on a plane originally scheduled for Rwanda. This isn't change – it's the same old policy of forcing people out of communities, where they belong. The govt must change course immediately – the time to resist is now!
There’s nothing left wing about ripping people out of a country they now call home. Nor is there anything left wing about stopping people moving to this country for a better life – while allowing your own population to migrate to places like Spain along with your pubs, cafes, and fat, white, tattooed, balding men.
With music now a crime in Afghanistan, Braga has become one of the few places where the practice is being preserved
A stone’s throw from Portugal’s oldest cathedral and buzzing bakeries serving up pastéis de nata, the complex notes of a sitar fill the ground floor of an unassuming building in the northern city of Braga.
The soft strumming belies the radical nature of the mission that has taken root here: to preserve Afghan music and use it as a tool to counter those who want to eradicate it.
Back in the bad old days before the Labour Party government, the Tories were widely criticised for their ‘hostile environment’ policy. The criticism wasn’t just that the Tories were targeting what they called “illegal immigration”; the issue was that they and the media were putting overdue focus on the topic to worsen racial tensions and distract from the problems caused by austerity.
Good job the grown ups are back in charge, eh?
The source in this case is Yvette Cooper herself writing in The Sun. Here is the relevant passage from her article: pic.twitter.com/X9htiQnNtA
The hostile environment was spearheaded by Theresa May – first as home secretary and then as prime minister. The woman herself described it as follows:
The aim is to create, here in Britain, a really hostile environment for illegal immigrants
The Hostile Environment deters people from going to the doctor for fear of racking up a huge bill or being reported, detained and deported. It deters undocumented migrants from reporting crime to the police. It deters undocumented migrants from reporting unsafe working conditions or exploitative employers. It reduces the options for renting a home and pushes people into poor quality or even dangerous accommodation, at the mercy of their landlord.
Hostile Environment policies also make doctors, landlords, teachers and other public sector workers responsible for immigration checks. These policies encourage and incentivise us to be suspicious of each other and undermine trust in our public services.
We are all impacted by the Hostile Environment, which increases racial discrimination and asks us to be suspicious of each other. At JCWI, we believe Britain can do better than this.
Those most affected are people without status in the UK. Most of the undocumented population in the UK is made up of people who came here legally, but subsequently lost their status, very often through no fault of their own. Some make the difficult decision to leave an abusive partner or an exploitative employer, even though it means they will lose their immigration status. Others grow up assuming they’re British, only to be told that they aren’t, even though they’ve never known any other country. And some fall out of regular status because they can’t afford the skyrocketing fees to renew their visa or to challenge an incorrect decision made by the Home Office.
No matter our nationality or immigration status, we all deserve to be treated with dignity and humanity.
Another important point is that the hostile environment led to the Windrush scandal:
The Home Office told the Windrush generation they must prove they had lived in the UK since before 1973. The Home Office demanded at least one official document from every year they had lived here. Attempting to find documents from decades ago created a huge, and in many cases, impossible burden on people who had done nothing wrong.
In 2017 it started to emerge that hundreds of members of the Windrush generation had been wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights. Coverage of these individuals’ stories began to break in several newspapers, and Caribbean leaders took the issue up with then-prime minister, Theresa May.
The Home Office has argued the Windrush scandal was an accident – but an independent report in March 2020, the “Windrush Lessons Learned Review”, makes it clear – this was the inevitable result of policies designed to make life impossible for those without the right papers. The Home Office has promised to learn the lessons of the scandal, but the only way to stop it happening again, is to scrap the Hostile Environment.
New government – same environment
The hostile environment was infamous for its vans. Here’s former footballer and political activist Neville Southall noting that the policy was still alive in spirit in 2023 under Rishi Sunak:
Remember the Go Home vans?
They were driven round diverse parts of London as part of a Government campaign to make life unbearable for migrants who can’t prove their immigration status in the UK.
Britain is a fantastic country – at our best we are respected and admired the world over.
But we cannot pretend everything is OK.
Not when so many young lives are lost to knife crime.
Not when too many neighbourhoods are plagued by anti-social behaviour.
Not when so many high streets are hit by a shoplifting epidemic.
And not when criminal gangs are making millions out of dangerous small boat crossings that undermine our border security and put lives at risk.
That is the legacy of Tory failure we are dealing with.
It can’t go on. That’s why the newly elected Labour Government is moving so fast to get on with the job.
We know this means hard graft not sticking plasters and it will take time to turn things round.
But Keir Starmer has made clear that politics has to be about serious public service again – whoever you voted for in the election, we want to work with you to renew Britain’s future.
As Home Secretary, I am leading the work on two important Government priorities: boosting our border security and taking back our streets.
Labour had two choices:
Admit certain issues are inevitable in an increasingly unequal country – in an increasingly unequal world – and announce plans to redistribute Britain’s wealth so as to prevent further societal decline.
Carry on blaming the symptoms and not the disease.
Everyone can now see which path Labour has chosen:
Just days into government, Labour are boasting about their new immigration enforcement and deportation push in a tabloid that thrives on dividing our communities.
Instead, they should be building a migration system based on safe routes, care and dignity.https://t.co/yglNX6m6qK
— Peace & Justice Project (@corbyn_project) July 21, 2024
Yvette Cooper desperately trying to think of a word that's not Gestapo: It's gonna be an immigration… blitz. pic.twitter.com/15NHKQMEl4
The Conservatives’ costly Rwanda Migration Partnership has been running for two years, costing hundreds of millions of pounds to send just four volunteers.
Meanwhile the asylum system is in chaos – the backlog has soared with thousands of people in costly hotels, and the number of enforced removals is down by a staggering 50 per cent in the past decade.
The previous government’s preoccupation with Rwanda and headline chasing meant they didn’t do the hard work needed to sort out the basics and the chaos just got worse.
I was shocked to discover the Conservatives had 1,000 civil servants working on the Rwanda Partnership.
Not any more.
We’ve moved staff instead into a new Returns and Enforcement programme to increase returns of those with no right to be here and to make sure rules are respected and enforced, starting with an increase in illegal working raids.
We’ve directed Immigration Enforcement to intensify their operations over the summer, with a focus on employers who are fuelling the trade of criminal gangs by exploiting and facilitating illegal working here in the UK – including in car washes and in the beauty sector.
And we are drawing up new plans for fast track decisions and returns for safe countries.
Most people in this country want to see a properly controlled and managed asylum system, where Britain does its bit to help those fleeing conflict and persecution, but where those who have no right to be in the country are swiftly removed.
For far too long under the Conservatives, we have had just costly chaos – that has to change now.
Labour: yesterday’s mistakes today
The Tories and right-wing media framed boat crossings as the issue of the day, and yet they completely failed to ‘solve it’ by the standards that they themselves had set. How did that work out for the Tories you might be wondering? Those who are old enough to remember the election of 2024 will know that the Tories’ focus on ‘illegal immigration’ massively backfired – supercharging the electability of Reform who promised to finish what the Tories had begun.
Don’t worry, though, because we’re sure the exact same thing won’t happen to Labour at the next election. We’re sure that war and climate breakdown won’t make an increase in boat crossings inevitable. We’re sure that failing to provide safe routes won’t mean more deaths at sea and more misery for everyone.
Why are we sure of that?
Because the grown ups are back in charge – that’s why.
And we’re also certain that ‘the grown ups are back in charge’ isn’t simply the mantra of people who have no actual answers to the very real problems this country is facing.
A new report demonstrated decisively how the UK’s immigration legislation is racist by design – just as the new Labour Party government seeks to amend it. In particular, it explored the reality that UK policies mainly target racialised people from Britain’s former colonies in raids, detention, deportation, and deprivation of citizenship.
The recent ‘illegal’ Migration Bill 2023 and Nationality and Borders Act 2022 are part of a long history of targeting and excluding ‘unwelcome’ and ‘undesirable’ groups of migrants. Crucially, the report illustrated how these bills base this rhetoric on colonial ideas of race and deservingness. In other words: who can be economically ‘useful’ to Britain.
Labour government’s racist immigration legislation
The Migrants’ Rights Network released the fresh report following the announcement of the new Border Security Bill in the King’s Speech. Notably, this set out how the new Labour government would introduce a new piece of immigration legislation to:
modernise the asylum and immigration system, establishing a new Border Security Command and delivering enhanced counter terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime [Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill]
As the Canaryhas previously reported, these punitive, aggressive policies will do little to actually end perilous boat crossings. To do that, the Labour government would instead need to expand safe routes to asylum. However, so far it appears wedded to the rightwing hardline borderisation approach.
Given this, the Migrant Rights Network report sought to put this alarming continuation in the context of its long-term hostile environment history. It examined how racism and colonialism play a central role in immigration policies.
Significantly, the report traced the historic colonial origins of the Home Office. Alongside this, it looked at the role of the 1948 British Nationality Act. Both of these shaped the notion of the “good immigrant” along racial lines.
Since then, governments have deliberately designed immigration legislation to keep non-White, racialised communities from Britain’s former colonies out of the UK. For instance, this included ‘The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962’, and ‘The 1981 British Nationality Act’.
Racism and colonialism has shaped UK immigration policies
Specifically, the report explored the function of racism and colonialism in shaping legislation around citizenship, and visa schemes. Deprivation of citizenship legislation and its amendments have legalised racism in Britain. That is, these have continually deprived racialised people of citizenship.
Of those deprived of citizenship and their nationalities between 2002 and 2022:
85% had or were deemed to have nationalities of countries in Africa, and South or West Asia (the Middle East)
What’s more, 83% were from former British colonies. Of this, 41% were South Asian, all being Pakistani or Bangladeshi.
Of course, the latter findings sit alongside new prime minister Keir Starmer’s recent racist dogwhistle attack on Bangladeshi people living in the UK.
Furthermore, the report unpacked how the “good character” test involved in applications for British citizenship, invokes racist ideals of ‘civility’. In doing so, the analysis identified that these application processes associated racialised migrants with criminality and, for Muslim migrants, extremism.
UK’s long-term ‘racist commodification’
The report also traced the historical continuity between today’s points-based immigration system and the work vouchers of the 1960s. Most notably, it found that governments have based visa schemes, including sponsored worker schemes, on ‘racial commodification’.
In short: the commodification of racialised people and/or people from the Global South for the purposes of economic extraction and exploitation by the Global North.
This has created an increasingly large and insecure class of migrant workers. In particular, the government has turned people into objects for their labour. As such, the report concluded that immigration legislation limits the ability of racialised people to come to the UK. Invariably, this has controlled migrants’ freedom to live their lives.
CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network Fizza Qureshi said:
For People of Colour and other marginalised groups, this system simply wasn’t designed for us. That is why we are calling for the Hostile Office and immigration system to be dismantled. With a new Government in power, we hope it works with us to dismantle these cruel structures that have made the lives of migrants, and migratised people, a misery and joins us in taking a bold and transformative stance with migrant justice at the heart of policy.
Asylum seekers have held a sit-in demonstration outside the floating asylum accommodation the Bibby Stockholm. They were protesting their quasi-detention limbo on the barge as the new Labour Party-run Home Office puts them through huge waits for their claims to be processed.
Dozens of asylum seekers living on the Bibby Stockholm barge are staging a sit-down protest over delays in processing their asylum claims, overcrowding conditions and trouble accessing medical treatment.
A man this week described the boat in Dorset as the “hell barge”. There are about 400 asylum seekers onboard, one of the highest rates of occupancy since it opened in 2022.
From the start, the Tories de facto floating prison has been riddled with controversy. Days after the Home Office had forced 39 migrants aboard the vessel in August 2023, tests detected the bacteria legionella within its water system. This bacteria can cause a potentially deadly respiratory condition known as Legionnaires’ disease.
As a result, the government had to evacuate the refugees from the barge. In September, freedom of information requests (FOIs) revealed that tests had identified the most deadly strain of legionella on the vessel.
Meanwhile, others have highlighted the huge sums of taxpayer’s money the government has thrown at the abhorrent floating cage. A migrant solidarity group had estimated the cost of the barge at £560k for just four weeks. However, information obtained by investigative group Corporate Watch revealed the Bibby Stockholm’s bill to be much higher in total. It found that the weekly cost amounted to nearly £300k. This means that the government squandered £2.2m to private contractors while the barge remained vacant due to legionella.
Campaigners have also underscored the appalling conditions and treatment on board. For instance, refugees on the barge have described the poor food quality and restricted access to it. Notably, for nearly half the day, they are entirely unable to access food from the on-site canteen.
The traumatic experience of living on the isolated Bibby Stockholm has led to suicide attempts, with one Albanian man, Leonard Farruku, dying by apparent suicide in December 2023.
Legal action has been a feature of the barge’s controversial history from the word go too. First, in August 2023 the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) launched a challenge against the Home Office over fire safety concerns.
Then, local councillor and Portland Mayor Carralyn Parkes embarked on a legal battle over the Bibby Stockholm. In October 2023, the courts quashed her initial judicial review against the Home Office. However, Parkes pursued her legal action, this time against Dorset Council. In May 2024, the courts once again dismissed the case. In both instances, the High Court had ruled that neither the Home Office or Dorset Council had planning authority over the barge.
Bibby “hell barge”
Many on the barge have waited long delays in the Home Office processing their asylum claims. Some on board haven’t received a decision after three years. In fact, an iNews report from December 2023 revealed that the Home Office won’t even approve claims while asylum-seekers are housed on the Bibby Stockholm.
So now, asylum-seekers have launched a first-of-its-kind protest. Carrying placards that read “life not limbo” and others calling for “freedom” from the Bibby Stockholm, they sat together in the outside courtyard:
asylum seekers on the prison “hell barge” Bibby Stockholm are protesting their conditions: overcrowding, infections, lack of access to medical treatment and being held there for months, with no time limit.
Meanwhile, local residents and campaigners from Stand Up to Racism Dorset stood in solidarity with them at the port:
Locals standing with refugees housed on Bibby Stockholm barge demanding that the new government process their asylum claims and close the prison barge pic.twitter.com/jXB404mia3
I’m at Portland Port where locals are holding a peaceful protest in solidarity with the men on the Bibby Stockholm barge.
A number of the men are holding a sit-in protest outside the barge, calling on the Government to speed up the asylum process#BibbyStockholmpic.twitter.com/jTodv9Mz1c
As refugee and asylum specialist Lou Calvey noted, the right-wing vanity project was always a deliberate decision by a the rancidly racist Tory government. Instead, Labour could now choose to house asylum-seekers in communities, where local people and services can support and welcome them:
Asylum seekers on Bibby Stockholm barge stage sit-down protest. A man held on board describes it as a ‘Hell barge’.
The barge is more expensive than community based accommodation, it’s a choice to punish people that the new gov urgently need to close. https://t.co/mjRAVaamJ2
Labour prioritises right-wing pandering and publicity stunts over people
Indeed, the 18-month contract for the barge is set to expire soon. So, it would present the perfect opportunity for Labour to ditch it.
Despicably however, in the in the final weeks of the election campaign, then shadow and now Home secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour would initially keep the barge. Cooper told LBC that the party would seek to end its use “as fast as possible”, but argued that:
what you have to do first of all, the system is broken, so we need to prevent small boats arriving in the first place and that means smashing the criminal gangs.
Already, Cooper has launched Labour’s game of migrant scapegoating from the outset. First on the agenda, Labour waving its dick around with its rightwing pander-project-come-border security plans. As the World Socialist Web Sitereported:
Within 48 hours of Labour coming to power, British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the creation of a Gestapo-like Border Security Command (BSC).
However, the Canaryhas pointed out before how these plans will do little to actually end dangerous boat crossings. To prevent people making the perilous crossing, Labour needs to expand safe routes to asylum.
Ostensibly, its “stop the boats” chest-beating is not – and never was – about saving lives. If it were, the new Labour government would put a stop to the enormous abhorrent racist prison boat in its own backyard once and for all.
This Thursday – 18 July – will mark one year since the barge arrived in Portland. Labour should end Dorset’s – and the country’s – ship of “shame” for good.
Amnesty Ireland said it was “appalled” at the decision by Helen McEntee to add Egypt, an act it called “deeply reckless”.
On 2 July 2024 Cate McCurry in breakingnews.ie reported that human rights groups have criticised the decision to add countries such as Egypt and Malawi to Ireland’s list of “safe” countries for asylum applications as concerning and “reckless”. The Irish Government made five additions to its list of safe countries on Tuesday: Brazil, Egypt, India, Malawi and Morocco.
Countries added to this list are viewed by the Government as places where “there is generally and consistently no persecution”, no torture, and no armed conflicts. The proposal by Minister for Justice Helen McEntee was approved at Cabinet on Tuesday, meaning protection applications from these countries are to be accelerated from Wednesday following an “extensive review” by the department.
Amnesty Ireland said it was “appalled” at the decision by Ms McEntee to add Egypt, an act it called “deeply reckless”.
“This categorisation is particularly shocking, given the protracted human rights and impunity crisis in Egypt, where thousands are arbitrarily detained, and where Amnesty International has consistently documented the use of torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearances.”
“No country is safe for everyone. But, putting Egypt with its abysmal human rights record on such a list is deeply reckless. Under Irish and EU law, the Minister for Justice may do so only if there is generally no persecution, torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment in that state. That absolutely cannot be said of Egypt.” As an illustration only, see https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/egypt/
Egypt Researcher at Amnesty International, Mahmoud Shalaby, said that since 2013 the Egyptian authorities have been “severely repressing” the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
“Dissidents in the country remain at risk of persecution solely for expressing critical views,” he said. “Thousands of arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their human rights or after grossly unfair trials or without legal basis.”
Chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, Nick Henderson, said they were very concerned at the designation of Morocco, Malawi and Egypt as “safe”.
“Frankly, when you look at some of the human rights information from countries such as Egypt, I’m quite staggered and flabbergasted how they could be designated as safe,” he told RTE’s News at One.
The introduction of accelerated processing in November 2022 has had a significant impact on the number of applications from those countries, which have dropped by more than 50 per cent in that time.
Undercover reporters from Channel 4 News have exposed in Clacton the cesspit of bigotry festering inside the Reform Party ahead of the general election. Of course, practically no one was surprised by this.
However, the open bigotry itself from Nigel Farage flunkeys should not be the key take-away. In reality, it speaks to the hate-filled political environment that the two mainstream parties and the corporate media have fomented.
In short, Reform’s racist, homophobic canvassers are the thin end of the violent political landscape that makes up bigoted Britain.
Reform: Clacton canvassers caught out spouting hate
Channel 4 News have sent an undercover reporter on the campaign trail in Clacton, where Farage is standing for election.
In covertly captured footage, it caught out Reform canvassers spouting racist slurs and anti-LGBTQ+ hate. On top of this, the news outlet exposed them advocating disgusting violence against migrants:
BREAKING: Nigel Farage’s Clacton campaign has been exposed to have evidence of racism and homophobia
One canvasser about Rishi Sunak: “That f**king p*** we got in – what good is he?”
People on X were shook and expressed their horror at the entirely unpredictable behaviour of Farage’s cult *ahem* canvassers:
Racists, bigots & homophobes representing Reform? Really? Who would have guessed? #Farage this is on you. As it is on anyone who votes for them #ReformRacistshttps://t.co/NlkLKcmR4y
Someone fetch me my clutching pearls! Bring the collapsing settee and the good smelling salts (not the cheap ones for every day shocks, if you don’t mind).
— The Bear – #GE24 Satirical Fact Checking (@i_iratus) June 27, 2024
Because, knock me over with a feather, Reform riddled with rabid racists? You don’t say! Needless to say, the ‘news’ was entirely unsurprising to everyone. As one person on X expressed, racists in a racist country is pretty par for the course:
Exposed to who? The reason anybody is voting for them is because they already think and talk like this. If nothing, this will recruit more people.
I don’t know why y’all get surprised when a country that is so openly racist does the openly racist thing. https://t.co/XTOfsEs5PH
Bad apples from the Reform tree rotten to its core
As a case in point – the replies were cesspool of revolting bigotry:
Some of the responses to this post are very scary. The deep rooted racism and hatred within these people we live beside. The hate they have for Muslims doesn’t even surprise me. What does surprise me is how they openly and happily agree with views to shoot refugees https://t.co/Ns1ugNBt1s
So what came of Channel 4’s findings in Clacton? Predictably, Reform kicked its public relations face-saving machine into action. Campaign manager for Farage Peter Harris told the outlet that:
Any individuals who have been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton.
And Farage said that:
I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.
In other words, Reform is distancing itself from the bigots the media caught out. Here we go again, a few bad apples is it? One poster on X rubbished this deception:
If Farage ejected everyone with these sorts of views he would have to shut his entire Reform corporation down and pay back all of its profits (membership fees). This worldview is its very core. https://t.co/5n1Jv0BrHI
People also compared this to the reaction of a brown woman using an established critique from Black intellectual thought of how white supremacism manifests through elite Black and brown politicians:
— Fahad Ansari (Stop the Gaza genocide) (@fahadansari) June 27, 2024
Notably, the term coconut satirically criticises the idea that having diverse representation – in this case, in parliament – actually makes a difference for marginalised communities. As the Canary’s Maryam Jameela has articulated before, this is simply not the case, because:
Getting Black and brown faces into positions of power means very little if those same people don’t use their power to make life better for the most vulnerable people in society.
Crucially, she highlighted that their class identity, in other words, the fact they come from rich and privately educated backgrounds, means they don’t typically represent the most vulnerable in society. Instead, they act in the interests of power. That is, they uphold the white power structures in place – and their regressive, scapegoating policies reflect this.
This is what the term ‘coconut’ is all about, because as the Canaryexplained:
calling someone a “coconut” is a casual way to suggest that someone who is brown on the outside, is white on the inside. In other words, whilst being brown they are committed to whiteness above all else.
It’s hardly a new term, and documents a social reality that doesn’t often make it into the mainstream.
It’s a complex articulation of racial dynamics and hierarchies.
In short, it wasn’t a racial slur from Marieha, but actually a valid expression of her view that Sunak and Braverman do not speak for her or her community. Ridiculously then, she’s now in court for an entirely unwarranted public order offence.
On Wednesday 26 June, police also arrested protesters who turned out in support of Marieha – many sporting placards that detailed the satirical nature of the term.
Meanwhile, on shit-hole Island, Reform canvassers utter actual racial slurs on the campaign trail and will face no consequences for this.
Of course, as the Canaryhas consistently pointed out over recent Palestine protests, the cops are servile instruments of the state. Naturally then, they act to protect this power structure – invariably, this means the elite, patriarchal, white supremacist and heteronormative status quo. Unsurprisingly, racism, homophobia, and sexism is therefore deeply embedded in the police too.
Bigotry in ‘bad words’ only
All this is the inevitable end result of an establishment commentariat wedded to the corporate capitalist system. These canvassers are the supporters of a man the BBC and other outlets keep plastering onto our screens:
We need to talk about how #bbcqt is the reason this repugnant creature is now a serious influence on British politics. Entirely to our detriment. https://t.co/V2NGOd8Qge
Far from de-platforming the political symbol of this vile hate, the mainstream media has consistently normalised him.
However, one poster on X articulated how the Clacton Channel 4 News investigation demonstrates another part of this. Specifically, the broadcaster’s piece is illustrative of a broader problem in the mainstream media. That is, how the press only recognises bigotry in its most blatant forms:
I honestly see this as more evidence that our media is more shocked by bad words than bad sentiments. Reform UK, Farage et al have been expressing most of these sentiments on the TV and in the newspapers for years, but the media only sees it as racist when they use ‘bad words’. https://t.co/v2HKlRBxGl
And the poster was right. Bigotry isn’t simply the hate-filled words that people utter towards marginalised communities. This is just the visible and thin end of the wedge. Of course, it needs calling out, but so too do the systems that continue to oppress our communities.
Because the reality is, those words are simply the slurs the architects of discriminatory policies are usually too guarded, too politically savvy to say out loud.
Gormless Reform gammons regularly buck this trend, but be under no illusions. The bigot in a nice suit, with slick political gymnastics to justify punching down, is still a bigot. They’re just better at making their violence publicly palatable, and securing the billionaire backers and press to make it happen. In other words, the mainstream political class is actively complicit in this:
There is nothing shocking about any of this.
Why do we pretend these views aren’t totally commonplace?
What’s shocking is denial/tacit encouragement by a complicit political class, fostering these sentiments and appealing directly to them, rather than fighting back against. https://t.co/dJEsdHa2Ts
Reform might be openly, brazenly fascist, but the creeping fascism of the Tory and Labour right is if anything, more insidious. If you’re wondering why Starmer is comfortable sitting in parliament with Farage, this is the reason.
In other words, Farage and Reform’s existence is almost convenient. Its transparent bigotry lays cover for the Tories and Labour, as they push legislation couched in the same violent hate. And the same corporate media that downplays Reform and Farage’s hate-mongering, also does this with the Tories and Labour to devastating effect too:
Another reminder that Reform is *not* far right apparently according to sensible pundits who choose to take Farage at his word rather than the far right discourse and politics of his parties
It’s the Overton window in its finest, most dangerous hour. At the end of this day, a poster on X summed up this political pantomime in one fell swoop:
A few days before the world marked Refugee Week (17 – 23 June), I was at the Good Food Show in Birmingham with a gal pal.
Tasting samples and browsing a range of home-made products, I saw out of the corner of my eye a woman in a headscarf at a cheese stand. And then it clicked…
The Syrian couple in Yorkshire!
Yep, I’d heard about a Syrian couple who’d sought refuge in the UK and set up a cheese business in the UK but not learnt much about it.
And here they were!
Dama Cheese – founded by Razan Alsous and Raghid Sandouk – is not just a cheese business. It’s an award winning one – with a very inspirational story behind it. A story like many others.
Last week was Refugee Week – a time when the world celebrated the achievements of refugees worldwide, and strived to raise critical awareness of the struggles they face – against the wave of misinformation used to demonise refugees (more information at the end of this blog).
So, with that in mind, here are six inspiring stories of six families/people who made the UK their home – making a big mark for the better.
Take a look!
1. Imad Alarnab: Founder of Imad’s Kitchen
Image: Imad’s Kitchen (2024)
Back when I was living in London, I visited Imad’s Kitchen with a good friend of mine. And it didn’t disappoint!
Delicious food and a delightful welcome, I knew the story behind the restaurant before we booked and so, I of course wanted to make sure I made it to this fresh new foodspot in the city.
Founder of Imad’s Kitchen, Imad Alarnab has an inspirational backstory.
Back in Syria, Imad ran three successful restaurants and several juice bars and cafés in Damascus.
However, during the war, he lost his businesses after they were destroyed in the bombings, leaving Imad with no choice but to flee in search of safety.
Leaving Syria, moving from Lebanon to Europe, Imad would share his skills and passion for food, cooking for up to 400 refugees at a time.
Imad put his passion for food aside as he starting working as a car washer and car salesman. But… this was all about to change…
With the support of his friends, he began to make his mark on the London food scene, running a series of charity events. His supper clubs were incredibly popular, selling out within hours.
Then, in 2020, “Imad’s Kitchen” was born – opening in Kingly Court, Soho. Still going strong, you can now even purchase his recipe book.
Eating at Imad’s Kitchen (2022)
What’s more, with his success, Imad hasn’t forgotten his own journey.
Raising over £200,000 for the refugee organisation Choose Love, he’s pledged to donate a pound from every bill at his restaurant to the organisation, which supports refugees and displaced people across Europe.
So, if you’re in the area, why not book a table? You won’t be disappointed!
2. Waheed Arian: Doctor and Founder of Arian Teleheal
I wish all those celebrating a very happy Eid al-Adha. And, Happy Father's Day, too. (late message from a busy ED shift) pic.twitter.com/emNOyjwyn2
A British doctor and radiologist working for the NHS and World Health Organisation (WHO), Arian arrived in the UK – alone – at the age of 15 from Afghanistan. His parents were eager for him to pursue an education.
Speaking little English, Dr Arian worked at shops and universities whilst supporting his family and studying at several colleges in the evening.
Gaining the grades in his A levels to study medicine at Cambridge University, he was to overcome social isolation at one of the world’s most renowned universities.
Gaining qualifications from Cambridge, Harvard and Imperial, he started practising in hospitals in London, before moving to Aintree Hospital in Liverpool. At the same time, Dr Adrian returned to Afghanistan to support medics caring for patients injured during the ongoing conflict.
Realising that many UK-based medics also wanted to help, but could not travel safely to the area, Dr Waheed then set up Arian Teleheal– a UK-based charity which enables local doctors in warzones and low resource countries to consult with expert clinicians worldwide, using everyday technology (such as smartphones, instant messaging and video chat).
Thanks to Dr Arian, volunteer doctors have saved the lives of men, women and children in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Uganda, South Africa and India.
Seeing the effects of Covid-19 on people’s mental health, Dr Arian most recently setup up “Arian Wellbeing”, bringing together psychologists, licensed therapists, personal trainers and nutritionists to offer holistic care – inspired by his own journey of overcoming PTSD.
His motto remains: “Inspire, and we can help millions“. Well, you certainly do inspire Dr Arian!
If you’d like to support the work of Dr Arian, there are plenty of ways to help!
If you’re a medic, you could volunteer your services. If not, why not sponsor an event or donate towards the charity?
In 2012, Anab, Abdul and his brother Zaki founded Sahan Cares, enabling them “to train these highly capable women in social care and provide them with work opportunities.”
Abdul then joined the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme Scale Up in October 2018 and has since grown the business to go on to great success.
With an annual revenue of £1.8 million, the organisation works across three London boroughs, with every employee a former refugee.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised Abdul for his efforts in driving up vaccine uptake in the BAME community – reaching a 100% vaccination rate within his organisation.
“Having gone through my very own experience as a member of a disadvantaged group, I’m committed to empowering people with similar background and providing support to those in need.
“This award is a morale booster for our plans to extend services to people in need of mental health support.”
With the organisation going strong, Abdul is a frequent speaker, current postdoc student and trustee of UK-based NGO Action Aid.
Arriving in the UK aged just 12 from Afghanistan, Gulwali has become a best-selling author, award-winning activist and campaigner, co-founder of My Brite Kite and member of Speakers Collective.
Graduating with a degree in Politics from the University of Manchester and most recently his MPA from Coventry University, Gulwali has used his voice and experiences to advocate for the rights of refugeesand asylum seekers.
"They've been scapegoated, dehumanised and criminalised for coming here seeking protection."
A member of the audience, who came to the UK from Afghanistan aged 12, asks the panel about the UK's asylum system. #C4Debatepic.twitter.com/q3KYwy5x5v
It sheds light on the journey he took as child and his experiences as a child refuge. It has featured on various outlets, including BBC, CNN, Channel 4 News, ITV, The Guardian, Time Magazine and The Independent.
A longstanding activist, Gulwali’s roles include Global Youth Ambassador for global children’s charity Theirworld, Olympics Torch-bearer, and within the NHS Youth Forum.
Winning the Manchester Leadership Gold Award, in 2016, Gulwali was later nominated for the 2016 Nansen Refugee Award by the UNHCR.
5. Razan Alsous and Raghid Sandouk: Founders of Dama Cheese
Image: Dama Cheese
As mentioned, a few weeks ago, I visited the Good Food Show in Birmingham with a friend. And I was delighted to see Dama Cheese!
I’d heard about the couple behind the company but didn’t know much about their story. And so I did some research…
Married coup;e Razan Alsous and Raghid Sandouk arrived in the UK from Syria in 2012 with their three children.
Razan’s background is in microbiology, having graduated from the Medical Institute in Syria. Her husband Raghid is an electronic engineer who ran his own business supplying the pharmaceutical and food industries in Syria with Quality Control labs.
Then war broke out… The family of five later arrived in the UK and faced the challenges of settling into a new life in Yorkshire, including looking for work:
“…despite having a pharmacy degree and a scientific background my lack of references and work history in the UK made it extremely difficult.
“… I have three children and wanted so badly to build a bright future for them. So, I started to think what was around me – the expertise I could tap into, the sources of support and other opportunities available to me.”
Razan Alsous
Given the family’s scientific background, and that their new home of Yorkshire was plentiful with local high-quality milk, an idea came to mind:
“… Syrian cheese (a squeaky semi-hard cheese) that I know and ate every day for breakfast in Syria is very trendy in the UK and British people love eating it!
“As I couldn’t find a great tasting quality squeaky cheese anywhere in the supermarkets or local independent farm shops, I then had a brainwave: why not create a business and make myself Syrian cheese from fresh high-quality British milk!
“And so started our journey – with an idea and a start-up loan of just £2,500 from the Local Enterprise Agency. We had to adapt the equipment we bought and then finally got the approval to start manufacturing cheese in June 2014.”
Just four months after production started, Dama Cheese won the World Cheese Award Bronze prize (2014/15). And, the business has gone from strength to strength!
The couple have since won the World Cheese Award – Gold, along with a host of awards, nominations and taking part in various TV appearances. They’re even stocked in Aldi!
Congratulations guys!
Find out more about Dama Cheese – check out their shopand recipeson their website.
6. Malala Yousafzai: Activist and Campaigner
"I know that if we match girls' determination, fund their work and follow their lead, we will see so much progress in the next ten years."
I’m sure we’ve all heard of Malala. But… did you know she settled in Birmingham (central England) – an hour from my family home?
The youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (aged 17 at the time!), Malala Yousafzai is a world-famous activist and campaigner for the rights of women and girls – in particular the right to education.
Born in Pakistan, she spoke out publicly about the right for girls to learn, to go to school and to get an education.
She began blogging for the BBC on the issue and Malala won Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize in 2011. She was then nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize.
Malala sadly became a target for the Taliban and on October 9 2023, was shot on the left side of her head.
She woke up in a hospital in Birmingham (UK) ten days later, where she later underwent surgery and was discharged in January 2013.
Settling in Birmingham, Malala began attending school once again and carry on with her life in safety.
In 2013, she co-founded Malala Fund, which funds and advocates for girls’ education globally.
Her memoir “I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb, was also published in the same year.
Later graduating from the University of Oxford, she became the youngest ever Honorary Fellow at Lincare College, Oxford in 2023. To date, she is the second Pakistani and only Pashtun to receive a noble prize.
Inspiring change across the globe, she continues to fight for the rights of girls worldwide to a pursue an education and independent future: “I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls”.
Thank you Malala for all your incredible work!
Take action:
If you’ve been inspired by the stories of resilience, commitment and success in this blog, then please do take action as we move past the hub and buzz of Refugee Week.
Here’s how you can help build change.
1.Support employment opportunities and social entrepreneurship for refugees
Offer CV workshops, volunteering opportunities and training opportunities in your community and/or workplace to refugees in your local area.
Refugee Action (who actively look to employ people with lived experience of displacement)
Don’t forget to also look into local support organisations and community centres offering 1-2-1 casework support for refugees and asylum seekers in your area.
You can help by donating towards their work, promoting them within your networks, volunteering you time and skills and/or sponsoring their work.
It’s also worth taking a look at organisations supporting refugees and displaced people internationally.
Safe Passage have long been campaigning to reunite child refugees with their families – including here in the UK. To date, they’ve helped over 2,500 child refugees reach safety.
Find out more about their work and how you can help here
5. Share this blog!
Spread the word: refugees are welcome here!
Don’t forget, there’s a person behind each statistic – and a context!
Don’t let the media fool you and others. Push against the xenophobic and anti-refugee rhetoric – with facts, real lived experiences and positivity!
And lastly: a massive thank you to all of the featured individuals in this blog for your resilience, commitment and positivity.
A group of nearly 70 Democrats is calling on the Biden administration to move to accept Palestinians fleeing Israel’s genocide in Gaza as refugees if they have family living in the U.S., an action praised by advocates who say that it is a small but crucial step toward saving Palestinian lives. In a letter sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas…
The new film Green Border, from acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Holland, dramatizes the humanitarian crisis facing millions of migrants seeking refuge in Europe. It tells the true story of how refugees from the Middle East and Africa became trapped in 2021 at the so-called green border between Poland and Belarus, through the perspectives of refugees, border guards and refugee rights activists. “Fear and the hate are so easy to be spread when our borders or our comfort is attacked by the challenge of newcomers,” warns Holland, who connects the crisis depicted in the film to Europe’s growing anti-migration political atmosphere. “Frankly, it is an incredible mess right now. And it’s going in a very dangerous direction,” she says. Green Border opens today in New York and nationwide next Friday.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
More than 3 million people in Myanmar have been uprooted from their homes, most of them due to intensifying conflict in the country’s three-year civil war, according to the United Nations.
They are among the 120 million people globally who have been forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution on this World Refugee Day, marked annually on June 20 – refugees who have crossed borders and internally displaced people who have fled homes but remain within their country’s borders.
RFA Burmese asked several displaced people to share their stories.
Khin Yadana Soe and three families from the Bago region in the south fled to the Thai border town of Mae Sot three months ago when the junta forces entered their village.
“The fighter jets dropped bombs on the nearby villages, suspecting they were sheltering rebel militia members, and they hit the houses,” she said. “As we lived in a large compound, we feel depressed living here in this narrow space. We are used to living on farms. We also have no jobs here. Only one family member has been able to secure a job but this family has five family members – my mother, my daughter, my husband, my sister and me.”
Rohingya refugees look through the debris of their houses charred by a fire at the Ukhia camp in Cox’s Bazar on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Khin Maung said he feels sad whenever World Refugee Day comes around. He is one of 750,000 Rohingya who fled violent crackdowns in Rakhine state in 2017 and now lives in a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
“We always feel sad on this significant day. We have no future, with no access to education or a job. The United Nations also needs to consider this matter,” he said. “I wish Bangladesh would help us go back to our own country.”
Aung Myint, who lives in a camp in the western state of Rakhine, said his family had fled their home six years ago.
“We want to go back to our hometowns, but we don’t even have the money it would take to return home,” he said. “We also no longer have our own houses in our hometown. Additionally, we are dependent on the land for our livelihood, and there is no way to access our land. So it will be difficult for us to go back home. If we stay here, though, we have no access to food and drinking water.”
A newly arrived Rohingya refugee draws water with a bucket at the former Red Cross Indonesia office building in Meulaboh, West Aceh, on March 22, 2024. (Zahlul Akbar/AFP)
A woman in Kachin state, in the north, who had been displaced since 2011 said she “was really hoping to return home, but it seems that the likelihood is even worse. Fighting is taking place everywhere,” she said. “As more people have fled the war, we understand now that we have no realistic hope to return home.”
Min Min, who has been living in Thailand’s Noh Poe refugee camp for 17 years, said he desperately wants to go to a third country.
“We are living in a very tight camp on World Refugee Day. We have been living here for 17 years, but the situation has not improved at all,” he said. “The project has not worked. We are living at the camp as it is not possible to go back home. So I want to go to a third country.”
A woman from the northern Sagaing region, where some of the worst righting has happened, said that his family is living in the forest.
“When I came here to escape the fighting, my children couldn’t go to school here because they previously attended junta schools. All the displaced people have suffered a lot. We have to work odd jobs on farms. We are facing difficulties getting food.”
A man who fled from Kayah state in eastern Myanmar, said he just wants to go home.
“We had to leave our house, and we could not carry anything. Our property and belongings were stolen. We fled with just the clothes we were wearing, and it was a struggle just to eat. We want to go back home, and hope for an end to ongoing tragedies immediately.”
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.
Chinese nationals are seeking political asylum in ever larger numbers, but face transnational repression from China and lack of understanding from foreign authorities as they flee persecution, refugees and those who help them told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.
A Chinese activist who supported an online free speech campaign that saw its leader arrested in Laos and is “terrified” of being sent back to China is now facing deportation from Denmark after her asylum application was rejected by authorities there.
Liu Dongling fled China in 2018 when her son was refused an education by authorities after she helped victims of forced evictions to apply for compensation through legal channels, she told RFA Mandarin in an interview recorded two days before World Refugee Day, June 20.
She said the authorities claimed they couldn’t be sure from the evidence she submitted that she was at risk if she went back to China.
But Liu says she knows otherwise, citing repeated phone calls from a state prosecutor from her home city of Zhengzhou.
“I gradually realized that this Gaoxin District People’s Procuratorate official called Li Hongbin had been put in charge of my case, relating to when I was helping others with their [forced eviction complaint] cases,” Liu said. “I realized that the fact that he kept calling me put me in danger.”
Who is a refugee?
The United Nations defines a refugee as someone who legitimately fears persecution due to their race, religion, nationality, belonging to a social group or having a certain political opinion, and is unwilling to return to the country for those reasons.
Protesters gather outside a Chinese “police service station” in New York’s Chinatown district on Feb. 25, 2023, to demand an end to spying on the Chinese community in New York. (Image from RFA video)
China also actively works to force its overseas dissidents to return home, sparking international concern over the Chinese Communist Party’s “long-arm” law enforcement operations, which have included running secret police “service stations” in dozens of countries, according to the Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders.
Liu, who started writing for the overseas Chinese-language website Boxun after leaving China, also cites the forced repatriation of rights activists Dong Guangping and Jiang Yefei by authorities in Thailand around the time she left China.
“I was told by a colleague at Boxun … that a lot of Boxun journalists had been detained in China, and that some had even been detained in Thailand,” Liu said. “So I got more and more terrified.”
Captured in Laos
Liu had also been a vocal supporter via X of an anti-censorship movement started by Lao-based activist Qiao Xinxin, who was later detained and forcibly repatriated.
Qiao, whose birth name is Yang Zewei, went missing, believed detained on or around May 31, 2023 in Vientiane, after launching an online campaign to end internet censorship in China, known as the BanGFW Movement, a reference to the Great Firewall, according to fellow activists.
His family were later informed that he is being held in a juvenile detention center in Hunan’s Hengyang city in another example of China’s cross-border law enforcement activities.
Qiao Xinxin. who launched a campaign to end internet censorship in China, known as the BanGFW Movement, is seen April 20, 2023. (Ban_GFW via X)
Qiao had lived in Laos for several years before launching the BanGFW Movement, yet was believed to have been detained by Chinese police in Vientiane.
Radio Free Asia contacted the Danish Refugee Council by email about Liu’s case, but had received no reply by June 19. Danish Repatriation Council official Tina Fjorside confirmed on Tuesday that Liu had now entered a process that will result in her forced repatriation.
Immigration jails are ‘hell on earth’
Thailand-based political dissident Li Nanfei told RFA Mandarin that he’s now basically stuck in the country, playing an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse with Thai immigration authorities, and trying to stay out of their detention centers.
“Immigration detention centers are like hell on earth,” Li said. “Human rights violations are very common, inmates are packed in very densely, and there is frequent violence.”
Li spent his savings on bailing himself out of his last spell in detention, where he ran into plenty of other refugees on the run from China.
“The immigration prisons would hold onto them for a long time,” he said. “Some people were held there for more than 10 years. Some even died in there.”
Figures released by the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR in June 2022 showed that while around 12,000 Chinese nationals sought asylum overseas in 2012, the year that Xi took office as Communist Party general secretary, that number had risen to nearly 120,000 by 2021.
Chinese rights activist Xiang Li speaks in an interview following her July 27, 2018 arrival in the United States. (RFA)
The U.S. remains the most popular destination, accepting 88,722 applicants from mainland China last year. Australia took 15,774 asylum-seekers in the same year, figures showed.
New York-based current affairs commentator Ma Ju, who runs a refugee relief station offering two weeks of free food and accommodation to Chinese asylum-seekers in the city, said the refugees just keep on coming, despite the hazards of overland travel to the border with Mexico, known in Chinese as “walking the line.”
“A very high proportion, about 80%, are here because of political, religious or ethnic [persecution],” Ma said. “A lot of ethnic minorities like Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui Muslims, Mongolians and Tibetans are there because of their religion or ethnic identity.”
The vast majority can’t live a life of any dignity back home in China, Ma said.
“They were in pain and misery every day — there’s nothing there for them, no dignity,” he said, adding that only a small minority of refugees are basically there for what he termed “economic reasons.”
In San Francisco, artist and rights activist Xiang Li has formed a group to help refugee women through art. Most of them are Chinese women.
“Some have psychological trauma and need treatment,” Xiang said. “We haven’t gotten to the point of offering counseling yet, but there is a kind of mutual support we can offer, which is sometimes even more effective.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Wang Yun for RFA Mandarin.
Back in November 2018, a federal judge blocked President Trump’s asylum ban, saying at the time that it was an overreach of executive authority and that the president is “not a monarch.” A few months later, Joe Biden tweeted that Trump was “fighting tooth & nail to deny those fleeing dangerous situations their right to seek asylum in our nation” and that “we should uphold our moral responsibility &
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