THE FLAG OF PRIDE AND TERROR
The rush hour had passed and the roads were now being cleansed with torrential rain. The journalists with luck on their side were safely inside, whilst the less fortunate arrived completely soaked. None of this lessened the desire to hear the stories of two Ethiopians seeking asylum in the UK after publishing objective accounts of cultural life back in their home countries. Unlike the leadership of Mugabe in Zimbabwe, we hear little of Ethiopia, which the British and American governments tend to portray as a place for rights and democracy. However this portrait is much idealised. Back in 2005 the Ethiopian electorate voted overwhelmingly for a new government, but since the military are closely associated with political parties this vote for change was simply ignored. It’s hard for Ethiopians to protest peacefully about this situation since it’s practically impossible to establish an impartial and independent press. Newspaper funding is needed from somewhere and this often comes through advertising. If the paper publishes an article that is critical of the government, then those advertising would be accused of dissent by association. Opposition against the government’s sovereign ideologies is now an imprisonable offence since the introduction of various civil society and anti-terrorism laws. Prominent international journalists might be spared intimidation for fear of international criticism, but lesser personalities will have their voices beaten into submission, and their businesses and homes vandalised. The government makes astonishing claims that most private media companies are funded by foreign bodies with terrorist associations, and without the support of the judicial system to provide security and support journalists speaking out publicly are right to worry.
The speakers voiced their desire for there to be less political struggle for power within government and more focus on improving issues that would truly benefit society. They asked that young people follow their own consciences, to be the change that they wanted to see.
There are many reasons for which Ethiopians are proud of their country. Ethiopia was never colonised and is known as a very significant place of early civilisation. It has amazing spiritual heritage where Haile Selassie was revered among the Rastasfari movement as well as abroad for his diplomacy. All over the world we also enjoy the taste of Ethiopian coffee.
Change is possible, but more than likely it will be a generational one. Young adults now have limited access to global discussion through internet forums. Gradually Revolutionary Democracy and the memories of the Ethiopian Red Terror will fade.
In the mean time asylum seekers battle with a new front of social change, adapting to ways of life in the UK. The weather is unstable. No kidding, the unexpected summer rain outside is still so loud we can hardly hear ourselves talk. Gender roles are very different in Britain, as is the English language that the problem of regional accents only exacerbates. Many professional qualifications are not recognised between countries, and so many cleaners or security guards might have been your doctor, nurse or courtroom judge in different circumstances.
Support and celebration of Ethiopian life continues here through Leeds Refugee Forum, LASSN and Lucy Amharic Radio. Tune in and find out!
Monday, 26 July 2010
Friday, 9 July 2010
"Why do you choose to be homosexual when its illegal in your country?"
It doesn’t take much for the media to reveal its true colours and this week they have exemplified this in the incredibly bigoted and misinformed reaction to the fantastic decision to grant asylum to two homosexual men who face persecution in their own countries for their sexuality. The headlines are hardly surprising, its not that often that the tabloids get to combine their homophobia and racism in a single article. The Daily Star running with ‘No Room For Gays’ is almost unbelievable, The Sun also runs with ‘Gay Illegals Can Stay’ but even the BBC News 24 reporter’s instant reaction was essentially; ‘Well, surely now they will all just say they are gay so they can stay’.
Not only did this case point the the bigotry of the media (which it of course doesnt take a genius to uncover), it also highlights a couple of other points, the pathetic methods of the UK Border Agency (which a previous article has already outlined the potential affects of) and also the media’s contradictions.
Firstly, in the Refugee Action email out after the ruling, they highlighted how the UKBA staff who assess cases such as this were focusing not on the persecution but on the sexuality, for example the following question was asked:
“Why do you choose to be a homosexual when it is illegal in your country?”
Its difficult to know where to start in trying to dissect the faults in this question. It presupposes that one chooses their sexuality, suggests that if you are homosexual you should not do it if its illegal and thereby legitimises the concept of criminalising a sexuality (but in another country). Their previous ruling that people should go back to their home countries and ‘be discreet’ about their sexuality continues to display an utter lack of understanding. Would they send a member of the Zimbabwean opposition party the MDC back and tell them to be discreet about their politics?
Lastly I want to point out the striking contradiction of the tabloid press which has occured simultaneously to their disgust at the granting of asylum to the to men concerned here in the campaign to prevent the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani (I have provided The Sun link here). Its very positive that people are questioning the state repression of the Islamic Republic and have decided to campaign against the stoning of a woman accused of adultery. However the contradiction lies in the fact that one of the homosexual men which apparently there is not room for is also Iranian. So, they will campaign to stop the persecution of a woman awaiting a terrible fate in Iran, but they will condemn the ruling which keeps a man from returning to a different kind of persecution in the same country. Is it that he is homosexual, or that he is an asylum seeker that they don’t support him? Or is it another way to maniuplate anti-Islamic sentiment and an easy way to score points over the barbarism of the Muslim regime?
In order to understand the contradiction of the press, try this. Think about what would happen if the stories were reversed; if the court had ruled that a woman who committed adultery would not be returned to Iran because of the persecution she would face and a homosexual man was going to be stoned to death in the same country. What would be the reaction then? ‘No room for adulterers?’ I think not.
Not only did this case point the the bigotry of the media (which it of course doesnt take a genius to uncover), it also highlights a couple of other points, the pathetic methods of the UK Border Agency (which a previous article has already outlined the potential affects of) and also the media’s contradictions.
Firstly, in the Refugee Action email out after the ruling, they highlighted how the UKBA staff who assess cases such as this were focusing not on the persecution but on the sexuality, for example the following question was asked:
“Why do you choose to be a homosexual when it is illegal in your country?”
Its difficult to know where to start in trying to dissect the faults in this question. It presupposes that one chooses their sexuality, suggests that if you are homosexual you should not do it if its illegal and thereby legitimises the concept of criminalising a sexuality (but in another country). Their previous ruling that people should go back to their home countries and ‘be discreet’ about their sexuality continues to display an utter lack of understanding. Would they send a member of the Zimbabwean opposition party the MDC back and tell them to be discreet about their politics?
Lastly I want to point out the striking contradiction of the tabloid press which has occured simultaneously to their disgust at the granting of asylum to the to men concerned here in the campaign to prevent the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani (I have provided The Sun link here). Its very positive that people are questioning the state repression of the Islamic Republic and have decided to campaign against the stoning of a woman accused of adultery. However the contradiction lies in the fact that one of the homosexual men which apparently there is not room for is also Iranian. So, they will campaign to stop the persecution of a woman awaiting a terrible fate in Iran, but they will condemn the ruling which keeps a man from returning to a different kind of persecution in the same country. Is it that he is homosexual, or that he is an asylum seeker that they don’t support him? Or is it another way to maniuplate anti-Islamic sentiment and an easy way to score points over the barbarism of the Muslim regime?
In order to understand the contradiction of the press, try this. Think about what would happen if the stories were reversed; if the court had ruled that a woman who committed adultery would not be returned to Iran because of the persecution she would face and a homosexual man was going to be stoned to death in the same country. What would be the reaction then? ‘No room for adulterers?’ I think not.
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Red Hand Campaign
Amnesty International Leeds Group rounded off Refugee Week with a stall in the busy centre of Leeds. 224 members of the public signed an eye-catching petition made of red hand-prints to support the Red Hand Campaign, which aims to persuade every country to ratify the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The Protocol exists to stop countries from forcing anyone under 18 to participate in military hostilities. It is crucial that all countries ratify it: children forced into conflict have been known to be sent into minefields and sometimes even used for suicide missions. Some of the child soldiers living in countries yet to ratify the Protocol are as young as 8 years old.
The Amnesty team will send the petition to the UK embassies of the 61 countries that are yet to ratify the Protocol. Petitioners took away information about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, including myth-busting booklets, a DVD about destitution, and a summary of the Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The stall also had a quiz to identify some of the main countries that produce refugees (many of which are also yet to sign the Optional Protocol), and children were given official (and very popular!) Refugee Week balloons and stickers to take home.
Many of the children who are forced into armed conflict become refugees. It is only this year that the UK government has promised to end the detention of children in immigration removal centres, some of whom may have been child soldiers in their home countries. It is vitally important to encourage every country to sign the Protocol to prevent children from being forced into dangerous and traumatic situations, which could in turn force them to leave their home countries to seek uncertain refuge elsewhere.
The Amnesty team will send the petition to the UK embassies of the 61 countries that are yet to ratify the Protocol. Petitioners took away information about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, including myth-busting booklets, a DVD about destitution, and a summary of the Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The stall also had a quiz to identify some of the main countries that produce refugees (many of which are also yet to sign the Optional Protocol), and children were given official (and very popular!) Refugee Week balloons and stickers to take home.
Many of the children who are forced into armed conflict become refugees. It is only this year that the UK government has promised to end the detention of children in immigration removal centres, some of whom may have been child soldiers in their home countries. It is vitally important to encourage every country to sign the Protocol to prevent children from being forced into dangerous and traumatic situations, which could in turn force them to leave their home countries to seek uncertain refuge elsewhere.
Friday, 25 June 2010
They really go for it
Yesterday we had six visitors to our charity. Two student nurses, two student social workers, one development worker and one psychiatric specialist working in Accident and Emergency. We did our usual thing of telling the visitors a little about where asylum system seekers come from, why they end up in the UK, some of the difficulties they face and how our charity supports over 750 asylum seekers and refugees each year.
We also had time for questions. Most came from the psychiatric specialist. She really wanted to understand what was going on. For her it was vital. She’s an expert in self-harm and suicide. The reason she came to see us is that she sees too many asylum seekers in her job. Asylum seekers who are so desperate because of how they are treated in the UK, that that try to kill themselves. “And they really go for it,” she said.
What struck me was what she said next. She has to send them away as they do not have a mental illness. Their self-harming and attempting suicide is caused by what they are experiencing. In some ways it is perfectly natural for someone to resort to such desperate measures when they are in such desperate situations.
At least 33 asylum seekers have committed suicide in the UK since 2005 (http://www.irr.org.uk/2005/september/ha000021.html).
by Peter Richardson, Leeds Asylum Seekers' Support Network, http://www.lassn.org.uk/
We also had time for questions. Most came from the psychiatric specialist. She really wanted to understand what was going on. For her it was vital. She’s an expert in self-harm and suicide. The reason she came to see us is that she sees too many asylum seekers in her job. Asylum seekers who are so desperate because of how they are treated in the UK, that that try to kill themselves. “And they really go for it,” she said.
What struck me was what she said next. She has to send them away as they do not have a mental illness. Their self-harming and attempting suicide is caused by what they are experiencing. In some ways it is perfectly natural for someone to resort to such desperate measures when they are in such desperate situations.
At least 33 asylum seekers have committed suicide in the UK since 2005 (http://www.irr.org.uk/2005/september/ha000021.html).
by Peter Richardson, Leeds Asylum Seekers' Support Network, http://www.lassn.org.uk/
Monday, 14 June 2010
Refugee Week Kicks Off With Leeds Refugee World Cup
Refugee week started with a great event at Thomas Danby College on Sunday 13th June with the annual Leeds Refugee World Cup. 16 teams representing all the refugee communities in Leeds turned out for a successful day of football culminating with a victory for the Kurdish team Baban FC, who won the World Cup, beating Iranian side
Caspian FC 4-3 on penalties.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
WAST
‘Asylum seeker’ is a term that evokes controversy and is cloaked with negative euphemisms. The media portrays asylum seekers as scroungers that are arriving in tides, flooding the country.
The system is ‘too soft’.
The people are ‘bogus’, even, ‘ILLEGAL’.
They spread diseases
‘Terrorists’
‘Criminals’
They take jobs
They are lazy scroungers
We must stop them coming; close the gates; pull up the bridge.
It all sounds quite dire really. Somehow and somewhere an idea of an archetypal asylum seeker has been created. But, does it make any sense? Who are these people that are putting our Great island of Britain under siege?
I have visited Leeds’ branch of the ‘Women Asylum Seekers Together’ (WAST) network a few times since January. I originally met the group at a poetry evening where they performed poems that they had written about their experiences. I was deeply touched and decided I wanted to get involved.
WAST is a national network that aims to support women asylum seekers by providing them with a safe space to meet, exchange ideas and skills, campaign and raise awareness. Its members, who come from several different countries mainly in Africa and Asia, were forced to flee for various reasons including political repression, sexual violence and religious/ethnic persecution.
When I first arrived at the WAST group in Leeds, I was warmly welcomed, offered several cups of tea and cajoled into eating a fair amount of food.
Scroungers?
Hardly.
Criminals and terrorists?
Well, I noticed nothing being plotted. Unless all that chit chat was actually a code. However, as I am young, observant and relatively on the ball, I feel confident enough to say that nothing was being plotted.
After everyone had drunk enough, eaten enough and finished talking, they set to work. By ‘work’, I do not mean jobs because asylum seekers are not allowed to work, which means they are not actually taking any jobs. They are forced to live off a sum of approximately £35 a week. Much lower than what British citizens receive, which means the system is not that ‘soft’. Moreover, this sum is now given to them on a card every week and the money does not ‘rollover’. Therefore, they have no cash, they cannot save up to buy something more expensive and they cannot shop in certain shops. The system is really not that ‘soft’.
What these women can do though is be creative! They make cards and jewellery that they can then sell to friends and supporters to buy more materials, pay the rent of the room and pay for snacks. It is a particularly empowering and welcoming project and the support offered is invaluable. The group is run by and for its members, allowing the women to take agency in a country that denies them this daily.
An example of this is the spontaneous detention of asylum seekers, which takes away their autonomy and importantly, their liberty. As I spoke with the members, I found out about the true nature of the detention regime. Asylum seekers, including women that are pregnant and children, can be locked up in privately run centres that are little better than prisons. They can be locked up indefinitely and are not told for how long they will be there. They must have been illegal or criminals, right? No, this is just policy. The government knows about these people because they have claimed asylum which means they have made themselves known to the authorities. Yarls Wood is the most notorious. Just recently some of the Yarls Wood detainees went on hunger strike to protest about the conditions and the fact they are treated like criminals despite not having committed a crime. The government’s crusade against the so called ‘human flood’ has resulted in people-pleasing draconian measures such as this, which aim to keep the numbers down.
Yes, for the love of God, they must keep those numbers down.
As I watched the children playing at the back of the room (WAST welcomes families as well as single women), not surprisingly as normal children play, it seemed ever the more unjust that a supposedly democratic and liberal country could be so authoritarian and tyrannical, all for the sake of playing the numbers game. The reality is that the UK welcomes less than 2% of the world’s refugees and received only 23,430 claims in 2007.
With the introduction of the new cards that will replace the vouchers they used to receive, talk went on to the important matter of campaigning. Campaigning is another of the things this group does to try and affect change and improve the lot of all asylum seekers. By getting together in groups such as this, the women gain a collective voice and can find solidarity with other groups and with British citizens. The idea of speaking to the local MP was suggested, as well as ways of exchanging some of the money on the cards with British citizens for cash (a scheme that used to be run when asylum seekers got vouchers). One week a woman came to scout for volunteers to help person the phone lines of a soon-to-be-established rape crisis centre. She was looking for people from all background as rape and sexual violence is something that happens to people of all backgrounds and is unfortunately something that many asylum seeking women have faced in their homelands. She also asked whether she could refer younger victims of abuse to the group for support. The idea was met with approval. All are welcome at WAST!
So the afternoons where I was supposed to cavort with terrorists, criminals and lazy scroungers, bogus and illegal people, did not live up to the vocabulary, the euphemisms, the myths, the lies or the spin.
Group such as WAST demonstrate that the stereotypes of asylum seekers do not exist in the way many are led to believe. Myths, compounded by senseless scape-goating and political point-scoring have well and truly camouflaged what is essentially a complicated and emotional issue. Who should bear the brunt of this but the asylum seekers themselves, who have been subject to increasingly harsh policies including a reduction in benefits, the removal of the right to work and detention in Immigration Removal Centres. Moreover, they remain voiceless and invisible with most newspapers choosing not to quote them.
At my last visit, it was one of the member’s birthdays. We had cake and one of the members had made a delicious traditional Pakistani dish; I should have taken the recipe. The group had made her a card and inside was a present: cash. A luxury. Who would have thought that something so simple could be so important. She could shop in the market now or even use the bus.
WAST meets every Saturday afternoon, 2-4pm at the Baptist Church on Harehills Lane. Come and visit!
The system is ‘too soft’.
The people are ‘bogus’, even, ‘ILLEGAL’.
They spread diseases
‘Terrorists’
‘Criminals’
They take jobs
They are lazy scroungers
We must stop them coming; close the gates; pull up the bridge.
It all sounds quite dire really. Somehow and somewhere an idea of an archetypal asylum seeker has been created. But, does it make any sense? Who are these people that are putting our Great island of Britain under siege?
I have visited Leeds’ branch of the ‘Women Asylum Seekers Together’ (WAST) network a few times since January. I originally met the group at a poetry evening where they performed poems that they had written about their experiences. I was deeply touched and decided I wanted to get involved.
WAST is a national network that aims to support women asylum seekers by providing them with a safe space to meet, exchange ideas and skills, campaign and raise awareness. Its members, who come from several different countries mainly in Africa and Asia, were forced to flee for various reasons including political repression, sexual violence and religious/ethnic persecution.
When I first arrived at the WAST group in Leeds, I was warmly welcomed, offered several cups of tea and cajoled into eating a fair amount of food.
Scroungers?
Hardly.
Criminals and terrorists?
Well, I noticed nothing being plotted. Unless all that chit chat was actually a code. However, as I am young, observant and relatively on the ball, I feel confident enough to say that nothing was being plotted.
After everyone had drunk enough, eaten enough and finished talking, they set to work. By ‘work’, I do not mean jobs because asylum seekers are not allowed to work, which means they are not actually taking any jobs. They are forced to live off a sum of approximately £35 a week. Much lower than what British citizens receive, which means the system is not that ‘soft’. Moreover, this sum is now given to them on a card every week and the money does not ‘rollover’. Therefore, they have no cash, they cannot save up to buy something more expensive and they cannot shop in certain shops. The system is really not that ‘soft’.
What these women can do though is be creative! They make cards and jewellery that they can then sell to friends and supporters to buy more materials, pay the rent of the room and pay for snacks. It is a particularly empowering and welcoming project and the support offered is invaluable. The group is run by and for its members, allowing the women to take agency in a country that denies them this daily.
An example of this is the spontaneous detention of asylum seekers, which takes away their autonomy and importantly, their liberty. As I spoke with the members, I found out about the true nature of the detention regime. Asylum seekers, including women that are pregnant and children, can be locked up in privately run centres that are little better than prisons. They can be locked up indefinitely and are not told for how long they will be there. They must have been illegal or criminals, right? No, this is just policy. The government knows about these people because they have claimed asylum which means they have made themselves known to the authorities. Yarls Wood is the most notorious. Just recently some of the Yarls Wood detainees went on hunger strike to protest about the conditions and the fact they are treated like criminals despite not having committed a crime. The government’s crusade against the so called ‘human flood’ has resulted in people-pleasing draconian measures such as this, which aim to keep the numbers down.
Yes, for the love of God, they must keep those numbers down.
As I watched the children playing at the back of the room (WAST welcomes families as well as single women), not surprisingly as normal children play, it seemed ever the more unjust that a supposedly democratic and liberal country could be so authoritarian and tyrannical, all for the sake of playing the numbers game. The reality is that the UK welcomes less than 2% of the world’s refugees and received only 23,430 claims in 2007.
With the introduction of the new cards that will replace the vouchers they used to receive, talk went on to the important matter of campaigning. Campaigning is another of the things this group does to try and affect change and improve the lot of all asylum seekers. By getting together in groups such as this, the women gain a collective voice and can find solidarity with other groups and with British citizens. The idea of speaking to the local MP was suggested, as well as ways of exchanging some of the money on the cards with British citizens for cash (a scheme that used to be run when asylum seekers got vouchers). One week a woman came to scout for volunteers to help person the phone lines of a soon-to-be-established rape crisis centre. She was looking for people from all background as rape and sexual violence is something that happens to people of all backgrounds and is unfortunately something that many asylum seeking women have faced in their homelands. She also asked whether she could refer younger victims of abuse to the group for support. The idea was met with approval. All are welcome at WAST!
So the afternoons where I was supposed to cavort with terrorists, criminals and lazy scroungers, bogus and illegal people, did not live up to the vocabulary, the euphemisms, the myths, the lies or the spin.
Group such as WAST demonstrate that the stereotypes of asylum seekers do not exist in the way many are led to believe. Myths, compounded by senseless scape-goating and political point-scoring have well and truly camouflaged what is essentially a complicated and emotional issue. Who should bear the brunt of this but the asylum seekers themselves, who have been subject to increasingly harsh policies including a reduction in benefits, the removal of the right to work and detention in Immigration Removal Centres. Moreover, they remain voiceless and invisible with most newspapers choosing not to quote them.
At my last visit, it was one of the member’s birthdays. We had cake and one of the members had made a delicious traditional Pakistani dish; I should have taken the recipe. The group had made her a card and inside was a present: cash. A luxury. Who would have thought that something so simple could be so important. She could shop in the market now or even use the bus.
WAST meets every Saturday afternoon, 2-4pm at the Baptist Church on Harehills Lane. Come and visit!
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