Our politicians are failing us in the refugee crisis. Ordinary citizens must step in
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Version 0 of 1. Reading of the horrendous suffering engendered by the refugee crisis, we wonder how, exactly, does the callous indifference of the British government towards people fleeing persecution and violence differ from that of the brutal people-traffickers exploiting their plight? Theresa May’s £7m worth of fencing and guards at Calais symbolises the sheer waste of funds which could be providing humanitarian reception centres and support. What mandate do such politicians, abrogating legal and moral responsibilities to their fellow human beings, have to spend public money on reinforcing borders to keep out people desperate to reach safety? Here in Kent, as elsewhere, ordinary citizens are volunteering time to donate and deliver help and vital supplies. This is our country, too, and many of us wish to offer welcome, hospitality and refuge. We challenge the right of politicians to prevent us from doing so. We are all too aware of how the constant dripfeed of fear, misinformation and resentment from rightwing politicians and media who scapegoat “immigrants” has created fertile ground for fascists such as Britain First to spread their poison. As powerful elites tighten their grip on the world’s resources of wealth and housing – sorry, property investments – the myths that there is not enough to go around, that austerity is necessary and that scarcity means deprivation is inevitable must be exposed. We need urgent action now by communities and politicians to counter this appalling situation, to come together and uphold our common humanity, in order to assert the principle that the wealth of the world should be spent on the wellbeing of the world.Frankie GreenOn behalf of the Whitstable-Calais Solidarity Group • What can someone like me do to help out? I’m 67 years old, a professional woman, still working creatively. How can I bring a Syrian/Afghan refugee family into this country and provide them with food, a roof over their heads and a guarantee of support? Or how can I be part of an organisation that brings them in – like such head-and-shoulders-high women and men did during and after the second world war? Please advise. I cannot bear the news these last few months (and years, in fact), with our politicians sitting on their hands.Hilary DunfordLondon • The call of Yvette Cooper for the UK to host more refugees is welcome, if belated, and a modest proposal in response to the most serious migration crisis seen in Europe since 1945. It is the poorest countries in the world which host the vast majority of refugees and in Europe the UK and others have opted out of sharing responsibility, relying on Germany, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Malta and poor countries in eastern Europe to try and cope with the crisis. Local communities have long cared more than central government about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers and it is some of the less affluent areas of the north-west and Yorkshire, in Sheffield, Bradford, and Hull, where the UK’s refugees are hosted. An example of grassroots initiative is the Leeds project Pafras (Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers), launched by the pioneering Christine Majid, which has run drop-in centres in the city for more than 10 years, providing advice, hot meals, food parcels and toiletries besides campaigning for a better deal for refugees and asylum seekers. In the UK, governments, both Conservative and Labour, have behaved badly towards refugees and asylum seekers and the biggest migration crisis since the second world war demands that the UK supports an EU centrally directed policy and a fair and proportionate sharing in terms of refugees accepted by each country.Michael McGowanTrustee, Pafras • As EU member states continue to argue interminably over their conflicting principles and responses to the refugee crisis, the criteria for accepting them, numbers and conditions, we should at least be able to accept with real warmth the many (700 at the last count arriving in Dover last month) unaccompanied child asylum seekers, some as young as 12, who have arrived on our shores. Kent county council cannot find enough foster parents in their region and is asking for assistance from across the UK. Many of us older people (who may remember how the then British government welcomed kindertransport children fleeing the Nazis nearly 80 years ago), whose adult children have long left home, have large houses, spare rooms, parenthood skills, experience, time and other resources that could provide the nurturing loving family environment these traumatised children need, so that they can access schooling, feel secure and rebuild their shattered lives. With so much reference recently to the need to address the loneliness and isolation felt by many older people, here is an opportunity for those of us still hale and energetic, to provide much-needed help, in a fulfilling and practical way, and enjoy the challenge and stimulus of developing new lasting bonds of friendship with a proxy grandchild, while broadening our learning about other cultures and religions. Informally, I became such a grandmother a decade ago, to an 13-year-old Afghan boy, who this year graduated from Cambridge in medicine, who intends eventually to return to Afghanistan to work there as a paediatrician. So the benefits of this proposed scheme are wide, for us, for the children and for their countries of origin. Might the Home Office support the setting up of PGUCAS (Proxy Grandparents for Unaccompanied Child Asylum Seekers)? Of course, we must all be vetted for suitability, but our willingness to take in these children might help to solve the present crisis.Margaret OwenSalisbury, Wiltshire |