The Tories’ racist campaign against refugees has plumbed new depths. Vulnerable people who have undertaken long, risky journeys in the search for asylum are to be put in a barge in Portland Harbour. Here they will be held in a security zone and forced to comply with a night-time curfew. In effect, they will be isolated like prisoners. Their “crime”? … to seek safety and security far from conflict zones that many have escaped.
We say that refugees are welcome in Dorset. We oppose the government’s “Illegal Migration Bill”, which targets people escaping war, repression, civil conflict and environmental crisis. The Tories have long since closed most routes by which refugees might reach the UK. Now, when desperate people take to boats across the Mediterranean and the English Channel, they are treated as offenders.
Lynne Hubbard is co-chair of Stand Up To Racism Dorset. She says: “What have we learned from history? In the 1930s, victims of fascism in Europe who hoped for refuge in Britain were rejected by government. It was the demands of ordinary people that eventually compelled a change in policy.
“Today, we say that people fleeing war and repression in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere should be welcomed and supported by the British state – which currently accepts just a fraction of refugees arriving in Europe.”
Why has the government chosen to place refugees in Portland Harbour? Is it because Portland has long been a place of imprisonment? Do the Tories think that Weymouth and Portland – among the most deprived towns in the South of England – are suitable for the incarceration of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods?
Local campaigners have for years been battling to keep Portland Community Hospital and to ensure that the island has adequate health services. We welcome refugees – and also say that our NHS and welfare services need urgent action to support our communities and all those who come to live in South Dorset. Most refugees are young – and could play a key role in our communities, which urgently need more youthful citizens.
The government has vast resources. A tiny fraction could be used to house refugees in decent accommodation and to support applications for asylum. Prisons, camps and barges are not necessary – they isolate and persecute people whom we welcome to Dorset. To refugees we say: YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.
PORTLAND PUBLIC MEETING
TUESDAY 18 APRIL, 7.30pm
C2000 Community Centre, Straits, Easton,
Portland DT5 1HG (behind Portland Library)
Speakers:
PHILIP MARFLEET, author of “Refugees in a Global Era” and “Forgotten Towns – Weymouth, Portland and the Coastal Economy”
CARRALYN PARKES, Portland Town Councillor
*Who are the refugees? *Why do they come to the UK?
*Why does the Government intend to confine them on a barge in Portland Harbour?
*What lies behind Government policy?
*Why doesn’t Portland get the resources we all need?
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