End the destructive demonisation of migrants and asylum-seekers

By Claudia Webbe MP

As socialists and anti-racists, we cannot let this government off the hook as it seeks to scapegoat the vulnerable to distract from its own failures, says CLAUDIA WEBBE MP 

IN 2015, the harrowing picture of three-year-old Syrian Alan Kurdi lying dead, face down on a beach, reverberated around the world.

The picture precipitated a surge in donations to charitable organisations and global leaders expressed their concern.

Then prime minister David Cameron said that he felt “deeply moved” by the image yet did nothing to increase the number of asylum-seekers accepted by Britain.

Five years later, those of us hoping that this tragedy would usher in a new era of human rights and an end of avoidable migrant deaths remain bitterly disappointed.

We are currently witnessing a truly abhorrent, Nigel Farage-led media cycle full of the usual damaging tropes which portray vulnerable asylum-seekers as a dangerous invading horde.

Last week, Abdulfatah Hamdallah, a 28-year-old who fled war-torn Sudan, died attempting to cross the Channel in an inflatable dinghy with shovels for oars.

This tragedy reveals the life-or-death desperation of those fleeing war-torn countries.

Yet many in the media have chosen to focus on the “personal responsibility” of the victim, which is not only inhumane, but also indicative of a political discourse in which black lives are expendable.

Those making the perilous journey across the Channel are too often arriving from countries which Britain is responsible for disrupting — either by arming current conflicts or through the enduring legacy of colonialism.

We must not forget that Sudan, as with many areas of Africa, was controlled by the exploitative British empire until the 1950s and has suffered from the divisions created under imperialism ever since.

In the case of Syria, Britain supplied £1.1 billion of arms to Turkey between 2014 and 2019, which fuelled the civil war and mass displacement of Syrians. Yet our government and its cheerleaders act as if forced migration is “not our problem.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel’s response to this tragedy has been to blame smugglers and illegal traffickers — even though they played no role in Abdulfatah’s death.

If the government is in search of an explanation, it should look closer to home — or perhaps in a mirror.

I currently sit on the foreign affairs committee, which Patel formerly sat on when she was warned of the morbid consequence facing refugees if a safe and legal route to claim asylum was not created.

The British government has persistently been warned by experts, migrant charities and parliamentary committees that if it does not open safe and legal routes for people to practice their legal right to claim asylum, then deaths at sea are unavoidable.

Yet the government has proceeded to close the few legal avenues that exist, such as the right to family reunion.

This brutal immigration policy, which is echoed to varying degrees across “Fortress Europe,” is the reason why 19,000 migrants were reported dead or missing between 2013 and 2019.

Contrary to the mistruths peddled by right-wing commentators, asylum-seekers do not arrive in Britain to leech off the state — asylum support allowance is a mere £37.75 per week.

In the sixth-richest country in the world, there is no reason why we cannot provide a humane pathway for those fleeing persecution to exercise their legal right of appeal.

It is also far from the case that Britain is overwhelmed with asylum-seekers, with Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and France registering far more asylum applicants.

We must also remember that 83 per cent of worldwide refugees live in developing regions — not industrialised countries — which further reflects the grim, unbalanced nature of global power dynamics.

The few asylum-seekers arriving in Britain are treated terribly by this government with many falling foul of pernicious hostile environment policies and held in appalling conditions.

Yet this week we saw what I hope is the beginning of the end of a bastion of migrant mistreatment with the announcement that the women detained in Yarl’s Wood detention centre will be relocated.

Yarl’s Wood has come to be synonymous with the violent, institutionalised racism and sexism that has been hardwired into our immigration system.

I am delighted that one chapter in its brutal history seems to be ending, and I wholeheartedly congratulate the activists and survivors of detention centres for their victory.

The strength and bravery of those who are in or have left detention is a source of constant inspiration and are living proof that — together — we can build a fairer world.

The Home Office must now go further by ending indefinite detention and ensuring that Yarl’s Wood is never again used as a detention centre.

It must also ensure that asylum-seekers arriving across the channel do not also suffer within its walls, as has been reported.

The government will not end the detention crisis unless it completely changes course.

That means repealing the 2014 Immigration Act, ending the destructive demonisation of migrants and asylum-seekers and shutting detention centres for good.

For those of us on the left, it is crucial that we focus on the reason why we are seeing the dehumanising discourse surrounding migrants and asylum-seekers raising its ugly head once again.

We have a government that has overseen the worst coronavirus death rate of any European country as well as the worst recession since records began.

This is a government whose classist algorithm put A-level students through an unacceptable ordeal, and which is enriching private companies rather than ensuring the safety of its citizens.

Sadly, the Tories know that, to distract from their litany of failures, they simply have to ratchet up their “tough on immigration” rhetoric, such as by talking about militarising the channel crossing, and the right-wing sections our media landscape will lap it up.

This vile demonisation is toxic for our political culture and misdirects the justified anger of the working class towards other victims of global extractive capitalism.

As socialists and anti-racists, we cannot let this government off the hook. We must stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the victims of this brutal discourse, and we must ensure that this floundering government is held responsible for its appalling record.

Claudia Webbe MP is the member of Parliament for Leicester East. You can follow her at www.facebook.com/claudiaforLE and twitter.com/ClaudiaWebbe