23 April 2021 — Migrants Organise
At the end of March, the Home Office launched its consultation about the New Plan for Immigration. The consultation questionnaire has 45 questions – some are multiple-choice and some are open questions. But all of them are framed in such a way that it is almost impossible to answer any of them in a meaningful way. Priti Patel’s “New Plan for Immigration” is not so new and it is not a plan either. Continue reading…
Should we waste our time to respond to the consultation framed in this way?
If the government is truly looking to fix a system that is indeed broken, then they should be using this consultation to genuinely reflect on the very hostile system that they have created, and engage with individuals directly impacted and stakeholders on the ground. Sadly, this is quite clearly not the case. Continue reading…
So what can we do?
It is important for us to realise that the consultation is not a means to an end – that if we want the government to start treating migrants with dignity a broader movement needs to happen. As cynical as this exercise might be on the part of the government, it is a sign of what the thinking is, and it is important for people who care about dignity, justice, human rights and our society, to inform ourselves about what is being proposed in our name and with our money. And more importantly to let them know what fair and humane asylum and immigration looks like. Continue reading…
Solidarity in Action.
If you are willing and able to respond to the consultation, colleagues and friends have already created useful resources and guides on how to register and respond to the Consultation – here are just a few:
- Women for Refugee Women Guide on how to respond to the New Immigration Plan consultation.
- The Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) made up of the Baptist Union, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, working together for peace and justice has produced a briefing on the Consultation here and here
- How Quakers can respond to the government’s new immigration plan – by Quakers Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN)
- Leeds Anti-raids network produced question by question guide here
If you wish to read more about the dangers of these proposals here are some useful and insightful voices as well as facts please check out our latest blog post for more links.
Regardless of whether you decide to respond to the consultation, let’s take action together to make sure there is a meaningful, organised opposition to these unfair and inhumane proposals. Though the consultation will be over on May 6, there is a long and hard struggle against the injustice that will come out of it. Here are some practical actions you can take:
- There already is a coalition of nearly 40 refugee and migrant community organisations and charities as well as more than 1,200 individuals who came up with the proposal for the Fair Immigration Reform. You can see our demands in the FIRM Charter, now available in 9 languages. Please sign and share, as it is important not only to criticise bad proposals, but also suggest positive, workable alternative solutions – based on principles of dignity, justice, welcome and action.
- We want to build a movement for migrant and refugee justice led by migrants and refugees. We are organising and mobilising for online and direct actions. Details of previous actions and how to get involved can be seen here.
- If you want to be more involved and have time to organise with your community at university, faith institutions, trade union or work place, voluntary community groups, sports or a book club, we are keen to hear from you. We will work with you to find the best way for you to contribute to the solidarity movement:
If you are in Yorkshire, please contact Sarli Nana sarli@migrantsorganise.org
If you are in England, please contact Maymuna Osman maymuna@migrantsorganise.org
If you are in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland please contact Zrinka Bralo zrinka@migrantsorganise.org
If you are working in healthcare or have been denied access to NHS, please contact Aliya Yule aliya@migrantsorganise.org
If you are working in the legal field and are interested organising, please contact Brian Dikoff brian@migrantsorganise.org
In solidarity,
The New Dark Age 
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