Refugees Welcome Day of Action Announced

Something changed in the UK yesterday and the catalyst of that change was simple picture of a Syrian baby lying dead on a desolate Turkish beach. The picture resonated across the world and for the first time in a long time pricked the conscious of people of Britain.

There have been many pictures of the dead and dying desperate refugees seeking to escape the horror of wars and famine brought on, in large part by the disastrous military intervention of the west,

None of these pictures struck the public imagination in quite the same way as this tragic little boy, dressed in the clothes we dress our own children every morning, lying as asleep in the same position as we see our children sleep every day, on a beach where we’ve played and swam with our children, sparkling in the radiant sunlight and bronzed by sun, sea and waves. Now a child lies dead on a beach and against a backdrop of daily tragedies of desperate refuges now hugely reminiscent of the Jews fleeing from Nazi Germany during WW2.

A dead child sparks our compassion, our love for our fellow human beings. We could have and indeed should have acted earlier. The fact is our common humanity, imprisoned by fear and ignorance was immediately liberated upon seeing this dreadful image.

As millions of refugee’s head for Europe as our weak and porous land and sea borders of the Union become apparent, the interconnectedness of our global world is write large.

In the modern age, national borders and jurisdictions have been overwhelmed and rendered obsolete by social media and the Internet. Now nobody can ignore for long the plight of people facing the prospect of certain death in their countries of origin they head for the sanctuary of Europe in the hope of a brighter day.

The UK’s Governments response to the worst humanitarian crisis we have seen in Europe since the end of WW2 has demonstrated the utter moral failure of our politicians.

We have all sat and watched the numbers of dead men; women and children continue to rise. We all have witnessed the sight of families crammed into inflatable boats, barely able to float. Nobody puts his or her child in such a boat if the land is safer.

Our Government actions have reduced one of the wealthiest nations in the world to the status of our country to that of moral indifference. As a nation we’ve become collectively shamed by the picture of this dead boy.

I believe millions are now appalled at what we see everyday on our TV screens,

I believe its time for action and that’s why Black Activist’s Against the Cuts (BARAC), Stand Up Against Racism, OBV, War on Want, The Peoples Assembly, Movement Against Xenophobia, Black Out London and Stop The War have all joined forces to organise a march and a National Day Of Action Saturday 12th September 2015 Assemble at 12 Noon at Marble Arch marching to 10 Downing Street using the #RefugeesWelcome.

You can find more information here https://www.facebook.com/events/1629390697300657/1629571027282624/

I hope you will join us and help us end this global humanitarian crisis.

Lee Jasper