I am happy to be part of asylumvoice, We do share lots of experiences and information on refuge life in the UK and try to help and support each other in the long strugglle ...
Tsitsi
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Sunday, 6 May 2007
ASSYLUM: THE PLIGHT OF BEING RENDERED DESTITUTE IN BRITAIN TODAY
ASSYLUM: THE PLIGHT OF BEING RENDERED DESTITUTE IN BRITAIN TODAY
By N. Steve
Two incidents happen simultaneously. First, a so called “illegal” immigrant who has been failed by the Home Office asylum system is hit by an over speeding, stolen car driven by a “yob”. Police and ambulance quickly arrive at the scene. He is taken to the hospital but for being “illegal”, the hospital is directed to give him the only adequate treatment which will enable him to fly so that he can be deported. The police chain him to the bed to prevent him from escaping.
Secondly, in an African airport, there is a heated argument between an immigration officer and a rapist cum paedophile British on a similar mission. Since British can apply for visas at the point of entry, the man is applying for a six month period visa, but the immigration officer is urging him to take a longer one, as this will help with the economy of the country. The officer even offers the Briton a banquet of flowers as a sign of welcome, and hoping he will accept a longer term visa.
Welcome to the world of discrimination today!
When one seeks asylum in Britain today, the person throws oneself into the most degrading and humiliating process of all. Whereas asylum seeking is a globally accepted method of seeking help and human rights for those fleeing from problems back home to get refugee status, in Britain today, asylum seeking has been politicized and made a propaganda tool to satisfy the whims of politicians, capitalists and big businesses. This is why majority of people seeking asylum in Britain are failed by the same system which is supposed to protect them and give them dignity. Left without anything to do, after having exhausted the asylum seeking process, they are rendered destitute and impoverished. They are denied all known and unknown basic human rights including right to work, education, accommodation, food, clothing and any sort of decency. They end up being “on the run”, with devastating mental circumstances, until an incident happens, like the above mentioned car accident, when they get caught and deported back home, to face even worse danger and risk than they had initially ran away from.
To a very large extent, the West in general, and Britain in particular, is the cause of the many problems people ran away from their home countries. At the peak of the Empire, Britain presided over a huge empire where the sun never set. With this came the plunder and the looting of the resources of the world. But even with the slave labour of one third of humankind and virtually free resources of the world, due to its insatiable greed, Britain continues with this theft up to date. In order to manoeuvre the robbery of the global resources, Britain supports and encourages divisions among different groups of people, which brings about war, conflicts and hostilities in these countries. And that’s why people ran away to come and seek asylum here.
Watching the Home secretary foaming from the corners of his mouth saying how the government will make life unbearable for failed asylum seekers, it demonstrates how Britain can no longer continue to lead the world if it has nothing democratic to offer to move humanity forward in terms of human rights. As a matter of fact, British hegemony today is kept in place through fascism and racism. The Home Office imposes by force, a social system that has exhausted itself and outlived its historical usefulness in terms of human rights. Yet such an order does not crumble on the basis of its internal decadence alone, although this playa a very important predisposing role. A decadent social order can only be overhauled through the strength, organisation and discipline of the forces arraigned against it so that it can provide justice to asylum seekers. In the absence of a viable alternative, a decadent social order will stagger and muddle through to find a new level of decadence.
Destitute and failed asylum seekers can only save themselves from the Home Office injustice, by joining up with organisations that are rooted in solidarity to fight this paradigm of injustice, fascism and racism in Britain today.
The writer is a human rights activist based in Manchester, UK.
By N. Steve
Two incidents happen simultaneously. First, a so called “illegal” immigrant who has been failed by the Home Office asylum system is hit by an over speeding, stolen car driven by a “yob”. Police and ambulance quickly arrive at the scene. He is taken to the hospital but for being “illegal”, the hospital is directed to give him the only adequate treatment which will enable him to fly so that he can be deported. The police chain him to the bed to prevent him from escaping.
Secondly, in an African airport, there is a heated argument between an immigration officer and a rapist cum paedophile British on a similar mission. Since British can apply for visas at the point of entry, the man is applying for a six month period visa, but the immigration officer is urging him to take a longer one, as this will help with the economy of the country. The officer even offers the Briton a banquet of flowers as a sign of welcome, and hoping he will accept a longer term visa.
Welcome to the world of discrimination today!
When one seeks asylum in Britain today, the person throws oneself into the most degrading and humiliating process of all. Whereas asylum seeking is a globally accepted method of seeking help and human rights for those fleeing from problems back home to get refugee status, in Britain today, asylum seeking has been politicized and made a propaganda tool to satisfy the whims of politicians, capitalists and big businesses. This is why majority of people seeking asylum in Britain are failed by the same system which is supposed to protect them and give them dignity. Left without anything to do, after having exhausted the asylum seeking process, they are rendered destitute and impoverished. They are denied all known and unknown basic human rights including right to work, education, accommodation, food, clothing and any sort of decency. They end up being “on the run”, with devastating mental circumstances, until an incident happens, like the above mentioned car accident, when they get caught and deported back home, to face even worse danger and risk than they had initially ran away from.
To a very large extent, the West in general, and Britain in particular, is the cause of the many problems people ran away from their home countries. At the peak of the Empire, Britain presided over a huge empire where the sun never set. With this came the plunder and the looting of the resources of the world. But even with the slave labour of one third of humankind and virtually free resources of the world, due to its insatiable greed, Britain continues with this theft up to date. In order to manoeuvre the robbery of the global resources, Britain supports and encourages divisions among different groups of people, which brings about war, conflicts and hostilities in these countries. And that’s why people ran away to come and seek asylum here.
Watching the Home secretary foaming from the corners of his mouth saying how the government will make life unbearable for failed asylum seekers, it demonstrates how Britain can no longer continue to lead the world if it has nothing democratic to offer to move humanity forward in terms of human rights. As a matter of fact, British hegemony today is kept in place through fascism and racism. The Home Office imposes by force, a social system that has exhausted itself and outlived its historical usefulness in terms of human rights. Yet such an order does not crumble on the basis of its internal decadence alone, although this playa a very important predisposing role. A decadent social order can only be overhauled through the strength, organisation and discipline of the forces arraigned against it so that it can provide justice to asylum seekers. In the absence of a viable alternative, a decadent social order will stagger and muddle through to find a new level of decadence.
Destitute and failed asylum seekers can only save themselves from the Home Office injustice, by joining up with organisations that are rooted in solidarity to fight this paradigm of injustice, fascism and racism in Britain today.
The writer is a human rights activist based in Manchester, UK.
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