The Tories want you to hate asylum seekers, so you forget that the UK caused the strife they’re fleeing
The UK is in a terrible state, thanks to the Conservatives, and what’s their solution? “Look at those filthy refugees trying to invade our country!”
The way the authorities – and the media – have treated this situation is a national disgrace.
For example: Priti Patel.
She seems to think international law is an annoying burden because it prevents us from shooting innocent people out of hand.
It turns out she was told back in November that her policies were causing asylum-seekers to use more dangerous routes into the UK:
“A policy that focuses exclusively on closing borders will drive migrants to take more dangerous routes, and push them into the hands of criminal groups,” the report said.
She wasn’t interested then – possibly because the report’s advice was to provide more legal routes for asylum-seekers to enter the UK, and to address their reasons for wanting to leave their own lands (This Writer has suggested the same).
Her own attitude is far more ruthless. She wants to keep them out and doesn’t care what happens to them as a result. Hence her own comments:
I am working to make this route unviable.
This involves:
1⃣ Stopping the boats leaving France in the first place
2⃣ Intercepting boats and returning those attempting to make a crossingThis is complex to do and we face serious legislative, legal and operational barriers.
— Priti Patel MP (@pritipatel) August 7, 2020
Notice that she uses the word “shameful” in her thread, to divert attention away from the fact that it is her own attitude to other human beings that is the real cause of shame here.
And look where her actions led: reporters for Tory sockpuppets the BBC treating a life-and-death situation like a spectator sport:
"They're using a plastic container to try to bail out the boat"
Live on #BBCBreakfast @SimonJonesNews found another migrant boat attempting to cross the Channel. The group say they're from Syria. https://t.co/jidwhEOcIJ pic.twitter.com/Z62i9AmmYm— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) August 10, 2020
Did you notice that the people on the boat said they were from Syria?
The UK bombed Syria in 2018, after it was claimed that that country’s government had used chemical weapons to attack its own people.
Those weapons were manufactured using materials exported to Syria by the United Kingdom.
Now, I don’t know the personal situations of the people on that boat, but it seems entirely likely that the UK is the reason they have been fleeing their own country.
If you approve of this behaviour by your country’s leaders then you are a jingoistic, sabre-rattling racist.
Fortunately, the evidence I’ve seen suggests that few people do. Most of us appear to have reacted with disgust – both at the government and at the BBC. Here’s a sample:
In a time of stunningly awful political things, this current obsession with the small boats across the channel may be the most depressing of all.
— Prof Paul Bernal (@PaulbernalUK) August 10, 2020
The UK is in meltdown because of 4000 refugees? Fs, there's a chance Johnson has fathered more kids than that 🙄#RefugeesWelcome
— Jo🌻🎗#OneTitWonder (@joelymack) August 10, 2020
We can apparently put the RAF over the Channel today to needlessly spot dinghies but have only allocated £5 million for emergency relief for Beirut. In terms of humitarian crisis management haven’t we got almost everything wrong?
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) August 10, 2020
We have a legal & moral responsibility to refugees fleeing famine, war and violence. They are not the problem. The problem is the dangerous routes they must take.
We should be looking at safe and legal routes, not intimidating them with Navy ships. https://t.co/6vEBDaYSxx
— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) August 10, 2020
2 World Wars and 1 World Cup but desperate asylum seekers crossing the sea in ragged dinghies is an invasion and a threat to the nation. Right-o.
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) August 10, 2020
IT IS NEVER A CRIME TO SEEK ASYLUM, Mr Johnson
Migrant crossings ‘bad, stupid, dangerous and criminal thing to do', says Prime Minister Boris Johnson | ITV News https://t.co/4Mk5yqHlrw
— Tom London (@TomLondon6) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/TheMendozaWoman/status/1292898221581373440
People fleeing war, famine and persecution shouldn't be confronted by gunships and hostility, but instead offered safe, legal routes to asylum.
Our common humanity demands nothing less.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/JoshuaYJackson/status/1292904392144887812
Lebanon with all its problems has accepted 1.5 MILLION REFUGEES & Spaffer/Patel going loopy over a few hundred so much so that Spaffer wants to change or make new laws. This is Trump politics – executive directives which Spaffer is also doing. Totally non democratic. https://t.co/VRs2mfUyNC
— Carole Hawkins (@hawkins_carole) August 10, 2020
Protest all we like, it won’t make a difference.
The simple fact is that this is part of a cycle of hate that the UK electorate has supported with its votes – not just for the past 10 years but for decades before that.
And you can’t even guarantee it won’t happen if you vote for a different party…
https://twitter.com/BenJolly9/status/1292875365422071811
We turned our backs on our chance of a better world when we rejected Jeremy Corbyn – twice – at the ballot box.
So if you want to resist this brutality, you need to find a way of making it hurt the people who matter.
Good luck thinking of ways to do that…
Or perhaps you’d rather just shout at the telly and vent your spleen on Twitter? It is easier, after all.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Quick question, Mike
Name me a country in sub-saharan Africa where the UK has ’caused strife’?
You can’t? Then why are there so many sub-saharan Africans coming here as there are Syrians/Iraqis/Afghanis & Libyans etc and places where the UK HAS caused chaos? We’re NOT to blame for all of them. I appreciate there are conflicts in that area but the UK didn’t start them. And whether you like it or not, not all of them are seeking asylum, but are economic migrants.
There are two sides to this debate, both with valid cases; and to reject one side outright makes one side no better than the opposite one they’ll criticise and call ignorant. You’ll never get anywhere if you’re just shouting the other side down. There has to be a solution that suits all but has it’s concessions on either side, and simply letting people drown or letting them in because they’ve crossed dangerous stretches of water aren’t feasible.
I expect I’ll be labelled racist for it in the same manner that woman was labelled ‘bigoted’ by gordon (is a moron) broon. All those screaming ‘racist’ at ANY mention that these illegal channel crossings are a problem, are part of the problem rather than the solution.
From the left wing blogs I read It’s obvious to me that labour supporters who demanded we remain in the EU are the ones shouting the loudest about racism…But look at what happened when they broke the promise to respect the referendum result, despite the warnings of what’d happen.
They handed the toerags an 80 seat majority. Dead clever, that.
All I’m saying is, Ignore, defy and cast slurs on people and you’ll get the exact opposite of what you set out to do. Npt everyone’s a falange or tommy (gobshite) robinson y’know?
You are asking me to research a related issue – why people are coming to the UK from sub-Saharan Africa – and come back to you with an immediate answer; that is unrealistic.
It’s entirely possible that the UK might not be responsible for the issues that are the reasons people are coming to this country, but you seem to be deliberately ignoring other reasons for coming: family, shared language or community links.
If you are supporting the side of this debate that wants us to force people into danger for no very good reason, then you are on the wrong side of it – without question.
Don’t try to get around being on the wrong side by trying to manage it, saying you expect you’ll be labelled. Sometimes, criticisms are valid.
This is not about Brexit. It’s about being decent human beings to others. But for accidents of birth, we could have been in the same position.