Scotland must remain a safe place to seek sanctuary
Reacting to the far right and anti-migrant rallies being organised to take place in Glasgow, Falkirk and Dundee this weekend, Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman has expressed her solidarity with communities under attack.
Maggie said:
“Refugees are welcome here in Scotland. They always have been, and they always will be, despite the far-right and racist agenda we are seeing from some quarters.
“Everyone has a right to feel safe where they live. The violence and intimidation we have seen as a result of these kinds of protests has been shameful and has no place in modern Scotland.
“The far right groups organising these protests are set on pulling us backwards, exploiting people's fears and trying to direct them at marginalised people who have done nothing wrong. They are seeking asylum and sanctuary - something they have the right, under international law, to do.
“But the threat runs far deeper than them. Racist, anti-immigrant and anti-asylum attitudes have been deliberately cultivated by large parts of the UK’s media and political landscape.
“My heart and solidarity is with the communities who are under attack and on the front line of the hatred that is being stirred up.
“It wasn’t immigrants who rigged the economy. It was 14 years of Tory failure at Westminster. It wasn’t immigrants who cut the budgets for public services we all rely on. It’s UK Labour pandering to and copying Tory austerity.
“But it is immigrants who keep our NHS running. They are the carers who helped us all during covid when nobody could visit. They are the doctors who pushed for urgent referrals to get your parents’ cancer diagnosis and treatment. They are the friendly neighbour who takes your bins out without you asking, the chef who makes your favourite takeaway on a Friday night when you can’t be bothered cooking, the mums and dads who smile at you in the playground at school pick up.
“They are the community who share their culture, music, fashion, recipes and remedies with us, and in return they are being demonised and put in harm's way by angry mobs feeling emboldened by the media and political landscape.
“People have always moved from country to country, through urgent life-saving needs or for better prospects. Everyone is legally entitled to, and the Home Office has a duty of care to meet their needs. But the UK government has consistently failed to do so, spending more time dehumanising people seeking asylum than they do offering support to rebuild their lives."