‘AFRICANS MUST ARGUE THE CASE FOR ASYLUM ’SPECIAL KAY’E
The so-called wave of ‘anti-immigration sentiment’ that is supposedly passing through middle England is a right wing, media-driven myth. A clear distinction must be drawn between immigration and asylum as they are two completely different issues, often erroneously (and conveniently) lumped together. In my view, Mr are Mrs Average are much more sympathetic to the plight of asylum seekers and people living with HIV than the tabloids would have us believe.
Was there ever a good time to be an asylum seeker in this country? If so, those days are well and truly gone. Months, years even, of uncertainty, waiting for a decision that could affect the rest of our lives. Not being allowed to work for your daily bread. We’re often forced into inadequate and unsanitary accommodation, with a paltry weekly stipend, made worse by the snooty attitude of many Home Office and NASS officials.
Access to legal aid has been severely restricted leaving many unable to appeal their refusal decisions - particularly worrying if you consider the incredible number of decisions subsequently overturned on appeal.
And we hear talk of failed asylum seekers being denied access to any form of medical treatment, including treatment for HIV. Rumours like this are all that’s needed to make people who already feel like they’re under siege, only more threatened and unsure.
The Home Office has already deported a considerable number of HIV positive asylum seekers back to their countries of origin. Despite evidence that antiretrovirals are not available in those countries (or that they are so expensive as to make no difference) their pleas for asylum on humanitarian grounds are completely ignored. As far as David Blunkett is concerned, people who may have become infected in their country of origin can go back there to die, their cases filed under ‘not our problem’.
Daily Mail readers must be jumping up and down with glee.
With a general election expected next summer, unless Iraq implodes beyond redemption between now and then, politicians will return to their two favourite vote-catching issues: asylum and immigration. The screw is only likely to be further tightened.
And that’s why, if there ever was a time for action, that time is now. It’s time for Africans affected by the two issues of HIV and asylum to mobilise, get political and become activists. The gay community, the driving force behind such powerhouse organisations as THT and the UKC, did not get to where they are today by staying at home and whingeing. They didn’t hold their heads in their hands, waiting for bad things to happen to them. When it became clear the government was not taking the idea of gay men dying in their thousands seriously in the 80s, they took to the streets and demanded action. And they got it.
For those concerned about confidentiality or about the danger of being rounded up and deported, I say this: no one will know you are positive unless you tell them. Many negative and untested people are ready to get involved in a campaign such as the one I’m suggesting. I know non-Africans who would love to get involved. After all, not everyone who works for the Refugee Council is a refugee and not everyone who volunteers for THT is HIV positive. Secondly, peaceful protest has always been a democratic tradition of this country and I doubt the Home Office has the resources to spy on demonstrations to see who is who.
Even if you put your name to a petition it would be unconstitutional for the Home Office to target you for doing so and use that as a basis for turning down your case.
Activism is not just about marching down Whitehall waving placards. Letters can be written to MPs and newspapers and especially when falsehoods about asylum seekers or HIV appear in the press. We can remain completely anonymous if we want to.
A movement has already started. The more people who join, the more successful it will be. The ‘Africans Getting Involved’ campaign, born at the Leicester Conference, can become a powerhouse but it won’t happen without you. For years we’ve relied on other people to do things for us. It’s time we started doing things for ourselves.
