HIAS+JCORE stands in solidarity with refugee and migrant communities after this weekend’s disturbing events in Dover and Portsmouth.
Through our own community’s history, we understand what it means to need the UK’s safety – and, at times, to face hostility on arrival. The scenes of far-right protestors dressed in black and wearing masks bring worrying echoes of darker periods of this country’s past. We will always stand with people fleeing danger today.
While we know that the compassionate majority rejects such hatred, we must also be clear that these events did not occur in a vacuum. For too long, media narratives and policy approaches have intensified a sense of “us and them”, risking further division and harming integration.
A better, fairer, and more compassionate alternative is possible. Rightful condemnation of this weekend’s events must just be the start: we now need politicians to rethink, and prioritise policy which ensures our society is safe and welcoming for all in this country.
