A message from our CEO, Fizza Qureshi:
On Friday 19 April, we held our Celebrating Migrant Justice Event at Pelican House.
It’s important to acknowledge the state of migrant justice in 2024 and the context in which we held this event. As genocides unfold, and as refugees are being created across the world, we are witnessing a widespread militarisation of borders and increasing of hostile, racist immigration systems. This hasn’t come out of nowhere unlike what some may believe, it’s part of a long racist history in the UK which seeks to control and limit the movement of People of Colour. Right now, we are witnessing the horrors of the UK’s inhumane Migration Act, the Rwanda Bill, and the forcing of migrants, including asylum seekers, into cruel accommodation like the Bibby Stockholm or disused military bases. We’re also seeing the use of oppressive technology at borders that harvest migrants’ data: from the use of drones at borders here and across Europe, to the Home Office’s development of a ‘Biometric Matcher’ platform, which will allow police and immigration officers to conduct biometric searches across fingerprints and facial scans held on a vast joint database. All of this signals further attacks on, and the policing of, marginalised people, including People of Colour.
For too long, migration has been looked at as a siloed issue. The migration advocacy sector has not worked enough with racial justice movements or LGBTQ+ movements: it isn’t good enough, and to be honest, it was never good enough. We’re pushing for a more intersectional, anti-racist approach. It isn’t just migrants rights under attack: we’re seeing attacks on Muslims and queer people, including trans people.
We are no longer content to call for tweaks or reforms to a system that was never designed to serve marginalised people. Reforms that appeal to a harmful and historically exclusionary system do not address the extractive and exploitative relationship between the economies of the Global South and the former colonial powers. That’s why we’re calling for decolonisation: we must identify and acknowledge how colonialism has created the conditions for contemporary migration and/or displacement, and how it forms the basis of oppressive structures, including immigration systems.
Migrant justice is inherently about decolonising and abolition. Migrant justice is racial justice, is the fight against Islamophobia and Antisemitism, is the fight for queer justice (including liberation for trans and non-binary people), is the fight against climate change, is the fight against patriarchy, imperialism and capitalism. In 2024 and beyond, that’s the approach we’re committed to. We will always speak up for those harmed by oppressive systems. We want to create a world where everyone is free to move, but also a world where no one is forced to move.
I want to express my huge appreciation for all those who attended our Celebrating Migrant Justice event. To all our special guests- Anthony Anaxagorou, Canab Cuud, Rez Kabir, and Grainne Maguire- to all MRN staff and Pelican colleagues, to all our families and friends who showed up, thank you for making our event such a meaningful and beautiful celebration of our migration histories and backgrounds. We made new friends, learnt new cultural dances, enjoyed good food, and showed each solidarity in these dire times. There is hope that we can overcome collectively, and without compromising our values. We would love to see what futures we can create with those that joined us.
Photos by Ali Khadr @beardvoyage (IG)
