July 2024 Newsletter
Dear supporters,
It’s still meant to be Summer (apparently), and we have a new Government in power. So much has been triggered by this significant change by our duly elected politicians- emotions, new campaigns, ideas and importantly our demands to make a meaningful change to our immigration systems (see below).
We have celebrated with caution the scrapping of the Rwanda plan- it was always an immoral and inhumane scheme, and has created so much mental anguish and uncertainty amongst our community members. Our apprehension with what comes next hasn’t been unreasonable with the new Government’s plan to create a Border Security Command that uses ‘counter-terrorism style tactics’ to tackle smuggling ‘gangs’. We don’t know how many times to say this but the way to remove any risks from smugglers is to create ‘safe routes for all’.
There will be a long queue at the Home Secretary’s door eager to build relationships, and put their pragmatic ideas at the top of the in-tray. We urge everyone who sits in that office to think about how our current borders and systems punish People of Colour and those from the Global majority, and how they can break the cycle of punishment.
And in other news, we have been busy putting our efforts in celebrating Pride as a protest, and thinking deeply about what home should mean as part of Refugee Week.
As always, thank you for your support. We are really keen to grow the MRN community, and we’d love it if you could share the newsletter with just one person in your contacts.
In solidarity,
The MRN Team
To read more of this month’s newsletter, click here.