Solidarity with migrants and refugees!  No one is illegal!

Over the decades we have argued against immigration controls. Laws that label people “illegal” or offer them fewer rights than the rest of society because of the colour of their skin, where they were born, where their parents were born, the language they speak, their skill set, their faith, are discriminatory. We have always argued that if we concede to the need for immigration controls on one criterion, they will come for us on others.

So it is today. Despite the legislation brought in by both Tory and Labour governments, refugees and migrants have some residual rights. Now Shabana Mahmood is coming for these too, stating that refugees and migrants need to earn their right to be here, whatever they have been through. If they now deem their country of origin safe, whether or not it is (and some have been made less safe by British actions), they will be returned to start their life, work, education all over again.

These new attacks are the government’s shameful response to Reform UK’s racist rhetoric, which blames migrants and refugees for every problem. Capitalism continually creates winners and losers, and the fascists and far right endeavour to harvest the losers. The most wealthy and privileged, like Farage, exhort the impoverished and disillusioned to: “take your country back”.

Jews have heard this all before. We are a refugee and migrant people. We have suffered persecution and fought back, like the migrants of today.

We live in very dangerous times. The far right and fascists are on the rise in several countries. But it doesn’t have to be like this. The current of resistance is strong. In the Gorton and Denton by-election, the Green Party won with a big majority while Reform came in second. Labour, despite – or perhaps because of – aping Reform’s rhetoric, came a dismal third.

The Greens ran an open and confident pro-migrant, pro-refugee campaign, and proved that the way forward is to challenge racism and bigotry rather than capitulate to it. In the USA, Trump has built a paramilitary force to go into neighbourhoods and capture and deport migrants. But in Minneapolis and many other places across America, communities are fighting back, with Jewish organisations and activists standing alongside and defending their neighbours who are under attack.

Our watchwords are solidarity and equality. Our slogan, inherited from the 1970s Asian Youth Movement is: Here to stay! Here to fight!

Together Alliance Against the Far Right mass march, rally and cultural event in London

The Jewish Socialists’ Group will be marching as part of the Refugees and Migrants Bloc. We urge Jewish individuals and organisations to march with us.
Please follow our website for details of the precise meeting point.
www.jewishsocialist.org.uk