Paddington Bear in the struggle against deportation
JVL Introduction
THE Government’s “offshoring” policy “should shame us as a nation”, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and 23 other bishops, have said.
It received a major setback yesterday when the first flight of people due to be deported to Rwanda was halted at the last minute following the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights.
Opposition to this dreadful policy is widespread as this story about dissent within the civil service shows.
And where were Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, Anneliese Dodds, Lisa Nandy, David Lammy, Jess Phillips and another 7 Labour front-benchers who didn’t sign Clive Lewis’s letter to Priti Patel, protesting about another deportation flight, to Jamaica?
This article was originally published by the Guardian on Mon 13 Jun 2022. Read the original here.
We are the civil servants who put up ‘Go home Paddington’ notices in revolt
The Rwanda deportation plan has pushed us over the edge. So we are resisting, and invite our colleagues to stand up for their principles
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This article gives me hope. Some structures of government can take positive action against xenophobic, racist policies put forward by this awful government. How much longer are people having to put up with voices from ministers defending the indefensible?
Bravo civil servants!
So hierarchical is British Society that we have built ladders into everything; class, of course, first and foremost, gender, ethnicity and now identity of the enemy of those requiring sanctuary, unless the ethnicity quotient is a significant counter-factor.
So, Ukrainians find their flag everywhere; football authorities who fined Glasgow Celtic for permitting a Palestinian flag to be waved in their ground now encourage the players to have a Ukrainian flag each as they enter the arena. Of course, Ukrainians have skin that is reassuringly white and some even have blond hair. If only Afghans were a little paler, because in other ways, they would score quite well. Yemenis don’t stand a chance: Saudis buy an awful lot of weapons!
The Government reaches for a cast-off Israeli policy – the base of a late twentieth century genocide, the most densely populated African country.
And to show that we have not lost our sense of irony, the Home Secretary forcing through the policy is the daughter of an immigrant from Uganda – just next door.
Good ‘ole Paddington.