Press release
People who are concerned about the rise of hate, fear and division in our communities gathered outside the Ibis Hotel in Stevenage on Saturday 1 November for a peaceful rally. The event was organised by Stevenage Trades Union Council (TUC) in collaboration with the North Herts People’s Assembly, political parties and anti-racist groups in the area. There were short speeches, poems and music with lyrics of unity.
All the groups involved came together to oppose the scapegoating of refugees and people seeking asylum. Many speakers highlighted how growing inequality and the decimation of public services have been caused by years of austerity, not by refugees who are a tiny percentage of the UKs population.
As Mark Kerr of Stevenage TUC said in launching the event: “We believe all people have the right to live in peace. Under normal circumstances we would never demonstrate where vulnerable people are living. However, because of the shameful targeting of asylum accommodation by the far right, we are coming out together to show there is another side to Stevenage that is diverse, kind and welcoming. As trade unionists we say, ‘It’s not immigration that has wrecked the UK, it’s 14 years of austerity, cuts, and privatisation’ and that ‘We need public investment, not tax cuts for the super-rich. That means rebuilding the NHS, funding housing, and reversing the cuts, not blaming refugees and migrants.’”
Barbara, secretary of Stevenage Socialist Party, resident of Stevenage 37 years, and National Education Union (NEU) delegate to Stevenage TUC, in her speech to the rally said: “We have seen how people come together in unity when tragedy strikes. […] We live in a world full of war, poverty and inequality in which the working class and poor are made to suffer. There are no obstacles for a million-dollar migrant investor to enter the UK as a so-called ‘high-value migrant’. Instead they point their fingers at the migrants who are most desperately in need of help and refuge.”
Speakers also highlighted a report by Corporate Watch that illustrates how enormous profits are being made by sub-contracted companies off the backs of vulnerable people in the asylum system.
