John Merrell, Leicester
The BBC film ‘Aisha’ is about a young Nigerian woman living in Lagos whose father borrows money to pay for her uni fees, but when he is unable to repay, the debt collectors kill him and his son and sexually assault Aisha. Before Aisha and her mother abandon their house to find a hiding place, they sell most of their possessions to pay traffickers for Aisha to reach Ireland. This story is only expressed by Aisha towards the film’s ending, such is the legacy of her trauma.
At the beginning, Aisha is staying in a large, detached building converted into accommodation for asylum seekers. Her right to work enables Aisha to do part-time work in a hair and beauty salon, sending most of the money earnt back to her mother still hiding in Nigeria.
When the family with whom she is sharing a room are arrested by the Garda (police), after five years of seeking asylum and removed to a detention centre, Aisha objects. Another occupant makes a well-meant cautionary comment to Aisha: “Be careful, the authorities can take away what little you have.” This is confirmed by her subsequent transfer to a trailer park in remote countryside, which effectively ends her right to work “unless you have a car”.
Every occupant is struggling to obtain asylum and the stress arising from that struggle. For Aisha, the only person to lighten her load is a young Irish security guard, whose modest acts of kindness – unlocking the kitchen at night to enable Aisha to use the microwave to cook her halal meat – begins a supportive relationship that endures, despite Aisha becoming increasingly isolated due to further setbacks.
Those setbacks include personal loss, and the failure of her appeal against repatriation. Aisha’s life is now beset by great uncertainty. Her solicitor advises that the only course of action is an appeal to the High Court, which will take a long time to happen, and asked about its outcome, says “it could go either way.”
The film is enhanced by the excellence of the leading actors Letitia Wright and Josh O’Connor, and writer and director Frank Berry, but above all, the narrative – defiance in the face of state oppression – is inspiring, particularly to socialists to redouble our efforts to rid humanity of its capitalist chains.
