Refugees

A Juarez Refugee Christmas

December 23, 2019 By Kent Paterson, Counterpunch.org Educate! Immigration, Mexico, Refugees

As temperatures dip near or below freezing, scores of Mexican refugees huddle in their makeshift tents of layered plastic sheeting at the foot of the Santa Fe Bridge that connects Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, with El Paso, Texas. Many small children form part of the group. No colorfully wrapped packages wait below a Christmas tree. No heart warming lyrics from mariachi singers enliven the site, though a small figurine of the Virgin of Guadalupe watches over the people who wait and wait and wait for their chance to argue a case for political asylum in the United States.

At Emotional Meeting, North Dakota Residents Talk County Officials Out Of Trumpian Plan To Ban Refugees

December 12, 2019 By Julia Conley, Commondreams.org Resist! Immigration, North Dakota, Refugees

At a standing-room-only meeting on Monday evening, residents of Burleigh Country, North Dakota, rejected a proposal that would have made the county the first in the nation to refuse entry to refugees. After hearing from more than 50 residents including recent refugees, business owners, and Indigenous people who addressed the more than 500 community members at the meeting, the county commission voted 3-2 to allow up to 25 refugees to resettle in Burleigh County in the coming year.

The New Stateless Peoples: Confronting US Culpability In The Climate Refugee Crisis

December 7, 2019 By Gwyneth Bernier, Commondreams.org Educate! Climate Change, Refugees

In light of a historically low proposed refugee resettlement ceiling, migration policy has been a central issue in the 2020 United States presidential election. However, it is rarely discussed in conjunction with climate change. When it is, politicians often erroneously conflate people fleeing the effects of global warming with opportunistic economic migrants and summarily toss them aside.

Immigrants Speak Boldly Despite Threats Of Violence

November 17, 2019 Azadeh Shahshahani, Colorlines. Resist! First Amendment, ICE, Immigrants, Refugees

Recently, an email was circulated by anti-immigrant forces saying that they intended to show up “armed” to an immigrants’ rights event at a public library in Georgia, because we as the organizers of the event had dared to challenge law enforcement and “speak [our] minds.” The majority of the speakers, including myself, were immigrants. As an outspoken immigrant who is often critical of the United States government’s policies, I have often been told to go back “instead of stirring up trouble here.” Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to aggressive and hateful speech in the course of pursuing justice. But this email escalated anti-immigrant rhetoric to threats of violence. Many immigrants and refugees have left home countries where governments restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Beyond Moral Persuasion In The Struggle For Migrant And Refugee Justice

July 23, 2019 William I. Robinson, Versobooks.com Educate! Immigration, Refugees, Repression, State Violence

The United States is currently ground zero in the war against migrants and refugees waged by the global police state. Yet, it is also central to the resistance to that war. Yet, this resistance has so far been driven mainly by a moral outrage and appeals to social justice. In this essay, William I. Robinson offers 5 thesis to considerations necessary to put forward an analysis of the political and structural forces that drive the war against migrants and refugees. The United States is currently ground zero in the war against migrants and refugees waged by the global police state.

World Refugee Day: Palestinians Keep Their Right Of Return Alive Through Hope, Resistance

June 22, 2019 Ramzy Baroud, Intrepidreport.com Resist! Nationalism, Palestine, Refugees

The United Nations’ World Refugee Day, observed annually on June 20, should not merely represent a reminder of “the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.” It should also be an opportunity for the international community to truly understand and actively work towards finding a sustainable remedy to forced displacement, for no woman, man or child should be forced to endure such grueling, shattering and humiliating experience in the first place.

‘Sea Rescues Have Been Criminalized’ As German Boat Captain Faces 20 Years In Prison For Saving Refugees

June 13, 2019 By Eoin Higgins, Commondreams.org Resist! Activists, Germany, Immigration, Italy, Migration, Refugees, Repression

A German boat captain faces a long and costly trial in Italy for charges targeting her humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees. "Italy's fascists are using this case as a showcase to deter others from aiding migrants. They would prefer to let people drown in the Mediterranean." —Rula Jebreal. Captain Pia Klemp, 35, told Basler Zeitung on June 7 that her upcoming trial in Italy for years of efforts with the civilian lifeboat "Iuventa" that saved at least 1,000 lives will take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Klemp faces up to 20 years in prison, but, she said, whether or not she ends up in jail—she would challenge any conviction in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France if necessary...

Refused Right To Seek Asylum, Honduran Refugees Demand Reparations For Destructive US Foreign Policy In Central America

December 13, 2018 By Julia Conley, Commondreams.org Resist! Central America, Honduras, Latin America, Refugees, US Imperialism

"It may seem like a lot of money to you. But it is a small sum compared to everything the United States has stolen from Honduras." A month after arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of being granted asylum in the U.S, about 100 refugees from Honduras marched to the U.S. Consulate in the border city of Tijuana on Tuesday to tell officials that they will return to home—but only if the country that's refused to observe their right to asylum pays them reparations for the destruction and destabilization its foreign policy has caused in their home country and throughout Central America.

Rohingya Refugees Seek To Create Their Own Radio Station To Change The World

November 27, 2018 Staff, Al Jazeera English Create! Myanmar, Nationalism, Racism, Radio, Refugees, Technology

In September 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar, where the military was waging a brutal offensive against them that the United Nations has described as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

Given What The U.S. Has Done To The World, It Should Be Letting All Refugees In

July 20, 2018 By Khury Peterson-Smith, Fpif.org Create! Immigration, Refugees, US Imperialism

People across the United States and around the world have been rightly outraged by U.S. federal agencies’ detention of migrants and separation of their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Shortly after, the Supreme Court’s ruled to uphold the Trump administration’s racist travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, reviving another fierce reaction to the administration’s policy toward immigrants, travelers and asylum seekers. In middle school, children in the United States learn that the three branches of the federal government are arranged with a system of “checks and balances,” so that no one branch oversteps its power and violates the rights of individuals. But now, the whole world can see that the only thing “checked” by the White House and the Supreme Court is the human right to freedom of movement. The cases are united by more than one administration’s xenophobia.

Syria Calls Refugees Home While US Imperialism Punishes The Refugees It Creates

July 19, 2018 By Danny Haiphong, Blackagendareport.com Educate! Refugees, Syria, US Imperialism

For seven years, the US ruling class has united with a broad array of vultures to suck the nation of Syria dry--of its independence, sovereignty, and oil and gas resources. Israeli, Turkish, Saudi, Qatari, and European oligarchs joined forces with the US to launch an offensive in 2011 aimed at destroying the Arab nationalist state of Syria. Jihadist mercenaries of various shades and forms invaded the nation from all directions, creating one of the greatest refugee catastrophes in human history. Yet Syria never bowed down and, although far from total victory, has been able to achieve a virtual stalemate with its imperial enemies. The US plan to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has failed, and Assad is calling Syrians back home.

Europe’s Iron Curtain: Why The Refugee Crisis Is About To Get Worse

July 16, 2018 Ramzy Baroud, Towardfreedom.org Educate! Europe, Immigration, Refugees

A recent European Council summit in Brussels was meant to articulate a united policy on the burgeoning refugees and migrant crisis. Instead, it served to highlight the bitter divisions among various European countries. Considering the gravity of the matter, Europe’s self-serving policies are set to worsen an already tragic situation. True, several European leaders, including Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, went home to speak triumphantly of a ‘great victory’, achieved through a supposedly united European position. Italy’s Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, used more derogatory terms in explaining his country’s new policy on refugees and migrants. “They will only see Italy on a postcard”, he said, referring to refugees who have been arriving in Italy with the help of humanitarian rescue boats.

America Bombs, Europe Gets The Refugees. That’s Evil

July 9, 2018 Eric Zuesse, Strategic-culture.org Educate! Bombing, Europe, Refugees, US Imperialism

The US Government (with France and a few other US allies) bombs Libya, Syria, etc.; and the US regime refuses to accept any of the resulting refugees — the burdens from which are now breaking the EU, and the EU is sinking in economic competition against America’s international corporations. America’s corporations remain blithely unscathed by not only the refugees that are breaking up the EU, but also by the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia, Iran, and other allies of governments that the US regime is trying to overthrow in its constant invasions and coups. The US Government makes proclamations such as “Assad must go!” — but by what right is the US Government involved, at all, in determining whom the leaders in Syria will be?

We Give Our Unconditional Support To A Humanitarian Zone For People Returning To Syria

July 2, 2018 Staff, Colombiasupport.net Create! Displacement, Refugees, Solidarity, Syria

Because of our painful experience of being displaced, returning, and being persecuted by our own State and Government, we feel deeply rooted solidarity with the proposal made by some Syrian refugees who are trying to establish a humanitarian zone in Syria. The zone would be located near the Lebanese frontier, so that the Syrian refugees in Lebanon could return to their country and be accompanied there by international humanitarian organizations. Our Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Colombia was founded because of the need to respond to the serious humanitarian crisis and forced displacement that our population went through in the years before 1997.

Syrian Child Refugee Choir From Canada Cancels US Trip Over Trump Policies

June 30, 2018 By Jillian D'Amours, Middleeasteye.net Educate! Canada, Children, Refugees, Syria, Trump Administration

MONTREAL, Canada - A Canadian choir composed of Syrian refugee children will not perform at an event in Washington, DC, later this week because organisers and parents feared the kids would be turned away at the US-Canada border. The Toronto-based Nai Kids Choir, composed of about 60 Syrian refugee children who have been resettled in Canada, was invited to participate in the Serenade! Choral Festival last autumn. However, Fei Tang, the choir’s founder and general manager, said her initial excitement quickly “was clouded by what was happening in the US” under the Donald Trump administration. Since taking office, the US president has repeatedly used racist and incendiary language to describe refugees and asylum seekers, and last year he imposed a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, including Syria.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 »

Daily movement news and resources