Asylum-seekers strike for freedom
01 January 1991
Asylum-seekers strike for freedom
artdoc November=1992
Refugees throughout Europe - forced to live on the margins of
society, denied basic human rights and living in constant fear
of expulsion - are resorting to the `hunger strike' as the
only means of drawing attention to their predicament. CARF
exposes Europe's shame and argues that the refugees'
courageous protests should be put to the forefront of the
anti-racist agenda.
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On 5 June 1992, a 36-day hunger strike ended, with as little
publicity in the press or other media as when it began. It was
undertaken by 62 Kurdish men and women from Turkey, in an attempt
to persuade the Home Office to allow their families to join them,
and to draw attention to the harsh laws on family reunion. By
the end, several had had to drop out because of serious illness,
and others were suffering from headaches, dizziness and severe
stomach pains. But 13 had, by their protest, been acknowledged
as refugees, or had been given permission to bring their families
here. Several more secured an undertaking that their cases would
be reconsidered.
Since the hunger strike undertaken by 61 detainees (mainly
Tamils) on board the floating detention centre the Earl William
in 1987, such action has become an increasingly familiar form of
protest among asylum-seekers, and it is not confined to Britain.
There have been hunger strikes in France, Switzerland,
Belgium, Germany; and in Denmark last year, such an action by 900
Palestinians resulted in the Danish parliament approving a Bill
to allow them to stay.
Criminalisation
You would have thought that the media, always looking for `human
interest' stories, would have been queuing up to interview these
asylum-seekers. But no - there can be no `human interest' in
people who are not seen in human terms. If, individually,
asylum-seekers are cheats and economic migrants, en masse, they
are likened to a disaster :a `flood' to the tabloids and, to the
upmarket liberal press, a `tidal wave of misery' breaking on
Europe's shores.
Such a portrayal invites responses in terms of dams and
barriers - nobody welcomes a tidal wave. The detention and
criminalisation of asylum-seekers and the denial of basic rights
like family reunion is then justified - or tacitly accepted - in
the interest of deterring others
But this has not deterred asylum-seekers from taking
action.`It is better to die than to live in this country with no
prospect of being with my family again', said Ali T, on the 26th
day of his second hunger strike. He left his wife and four
children in Turkey when he fled the country three years ago. One
of 650,000 people tortured and imprisoned after the military coup
in 1980, he saw first-hand real solidarity from journalists
towards those fighting oppression: the Turkish authorities
arrested 400 journalists, burned 39,000 tonnes of banned books
and newspapers. 'People here must understand that it is the
oppression in Turkey that has brought us here', he said.`Can you
imagine why we would leave Turkey, such a beautiful country,
brighter, cleaner, to come and suffer here?'
Ali T was among 20 Turkish and Kurdish asylum-seekers who,
fearful for their families living under martial law,went on
hunger strike in February 1992 to protest at the Home Office's
refusal to allow their families in. Some of the men, like All
T, had been granted exceptional leave to remain'- second class
refugee status which allows family reunion only after four years.
The February hunger strike, which lasted for three weeks,
resulted in full refugee status being granted in seven cases and
in the Home Office agreeing to reconsider, or speed up considera-
tion, of most other cases. Encouraged by that success, the
second hunger strike began on I May. By then, martial law had
been lifted, but the harassment, beatings and detenti