A couple of weeks ago I moved to a new country for no reason other than cultural experience. I get no transferable credits from my university course, so my time spent studying is just that, filling my time. I have the privilege to move country, to move continent, legally and without any setbacks, because I was born into a country and family with money. There are millions of people around the world without this luxury, or indeed without this necessity.
I have watched from the states as the refugee situation in Europe gets worse and worse, as images of desperate Syrian families and dying children cover the front pages of British newspapers. And I have seen ignorant comments from privileged politicians and first world citizens alike making excuses as to why we shouldn't let refugees into our country. Our country. What an ignorant, privileged position to be in that we believe that "our" chunk of earth, "our" tiny corner of the planet has been preserved and maintained entirely for the benefit of "British" people. British people are simply individuals who have been lucky enough to have been born into a society with adequate health care, democracy and education. They have no more of a right to this life than anyone else.
The situation in Calais is desperate, the situation in Syria is unimaginable, the situation in Britain is inexcusable. We need to step up as a country to show solidarity with the refugees, we need to see the refugees for what they are; humans just like us.
There are many people in the UK and across Europe who care about this situation and these people, there are many people who are trying their hardest to donate and support the work of charities and individuals in the heart of the crisis. But it is the government who need to step up. It is not enough for individuals to give their time, resources and aid; it is David Cameron and the government whose duty it is to stand up and say that Britain will help. To stand up and say that we can share what we have because we understand that it was not ours in the first place. To stand up and say that after the horrors and trauma that refugees have experienced, the least we can do is to offer hope for the future.
These are not benefit scroungers wishing to leech off the "hard earned money of us poor Britons", these are families and individuals who have been driven to extreme efforts for their survival.
Who do we think we are to say that we deserve safety and security, a roof over our heads and food in our kitchens, jobs to provide for our loved ones and education for our children but they don't? We are ignorant and blind to the lives that these people are running from.
I am aware that this will not be read by David Cameron, that the people who check in on my little blog, my friends and family, are all of the same opinion. But I needed to write this, I needed to share this. I want to be in London for the protest on September 12th, I want to help persuade the government to be compassionate and to offer Britain as a place of refuge, I want to use my little voice to shout about how we all need to get involved, to donate, support and influence. Because these are the people without voices, the nameless, faceless people who are in dire need of help. The photos circulating in the media at the moment are starting to give these people names and faces, to show their humanity, the love they have for the family, the fear they have for what they've left and what they are facing now.
These couple of weeks have been hard for me, starting from scratch, knowing no one, but I know that it is nothing in comparison to the hardship facing the refugees, leaving their lives behind to throw themselves down to the mercy of unknown lands and governments, relying on the generosity of people they have never met and who they must trust with their lives.
I got on a plane to America, my father paid for the ticket. The refugees have not had this luxury, they travel by whatever means they can find, regardless of their own safety, in the hope that they reach somewhere better. And what they reach are inhumane camps run by or ignored by immovable governments and authorities.
I don't doubt the refugees' humanity, I doubt the governments.
Britain is in a position of privilege where we have the ability to make a difference, to save people's lives and secure their future. Instead of burying our head in the sand of our own tiny problems, we must act. The fortune we were accidentally born into is now something that we must deliberately share. And all the fortunate, white, public school educated leaders of our country need to take a long hard look at their selfish, inward declaration that we should not take on "more and more refugees" and try to imagine life outside their entitled bubble. Even the Sun is urging Cameron to take on refugees.
We must act, we must help and we must take responsibility for both our part in the erosion of the societies refugees are escaping and in the rebuilding of their future.
Update: David Cameron has reluctantly agreed to take in some refugees because everyone, even the Sun, even his own back-benchers knew that he was being inhumane and ridiculous. Read the article here.
