Being a keynote speech by Godwyns Onwuchekwa delivered at Double Jeopardy, the LGBTI Asylum Conference held at University of Greenwich, London, July 4 -6, 2012
Thank you everyone for sharing and work so far. It’s been
two wonderful days and I have listened to some amazing reports of immense
passion, selflessness and dedication and it makes me proud.
In the words of one of the most humble work shared in a
workshop yesterday, “we are ready, we have the resources.” Thank you Lisa
Hebert from Canada for that.
The truth is I am short of words for many reasons but still,
I am optimistic.
After a very tasking one and half days, my soul is shattered,
my head grinding and my heart full of anger. Not that it is the first time or a
new experience, but each time I listen to the distressing trouble that fellow human
beings go through in the search for safety – but worse still – in the
very place they thought they would be safe, I cant but shudder and cry. My
heart was crunching fast and uncontrollably yesterday after watching “Getting
Out” which trailed the story of 5 LGBTI asylum seekers in the UK.
Thanks to Chris Dolan and his producing team of ‘Getting
Out’. I know one of the featured refugees, John Bosco and I pay tribute to him
today, and to all the others as well as many other wonderful people in this
audience that have gone, or are still going through the problematic asylum
process. My friends, you are strong and I implore you to hold on.
John Bosco who you saw in Getting Out is one of the strong
pillars of Justice for Gay Africans (JfGA)
and continues tirelessly to support other asylum seekers and his fellow
refugees even with his personal resources; time, money, energy, and all he can
afford. John is an angel. And that is what I would encourage us all here to
keep doing. No input is too little.
Without berating or ignoring the amazing work all of you do,
my wonder is, what is the way forward when we live here? For me, all the time
and even in this gathering, one thing is glaring; there is a need to push out.
Every time we come together and talk to each other and share what we do, we
also notice that one stream is not being worked at as should be or is just
difficult; the so-called mainstream.
Could we
engage the wider society more?
However, resentment of asylum seekers or refugees,
molestation, hatred, isolation, racism, and a lot of negative reaction comes
from the wider society… and you’d agree with me, even the immigration officers
we talk about are part of that mainstream. My query then is; how do we push
change to that fold?
Don’t get me wrong, I do not think it is the only way out. Just
to underline the traditional tendency in our circle that may attack this suggestions and blame proponents for speaking
of a particular missing strand as if it is the only solution. But the truth is
that for any problem, there could be various strands of a solution that cracks
it. Yes, what we do is important, and needed, but this other part is also very
important and thus must not be ignored.
But I do admit that it is not easy.
As agreed, there is no easy way to this safety that
persecuted people seek. If I may mimic how Ali Hili put it across in the drama
we watched last night, directed by Sam Rowe – thank you Sam for creatively
putting that message out, raw and real -, Ali asked, “what is the difference
between a country that torture you physically and one that do the same through
mental frustration and emotional torture?” Your guess is as good as mine.
Engaging the wider polity
And that brings us to the next issue I want to call our
attention to.
During the presentation by dear Nicole LaViolette – thanks
for that alert Nicole – we saw the conflicting decision-making going on in
Canada, once (if not still) the beacon of light on asylum and refugee. My fear
is not so much as what we’d lose in Canada, but the wrong message it would pass
to countries that are lagging behind in living up to their signatory to the
Refugee convention and other such instruments. In Britain, we are aware of the
internally raging war on the ever-changing immigration policies. What leaf
would UK borrow from Canada with such changes?
But the issue I want to point out is the political aspects
and connotations of these reforms. As is clear through history, subtle
xenophobia is always a response to economic and financial crisis. This is understandable.
Humans are competitive and when the worse appears on the horizon, survival of the fittest becomes the game.
Yet, the same history teaches us that diversity makes any
place successful. Because with diversity comes intelligence, ideas,
opportunities and genius. A cursory look at the world tells you that the most
successful and developed countries in the world – well, as far as economic and
social civilization go – are countries with a lot of diversity in them.
Yet, when you explore the origin of that diversity, it is
usually and barely linked to controlled or deliberate migration. But to those
running for safety and survival, turn the opportunity to be safe into
opportunity to succeed. And when you look at the economic landscape today, this
is etched all over it. Take for example, the famous ‘British’ store, Marks
& Spencer, was founded by a polish migrant… I will just stop there.
So what was I going to alert us to? It is that we must not be
complacent, hence narrow-focused on the issue that concerns us alone; just the
asylum process and survival of refugees. If we do so, we fail to see and work
on all other factors that influence the deplorable policies that continue to
gnarl at us.
We must be as politically savvy as we are charitably savvy.
We must engage, participate and explore. We cannot just ask governments to
change and to improve without understanding what is behind the reasons they
ignore us.
As much as we have understood their ideologies, we also need
to understand and explore other factors, including theories, pressures, worries,
and all others that make them deviate.
As we are aware, those who are not for us are also hard at
work to make sure they thwart any humane decision that is necessary for a
better society to achieve international protection, not just for LGBTI people
but for all others.
It is clear the amount of hatred and thus the amount of
pressure premised on votes and instigated through racists and economic
accusations, even through faith and indoctrinated hatred.
Today in Britain, the immigration debate is no more focused
on the immigrants from farther across the oceans but also on domestic EU
migrants.
So without engaging deeply – and I repeat, deeply – in the
political argument and the wider polity, then we will not have the opportunity
to provide answers to the very lies, fears, and of course, understandable
concerns that fuel these bad policies.
In the current economic climate, the slogan, ‘no decision
about me without me’ has become common. However, you cannot control decisions
about you if you are not in the room where it is made or be involved in the
making of it. In fact, clever influencers in the world across the ages have had
informants (or what is sometimes known as insiders)… And that is the clever way
to go at all time. But I am not suggesting informers in the criminal way or as
stealing information. But informants in the sense of being part of our world,
not just by informing policies but by also being there as they are finally
formulated, written and implemented. Because, simply put, there is nothing
wrong with being involved in every sinew that contributes to it.
As we leave here with the knowledge of the ‘double jeopardy’
that the life of majority of asylum seekers and refugees across the world are in,
it is time to ask ourselves,
- Are we seated at all the tables we need to be at?
- Do we have all the information we need?
- And can we influence the players and core policy-makers that decide our lives and environments?
- Are we involved and participating in the decision-making that finally decide our own concerns?
If the answers to these questions are no, then we would be
going far more slower, if not going nowhere slowly, in the long run.
Don’t get me wrong please, I do not want to discourage you
nor do I have any intention of discrediting the entire wonderful work we are
doing. But when the tide changes, the sailing tactics itself surely, must
change. And that is a fact.
As Nicole kindly alerted us yesterday of the developments in
Canada, in her words, “I am sceptical” she said. As for me, I am even more [sceptical].
Having been involved in local politics in the UK, I can share
with you that political discussions around issues affecting the society is
talked about and considered differently. While party politics have a lot of
input for their own success and victory at the polls, funders’ and voters’
ideas and standpoint determine a lot of how policy are shaped and put in
manifestos; it is a market.
So I will repeat, do not be discouraged. But ask yourself, we
do we need to be that we are not and how can we fill that gap. Yet, we cannot
be in those places if we do not go out and be involved. In faith groups, in our
local communities, in our local politics, in education, in business, and wherever
discussions about the general polity is had and influenced from.
Anything we can put in and however we can achieve it in a
legal means, we must not put. We must maintain the pace of what we have
achieved so, are doing but not ignore the wider society, the general polity and
this is the core of the so-called mainstream.
However you can help, whatever you can do. Remember, every
little action matters. And remember, the fear of immigration is based on false
assumption and disillusions but the truth is that, the diversity of any place
increases and improves the diversity and extent of its output. But we have to provide
these answers to those who are worried and debunk the myth that they are fed by
those who do not want to see a better human race.
I urge you to go out and take a fresh look at things and find
where else you as an individual can chip in something.
Remember, every little helps.
Godwyns Onwuchekwa
Chair/Coordinator
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