Last week I saw the news that the United Kingdom and other European countries had suspended the asylum applications of Syrians. I was disgusted but thought that I must have missed something. I took 24 hours to reflect and concluded that I hadn’t missed anything. This is just another example of Western imperial evil.
The UK aided the US’s Operation Timber Sycamore in which the CIA and partners armed and trained jihadi groups opposed to Assad’s regime of terror and repression. Jihadi groups were the exact reason why, only ten years earlier, we commenced the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a spinoff of Al Qaeda, which is responsible for 9/11. But we were willing to forget about that to go ahead with a new round of regime change.
Now, whilst our government is supporting this genocide against Palestinians and with Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah preoccupied with conflict, Assad’s rule has been put to an end in a situation we fuelled, gross uncertainty takes over Syria, and our government is quick to tell Syrians that they are not welcome in the UK. What a diabolical chain of crimes.
Tory versus Labour – what is the difference? They are two sides of a corporate, racist state that inherited the supremacist mindset of the British Empire. The Tories put forward a brown face to chant “stop the boats” for a year and half before white supremacist mobs rampaged through the country beating people up, setting fire to an asylum seeker hotel, and, of course, chanting “stop the boats”. Labour has given us a more familiar face of racism – a white man telling us that ‘people coming from countries like Bangladesh’ need to be removed, purging his own party in a racialised way, and now telling us that people from a torture state, escaping a war that we inflamed, cannot seek refuge here.
Is this any different to Trump’s “Muslim and refugee ban”, enacted after decades of US assaults on the Muslim world? Why do we get to apathetically decide which Arabs live or die after we supplied the bombs that made them seek refuge? Then we have Netanyahu publicly warning that ‘what happened to the previous regime will happen to this one too’ if it threatens Israel – a brazen admission that Israel played a role in toppling Assad’s regime and a threat to do so again.
We caused this chaos. We are directly responsible for this so we have a particular responsibility to step up and do the obvious, right thing. Even if we didn’t cause this, we should be welcoming people who need support. How can we refuse to help people who need the most basic things? How can we deny people roofs over their heads, sustenance, opportunity, and a loving embrace? What has happened to us?
Analysts have spoken about how this is reminiscent of the so-called “refugee crisis” or “migrant crisis” that led to Brexit. They warn of similar large-scale migration leading to domestic upheaval as if the only thing that mattered about people being murdered, mutilated, gassed by their own leader were the demographic implications in white-majority countries. The biggest crisis I see here is the inability of Western countries to look at the non-white world with humanity, to recognise themselves in the eyes of suffering people with brown or black skin. Empire in practice if not on paper.
People are also quick to point out, in a similar vein, the fact that the UK is already in economic decline and we should be getting immigration under control so that we can look after “our own”. These far-right talking points betray how mainstreamed in our politics and society fascism has become. There is no “our own”; what is meant by that is white Brits. Do we sort white Brits into Angles, Saxons, Normans, and Celts? We do not, but we do sort Brits of colour. The 2021 UK Census contained 19 ways to taxonomise human beings according to race, a genocidal pseudoscience. There are five categories of white people, one of which is as broad as “White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”. There are, apparently, five types of Asians, three types of Black people, and four types of mixed people. Perhaps if we didn’t differentiate between human beings, we wouldn’t bomb, starve, then refuse shelter to the human beings that look a little different from us.
The government must reverse this inhumane decision. We are not far off of Austria’s atrocious plan to deport Syrians. When was the vote to ban Syrians from seeking refuge in the UK? Not only is this decision inhumane, it may be at odds with our requirements under international law — asylum is a fundamental right and an international obligation as recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees.
I want as many Syrians, who want to come to the UK, to come to the UK. Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese, Congolese, Sudanese — everyone who needs support and affirmation of life and humanity, you are welcome here. As a Hindu I think of the ancient mantra atithidevo bhava (“be one for whom the guest is god”), invoking our culture’s famous host-guest relationship to reframe how we should be thinking about other people. As another ancient Hindu concept, vasudhaiva kutumbakam, clarifies, the world is one family.
If you are a British citizen or UK resident, please sign this petition to reverse the government’s decision to “suspend” asylum applications from Syrians: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/710061/sponsors/new?token=xJJiFnWia5Mzjg3A5NJw
The text of the petition (not visible in the link above) is as follows:
Reverse the government’s decision to suspend asylum applications from Syrians.
This decision is inhumane and may be at odds with our requirements under international law —–asylum is a fundamental right and an international obligation as recognised in the 1951 Geneva Convention on the protection of refugees. There was also no domestic mandate (no vote) for this decision.
The UK aided the US’s Operation Timber Sycamore in which the CIA and partners armed and trained jihadi groups opposed to Assad’s regime. Now, with Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah preoccupied with conflict, Assad’s rule is put to an end in a situation we fuelled, uncertainty grips Syria, and our government is quick to tell Syrians that they are not welcome in the UK. This is immoral. We contributed to this chaos; for that reason, and out of basic compassion, we must welcome Syrian asylum seekers.
Rajiv Sinha
Director | Hindus for Human Rights UK
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Rajiv Sinha
Rajiv is director of Hindus for Human Rights UK, an advocacy group working against Hindutva (Hindu nationalism/supremacy) and caste. He also campaigns against imperialism, fascism, and racism, centring on Palestinian and other liberation movements as well as domestic crises highlighted by the UK’s recent racist pogroms. Rajiv stood as a candidate in the 2024 general election, London Assembly elections, and two local council elections. He ran on a platform of equality, climate, and anti-capitalism. He completed his Masters’ in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Stanford University, writing his thesis on the ways that Putin’s regime manipulates and erases the history of Ukrainian nationhood to justify his war.
#SyriansAreWelcomeHere #LiftTheSyrianBan #WelcomeAsylumSeekers #RefugeesAreWelcomeHere #AtithiDevoBhava #WelcomeGuestLikeGod
Banner: LONDON, UK – Winter lights at Canary Wharf, includes political works too such as silhouettes of refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict by Alaa Minawi. BBA Photography, Shutterstock
