Suella Braverman: #IStandWithJoan 

Stop scapegoating refugees, start helping them

Holocaust Survivor Joan Salter confronted the Home Secretary Suella Braverman to say: your words have consequences. Millions have watched and applauded her bravery, as Braverman refused to apologise. 

If you stand with Joan, sign her open letter to Suella Braverman now. It is up to all of us who care about refugees to follow Joan’s example by standing up for refugees and torture survivors. 

Even if ministers do not care about us, we must show that we do care about one another.

Sign the open letter and stand with Joan


To Suella Braverman,

In 1943 I fled the Nazis and if not for the accident of birth, it could have been you. 

On Friday I asked you why you used language to demonise refugees like me. I explained that when you talk about “swarms” and “an invasion” you dehumanise people simply seeking safety. You refused to apologise.

It was the kindness of strangers that helped me to build my life here. I know most people in this country want refugees to be treated with dignity.

People continue to flee to the UK in search of safety just as I did. Yet right now the majority of refugees and torture survivors don’t have any safe route to enter the UK. 

So just as I did, they use dangerous seas and make their way by any means possible - yet rather than try to understand them, you demonise them.

You can address this issue now. As a Holocaust survivor, I ask you to:

- Stop dehumanising and scapegoating human beings when you speak. Words have consequences and as Home Secretary yours have grave ones.

- Start providing safe routes for refugees and commit to never punish refugees who take dangerous routes. These people are human beings like me and you and for too long this dehumanising language has been used  to distract from the real solutions to their suffering.

The UN Convention on Refugees was put in place after the Holocaust to help people like me find safety. We must honour that today.

As millions watch and support me in sharing my story, I am struck by the kindness of strangers that helped me all those years ago. Wherever refugees travel to this country from - and however they travel - I ask that they receive the same kindness.

Joan Salter

 

 

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