The last few days have seen a growing humanitarian crisis in Europe, the likes of which have not been seen since the Second World War. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing persecution from Syria and seeking refuge in the safe havens of Western Europe, with the ideology of IS being largely to blame for this tragic situation we find ourselves in. Britain is once again being sought out by many of those refugees as a beacon of hope, even though our own Prime Minister has been criticised for describing the mass of people trying to get to the UK as 'swarms'.
For many of us, there will be a palpable sense of history repeating itself. In August 1972, Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. The ethnic cleansing of a country which had just a decade earlier been a British Protectorate meant that a significant number of those being forced to leave had British passports, and the then PM Edward Heath recognised that Britain had “moral responsibility” towards those who were legally entitled to be here. However, that acknowledgement was not enough to stop the fear that many Brits had of the nation being 'swamped' by migrants.
Such xenophobic and racist attitudes were fanned by the mainstream media. Cartoon drawings of people in turbans and saris became shorthand for Ugandan Asians, despite the fact that the number of Sikhs amongst them were minimal at best. The 27,000 new arrivals were demonised by the press, and there was a public outcry about so many immigrants coming to the UK and stretching our resources. One British local authority went as far as placing an advert in Ugandan newspapers to tell Asians not to head to their area as they simply couldn't take in any more people. Any of that sound familiar?
Since the 1970s, the successes of Ugandan Asians have been immense. From medicine to manufacturing, and from retail to financial services, this group of displaced people has made a massive impact to British society as well as to the economy. The skills that the intrepid entrepreneurs brought with them drove Ugandan Asians to excel in ways that no-one in Britain could ever have predicted at the time.
We need to look towards the Syrian refugees at our borders with a similar mindset. We have a moral duty to provide safety to those who have nowhere else to turn. Nobody is saying that we should open our borders up to everyone who wants to come here, and there are obvious concerns about the NHS and local authorities not having the necessary resources or funding to meet the needs of those who are allowed in. There are also legitimate anxieties about our continuing relationship with the EU and with immigration generally. However, there are many changes that the Government can implement to ensure that these refugees are given the opportunity to start a fresh life for themselves as soon as possible, including the fast-tracking of immigration applications and reforming the asylum process entirely.
We could all potentially benefit from the presence of Syrian refugees in ways that we simply don't know yet. Britain was willing to provide a home for our parents and grandparents, and the country has prospered from it. It's now our turn to pass this hospitality on to others and make these new arrivals feel welcome to our home.
