Monday, February 20 was the first national day of action across the UK under the banner of #1DayWithoutUs. Migrant workers withdrew labour to demonstrate the contribution that they make to our society – an issue that mainstream media have consistently overlooked and ignored. On the same day, we celebrated the UN World Day of Social Justice, and nationwide, events were planned in support. This became a day to recognise and celebrate the contributions of migrants in our communities.
It turned out to be a massively positive day for migrants – and an interesting debut for me as Social Justice Co-ordinator for Justice and Peace Scotland. I hadn’t imagined I’d be speaking in Glasgow’s George Square quite so soon in this job. But when I heard the words “If there is anyone here representing any groups or organisations, or who has worked with migrants please come and let us know as we would like to have as many speakers as possible,” shuddered, and then obeyed.
When we were considering our response to the event at the Justice and Peace Scotland office, we considered closing up in support of those who had withdrawn their labour for the day. But that didn’t seem like the best option. Instead we got busy. Emails and tweets went out to supporters, followers, and diocesan groups. We invited people to seek out local events in their area, to join in the nationwide twitter-storm at 1pm, or to join us in George Square, Glasgow.
On the day we rolled out the Justice and Peace banner, and made some placards with one simple message: migrants are welcome here and are a valued part of our society. We had no idea what response our emails would get. Would it be just the two of us from the office? In the end around 20 people stood behind the Justice and Peace banner, with Motherwell and Galloway adding their banners to ours. I confess that we were all upstaged by the banner included in photos below – only Glasgow could produce one interpreting aliens quite that way and get away with it.
Being among the first to arrive, the crowd seemed to form around us. This meant our banner became the centre piece in much of the media coverage. I think this can only be a good thing - our presence there was an unapologetic expression of our faith, which demands that we welcome the stranger and love our neighbour.
When I was given the mic (with about 5 minutes to prepare) I could only share my story as an adoptive Glaswegian of six weeks standing, the welcome I had received, and the joy I get from hearing about the work done by different Justice and Peace groups around Scotland. I also shared my experiences working with asylum seekers, and a visit I made to the Calais refugee camps that I wrote about in this space earlier this year.
I also reminded people what I had seen happen since: the refusal by the government to fulfil its promise to accept unaccompanied children to the UK. Then there was their profiling of children by gender, age, and country of origin, as if somehow being from Syria or Sudan makes a 15-year-old more or less vulnerable to human trafficking while abandoned in Europe than being from Eritrea, or Iraq.
Other speeches were made by Glaswegians with roots, and by families from across the globe. We heard letters of welcome from the Refugweegee campaign, and Carol Clarke, former Communications and Campaigns Officer with Justice and Peace and Margaret Donnelly Galloway representative for Justice and Peace spoke about the situation in Dungavel, and the work done to support detainees and their families. The rain held off, and at moments the sun came out as we stood witness to all that our country gains from migration.
Danny Sweeney is the Social Justice Co-ordinator for Justice and Peace Scotland, and a migrant from England.
More information about #1DayWithoutUs events can be found at :
http://www.1daywithoutus.org/
For the Glasgow based Refuweegee campaign see their website :
https://refuweegee.co.uk/
For more photos and live tweets from the Glasgow demo please see @JandPScotland, or #1DayWithoutUs