Syria’s growing number of refugees have found some unlikely champions in the form of British actors Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. The British Hollywood stars have demanded David Cameron offers a safe haven for those fleeing from the civil war that has engulfed the country for almost three years.
Other celebrities to sign a letter demanding action from Number 10 include Monty Python star Michael Palin, fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, Firth’s wife Livia, artist Grayson Perry and actress Juliet Stevenson.
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“We’re ashamed that Britain isn’t one of them [countries “welcoming” Syrians].
Actress Emma Thompson “ashamed” of the UK
They clearly don’t understand that there is nothing temporary about refugee resettlement via the UN.
“We’ve done it before, offering temporary resettlement places to Kosovan, Bosnian and Vietnamese people in their hour of greatest need.
As for “vulnerable” Syrians, as far as I can tell they don’t mention the word Christian.
One commenter tells us what the average citizen of the UK (or USA) is thinking—-how about if you rich celebrities take care of them yourselves!
Dibber D:
I doubt they will let them live in their own properties, pay for their clothes, bills and food, until they’re ready to put THEIR own money and properties where their mouths are i would suggest they stop flapping their gums.
This story is now a couple of days old, sorry I didn’t get to it yesterday, but Britain’s conservative party leader Nigel Farage has modified his earlier call that the UK should resettle Syrian refugees and says now it should only be the Christians.
And, coincidentally, Syrian Christians are talking to the media and reporting that they are not being resettled.
Members of the general public in the UK and in the US, if they are following this issue at all, are surely saying to themselves: we watch these Muslim vs. Muslim civil wars in the Middle East and in Africa and then we are expected to resettle Muslims to the West—WTH!
Here is Yahoo.Newson Farage’s U-turn (hat tip: Joanne):
Nigel Farage has retreated from his call for the UK government to take Syrian refugees into the UK, saying that only Christians from the country should be allowed in.
The Ukip leader caused a furious backlash from his party members over the weekend after saying that David Cameron had a duty to take in Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives.
The call put him at odds with the coalition government, who are refusing to take any refugees from the country.
However, in a U-turn which will lead to accusations of bigotry, he has now said that only Christians from the country should be admitted.
He told the Jeremy Vine Show that Syrian Muslims could flee to neighbouring countries.
“It’s bad enough for Sunni and Shia. At least there are neighbouring countries that will take them,” he said.
“Where on Earth are the Christians going to go? Christians are now a seriously persecuted minority.”
While Syrian Muslims are breaking into Western countries,* Christians playing by the rules in Jordan say they are not being allowed to apply to go to the West.
Christian Syrian refugees have found temporary shelter in Jordan, but their immigration requests have been rejected by Western countries.
Some of them have spoken to the Associated Press, but want to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
One Syrian refugee said, “Everyone sold whatever they owned in Syria in order to get here, so that we could apply for visas at an embassy. We were all surprised to be rejected on the basis that there was no reason for us to go to Europe.Their reasons were all false – nothing correct in them.”
Another man said that western countries “were supposed to support us, and they were supposed to facilitate our immigration process as Christians, and I’m very sad that they haven’t.”
* Here is one more case where Turkey facilitated the movement of illegal alien Syrians who went to Turkey. The “refugees” where allowed to leave Turkey for Morocco, then on to Guinea-Bissau where corrupt officials allowed them to board a plane to Portugal on false passports. Portugal has now stopped all flights between Guinea-Bissau and their country due to the controversy.
Update: Farage drops callfor all Syrian refugees, says Christians only. Hat tip: Joanne
Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, has riled his followers by declaring it’s time to bring in the Syrian refugees. Yesterday we reported how the Syrian flow into Turkey was destabilizing that government, now the UK political party whose followers joined largely because it had declared that England was “full-up” has been shaken to its core by Farage’s declaration.
Nigel Farage has angered his followers, wants the UK to admit Syrian refugees.
Here is a bit of the Daily Mailon the story that fills my Syrian alerts today:
Nigel Farage faced a backlash from his own supporters last night after calling for Britain to admit refugees from the civil war in Syria.
Supporters of the UK Independence Party denounced their leader after Mr Farage used an interview with the BBC yesterday to call for Britain to allow those fleeing Syria to come to the UK.
He said refugees fleeing from conflicts were ‘a very different thing’ from economic migrants.
But he was attacked online by UKIP supporters – who said the country was already ‘full up’ and warned they would no longer vote for UKIP unless he changes his mind.
Mr Farage’s policy goes further than the Coalition, which has limited its help to financial support for countries taking in refugees.
The Daily Mailhas a list of on-line critics of Farage and what they said about this new position.
And, here we go again, a “conservative,” knees knocking, fearing being labeled a racist:
He did not put a figure on how many of the nine million Syrians displaced by war who should be allowed into the UK, but Labour has said Britain should accept up to 500.
Mr Farage’s intervention appeared to be an attempt to show voters that UKIP is not opposed to all immigration following months of accusations from political rivals that the party is racist.
[….]
Former shadow minister David Davis said: ‘It’s about Mr Farage trying to reposition his party so that the anti-immigration argument, which is so important to them, is not seen as a barbaric argument, so from that point of view there is a bit of political positioning going on.
“The solution is not taking a few hundred people to make us feel happier.”
My sentiments exactly! And, if the US takes 2,000 Syrians it will be for the same reason!
Fellow Conservative Andrew Brigden branded Mr Farage’s comments ‘political tokenism’.
‘These are Syrian people who want to live in Syria. The solution is not taking a few hundred people to make us feel happier,’ he said. ‘What we need is a politically-negotiated solution to this problem.’
This is an interesting bit from theTelegraph late last week. Some members of Britons black population think immigration is out of control in the UK. Emphasis is mine.
Somalis in London protest plans to stop permitting remittances to Somalia
Black History Month is all about learning. I certainly learnt something this year. I trekked across England as a panelist on the Great Debate Tour. The tour travels to university campuses through October and November and invites black and ethnic minority students to Question Time style debates on immigration, integration, voter registration and enterprise.
To hear black people opposed to immigration is nothing new.In 2011 a study by Searchlight Educational Trust found 21 per cent of black Britons believed that all immigration into the UK should be stopped permanently, or at least until the UK’s economic situation improves. The study found 17 per cent of black Britons believed immigration had been a bad thing for Britain. However, what stunned me was the anger I witnessed.
At Greenwich University, a black charity worker from East London shared his deep-seated irritation at how the local culture had been transformed by Asian and Somali immigrants: “I feel uncomfortable” he said. His candid comment led to an awkward silence. [It is not about race, it is about culture!—ed]
Immigration is the one political issue that motivates British blacks.
One concern of the Great Debate founders is that blacks are not as politically active as whites. But immigration was the one issue black people in these audiences did have a political opinion about. And black Brits are uncomfortable with it.
Photo is from this storyyou may have heard about. Banks fear that money being sent out of western countries to Somalia may end up in the hands of Islamic terrorists. These London Somalis who know how to work the system and, whose population is dramatically increasing, want the tap left open.
In a hilarious spoof on the worldwide ‘boat people’ crisis, British pensioners row to France in order to become illegal aliens and return to the UK as asylum seekers!
British pensioners row to Calais! Saul Alinsky (Obama’s instructor) once said ridicule is the most powerful political weapon, he was right and it should be used more often!
Here is a bit from the end of a post at SRI Express (hat tip: pungentpeppers):
It is exceedingly clear that the average Englishman is getting fed up with the absorption of more immigrants to the UK than the country could afford.Of late, Eastern Europeans have started to swamp London towns, as legal migrants under the EU agreements. There is a certain amount of disquiet among the British public when these latest type of migrants grab many jobs, which the British people used to do, by undercutting existing labour charges. These new groups also get preferential treatment in housing, employment, as much as in unemployment and social benefits in the UK which is causing uneasiness!
Illustrating the British general feelings of the treatment and benefits what the refugees enjoy at present, a carefully worded email is doing the rounds at present, which hit my mail box this week. The message trying to convey to the public through a picture of ‘old white pensioners’ in a boat in mid sea depicting the ‘boat people to Australia’ is somewhat hilarious and written in lighter vein, but it portrays the feelings and predicament of the UK pensioners in a rather subtle form.
The email reads as follows: “The Royal Navy intercepted three boatloads of people off the coast of Kent today. This placed the Royal Navy in an awkward position, as the boats were not heading to, but away from Kent towards France”.
“Another surprise finding was that they were loaded with British people who were all seniors of pension age. Their claim was that they were trying to get to Calais so as to be able to return to the UK as illegal immigrants and therefore be entitled to far more benefits than they were receiving as legitimate UK pensioners.”
Now to the more serious news from Calais where the asylum seeker ‘crisis’ we reported here is clearly still unresolved.
The Mayor of Calais wants to put a stop to the “squats” being aided by British Open Borders Leftists.
Calais is becoming a lawless town with ‘no security’ because of masses of migrants seeking to cross the Channel into Britain, the port’s mayor says.
Natacha Bouchart blamed British activists from the anarchist group No Bordersfor helping migrants set up illegal squats in unoccupied flats, houses and commercial property in central Calais.
The group, which campaigns for an end to immigration controls, is trying to give the migrants shelter in France before they attempt their illegal entry into the UK.
Mrs Bouchart, 50, has previously blamed Britain’s asylum and benefits system for ‘imposing’ hundreds of illegal migrants on her city.
She said the number of people trying to make it across the Channel was becoming ‘untenable’ and radical action was needed.
In a move that has caused controversy in France, she made a plea to residents to report squats used by UK-bound illegal immigrants so that they can be shut down.
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She called the dozens of squats ‘a plague which is spreading to the town centre, disturbing the peace of residents and tarnishing the town’s image’.
