We need bridges, not a wall in Calais

Date: 8 September 2016

In response to the UK government’s plans to build a new border wall in Calais, Alex Scrivener, campaigner at Global Justice Now, said: 

“It should shock us all that the first major action the post-Brexit government has decided to take on border control is to copy Donald Trump and build a massive wall in Calais. The EU referendum result is being erroneously interpreted as having been a vote to turn Britain into a fortress despite the fact that the numbers of people coming here from places like Syria are low.

“We need to remember that there is no ‘migrant crisis’ as such. The real crises are those of war, poverty, inequality and oppression that people are fleeing from. No matter how many walls we build, the migrant crisis can only be truly be solved by dealing with these root causes.

Theresa May needs to stop blaming ‘foreigners’ for all our problems. Indeed, migrants are net contributors to the economy. Instead of scapegoating migrants, the government should be investing in public services and work to solve, rather than exacerbate, the root causes of the crisis.” 

Photo: Paolo Cuttitta/flickr