London, UK. September 2016.
2,500 lifejackets brought the sea to Parliament Square on September 19 to raise awareness for the plight of refugees. Meanwhile, the UN Summit on Refugees and Migrants began.
Full post https://medium.com/@rose.soloaga/lifejacket-london-raising-awareness-for-refugees-7df5002b346b
A sea of life jackets hid the familiar green of Parliament Square as I stepped out of Westminster Station on Monday morning. I knew what I was going to see; in fact, I was headed to see it. Yet it stopped me in my tracks, forced from me a sharp intake of breath. The people who wore these lifejackets fled for their lives, and for their families. Too many died seeking safe refuge.
These dirty lifejackets often only offer the illusion of safety. Many of them are fakes, in fact contributing to mass drownings when the non-buoyant material the jackets are made of fill with water and drag their wearers down. The production of cheap, fake lifejackets to sell to incoming refugees has become a booming business in Turkey alongside smuggling. Source: https://www.theguardian.com
Petros, a refugee from Eritrea, works as an activist for the Eritrean Community in the UK. In Eritrea, the dictatorship has enforced an indefinite period of service for youth at the age of 18. This indefinite service can mean working in hard, physical labour for the entirety of one’s life: it is a life of slavery. Because of this, he says, “The youth are fleeing. They are fleeing a life of persecution.”
He explained the importance of the demonstration on the lifejackets in getting people involved, and in raising awareness for refugees in the heart of London. Most of all, he says, refugees “need to take their rightful place in the global community.” Migrants need to find their voice.