The Tory policy to house refugees on a barge stirs up alarming racism in Dorset, but local people are also responding with anti-racist activity and solidarity, reports Pete Stevenson

Racism is alive in the West Country and an alarming example is the reception given to the 560 refugees about to be placed on the Bibby Stockholm barge off the coast of Portland, Dorset. Racist groups, aided by the tabloid press and local television and radio, are organising to challenge the rights of refugees to settle in the UK. However, groups of local residents are resisting by providing support.

Care4Calais and Stand Up to Racism are working with lawyers to block the entry of refugees from boarding the barge which has been described as ‘a cramped, floating prison’. Steve Smith, chief executive of Care4Calais, states that refugees have often experienced appalling trauma in escaping bombing, violence, slavery and persecution, travelling for thousands of miles in the hope of finding peace. Journeys in flimsy boats too often result in drownings and now, bewildered and distressed, they face a year-long wait on a barge, while their applications are processed by a woefully inefficient government system. The backlog currently stands at 170,000 and it grows daily.

For a refugee who has endured a traumatic journey by boat, feeling trapped on the crowded barge, which could become a detention centre, is likely to revive horrifying memories. Seven small boats arrived earlier this week containing 339 migrants.

Refugees should be rebuilding their lives in communities, not trapped in barges and barracks with the additional threat of being flown to Rwanda. That is why anti-racist groups are preparing legal challenges to stop refugees from boarding the barge.

Racism is helpful to right-wing governments as it acts as a distraction from the appalling greed of the super-rich, the immorality of fuelling wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Yemin, and the daily strain of the cost-of-living crisis.

Racists, who may soon aim to become town counsellors, argue that the arrival of refugees will have a detrimental impact on local services such as doctors’ waiting lists. Anti-racists rightfully point instead to the chronic government underfunding of the health service, which impacts on all local residents.

It has been impressive to see those, who have never previously been involved in political action, bravely challenging the racists with the values of compassion and inclusion. Solidarity with Refugees – West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland has produced welcome packages with food, toiletries and special home-made cards giving details of support agencies. Children have been involved in designing and making the cards.

One racist chanted: ‘These people are not wanted. They will bring violence to our town and should not be given three meals a day in luxury!’

Establishment complicity

It is alarming to note the platform that such attitudes have been given by local TV and radio stations. The online abuse has been particularly appalling, with a recent campaign to threaten with violence any business that employs refugees.

Care4Calais challenges the view that refugees are living in luxury – a view voiced on the local BBC media, which recently quoted a Home Office official stating that living on the barge would hasten asylum applications. Care4Calais states that this is a myth – a trick to prompt refugees to enter the barge. Refugees are given access to a shuttle bus into town and £9.40 per week.

Racism is central to the Tories’ management of refugees. They claim that it is illegal to claim asylum, which it is not, and in closing most safe routes to the UK, they insist that refugees must be resident here in order to make their asylum claim, therefore encouraging frightened people to risk their lives. The government argues, without evidence, that the barge will be a deterrent to migrants arriving in the UK.

It is impressive to see local people standing up to the racists. Hear Me Out is a local group that supports choirs who raise money and awareness for refugees, and the broad-left group Dorset Socialists is also active along with unions such as NEU. Stand Up to Racism organises meetings across Dorset and will provide speakers, information and opportunities to make financial donations.

Pete Stevenson is an anti-racist activist, a member of the NEU and teaches the values of equality and diversity in schools across the West Country, through creative projects.