Why climate justice means migrant justice

Climate takeover — It is morally reprehensible to have a conversation about climate justice without acknowledging the issues around race and migration, writes Yvonne Blake, the co-founder of MORE.

I don’t cry often. That changed however, when I visited several young Black mothers in the Glasgow Home Office Mother and Baby unit, which houses expectant mothers and babies seeking refuge in Glasgow. This is the only one of its kind in Scotland and living conditions are horrendous – tiny rooms with inadequate ventilation.

These mothers’ crimes? Seeking refuge. For that, they are forced to welcome their babies to the world in a room akin to prison conditions. This accommodation was signed off by social services, Glasgow City Council and medical professionals. Seeing this message being sent to a Black mother and her new child was devastating.

This month leaders, delegates and activists from across the world have gathered in Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit to prevent further calamity resulting from the climate crisis. It may, on first glance, have very little to do with the Glasgow Home Office Mother and Baby unit – but that could not be further from the truth. 

It is impossible to achieve climate justice without migrant and racial justice. The climate crisis is predicated on inequality and unequal access of resources for Indigenous Black, and brown communities – coupled with the extraction, depletion and monetisation of our people, culture, lands and future.

The climate crisis forces people to migrate as sea levels rise and drought intensifies. Entire communities are displaced, leaving women and children vulnerable to gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. One invisible community in this crisis is young boys and men who are often abducted and recruited as toy soldiers.

These injustices are predicated on the systemic exploitation of communities across the Global South. Data suggests that 30 million people were displaced from their homes in 2020 due to floods, with projections from the World Bank suggesting displaced communities continue to grow.

This year has seen huge mobilisations on the streets of Glasgow in support of the rights of those housed in the city. In May, hundreds came out to block the detention of two local residents in the city’s Pollokshields area. As a city, Glasgow has a rich history of radicalism and activism but we must interrogate the colonial legacy and the systems of oppression that demonise, criminalise and ultimately fail to protect refugees and asylum seeking communities in Glasgow and internationally.

Glasgow maintains a duplicitous relation with race and equity. In the 18th century, Glasgow was the mecca of the slave trade. Its wealth, infrastructure and institutions were the spoils of the enslavement of Africans and Asian chattel slavery. Glaswegians owned enslaved people in the Caribbean while playing a significant role in the abolition movement. 

Photo credit: Ben Millar Cole

Similar themes are woven through today’s ‘immigration industrial complex’. Glasgow is the largest dispersal city for asylum seeking people. Our presence continues to serve the interest of NGOs and private companies. From landlords who bank huge sums of money by renting out miserable accommodation to asylum seeking communities to employment created in the “white charity” model – the extraction continues. 

People on the streets are welcoming, yet those in positions of power in charities are more interested in monetisation of pain as opposed to listening to us. This is unsurprising given the lack of diversity across the sector. Migrant communities arguably hit the hardest are often excluded from conversations and organising.

As a Black woman with lived asylum and immigration experience, my perspective is often ignored, while Europeans are treated as the experts. In 2018, I co-founded MORE, a grassroots migrant led organisation founded as an alternative to the charity and paternalistic model which relegates us to service users and deliberately creates barriers to ensure that we remain perpetual service users. We campaign for asylum seeking people’s access to employment, education, decent housing and dignity.

We run educational workshops and campaign around many issues related to the treatment of migrants, run a cycle club to ensure our community has access to the outdoors and deliver shopping and a stipend to shielding families.

It is morally reprehensible to have a conversation about climate justice without acknowledging the issues around race and migration. The climate crisis is an inevitable consequence of resource extraction from the Global South to meet international demand for fossil fuels. We can’t separate climate change from conversations relating to the racial wealth gap, or the imposition of crippling taxes by wealthy nations for independence. These barriers, just like failing to curb carbon emissions, all involve displacing people or limiting their access to basic infrastructure, employment, housing and education. 

We hear the Global North’s deafening silence on Global South reparations demands. Individuals of former colonies face insurmountable obstacles due to inequity and power imbalances in the international monetary policies which benefit the Global North, while continuing to pillage and rape the Global South. The UK Home Office’s migration and asylum policies strips Black and brown people of our identity and restrict our access to employment and education.

Continuing to ignore the rights of climate refugees will have devastating consequences. One of MORE’s demands during COP is for the legal protection and recognition of climate refugees, endorsed by charities such as Friends of the Earth. At present, the legal status of climate refugees is far less clear than of those fleeing conflict or persecution. 

We are not expecting changes from COP negotiations as Migrant right activists and communities. We are reframing the narrative, ensuring indigenous and migrant perspectives are at the forefront of conversations about climate change throughout the People’s Summit. On Saturday at the Global Day of Action, I marched alongside people from Uganda, Brazil and Indigenous people from Colombia to share the message that climate justice is racial justice.

A radical shift is required in the climate discussion which must begin at the top. Climate justice movements need to collaborate with migrant organisations, hire more diverse candidates and listen to their voices. We can only achieve true climate justice when the conversations and solutions are reframed and viewed through a Racial Justice and human rights lens. Solutions must be embedded in reparative justice and sustainability of the Global South.

The world is watching: it’s our chance to help people in power understand that the climate crisis has a human cost.

To support individuals affected by the hostile environment donate to the Crowdfunder organised by Yvonne.

COP26 takes place between 31 October – 12 November 2021. Keep an eye on Huck’s live coverage of COP on our Twitter and Instagram, and read more about our climate takeover here


Ad

Latest on Huck

Elderly man with glasses, white hair, and suit; young woman with long brown hair playing electric guitar on stage in green jacket.
Activism

Bernie Sanders introduces Clairo at Coachella, urging young Americans to “stand up for justice”

Coachella charmed — The Vermont Senator praised the singer-songwriter for her efforts in raising awareness of women’s rights issues and Gaza.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Vans

The Changing Face Of Brooklyn, New York’s Most Colourful Borough

After three decades spent capturing stories around the world, Magnum Photographer Alex Webb finally decided to return home to Brooklyn – a place that champions chaos, diversity and community spirit.

Written by: Alex Webb / Magnum Photos

Black and white image of subway carriage interior with sleeping man seated on bench
Culture

The mundane bliss of New York’s subways in the ’70s

NYC Passengers 1976-1981 — During a very different decade in NYC, which bounced between rich creativity and sketchiness, photographer Joni Sternbach captured the idiosyncratic isolation found on its rail networks.

Written by: Miss Rosen

A man playing a guitar whilst a horse stands beside him in a rocky, moonlit landscape.
Music

Analogue Appreciation: lullahush

Ithaca — In an ever more digital, online world, we ask our favourite artists about their most cherished pieces of physical culture. Today, it’s Irish retro-futurist lullahush.

Written by: lullahush

Two people of unidentified gender intimately embracing and kissing on a bed.
Culture

Spyros Rennt captures connection and tenderness among Berlin’s queer youth

Intertwined — In the Greek photographer’s fourth photobook, he lays out spreads of togetherness among his friends and the German capital’s LGBTQ+ party scene.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Surfers against sewage protest box floating in water with people swimming around it.
© Alex Brown / Surfers Against Sewage
Sport

The rebellious roots of Cornwall’s surfing scene

100 years of waveriding — Despite past attempts to ban the sport from beaches, surfers have remained as integral, conservationist presences in England’s southwestern tip. A new exhibition in Falmouth traces its long history in the area.

Written by: Ella Glossop

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to informed with the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, featuring personal takes on the state of media and pop culture from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.