PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2015 :: RMTnews 21 President’s column Recently I attended a meeting titled ‘Let Them In’ organised by Lambeth Trades Council to address the issues of refugees and what we can do to help them. There were various speakers from trade unions and support groups. Before I spoke, I looked up The Geneva Convention’s definition of refugees, and I make no apologies for quoting it in full:- “a person who is outside their home country of citizenship because they have well founded grounds for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home country or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country; or in the case of not having a nationality and being outside their country of former habitual residence as a result of such event, is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to their country of former habitual residence”. There are other parts to it, but the thing that stands out to me is the continual use of the word fear. The fear that they are going through is unimaginable to us secure in our relatively free society. What type of fear drives people to leave their homes, and cross dangerous terrains, with horrific dangers, to arrive in a country that is totally alien to them? The answer is torture, persecution, rape, discrimination, and the most prevalent danger of them all, war. Wars that have very little to do with them over issues that ordinary people have no conception of that see the terrifying bombing of their homes and villages. I moan about the noise on November 5, people jump at the sound of a car backfiring. But can you imagine the noise of modern bombs going off, so called Earth busters? Bombs going off with no warning? Such is modern warfare, people suffering terribly, while inevitably arms manufacturers make massive profits. Over the years there have been many refugees. There have been refugees from Tsarist terror in Russia, Jews fleeing persecution, refugees from the Vietnam War and, of course, refugees from Palestine and the Middle East. On and on it goes, and governments just sit there doing as little as possible or paying lip service to helping. There are nearly twenty million refugees worldwide today. Their situation is desperate. We should be opening our arms to all of them. There is room, there are reckoned to be over five million houses empty across Europe. We could also occupy the houses of the uber rich, the people who pay obscene prices for houses but never live in them. They just buy them with a hope to selling on at enormous profits. The far-right peddles scare stories saying that terrorists will come over under cover of being refugees. What about the terrorists, or western governments as they are better known, who have bombed hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens in the name of “freedom”? They are the root cause of the problem. There are only four thousand refugees in Calais, terrified people who are taking desperate risks, to help themselves and their children. We should welcome our fellow members of the human family with open arms and we should do it now. I was going to say they are the same as us, but they’re not, they are people who have suffered beyond anything that we’d ever known. Suffering from austerity here is terrible, but nothing to what they are going through 24 hours a day, every day of their lives. Peter Pinkney LET THEM IN involved with the RBF a few years ago when as a staff supporter he became aware of some of the hardships suffered by his fellow workers due to various life changing events such as bereavements, long term illness and family breakdowns resulting from such events. Ronnie became active in the promotion of the RBF within the Merseyrail network with the support of the HR director at Merseyrail Jane English who is a board director with the charity. As a result donations from salaries have increased significantly and the organisation is constantly looking at fundraising opportunities and has an active Merseyside committee. At the recent station grades conference in Cardiff Ronnie was given the opportunity to speak to delegates about the RBF and was surprised to discover how little if anything members knew about the charity. The invaluable assistance offered by the charity can be seen in the testaments from people who have benefited from the charity on the RBF website www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk. Please take the opportunity to look at the work of the charity, suggest fundraising to your local branch, or donate to the fund in order that it can continue to support our railway colleagues. Donations no matter how small are greatly appreciated and needed more than ever. If any of the branches would like further information Ronnie is happy to be contacted on 07595270699. FIRST Check out the charity’s website for factsheets and other information www.railwaybenefitfund.org.uk THEN Call the RBF office on 01270 251316 or email welfare@railwaybenefitfund.org.uk How to get help