1 venue
2 days
800 individuals
200 + organisations
60 Volunteers
Thousands of conversations
One common purpose….
Dear Friends
We sounded a Call-to-Action and you answered our call. We came together in solidarity at The Refugee Solidarity Summit a time when our country seems to be moving towards greater division.
THANK YOU!
- For helping to make The Refugee Solidarity Summit 2020 such a fabulous event.
- For bringing your thoughts, your insights, your knowledge and your work.
- For sharing, listening, for learning and for teaching us.
- For being brave enough to be vulnerable and unafraid.
HERE is a small taster of a few pictures! More Pictures, Videos of sessions and Summit findings report to come soon!
KEY MESSAGES FROM THE SUMMIT :
Together we stated loud and clear that:
- We will not stand by and let our fellow humans be abused but will continue to stand beside people who are being directly affected by the barbaric effects of Europe’s hostile environment, whenever they ask us to.
- We will continue to bear witness to what is happening away from the public gaze.
- We will continue to campaign with those that are forcibly displaced and those in detention or facing deportation if they ask us to.
- We will not stand aside while our fellow volunteers and activists face criminalisation for their acts of humanity and solidarity.
- We will not be silenced when we witness human rights abuses and state-sanctioned violence at the borders of Europe and within our own countries.
- We will not be silent when our fellow citizens are targeted by the hostile environment within the UK.
- We will not remain quiet when governments and NGOs fail to carry out their legal duties.
For more themes that emerged from the Summit click HERE.
BIG THANKS To all our wonderful contributors, the hosts, the speakers, workshop facilitators and trainers, the Summit facilitation team, the summit volunteers – coordinated by the brilliant Indigo Volunteers. Thanks to the specific volunteers who helped in the area of website and form building, tech and administration, facilitation, photography, video capture, social media, ticket and session-registration, general welcome and orientation and much much more. Thanks also to all the holistic and creative practitioners, Yoga teachers, massage therapists, acupuncturists, facilitators, artists, performers and musicians.
SPECIAL MENTION to all our colleagues and friends who were unable to join us at the Summit, either because they couldn’t get away from their work on the ground, due to urgent circumstances or a lack of organisational capacity. Special recognition must also go to all of the individuals who were unable to join us at the summit as contributors because of the hostile nature of fortress Europe and because they do not have freedom of movement and to those colleagues who – despite our best efforts – we were unable to get Visa for due to the incredibly convoluted, complex, expensive and hostile nature of the UK visa application process. We want to go on record as stating that The UK Home Office’s travel visa requirements for people with refugee status in Europe is a clear example of the hostile and discriminatory nature of the UK’s immigration system.
THANKS ALSO to our funders – Ben & Jerry’s, Lush, Migration Exchange, Network for Social Change, Shambala Festival and to other private donors – for believing in the idea and for helping us to bring it into being.
THE SOLIDARITY SOCIAL AFTER PARTY!!!
BIG UP to the brilliant NattySpeaks who curated the evening show, to the artists and performers The Flying Seagull Project, Lyrix Organix and DJ Off Yellow, @NemiGardner, BeatFox and to the brilliant @JonFalsetto and his incredible dancers
MORE PHOTOs & VIDEOS TO COME!
We will update the website soon with videos of sessions!
WATCH THIS SPACE!!
WHAT NEXT?
There was a truly astonishing response to our call-to-action and it shows that there is a great deal of will for collective work to be done. As Maddie said in the closing discussion, “This is a mark in the sand – the beginning of something – not the end.” Let’s take the Summit and use the conversations that arose, the things we learnt and shared, and make them mean something……
We aim to publish a Summit report, drawing on everything that came up at the summit – the topics that felt most urgent and pressing- to inform future discussions and potentially lead to joint actions. We hope that the Summit and its legacy will enable us to collectively strengthen our approaches moving forward.
Before we produce this report, we are going to take a little while to reflect on all the feedback, recordings and data harvested during the Summit. We will be sharing all of the data and session videos and images with you on the website.
We want to continue the dialogue that started during the Summit, and are planning to run more events and training and workshops on the back of this, so please work with us to shape how they might look by:
Over the next few weeks and months, The summit team, supported by other individuals and organisations will be delving into all that was of the captured, the written notes, the session recordings and our feedback surveys.
HOW CAN YOU BE INVOLVED?
Staying connected by signing up to the Summit Mailing list here – SUBSCRIBE
Follow us on
Instagram @refugeesolidaritysummituk
Twitter @2020Refugee
Facebook @refugeesolidaritysummit to see the full videos of sessions and to hear of any notifications or calls-to-action or future events, campaigns, and joint actions that might arise over the coming weeks, or months, as a result of the conversations that started at the Summit.