My poem Hotel Braverman was published in the Morning Star on Thursday, and you can read it online here: Hotel Braverman
It’s a poem I wish I hadn’t had to write. I wish our government would live up to its obligations under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that ‘Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.‘ Amnesty International outlines the Kafka-esque stance of this government that ‘will only consider claims for asylum in the UK made by people who are present in the UK at the time of making a claim. However, its rules make no provision for anyone to travel to the UK to make such a claim.’
Desperate people who do manage to make it to the UK, after long and dangerous journeys, are then subject to detention and trapped in a bureaucratic system waiting for their asylum claims to be determined. Many are already traumatised, having fled their homes due to persecution, torture or warfare.
I feel this injustice deeply. I’ve signed petitions, been on demos, donated to organisations supporting asylum seekers and refugees when I can, but it doesn’t feel enough. Words are my thing, and in the end I was able to write Hotel Braverman. Here are some organisations doing fantastic work to support refugees and to campaign for a humane asylum system in the U.K., in case you’re able to support them:
Hilaire 
What a punch of a poem, Hilaire. Have you thought of sending a copy to Braverman? Cx
Thanks Claire, I hadn’t thought of that but perhaps I should.