Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Mumsnet campaigns

For more information on Mumsnet Campaigns, check our our Campaigns hub.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

MNHQ

Refugee crisis: please take our survey to let us know where you stand

313 replies

SarahMumsnet · 03/09/2015 16:30

Good afternoon, everyone.

Many of you will have seen the thread started by Theremustbesomething suggesting that Mumsnet consider campaigning for the government to change its policy towards asylum seekers fleeing from war zones.

Justine posted this morning to say that "we think that the best way forward is to poll all users to gauge support for this. While it's clear from this thread that many feel extremely passionately about the need to do more, we've had a look at other threads on the subject, and there are a range of views. As a rule we don't campaign for political change unless we're clear that it's something that a substantial majority of Mumsnetters support, so we'd need to be sure of that before committing to an 'official' campaign."

We've now set up the poll; you can fill it in here. We'd be grateful if as many of you as possible could take it, to let us know your views. We'll make sure this thread is prominently displayed across the site.

Thanks very much,
MNHQ

OP posts:
RockNRollNerd · 03/09/2015 23:51

I'm not sure why it's being limited to the Mediterranean? The scenes in Hungary and Czech Republic are chilling and whilst there isn't a headline 'visual soundbite' in terms of a drowned toddler there are just as many desperate people in Eastern Europe facing extremely hostile conditions.

afussyphase · 04/09/2015 00:10

Supporting! I did the poll, signed some petitions, wrote to my MP and will donate through some of the above links too.

afussyphase · 04/09/2015 00:13

(wrong thread!). but most parents would do exactly what the refugees are doing -- try anything they could to let their children survive. but for the luck of our births that could be us, those could be our families.

ArgentinianMalbec · 04/09/2015 00:26

Done, fully support mumsnet putting their name to this.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 04/09/2015 00:50

Done - totally support anyone getting involved and making sure there are no more of those heartrending photos, because there should be no more drowned children.

Outrageous that it got this far. :(

I'm signing petitions and donating funds because there's not much else I can do from here - but I support anyone being humane towards these humans.

sleeponeday · 04/09/2015 01:37

Done. I so hope that lots of people are on board with this.

Lweji · 04/09/2015 02:36

Taking a political stance is nothing new for this site and I support it

More than that, it's a humanitarian stance.

1Q84 · 04/09/2015 02:54

The survey is worthless unless it is more specific - what is meant by 'allow more asylum seekers to settle in the UK?' are you campaigning for 10'000? 100'000? 1'000'000? For just this year? Forever? For just this crisis - for the crisis next year? For the famine in 10 years time?

You cannot hope to have an serious understanding of what people who use mumsnet unless you develop a far more rigorous survey. The survey liked too is completely without meaning.

grannycake · 04/09/2015 05:38

Done

3littlebadgers · 04/09/2015 06:27

Done and I'm 100% in support. I cannot imagine the heartache of those fathers and mothers having to watch their children die because they are running out of options to help them survive, and I say that as a mother who has lost a child. The difference being my baby was tucked up with me, no one made her life a living hell, she died in peace and yet it still I feel her loss like nothing else. I can't even bare to think of what it is like for them.
To me this is about us reaching out to people in the most desperate of needs, to give them hope when there is nothing else left. If we stand together our voices have more power and at least they will know we care.

errorofjudgement · 04/09/2015 06:38

Done. But I think the questions are too simplistic.
I wouldn't want a yes I support doing more to help the refugees to be interpreted as let's have open borders and allow hundreds of thousands of refugees to settle in the uk- especially when this isn't the first 'safe' country they enter.

goblinhat · 04/09/2015 06:50

But with potentially 11 million Syrians, 10 million more refugees from other middle Eastern countries- and most European countries with limits on intake numbers are some suggesting that we take all refugees who need a home?
To potentially take up to 20 million displaced people into our country?

JumpRope · 04/09/2015 07:14

Why don't we just take as many as we can.

goblinhat · 04/09/2015 07:17

How many would that be jumprope? And who would you even trust to say what that number is?

We have families struggling in the UK, living from food banks.
How many refugees would our schools, social housing and benefits system and NHS cope with ? A million? Five million?

Lweji · 04/09/2015 07:19

And in fact most people don't wsnt to or can't leave their homes.
The ultimate solution is not to have a war for them to run from.
Not easy, but at least maybe this crisis will push countries to actually do something, anything to end with the abuse in Syria and elsewhere.

BertrandRussell · 04/09/2015 08:04

I'm quite nervous about this. I will feel very differently about mumsnet if the decision is not to back this campaign.

Lweji · 04/09/2015 08:08

Remember that it's not if it's a worthy cause, but whether MN should be active about it.
And even if the no wins, that quite a large percentage says yes. And remember it's not a randomised, properly representative, poll. It's just for those who saw the survey and want to answer it.

SirChenjin · 04/09/2015 08:09

That's interesting Bertrand - I will feel differently if the decision is to back the campaign.

Robertaquimby · 04/09/2015 08:11

Bertand Me too. Do we know how long the poll is running for?

bec232 · 04/09/2015 08:14

Done

atticusclaw2 · 04/09/2015 08:19

I doubt there is a single person using MN who would agree that it is fine that children are caught up in this terrible crisis. I doubt there is a single person who didn't feel their heart break when they saw that dreadful photo. I doubt there is a single person who hasn't thought they should/could do something to help in some way.

But what exactly is this campaign going to be? Is MN lobbying for aid for those in calais living in camps? the funding of ships in the med? money for Turkey which is the first port of call? money to bomb "isis" so that the syrians can go back home? money to supply arms to those who want to stay in syria but need to defend themselves?

Where do we take those we rescue? Do they come here? Do we have limits on those coming here? Do we reduce the number of other refugees coming here because we are taking more from the med? Do we take all comers or only those with children? If we take those with children does that send a message to other families to make the journey and put their children's lives at risk? Do we give them housing, clothing, food, money when they arrive? How much exactly? For how long? Where does it come from? Do we build more housing for them? Where? Do we prioritise their housing needs over UK citizens or do we set up refugee camps in the UK? Do we put a limit on the number coming in? If so there are a whole lot of young single males first in the queue. Or do we push the young males aside to make room for the families that will come? What do we do when we reach that limit and they are still coming and there are still catastrophes every day? Do we close the borders again? Do we divert money from other countries where we are sending aid to deal with this crisis or do we just increase our aid budget? If we increase the aid budget where do we make the cuts elsewhere in the country to take that money from?

What are we campaigning for?

It really isn't simple and however you look at it, it's a political issue. Its certainly not something where you can take an established group of many thousands of users and say we are all of one voice. Within that list of questions (and there are hundreds more) there will be a whole raft of opinions.

A campaign to collect and distribute supplies, a campaign to fund rescue operations etc might be workable because its narrow and defined and people can realistically chose whether to lend their support. You can't lobby government for something on the basis of "we don't like this situation". It has to be thought through with solutions to make it workable and people may then join if they agree with the proposals. They shouldn't be forced to join because a site they use has changed its function and has become a political lobbying body on a highly emotive and politically divisive issue.

PlaysWellWithOthers · 04/09/2015 08:26

Done, of course I support, I'm a parent, how could I not?

And if they need spare bedrooms, I have one.

The conditions in countries like Eritrea are beyond the realms of most people's imagination. It's just a shame that an actual picture of a dead child is what it took to galvanise a country which has been fed xenophobic lies for the last few years by the very papers who had his picture on the front page yesterday. There is less a shortage of space in this country than a shortage of willingness to do anything about it.

Glad MN is finally on board. MN has always been a political entity, but it's obviously leery of taking this on. I don't remember a survey about Bounty or the We Believe You campaign.

Good luck ThereMustBeSomething you're doing a good thing here.

tiredvommachine · 04/09/2015 08:28

Done.

Gruach · 04/09/2015 08:31

It's just a shame that an actual picture of a dead child is what it took to galvanise a country

It's just a shame it took a picture of a vaguely European looking child to galvanise ...

There. I've said it.

Robertaquimby · 04/09/2015 08:36

Atticus If Mumsnet decides to go with this nobody is going to be forced to join anything. No Mumsnet user is going to be forced to join a protest, email their MP or even read about the issue. People can avoid threads about refugees and carry on posting about whatever they are interested in, if they so choose.

Personally I have been uninterested in and perhsps disagreed with, some of the previous Mumsnet campaigns. Hasn't stopped me using the site.

To me, saying that Mumsnet should stay away from this issue is in itself a political stance. Decisions about refugees are always complicated and no Government ever gets them totally right. Our Government though is clearly getting this totally wrong at the moment. Either we choose to add our voices to well-informed organisations like the Red Cross, UNHCR etc who are putting forward practical and credible suggestions for how to help the refugees. Or we choose to ignore them.