Responding to forced migration – Refugee Week 2017

Library open day
Monday 19 June, 11:00–15:00
Quakers have been part of movements to welcome newcomers to Britain for many years. Explore artefacts and stories from past initiatives to assist people seeking sanctuary from the Kindertransport to the present day. No booking required.

Sanctuary in the media (Discussion)
Monday 19 June, 18:30
Co-authors of The Good Immigrant Coco Khan, Darren Chetty and Vera Chok, discuss what an anti-racist media would look like, chaired by Dalia Gebrial (Undoing Borders/People&Planet).
Book for ‘Sanctuary in the media’.

Meeting for worship (semi-programmed)
Tuesday 20 June, 12:30
Join us to contemplate on the issues Refugee Week draws attention to, at a semi-programmed meeting for worship. No booking required.

Sanctuary in writing (Discussion)
Tuesday 20 June, 18:30
Authors of new writing anthologies Refugee Stories, A Country of Refuge, and Over land over sea discuss their first hand experiences of seeking sanctuary in Britain.
Book for ‘Sanctuary in writing’.

Sanctuary in the arts
Wednesday 21 June, 18:30
Playwright Gael Le Cornec (The Last Days of Gilda), author Gulwali Passarlay (The Lightless Sky) and film-maker Sue Clayton (Hamedullah: The Road Home) discuss how the arts can help people think differently about people seeking sanctuary.
Book for ‘Sanctuary in the arts’.

Sanctuary in fiction
Thursday 22 June, 18:30
Novelists Sita Brahmachari, (Red Leaves), Jason Donald (Dalila), Tim Finch (House of Journalists) and Roma Tearne (The Swimmer) discuss the representation of immigration in fiction.
Book for ‘Sanctuary in fiction’.

Sanctuary Sunday
Sunday 25 June, 11:00–17:00
A day of contemplation and learning, beginning with silent contemplation, continuing with a discussion featuring speakers from Freed Voices and Bail for Immigration Detainees and finishing with a ‘Refu-tea’ in partnership with the Refugee Council.
Find out more and book for ‘Sanctuary Sunday’.

Quaker work on forced migration

Quaker actions to welcome newcomers to Britain include hosting people at home, providing legal support, volunteering in Calais and Dunkirk, local campaigning, providing English lessons, visiting detention centres and holding anti-racism events.

This builds on a long tradition of faith in action, which encompasses helping enslaved people escape the US South in the 19th century, helping Jews and others oppressed by the Nazis escape Germany in the 1930s, and more recently helping initiate and build the Sanctuary Movement in the US and UK.

Quakers’ new national programme on responding to forced migration will be announced soon.