A reflection for the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony in Sheffield, 27th January

Last year I was at a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Kindertransport, a voluntary effort that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Holocaust by offering them sanctuary in the homes of British people.

For me it was an overwhelming experience to meet so many elderly people, some of them still with German accents, who had come to Britain as small children, saved from the concentration camps by ordinary British people.

Several of the survivors on that day spoke about their sorrow at having to leave their parents behind, because the British government had refused to accept them, so most of them were murdered. Because at that time there was no international agreement to offer protection to people in need of sanctuary, and no country would offer to take them in.

The United Nations Refugee Convention was created in 1951, to make sure that the world would never shut its doors again. The Refugee Convention gave people facing persecution the legal right to claim sanctuary in a safe country. It is part of the legacy of hope from the Holocaust and it is a precious achievement.

But the right to sanctuary is now under threat. Over the last decade in this country people seeking sanctuary have been scapegoated and demonised. Our newspapers have stirred up hatred and resentment against them. Our politicians have created laws specifically to target them, so that people seeking sanctuary are routinely made destitute without the right to work, refused health care, arrested at dawn and detained indefinitely without charge, including over 1000 children held in British detention centres every year.

I’ve just been reading ‘The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations’, which is a ‘business’ book that contains some interesting lessons for the City of Sanctuary movement. The basic argument is that decentralised, non-hierarchical and non-bureaucratic organisations (‘starfish’) can have significant advantages over traditional institutional forms, in which power and resources are concentrated at the centre of the organisation (‘spiders’).

City of Sanctuary immediately struck me as a clear example of a ‘starfish’ model, which includes the following features:

It is decentralised – each local City of Sanctuary group is independent and free to make its own decisions, plan its own activities, and have control over its own resources. Groups are mutually accountable, so that key decisions affecting the whole movement are made by local group representatives at national network meetings, rather than a separate managing body.

It is based on a shared vision – City of Sanctuary groups share a vision of building and celebrating a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary. It is this shared vision and ethos (summed up in our core principles) that gives the movement its identity, rather than a legal or administrative structure.

It is flexible and adaptive – there is no single, centrally administered ‘plan’ for the City of Sanctuary movement as a whole. Instead, each group is free to experiment, to develop new ideas, and to explore new directions. This means that the movement is in constant ‘research & development’, and can respond quickly to changing circumstances or opportunities.

Recently I came across a fascinating essay by Bill Drayton, CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public“—the global association of ‘social entrepreneurs’. ‘Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurship’s Ultimate Goal’ (PDF download here) describes the important role of innovators in tackling social problems. It struck me that City of Sanctuary groups around the country are taking just this ‘entrepreneurial’ approach to social change—by taking initiative in our own communities and encouraging other people and organisations to join us. Drayton argues that this process of accepting personal responsibility for initiating social change, and developing and sharing the skills we need to do it effectively, is in itself a hugely important contribution to our society’s future well-being:

‘The most important contribution any of us can make now is not to solve any particular problem, no matter how urgent energy or environment or financial regulation is. What we must do now is increase the proportion of humans who know that they can cause change. And who, like smart white blood cells coursing through society, will stop with pleasure whenever they see that something is stuck or that an opportunity is ripe to be seized. Multiplying society’s capacity to adapt and change intelligently and constructively and building the necessary underlying collaborative architecture, is the world’s most critical opportunity right now. Pattern-changing leading social entrepreneurs are the most critical single factor in catalyzing and engineering this transformation.’

Drayton describes successful social entrepreneurship as a process that multiplies the number of people who are confident to become ‘changemakers’ in their communities. The role of a social entrepreneur is to inspire and encourage people to adopt a new approach to social needs, and to take responsibility for action in their community. By becoming active in their communities they acquire new experience and confidence as changemakers, and they are able to pass these skills on to others.

‘Consequently, the entrepreneur presents his or her idea to the local community in the most enticing, safe, understandable, and user-friendly ways possible.’

City of Sanctuary initiatives are a good example of this process at work, it seems to me. The challenge for all of us is encouraging local people to take responsibility for welcoming people seeking sanctuary in their own communities and workplaces. By inspiring, motivating and supporting people to take the initiative in this way, and gaining skills and confidence to become changemakers in our communities we are also contributing to a healthier, more resilient society.

My daughter made this Christmas card and sent it to Immigration Minister Phil Woolas this week, as part of the Children's Society's campaign to end the immigration detention of children.

Britain locks up over 1000 children every year in immigration removal centres, with severe impacts on their mental and physical health. The Children's Society are asking people to send one extra Christmas card this year, asking Phil Woolas to put a stop to this horrifying practice - full details here.

I was in Glasgow last week for a public meeting about City of Sanctuary at the extremely grand City Chambers building. It was a bit of an experiment, as it was the first time I have organised my own event in another city, rather than being invited by a local group. But Glasgwegians have been such an inspiration to the rest of the UK, especially through their Campaign to Welcome Refugees (see the wonderful short film about them here), that I was intrigued to find out what they thought of the City of Sanctuary movement.

The meeting was introduced by Mary Alice Mansell, a local Quaker. There were just over 20 people, mostly very active in existing support networks for people seeking sanctuary. We had a powerful performance by Actors for Human Rights from 'Asylum Dialogues', which tells the true story of a Glaswegian woman's solidarity with her refugee neighbour. Then I spoke briefly about City of Sanctuary and showed our new short film, and asked participants to form small groups to discuss their responses and ideas.

I was hugely encouraged by the real enthusiasm that came out of the discussions for setting up a Glasgow City of Sanctuary initiative. The people there saw it as an opportunity to celebrate the good relationships and support networks that exist in their city already, and to draw in new people and communities who aren't already involved. Eleven people at the meeting volunteered to set up a working group there and then!

Look out for news of the Glasgow City of Sanctuary initiative as it develops...

The new City of Sanctuary film is finished and available to watch (below). It was shot over two rainy days in Sheffield (the producers had to find some alternative footage of the city with a bit of sunshine), and one very lively evening at Bradford's first anniversary celebration.

The film will be a great resource for local City of Sanctuary groups to use at public events, to share some concrete examples of the kinds of actions and relationships that contribute to making a City of Sanctuary.

I hope that our supporters will also share it with their friends by email, Facebook, Twitter (or possibly in a letter if the Royal Mail survives...) The more people all over the country who see it, the more likely some of them will be inspired to start a City of Sanctuary initiative in their town or city.

You can help by sending your friends and contacts a link to: www:cityofsanctuary/film

or by sharing the film on your Facebook profile... Thanks!

I was at the Showroom cinema in Sheffield last night, for the opening night of the International DocFest documentary festival, which was screening the world premiere of 'Moving to Mars'. It is a wonderful story of two Karen refugee families from Burma, who came to Sheffield as part of the UN Gateway Protection Programme in 2007.

The main cinema was packed out, and the audience were audibly moved and enthused by this powerful film. The families were also there to see it on the big screen and answer questions afterwards.

You can see some clips from the film on YouTube here.

We are planning a national programme of screenings with City of Sanctuary groups around the country, further details as we have them.

I was in London last week for The Good Pitch, an event for documentary film-makers to pitch for funding from grant-makers and businesses. City of Sanctuary was invited to support the new film 'Moving to Mars', which tells the story of two families who came to Sheffield as refugees from Burma, through the UN Gateway Protection programme.

The film will have its world premiere at the international DocFest in Sheffield on 4th November, but I've seen an advance copy, and it is a beautifully shot, and very moving and enlightening story, that left both me and my seven-year old daughter with tears in our eyes.

You can watch some short clips from the film here.

The film-makers are planning to work with City of Sanctuary groups to hold screenings and discussions at public meetings and in schools around the country, to help local audiences to gain an insight into the experience of refugees and promoting the vision of City of Sanctuary.

The film will also be a great resource for promoting the Gateway resettlement programme, and hopefully encouraging more towns and cities to offer a home and a future to people who are trapped in permanent refugee camps in developing countries.

I was in Wakefield recently, to speak at an open meeting about setting up a local City of Sanctuary initiative there. It was a large and enthusiastic gathering at the Cathedral, organised by Bishop Tony Robinson - including people from local mosques, churches, Quaker & Unitarian meetings, schools, the Council etc.

One man there was a refugee from Iran, who said how he wants City of Sanctuary to offer the opportunity to talk openly with local people, so they can find out what it is really like to be a refugee. He described his life in Wakefield as being a 'second chance', to make the positive difference here that he couldn't at home. And he eloquently described how a good society needs to take special care of its 'weakest links', the ones most at risk of being excluded. 'Because if we take care of the weakest', he said, 'then everyone is more supported. But if we say "it is OK for some people to be rejected" then the whole society suffers, just like in Germany when they said that it is all right for the Jews to be excluded, and the whole society became sick.'

The meeting decided then and there to form a City of Sanctuary initiative, and half a dozen people volunteered to be on a steering group, making the 12th City of Sanctuary group by my count, after Sheffield, Leicester, Bradford, Coventry, Nottingham, Oxford, Bristol, Swansea, London, Hull and Ipswich.

My name is Desmond Nwose. I am 10 years old. My favourite subject is maths and I would love to be a successful solicitor so I can fight for people's right, but I am not too sure now because I have no future and I was told by the people who broke down our door to arrest me and my family that we do not have the right to stay in the UK.

Up until that Monday morning (20th April 2009), I used to think that it was a free world where human beings are treated equally. Unfortunately on that ill omen day it was not to be so, as I was already dressed up as usual for school when I heard the bangs on our door with people marching in like what I experienced in Africa. I tried so hard not to wee on my body with fright. They kept saying 'you are going back to Africa don't pack more than one bag, you do not need boots or coats where you are going mate'. I can still hear those voices in my head. They were so rude and hushed us like criminals out of our house with our uniform on to detention centre. I felt so ashamed in the neighbourhood been taken to the back of a van like in the movies.

I think detention is meant for bad people who have done wrong in the society and they end in jail. I have done nothing wrong now I have a criminal record and I am an ex convict because I have come to the UK to be safe with my dad.

My experience in Yarl's Wood prison was terrifying, like in a concentration camp in the war movies I watch on TV. We always stood in a queue for our meals and were always counted before we went to bed and every day they lock us in the rooms at night after counting and making sure we were complete. My sister is still in shock after all the experiences from this horrible place. sometimes I wish I sleep and don't wake up anymore because all this is too much for my family to bear.