Anti-racists sent a clear message that refugees are welcome in Dorset and should be in the community not on prison barges back in 2023 (Photo: Flickr/ Stephen and Helen Jones photostream)
Former military bases are “the future” of housing asylum seekers, says Shabana Mahmood.
The grim proposal comes after the home secretary introduced a barrage of new attacks with her Immigration and Asylum Bill last month.
This includes plans to ramp up the number of forced deportations and increase the time it takes before someone can apply for leave to remain.
Mahmood wants to turn three former military barracks into camps for 3,750 people. The proposed sites are in Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk and Linton‑on‑Ouse in north Yorkshire.
The state already houses asylum seekers in two former military sites, RAF Wethersfield in Essex, and Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex.
In 2024, refugees held on the three-storey Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset held protests and hunger strikes. Alongside local anti-racist supporters, they led a campaign that successfully ended the use of the barge to house the refugees.
The conditions on the barge impacted refugees’ mental health. In 2023, 27 year old Leonard Farruku died there by suspected suicide.
Youssef, who was housed on the Bibby Stockholm, told Socialist Worker he was horrified at the thought of migrants being sent en masse to camps up and down the country.
The Bibby Stockholm was “a nightmare” he said. “People thought they would be deported. People were turning to suicide. You come asking for protection, but you feel like a prisoner of war.”
He explained that residents’ movement was restricted by security controls. They could go to the town by bus but had to be back on the barge by night.
“There is a simple solution. It’s really easy, let people work and get money and then we will be free with dignity. To be free you need to have money and not be dependent on the government,” said Youssef.
But he said governments everywhere want to divide people and look for someone to blame.
“We did a hunger strike and we closed the Bibby Stockholm,” he said.
“They wanted to send people to Rwanda so they weren’t reviewing asylum claims. After we closed the Bibby Stockholm, union branches started reviewing claims across Britain. We did that—we were the cause.”
Anti-racists demand that migrants are allowed to live safe and dignified lives in the community and are allowed to work, so they are not forced into destitution.
But often the loudest voices are those of racists protesting against having refugee accommodation in their area for very different reasons.
In Dorset, fascist group Patriotic Alternative organised its own anti-barge leafleting campaign. And some local people bought into the far right lies that migrants and refugees are a threat to women.
In Oxfordshire, Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) is organising to challenge the far right who are organising against the planned migrant camp in Bicester.
Anti-racists should oppose the use of prison barges and army barracks. But they will need to run a principled anti-racist campaign, under the slogan of “refugees welcome, community not camps”.
Youssef is a pseudonym
Dominion Society is building links with Restore Britain
Demos will be held across Britain
