February 20, 2017

One day without us

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Today is a day of international celebration and protest. It is the UN World Day of Social Justice, and also when the 'One Day Without Us' campaign does its thing. That is, to celebrate the contribution of migrants and refugees to host communities, many people across the UK are shutting down participation in their normal routines to demonstrate the value they make to their communities. Shops are closed, restaurants too, and many jobs will go, for one day, undone.

Many corporate names have also backed the campaign, including some franchises of McDonald's. There are protests, marches and meetups planned right across the Western world (not just the UK). The point is to amplify the contributions made my migrant and refugee communities; Communities which are often invisible to the host community, or indeed, all too visible. By shutting shops and restaurants, as well as providing visible protests, migrants and refugees are letting their contributions speak for them: Want to bully us? Well do your own dirty work.

Forms of resistance may be criticised for the negative impact they have on the protesting community; People may look at migrants now and complain - why the hell don't they just get back to work? Well, when power is oppressing you, you do whatever you can to get back at power. You joke, you disobey, you resist. This is non-violent civil-resistance in the mould of Gandhi and King and Tolstoy, albeit with a much more capitalist bent, aiming to show just how much of our communities we take for granted, and how much of our lives are made up of the contributions of people we refuse to see. It is a way of standing up to all those politicians, ideologues, media moguls and haters, and it is a way of doing it fairly.

Celebrate.