Homeward bound
and gagged

While British Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped before the gilded leaders of the world’s monied nations this week at the G8 summit in Japan and insisted something must be done to stop the blood-soaked crimes of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, 11,000 Zimbabwean refugees in Brown’s realm were opening letters adorned with the British Home Office’s letterhead. The torture, terror and rampant disdain for human life and dignity that Brown acknowledged in front of his ruling-class pals, however, were not mentioned. Instead the correspondence instructed refugees to pack their crap and get out.

Brown claimed to be “appalled” by the “intimidation and violence” used by Mugabe’s regime. He called on G8 leaders to dismiss Mugabe’s re-election and adopt tighter sanctions. But it seems he’s more appalled at the notion of keeping Zimbabwean refugees in Britain. Already denied any sort of financial aid or legal ability to work, thousands of refugees have now been told they must “leave the United Kingdom without delay” despite the known risks facing them back home.

“Our nation’s leaders have loudly condemned the Mugabe regime,” commented co-chair of the U.K.’s Independent Asylum Commission, Sir John Waite, “but perhaps we should also look a little closer to home.”

by SCOTT SAXON