What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Pollokshields – These are our neighbours

    It was impossible not to be moved by people standing around an immigration enforcement van in Pollokshields yesterday chanting “These are our neighbours, let them go”. Many people today are proud of those in this city who stopped this enforcement action.

    Every country needs to have an immigration system and every immigration system needs to be enforced in some way. Every such system needs to be fair and just. However the immigration system in this country has ceased to be fair and has ceased to be just. Any government that actively seeks to be hostile to those seeking asylum has already failed the test of being fair and just. The immigration system in this country has not only become hostile to refugees but the government has recently announced plans to make it even more hostile and to limit the possibility of appealing to the Supreme Court in asylum cases.

    Every asylum seeker needs access to justice in order that the system itself can be seen to be fair.

    Yesterday, the people of Pollokshields came out onto the streets because they believed that what was being done in their name was not fair. With an aggresively hostile system in place as a policy, it is impossible to be sure that any asylum decision is fair.

    The police made a wise call yesterday not to try to clear the street and the two men detailed were set free into the community.

    We need a fair asylum system.  Without a fair asylum system, there will increasingly be successful protests by citizens who will prevent the authorities from being able to act.

    If the government believes it can appeal to voters by making an already hostile asylum system even more hostile, the people in the streets of Pollokshields showed yesterday that at least in some places, that policy will fail.

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3 responses to “Postcard to Rowan”

  1. Lapinbizarre/Roger Mortimer Avatar
    Lapinbizarre/Roger Mortimer

    Right on!

    Reply
  2. Brother David Avatar
    Brother David

    Is he really that arrogant or just absolutely clueless?!?!

    That was certainly the one thing that jumped off the page when I read the interview.

    And it again shows his more lofty view of the episcopate than we have in the Americas, especially since many churches here are the children of TEC. He didn’t say meet with TEC, he said meet with the House of Bishops, the junior chamber in TEC.

    Reply
  3. Tom Wilson Avatar
    Tom Wilson

    I am surprised that ++Rowan felt that his going to America and chastising the Episcopal Church, and specifically one Diocese for the election of a openly gay bishop would even be possible. Is he that ignorant of American history and the Revolution in 1776, where the American people rebelled at being told what to do by a leader thousands of miles away. In the North American context, the Diocesan Bishop and the Synod they minister with, are the final level of governance. The presiding bishop (ECUSA) or Primate (ACC) are there as leaders, but hold no power or authority (beyond moral and/or advisory) over any of the Diocesan Bishops that make up these provinces of the Anglican Communion. Obviously a situation that ++Rowan is not familiar with in the C of E, where he can block the appointment (not even an election) of a Diocesan Bishop within his province.

    Ultimately, this is why the Anglican Covenant will fail. While we are linked by a common heritage, as well as worship style; the governance structures of each Province of the Anglican Communion around the world are very different than the C of E and each Province’s situation is unique to their local experience. No longer is the Anglican Communion just variations of the C of E through missionaries sent out from England.

    It is too bad that ++Rowan could not be engaged as a professor at an American or Canadian seminary, where he could be exposed to a much different reality than in England and perhaps gain a greater insight into the realities of the Anglican church in North America.

    Reply

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