William Temple Foundation

When I arrived in Britain in 1990s, making sense of the new surroundings felt like a personal journey, something you do as a family, or as a group of people in similar circumstances. It was only later, when I began researching the role of civil society and faith communities supporting newcomers, refugees and migrants, that I was struck by a sheer volume of informal initiatives fostering inclusion and solidarity through creative projects, social activities and befriending.

This year’s theme of the Refugee Week is Community as a Superpower. With global superpowers at odds with each other and public opinion about approaches to international conflicts – from Sudan and Russia’s war in Ukraine to Israel/Palestine and the ongoing violence in the Middle East – community interventions to support people seeking sanctuary are increasingly important.

Do local communities and networks have special powers to succeed where state powers fail? And what superpowers do they have at their disposal?

Writing about the role of the state in the aftermath of the First World War, William Temple distinguished between two ideas: the state as ‘power over its own community and against other communities’ and the state as the ‘organ of community, maintaining its solidarity by law designed to safeguard the interests of the community’ (1928, 169-170). As he noted later in Christianity and Social Order, a key function of the state is to encourage intermediate groupings of its citizens to flourish and promote human interactions through ‘the network of communities, associations and fellowships’.  (1976, 71).

In the context of welfare provisions and refugee support, the rules of engagement between the state and the third sector, including faith groups, refugee organisations, universities, civil society and migrant networks, represent a complex balancing act between co-option, contention and collaboration – with partnerships often flourishing on the local level and critical voices emerging in national campaigns and advocacy (Braginskaia 2023).

Community groups draw their superpowers from diversity and solidarity, tacit knowledge of people with lived experience, and innovative collaborations and partnerships across local neighbourhoods and organisations. They work tirelessly to facilitate integration and plug the gaps in inadequate and often hostile provisions offered to refugees and asylum seekers. They co-develop inclusive spaces of support, healing and belonging – from foodbanks and advice surgeries in places of worship and community centres to social activities, walks, arts-based and befriending initiatives and training.

In my earlier research with Muslim and Jewish organisations and more recent engagement with community groups working with young refugees and migrants in South London, I have come across numerous examples of organisations pooling resources and energies to develop radical welcome – aiming to transform simple acts of hospitality and kindness into meaningful connections and sustainable networks of support. Some of this work resonates with past and present research and activism by members of the of the Foundation involved in community building projects, working with refugees groups and developing the City of Sanctuary initiatives in the north of England. Drawing on this experience, I suggest that a community shares its superpower in three ways.

Solidarity

Solidarity between sanctuary seekers, community groups and wider society involves sharing personal stories, collective experiences and struggles of inclusion and belonging. But it is also about recognising newcomers as experts by experience and celebrating their individual and collaborative contributions to local communities. The various activities, performances and events taking places in Lewisham and beyond during the Refugee Week highlight the importance of such initiatives and connections organised by the people with lived experience. Having a voice, responsibility and an opportunity to actively contribute rather than being on the receiving end of support, creates a powerful momentum for belonging and integration, which easily gets lost in the structural aspects of hostile policies and anti-migrant rhetoric.

Advocacy

Another kind of power lies in community approaches to advocacy, equality and social justice. Joseph Nye, a political scientist, defined soft power as the ability to affect others through persuasion, culture and values rather than coercion to obtain the desired outcome (2019). Although this refers to public diplomacy, similar mechanisms can be found in public campaigns for equal treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Welfare support and social activities can become co-opted into the national agenda of facilitating integration on the ground, sometimes developing power imbalances between those welcoming and those being welcomed. Campaigning on behalf and together with refugees and asylum seekers is an example of more critical engagement with authorities, with communities using their collective powers to affect change.

Groups and organisations come together to campaign for the rights of asylum seekers in an effort to renegotiate integration as a two-way, rather than a two-tier process. Some of the advocacy work includes earlier examples of petitions and campaigns against the Illegal Migration Bill and plans to deport asylum seeker to Rwanda as well as a more recent stand against divisive rhetoric of immigration –  declaring that the UK is ‘an island of solidarity’ and not ‘an island of strangers.’

Collaboration

Perhaps the ultimate soft superpower emerges from collaborative action and personal connections, rooted in past and present community initiatives. To minimise some of the inevitable biases, collaborative projects should be mindful of the changing needs and expectations of those seeking and those offering sanctuary and support.

This autumn we at the Foundation are running an online course for faith and secular organisations and individuals interested in working with refugees, migrants and people with lived experience. The course will offer time and space for individual reflection and collaborative learning to share ideas and experiences from welcoming and supporting newcomers to becoming better hosts, advocates and allies.

If you would like explore the superpowers of solidarity, advocacy, and collaboration, please register your interest in the course and you will also receive an early-bird discount – for more information please contact: katya@williamtemplefoundation.org.uk.

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