Jimmy Bell was a refugee child when he arrived to the UK in the 70s. In this interview with Azita Jabbari Arabzadeh, Professor Bell explained how he was given the opportunity to become a research scientist and why welcoming immigrants to this country is an investment for the future of the UK

Jimmy Bell was just a teenager when he fled in the UK as a political refugee from Chile along with his brother and two sisters. They were escaping the brutal regime instituted by General Augusto Pinochet following the 1973 coup that removed the freely elected socialist president Salvador Allende from office.

In the aftermath of the coup, Jimmy’s father Santiago and his brother Ernesto, were arrested and tortured. Ernesto was made to disappear and has not been seen since.

After the secret police came to the family home looking for his sister Myriam, who was in hiding, his mother sent Jimmy and his siblings out of the country to the UK. They arrived in London in 1974 and were placed in foster families. In the years that followed, Jimmy and his siblings studied in local comprehensive schools and universities, getting access to free education and health care. Eventually his father was released from prison and the family was able to reunite in London.

Jimmy is now a respected research scientist at Imperial College London, the father of two children, both university students. He also works hard to preserve the memory of the victims of human rights violations during the almost two decades of military rule under the Pinochet regime. His brother and sisters are all professionals working in the UK and EU. His sister Myriam currently works at LAWRS (Latin American Women’s Rights Service).

In an interview with the New Londoners, Professor Bell explained why welcoming immigrants to this country is an investment for the future of the UK.

 What was your experience as a refugee in the UK in the 70s?

As political refugees we were given access to everything that any family in the UK would have. All we were expected to do was to study, which we did. There weren’t that many refugees in this country at the time, especially from Latin America. In general, refugees were treated very well and welcomed by the local communities. There was also an opportunity for people to work and more importantly to learn English.

What do you think has been your contribution to UK society?

Everybody contributes to the society they live in, either economically or/and culturally. You come to a country and you study/work and that it itself is a contribution. I am a scientist and I contribute as such to the society that gave me refuge. I think Latin American culture has enriched British culture, the same way that British culture has enriched Latin American culture.

Do you think conditions have changed for refugees in this country?

Absolutely, it is clear that conditions for refugees nowadays are made unnecessarily tougher than it was when we arrived. Refugees are not provided with much help, so it makes it harder for them to integrate into British society and contribute to its growth and development. In the 70’s and the 80’s refugees were provided with the tools that allowed them to do both. These tools are not there anymore. For example, students will now have to pay a lot of money to go to University. In my family all five of us went to university. There is no way that my father could have afforded to send us all to university in the current educational climate.

What impact do you think the government cuts on refugees are having?

If you allow people to come to this country and you do not provide them with the facilities to learn English, then you are creating an underclass, a group of marginalised persons who, although they want to contribute to society, are excluded by the very same action of those that demand their integration and contribution to this country. I find this incredibly short-sighted, especially in this country, where time and again we see the contribution of refugees coming from either Europe or other parts of the world.

What do you think about the cap on immigration that was implemented last April?

Very short-sighted: a society is always enriched by the entry of other cultures and by the contribution that new people make to that society. These newcomers also bring a diversity of ideas and different ways of looking at the world.

Do you think the current limits on immigration are having an impact on scientific research and your students?

The intake of foreign students has decreased considerably due to the amount of paperwork that needs to be done to get them a visa and invite them over. I think British science is losing out; science in general is losing out, especially science in the third world. Students do not get the opportunity to come to some of the top universities in the world to learn the skills that would help them go back to their countries and improve the quality of research there. The great majority of people want to stay in their own countries, but they need the economic opportunities to do so and this can only be achieved through the exchange of ideas and students.

Do you think the contribution of refugees to society is underestimated in this country?

This government and the previous one have been very short-sighted with regards to refugees and their contributions. They see the money that is spent on community centres or English classes. They never see what refugees contribute, directly and indirectly, to the UK. This is a shame because refugees have enriched and will continue to contribute to the development of this country.

Jaffar al-Hasabi was tortured in Bahrain for distributing leaflets which called for democratic reforms and equal rights. Interview by Eva Sanchis

Before the Arab Spring reached Bahrain in February a crackdown on political activists was already underway in the small Gulf state, ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty. It was 10 p.m. on a hot August night during Ramadan last year when security officials arrested Jaffar al-Hasabi at Bahrain International Airport as he returned from a holiday with his family.

The 39-year-old father of five said he was jailed and tortured for six months, during which time he was beaten, kept suspended, deprived of sleep, given electric shocks and forced to sign a confession. He was accused of terrorism and plotting to overthrow the government, charges that he denies and that could have resulted in a death sentence.

Al-Hasabi was among 23 Bahraini activists arrested in a clampdown ahead of parliamentary elections last year. That was not the first time he had been detained by the Bahraini government. In 1995 he applied for asylum in the UK after he was tortured in Bahrain for distributing leaflets which called for democratic reforms and equal rights for the Shia Muslim majority to which he belongs.

Since then, the computer technician and minicab driver has been living in London with his family, and after 2005 started to visit Bahrain again occasionally.  He became a British national in 2009.

Al-Hasabi and other detainees were finally released under royal pardons at the height of the uprising on February 23rd, following calls from protesters for their release. The other detainees also said that they had been tortured, charges that the government denied. Shortly after his release Al-Hasabi returned to the UK, but most of the others were detained again in the crackdown that followed the protests. When I recently met Al-Hasabi, who is now receiving assistance from REDRESS, the NGO I work for which helps survivors of torture, he said he is still experiencing pain in his back and that he feels weak most of the time. During the interview he talked about how he came to Britain, his latest detention and the uprising in Bahrain.

Why did you apply for asylum in 1995? I was working as a computer technician in Bahrain and through my small business we had been distributing leaflets, just collecting speeches from different people that called for democratic reforms and a constitution. I was arrested and tortured severely. When I was released the authorities followed me for more than three months. One morning I heard that my friends had been rounded up. I fled the country that afternoon.

Why were you arrested again in August of last year? After my father died in 2005 I started going to Bahrain again to see my family. I never had any difficulties until on August 16, when I came back from a visit to Iran with my mother and two daughters, I was arrested by security forces at the airport. They took my passport, my mobile, my watch, everything; they blindfolded and handcuffed me and took me to a prison called The Fort in Manama, where I was interrogated and tortured for nearly 40 days. They accused me of being a terrorist and getting money from a foreign country to plot against the government. They wanted me to confess to something I hadn’t done, so they tortured me and kept asking me the same questions. Then they moved me to another prison outside Manama, where the worst of the torture stopped, but I still had to beg to go to the toilet and I could not sleep because the guards would bang on the cell to wake me up.

What was the most terrifying moment during your detention?

The isolation, the beatings, and the fear every day that I was going to die… When you are blindfolded all the time, and you can’t see, and you are inside a small cell in the basement, it’s scary.

Why were you released? What happened after that?

Because the government came under pressure from the UK and because the Arab Spring started in Tunisia and Egypt and then happened in Bahrain and after that in Yemen and Libya… The pressure was so great they couldn’t resist it. People were protesting on the streets. If they had kept us in jail for any longer it would have backfired on them. But when they cracked down on the revolution on March 15th they came to look for us. I had already left the country, but they took most of the other activists and now they are in jail. Two or three people are in hiding. Luckily I’m here, but I’m worried about them.

Do you think that they are being tortured?

Of course they are being tortured, and more severely. Four detainees died in recent months in jail. They can’t kill political figures, but they are being tortured severely. One of them can’t move his arms as a result of the electric shocks. Another, who is disabled, was forced to crawl to the toilet because they wouldn’t give him his crutches. Now they have been sentenced to life in prison. The government has called an international committee to investigate torture, but the crackdown on the street, the revenge by the regime against the people is severe. More than 33 people have been killed on the streets and more than 3,000 have been sacked from their jobs, so thousands of families are suffering. The government released 147 detainees a few days ago, but there are still more than one thousand people in jail. Everybody is scared, but people are continuing the uprising against the regime, because if they stop, they’ll never get reform.
What political reforms would you like to see in Bahrain?The people of Bahrain should write their own constitution, rule themselves and elect their government, because we have been living in a military or police state since independence from Britain 40 years ago. People are scared when they go in or out of the country. We want to end this police state. We want democracy and we want the people not to be scared any more.

Do you have hope that the situation in Bahrain will change?

It could change if the international community and the UN apply more pressure. It could also change if America and Britain stop their double standards. They are protecting the regime and the royal family because they are their friends. They don’t care about the people being killed or about the crackdown. My hope is that because the new generation is more educated and new technology makes people more aware these days of what is happening in these countries, hopefully one day we will see these killers and torturers facing the same fate as Hosni Mubarak, being tried and facing jail.

Founder and chair of the organisation Empowering People for Excellence. Elena Noel recently received the Civic Award from the Mayor of Southwark for Voluntary Work/helping people in the community. She tells The New Londoners about her work.

I run workshops on building better community relations, I also work individually with parents whose children are at risk of being excluded from school, and I also provide support and advocacy for individuals who are unable to enforce their rights. For example, I ran workshops with the Somali Community to improve their networking and also ran workshops on Cohesion, Belonging, Diversity and Conflict with six formers at Bacon’s College which helped them to get the Gold Award for Diversity from Ofsted.

Most of the new users get referred to me by word of mouth. I’ve got good links in the local community and with the police as I’ve worked in Southwark for over 11 years, previously as a mediator.I try to address social exclusion, children getting into gangs, parental/child relationship breakdown. We try to encourage everyone to have a positive dialogue. I love it when I work with groups and see positive change. I ran workshops on stop and search with the police force so that young people understood their rights and the police built better relations with the young people. I work with faith groups and it was great to see that on the night of the riots some of these groups were on the streets advising people and calming the situation. I’ve worked with women who were victims of domestic violence. In one case, I helped a woman and her child to be rehoused after she had been living for 3 months on the floor of a community centre. She was very scared and I went with her to the Domestic Violence Officer to get support.
She didn’t seek advice elsewhere du to lack of information mainly. People don’t know where to go and who to trust. Some, like this lady, have no family and friends to turn to.

I can’t say the recent riots have had an impact on my work. There are always tensions in Southwark – some are systems issues, others to do with race and social issues. Young black people struggle to see their place in the world. I like to work with them to give them new perspectives on their situation and how they can turn their lives around.

I am organising the first South London Apprenticeships Fair for 16-25 year olds on 25^th October 2011 in Liberty House, Cottage Green. We are encouraging employers, career advisers and young people to attend. The other key piece of work is a research project in to hate crimes inflicted on people with disabilities. Reporting of these crimes is very low but anecdotal conversations seem to indicate that there is a problem and that it is due to lack of awareness.

For further information go to:
www.southlondonapprenticeshipfair.co.uk

Ellen tell us about your background relating to migration, being born in and relocating back to the UK after living in various African countries.

Although I was born in the UK, my parents - my father worked for the Zambian High Commission in the UK - went back to Zambia soon after my birth so I grew up in Zambia. I only came back to the UK as an adult after I had obtained my first degree from the University of Zambia.

In your novel Patchwork, the protagonist as a child was envied by Zambian children for her father’s international travel and later for her life as a student abroad, yet as an adult returning to Africa she was scorned for the loss of her culture. In your experience, and in general, do you think migrating has overall positive effects in terms of identity and belonging?

Exposure to other cultures is always positive as it makes one understand and become more tolerant to other ways of life. For me, it has been very positive, perhaps because I came to the UK as an adult so my foundation as to who I am in terms of identity and belonging was already laid. For this reason I was able to integrate in the UK without losing who I am. If my parents had stayed on in the UK I think it would have been very hard for them to raise me as a Zambian, remember it was the 1960’s so the UK was not as multicultural as it is today.  

Having lived in multi-cultural countries like South Africa and the UK, do you view multiculturalism in a positive light or do you agree with the controversial statement “state multiculturalism has failed”?

As the world becomes more global, multiculturalism now exists in most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Most of these cities have not gone up in flames or ceased to exist, on the contrary they are becoming more and more multicultural. I think it is a positive thing as it enriches us as people when we live with and learn about other cultures.

With the recent riots across England escalating to community grievances i.e. English Defence League and the Black and Asian gang warfare, and reflecting on the history of Asians and Europeans living amongst Black Zambian’s, what do you suggest for a harmonious multi-cultural society?

It is up to individual families and communities to instil a sense of culture and identity in their children. This could be through ensuring the children learn the language, the customs, the food etc. of their culture. However, I believe that if one chooses to migrate one should be prepared to integrate, and also appreciate that by settling in another country they are accepting that they will inevitably assume some of the culture that exists in the place they have migrated to. It is this acceptance or acknowledgement that fosters a harmonious multi-cultural society.

With cuts to public services and as a mother and children’s story writer, how do you address ways to empower young people through literary programmes, particularly in the face of the issue of social exclusion of disenfranchised youth and declining literacy rates?

There is no way round it, to improve literacy rates and empower our youth, money and investment is needed. More literary programmes, not only for children, but for the many adults who have fallen through the cracks are essential. There is a need to invest in public services for well-equipped schools and public libraries. We need to encourage society to ‘value’ education and literacy and not just send children off to school to get them out of the house.

What writing tips can you recommend to young people with creative talent, and are you running or planning any programmes for targeted communities in the UK?

I would encourage young people to read a lot and to find the time and space to write. I think a lot of aspiring writers don’t get around to writing because they don’t make the time for it. So it is important to make time, ideally, on a daily basis to write something creative. Also, to keep a journal as it’s a good way to practise putting ones thoughts into words.

What can we expect from your future work, more children’s stories, adult novels or another genre?

I am working on a play and plan to start working on a book for young teens later this year.