On World Refugee Day, we stand in solidarity with the millions of displaced people around the world who have lost their homes due to war, persecution, famine, and/or natural disasters. The loss of one’s home and way of life is devastating, and it takes unspeakable courage to move on in life when your old home is no longer safe for you and your family. In many cases, developed countries are the ones directly responsible for causing refugees in the first place- for example, by disproportionately contributing to climate change, which causes natural disasters and forces people to flee their country. These same developed countries then refuse to take in refugees, or put a cap on the number of refugees they will accept, despite being responsible for the existence of those refugees in the first place. Furthermore, the capitalist class profits off things like war and environmental degradation, so they are financially incentivized to create more refugees.
The fights against income inequality, climate change, war, white supremacy, and the refusal to accept refugees are all part of the same struggle. When we fight against one, we fight against them all. We call on countries not just to accept refugees, but to stop creating them in the first place. It is capitalist hypocrisy to profit from actions which cause people to flee their countries and then refuse to accept the refugees they themselves created.