Poland has imposed a state of emergency along its border with Belarus, holding back small groups of men, women and children who are refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, and other countries. They are without shelter, clean water, food, and access to medical help.
This expulsion and simultaneous non-admission of refugees has triggered the xenophobic resentments and antihumanitarian policies of Poland and Belarus. The police, army, and border guards prevent any humanitarian action. Several refugees have died already.
We are sending you an appeal signed by well-known oppositional figures in Poland. We ask for help in disseminating this appeal as widely known as possible From the European Union’s border with Belarus,
Our Call
In keeping with the legacy of Marek Edelman, Jacek Kuroń, and Irena Sendler, and endeavoring to live according to their example, we cannot remain silent while people are dying at the Polish border.
We cannot remain silent while they are denied help by those who are obliged to provide it. We cannot remain silent while people of good will are prevented from saving and assisting others deprived of shelter and threatened by hunger, cold, sickness, and pain.
As we are helpless vis-a-vis the repulsive, inhumane immigration policy of the Polish authorities, we appeal for solidarity with an abused people whom they look upon with cruel insensitivity. We appeal to international public opinion, to people in culture, science, and business, and to politicians throughout the world whether in power or in the opposition, to exert unyielding pressure on the Polish authorities to stop this torture.
Signatories:
Witold Bereś
Bogdan Białek
Seweryn Blumsztajn
Teresa Bogucka
Krzysztof Burnetko
Agnieszka Holland
Paula Sawicka
Andrzej Seweryn
Written by:
Open Republic – Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia – established in 1999 as an expression of the need to counteract xenophobic and anti-Semitic prejudice reappearing in the Polish public life
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