I may be missing something, but as far as I can see, the government’s agreement to “review” the asylum cases of 91 interpreters who have worked with British armed forces in Iraq marks the first successful, or at least partially successful, British political campaign begun in the blogosphere. I first came across the campaign via a Daniel Davies post at Crooked Timber, but as far as I can see it was kicked off by one Dan Hardie, on July 22nd. Both Davies and Hardie made reference to a Channel 4 News report produced in April, but it wasn’t until the campaign spread across the blogs, and eventually into the press, that the government began to pay attention.
The interpreter asylum case was a perfect campaign for the blogosphere—it had clear, well-defined aims, and it cut across partisan pro-war/antiwar lines to provide a cause behind which almost everyone could unite. Meanwhile, the government has much to lose by standing firm—it will appear bureaucratically mean-spirited and pedantic, not to mention ungrateful—and little to lose by giving in—the 91 interpreters would be a drop in the asylum ocean, and the slippery slope argument doesn’t really hold, as it’s easy to argue that this is a special case. Assuming that the review does result in the interpreters being granted asylum, it’ll be interesting to see where the campaigning energies of British blogs turn to next.
Tom, thank you very much for the kind words, but it is far too early to talk about ‘triumph’, whether partial or otherwise. The campaign has never been about just the 91 particular cases highlighted in the Times report. As a great many British soldiers have been saying privately, and as TA Major Andrew Alderson, or journalists like Marie Colvin and Phil Sands, have been saying publicly, there are an uncounted number of other Iraqis who worked for the British and are now in hiding from local death squads.
We can’t declare that the blog campaign has even partially succeeded when we haven’t, as yet, had a single firm committment from the Government to take one of these people. It’s going to be necessary to wait and see how many Iraqis the Government does take- and to ask soldiers and journalists in Iraq and neighbouring countries if at-risk personnel are still being abandoned- before declaring a success.
It would be very helpful indeed if you, and your readers, would write to your MP on this matter and post his or her reply on your blog. (My apologies if you have done so already). There are talking points for such a letter here:
Tom, thank you very much for the kind words, but it is far too early to talk about ‘triumph’, whether partial or otherwise. The campaign has never been about just the 91 particular cases highlighted in the Times report. As a great many British soldiers have been saying privately, and as TA Major Andrew Alderson, or journalists like Marie Colvin and Phil Sands, have been saying publicly, there are an uncounted number of other Iraqis who worked for the British and are now in hiding from local death squads.
We can’t declare that the blog campaign has even partially succeeded when we haven’t, as yet, had a single firm committment from the Government to take one of these people. It’s going to be necessary to wait and see how many Iraqis the Government does take- and to ask soldiers and journalists in Iraq and neighbouring countries if at-risk personnel are still being abandoned- before declaring a success.
It would be very helpful indeed if you, and your readers, would write to your MP on this matter and post his or her reply on your blog. (My apologies if you have done so already). There are talking points for such a letter here:
http://danhardie.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/we-cant-turn-them-away
Apologies for double-posting a couple of paragraphs- very clever. Letters to MPs are very necessary: we don’t want the Government thinking that it can just give asylum to a few high-profile cases, whilst the other ‘Local Employees of the Coalition’ are quietly disposed of by Sadrist death squads.