Last week Ben & Jerry’s held an exhibition in Shoreditch, London to demonstrate how terrible UK asylum accommodation is:
Posting on social media, it wrote:
“Yesterday we invited people into the ‘No Escape Room’ – exposing the reality of temporary asylum accommodation.”
“Co-created with Conversation Over Borders and people who’ve lived it, to show what needs to change.”
Below you can see a man with “lived experience” of the asylum system taking a posh lass (just listen to her voice) on a tour of the “No Escape Room”:
The exhibition even recreates the Far Right (complete with Union Jack flags) outside his window:
Another video of the No Escape Room was posted by a social media influencer, along with the caption “No one could ever convince me that this is luxury” and haunting music:
She appears especially distressed by the fake mould in the exhibition:
I’ve got to say, I’ve seen worse accommodation flat-hunting in London (with price tags of well over £1,000 per month!)
Those horrified by the exhibition are encouraged to email their MP, as you can see from this quote by Mathilda Della-Torre, the UK Social Mission Manager at Ben & Jerry’s:
“The Government is making crucial decisions about accommodation for people seeking asylum right now. This is our chance to ensure adults, children and families aren’t left in prison-like accommodation for exercising their fundamental human right to seek protection. We ask our fans to join us in calling for an end to dangerous accommodation and ask their MP to support safe and humane accommodation by signing Conversation Over Border’s petition. ”
Anyway…
What has any of this got to do with an American ice cream company?
Unfortunately it isn’t the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last, Ben & Jerry’s interferes in UK democracy.
