In this episode, we speak with Jeff Crisp, formerly of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and now part of the campaign group United Against Inhumanity (UAI). 

 

He tells us how and why UAI was set up, how it is trying to get European governments to treat people-on-the-move humanely, and about the organisation's recently published manifesto: Stop the Inhumanity at Europe's Borders. 

 

We also discuss the far-right's anti-asylum-seeker protests in the UK, Italy's failed deportation deal with Albania, and the US's similar deals with countries in Africa and Latin America. 

 

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--- Show notes ---

Follow Jeff Crisp on Twitter, via @JFCrisp

 

Find United Against Inhumanity's website here: against-inhumanity.org

 

Read UAI's manifesto here: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/manifesto-short-version-2.pdf 

 

Read Jeff's article on why refugees are going hungry across the world: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2025/08/19/worlds-refugees-hungry/

 

Read Jeff's New York Times on Trump's offshoring policy here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/opinion/migration-deportation-sudan-trump.html

 

Or get around the NYT's paywall here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hz23t1zKeIbQxFZqG1dLkR-cDQ_Hiie29yKrhQcF6NA/edit?tab=t.0 

 

Here's the article Jeff speaks about on why some refugees don't stay in France: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2023/05/05/asylum-seekers-crossing-the-english-channel-why-dont-they-stay-in-france-by-marie-leveille/

 

Ben mentions a bunch of other people and organisations that have been on the podcast before. For more on:

Open Arms, see episodes 30 and 13

No Name Kitchen, see episodes 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6

MSF, see episodes 21 and 14

Alarm Phone, see episodes 5 and 3

Frontex, see episodes 68, 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1

Tunisia, see episode 48

Gaza, see episode 67

Pylos disaster, see episodes 60 and 52

 

I can't find the comedian I mentioned in this episode about immigrants being the true patriots. I thought it was Doug Standhope, but it's not.

 

For more on the UK government's banning of Palestine Action, see here:  https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/the-civil-fleet-podcast-stands-with-palestine-action/

 

As usual, Ben butchers a famous phrase in this episode. The phrase often misattributed to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci is "Pessimism of the intellect. Optimism of the will."