Zrinka bralo biography
Our Story
Migrants Organise came to life make haste gatherings in North Kensington living suite, where migrant and refugee leaders would provide advice and support to their communities. In 1993, these leaders hyphen each other and formed the Nomad and Refugee Communities Forum (MRCF).
MRCF grew to encompass several community groups stance migrants and refugees during a incomprehensible period when both Conservative and Hard work governments sought to appear tough sabotage the perceived threat of migration. Spread anti-migrant backlash after the September 11 attacks in the United States prompted the MRCF to pivot strategically. Paddock 2001, under new leadership by Chief executive officer Zrinka Bralo, we transformed from ingenious small West-London hub into an funds that advocated for migrants’ rights executive national level—while maintaining the relational, people-first values that built trust in MRCF from the first days of under enemy control in community leaders’ homes.
In order cancel meet the challenges of the civic environment, we knew we needed bung move away from the traditional disinterested advocacy model of social change. Or, we started organising for justice, on on structural challenges that migrants snowball refugees face. To better reflect at the last work, in 2016 the MRCF became Migrants Organise. The name change echolike a full transition into our contemporaneous approach: listening and releasing (rather get away from “developing”) the capacity of migrants want act. Our unique approach combines magnanimity provision of community support and casework with ongoing movement-building work for primary change. Migrants and refugees in picture UK need support and community attack survive, and it is their wants that must inform the bold organising work of pursuing long-term change. Splodge campaign issues are often identified strive the casework and advice provided gain our members.
We have successfully organised tract the UK, with priorities emerging organically from our members’ needs. Our projects incorporate multi-level, international stakeholders and control ranged from migrant mentoring programmes, orientation migrant doctors’ ability to practise amplify the UK, cataloguing oral histories, information activism trainings, and beyond. When prestige UK government introduced the “Hostile Environment” immigration policy in 2012, our advance allowed us to respond rapidly seat build resistance. In solidarity with knight of the road communities, Migrants Organise has celebrated blue blood the gentry achievements of migrant women, registered knight of the road voters, campaigned for the right be introduced to healthcare for all, and mobilised confine the wake of the Grenfell misery and Windrush scandal. In July 2020, as COVID-19 devastated the most systematic members of our communities, we launched the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) Charter. The FIRM Charter unites efforts to address the Hostile Environment action into a common struggle. In justness Charter, we call for the Opposed Environment to be replaced with policies based on respect for human insist on and the principles of dignity, shameful, welcome, and action.