I know all too well what it means when men like Donald Trump say that torture works

When I look around today, I see a lot of suffering. People are struggling to fill their fridges, stuck on long hospital waiting lists, families are sleeping on the streets, whole communities caught in economic despair. But these are not inevitable. They are not accidents of fate. And yet, somehow, we are constantly told to believe they are the fault of immigrants, of marginalised minorities. Always an enemy within, always someone without power.

This is an old trick of fear and division. It is made more dangerous when politicians speak hatred, or when our leaders stay silent. And only a couple of weeks ago we saw what happens when lies are dressed up as freedom of speech. People marched not for justice, but in service of chaos.

And every day in Freedom from Torture’s therapy rooms, we see the human consequences of this. Survivors who fled to the UK for sanctuary are once again living in fear. Many are too scared to take their children to the playground, go to the supermarket. They feel like they are being hunted. There is no place for this on our streets.

Read more:

• Why the Home Office plan to confine asylum seekers to military barracks is especially cruel
• I’m a survivor of domestic violence. Asylum hotel protests do not speak for me – or protect me
• From Southport to Epping, social media’s failure to act is fuelling racist violence

As a refugee I have lived this life before. In the countries people like me have come from, we warned you how freedom can be taken away so easily. In the places where we fled, oppression reigned supreme and human rights were destroyed. That is our past. But here’s the truth: our lived experience is not just history; it is a warning. We are time-travellers carrying the lessons from our past into your present, to show you the future that is unravelling right now. I have seen this movie before, and it doesn’t end well.

In my life, I have known torture. I had to flee my home in Central Africa and make a perilous journey to find safety here in the UK. And torture is on the rise. Every day across the world people are being tortured for going to school, practising their religion, protesting peacefully or voting.

I know only too well what it really means when powerful men, like Donald Trump, say that torture “absolutely works”. These words are not just talk. They are permission. Permission for regimes across the world to abuse, to silence, to destroy. And if democracies like the UK stay silent, dictators everywhere celebrate.

But here is the thing: hatred cannot be answered with hatred. Injustice cannot be cured by more injustice. If we allow anger to be manipulated, if we join in scapegoating vulnerable people, we will all lose.

This is why we must stand together. Not only for immigrants. Not only for Muslims. Not only for women. Not only for the LGBTQ+. But for everyone, because if they take away the rights from some people, make no mistake, they will take them away from all of us.

This is why we need compassion. We need calm hearts, clear minds and the courage to resist the oldest lie of them all – that your neighbour is your enemy. We are at a crossroads. We can choose to remain silent, or we can choose to speak. We can choose division, or we can choose solidarity.

We must stand up, stand firm, stand together. Because the fight against torture, against hate, against oppression is not about protecting some of us, it’s about protecting all of us. And the world is watching what we choose.

Kolbassia Haoussou is director of survivor leadership and influencing at Freedom from Torture.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Reader-funded since 1991 – Big Issue brings you trustworthy journalism that drives real change.

Every day, our journalists dig deeper, speaking up for those society overlooks.

Could you help us keep doing this vital work? Support our journalism from £5 a month.