Game of Thrones stars blast politicians over refugees

On screen she’s a homicidal maniac.

But as the world watched Cersei Lannister unleash devastating revenge on her enemies, the actress who plays the brooding Game of Thrones villain was in Greece displaying a far more compassionate side.
Lena Headey went to Lesbos, the island at the heart of Europe’s refugee crisis, and two migrant camps in northern Greece to visit refugees stranded by Europe’s closed-door policies.
Co-stars Maisie Williams and Liam Cunningham joined her on the trip organized by the US-based relief agency, the International Rescue Committee.
They had little to say about Season 7, recently confirmed by US pay television channel HBO. But when asked about the refugees they met, they finished each other’s sentences.
The British actress spoke with refugees who have been trapped in Greece for months.
“They just want a voice. That’s what they all said to each of us — ‘tell my story, tell my story’ — and that’s what we’re going to do,” Headey said.
Refugees, she said, were being deliberately misrepresented as a financial burden and security threat.
“I’d like to just erase the complacency and fear and replace it with humanity,” she said.
Maisie Williams, who plays orphaned teenage noble-turned-assassin Arya Stark, was struck by her visit to Lesbos and a camp where dwellers tend to a small vegetable patch.
“They came up with the idea to give this fresh produce that they worked so hard to grow to the poorer families of Lesbos. These people have nothing, absolutely nothing, and they are still giving back. They don’t want to come (to Europe) to take from these other countries. They are just people.”
The 19-year-old native of Bristol, England, said she was concerned about the migration debate back home, where a surge of anti-immigrant hate crimes has been reported since the EU referendum.
“For me the scariest thing about leaving Europe is just the unknown,” she said. “The general consensus is just to shut the door and walk away, and that really disappoints me. The responsibility for us is to hear (refugees’) stories, bring them back and diminish this weird, false stigma around them.”
The harshest criticism of Europe’s policymakers came from Liam Cunningham, the bearded Irish actor popular for his portrayal of philosophical smuggler Davos Seaworth.
“There is a desire (by politicians) not to have these people here ... I’d love to grab those people by the back of the neck and take them to the camps and say: ‘Look what you’ve done.’ ... They are right-wing appalling human beings.”

Source: Arab News