by Ann Fotheringham

Injustice, in all its many forms, makes Roza Salih angry and she wants to speak up.

It is not surprising, given the 27-year-old’s background as one of the Glasgow Girls, a group of high-school students who, with the support of the wider Drumchapel community, forced the Home Office to stop dawn raids on asylum seekers back in 2002.

In May, she is standing as an SNP candidate in Garscadden/Scotstounhill (ward 13) in Glasgow, potentially becoming the first former asylum seeker elected to public office in Scotland. Her possible future ward includes the tower block where she first lived in the city in 2001.

Ms Salih’s drive to change the world can be traced back even further, to her childhood in Kurdistan where she lived with her parents Saleem and Tania, and younger sister Raz.

“I come from a very political family,” she told our sister paper, the Herald. “My grandfather and uncles fought against Saddam Hussein’s regime and were executed because of it. They died fighting and, because of them, I am here today.

“Both my mum and dad were political, too. There are not many women’s rights in my country but daily, my mother fought for them. She spoke out against honour killings and campaigned against domestic abuse.

“My mother was named after a Russian activist. I am named after Rosa Luxembourg, the anti-war activist and revolutionary socialist. You see? I come from a family of Lefties.”

When she first lived in the area, she said she would look out from the 22nd floor admiring the view. The only thing she now misses is how many stairs she’d frequently have to climb. But the community was kind to the family.

Salih and her friends at Drumchapel High became known as the Glasgow Girls following a high-profile fight with the Scottish and UK Governments to end the deportation of asylum seeker children, often dragged from their beds in the early hours of the morning. When one of their friends was detained they enlisted the support of their teachers, neighbours and local politicians, sparking a media frenzy. The story has been turned into a television drama and a stage musical.

“It was empowering what we did, and what I have gone on to do in student politics and in my trade union work,” she said.

Ms Salih, who was 19 when her family’s asylum application was officially approved, studied law and politics at Strathclyde University, where she was vice-president for diversity and advocacy.

She was elected to the National Union of Students’ International Students Committee and the NUS UK Student trustee board. She is co-founder of Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan, and recently visited Kurdish regions in Turkey as part of a delegation.

Last year she campaigned successfully, working with the Scottish Refugee Council and Education Strategy Commission, for funding for scholarships for asylum seekers. She is also involved in campaigns against zero-hour contracts and is keen to support young workers’ rights. She speaks three languages – Kurdish, Arabic and English - fluently – “four, if you count Glaswegian,” she jokes, and is currently working for MP Chris Stephens in his Glasgow South West constituency office.

“I want to speak out against inequality,” she said. “I know I can’t change everything, but I believe real change is possible. Despite what is happening, here and in America, I believe it. We all have to believe it.”