If I were to ask anyone how you would define yourself, I wonder what would be the answer. We all have layers of identity and it is almost impossible to “box” us in one category. I am Polish, European, and a believer. But I am also a volunteer, language enthusiast but more importantly father and a husband. We run businesses, save lives, we sing, we dance, we contribute in a number of ways, we work and pay taxes, we paint, we teach, we even write (!), we are your friends, partners, work colleagues and neighbours.
I have always been proud to call myself a migrant. Yes, a word that polarised our political debates is strongly connected with my personal story. Today, we far too often divide people by simply describing their race or their ethnic background.
Today, 18 December, we are globally celebrating the International Migrants Day. It is a day when we can be truly proud of our own heritage or culture, religious. Our faith affiliation, colour of our skin or country of our origin is only part of our story. It is our personal experiences and journey through life, which can help us to become better human beings, and which makes us who we are.
We all “move around” for a number of different reasons; to better our lives, seek opportunities to work or study, or flee war of prosecution. Life is one huge journey so the migration is strongly embedded in our DNA. Let’s at least today acknowledge our contribution and some fantastic achievements! There is a lot to be proud of!
* Michal Siewniak is a Lib Dem activist and councillor for Handside ward, Welwyn Hatfield.
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2 Comments
I am proud to call myself an economic migrant. However I didn’t have any choice, being brought to the UK from Pakistan by my mother in 1952 when aged 1 3/4. My father came to the UK from British India for the first time in 1931, also as an ecomomic migrant.
Migrants, both economic migrants and refugees, have enriched Britain enormously.
Whenever freedom of movement is mentioned in an EU context, Liberal Democrats should not hesitate to say that it was unequivocally a good thing, both for those who moved from the continent to the UK and from the UK to the continent, and for those who did not move.
The failure was the Labour Government failing to spend enough of the extra tax revenues EU inward migrants contributed on additional schools, hospitals, and GPs, in the affected areas.
The below is exactly the attitude that led to Brexit referendum being lost:
“Whenever freedom of movement is mentioned in an EU context, Liberal Democrats should not hesitate to say that it was unequivocally a good thing, both for those who moved from the continent to the UK and from the UK to the continent, and for those who did not move.”
If we are not careful a similar attitude will lead us out of the ECHR, we have to accept that whilst is is a good thing overall there are certain downsides too. Pretending there is not is a complete gift to Leavers.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14206827/turkish-heroin-gang-boss-Britain-wins-right-remain-uk.html