I do not usually write on topics that have bearing on my ethnic background, quite simply because I do not think that in this day and age it really matters anymore. However, I am beginning to sense (and I have been sensing for quite a while) a certain backlash against foreigners (read: non-Europeans).
More specifically (and adding Darce-like tones and italics for effect) “benefit-scrounging, job-taking, NHS-using, council house hogging, swan-eating, non-English speaking” migrants which the tabloids and right-wing newspapers do very much like to bash. The rise of this particular form of bashing should be and hopefully is a serious cause of concern for the Liberal Democrats – together, of course, with the increasing ludicrous line being taken by both the Labour Government and the Conservative opposition on the issue.
I, of course, declare an interest in these matters – and as much as I rather not admit it in the current climate, I am in fact still a foreigner, and more so, one who finds Britain more of a home than “back where (you) bloody came from,” and who would be very, very happy to stay on and settle.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, and indeed, the straw that has made me break this single taboo of writing on even remotely ethnic issues, is the increasingly dire if not paranoid tone being taken by our media, and being accelerated by blatant populism within Westminster. We are of course talking about the famous action-reaction spiral – that, if my learned audience might recall, led to certain ‘mishaps’ over the course of human history, including the Cold War.
We are now observing the political reincarnation of this dreadful spiral between the Conservatives and Labour, but now over the issue of migration, with the entire debate being rather unhelpfully fuelled by certain newspapers of a certain slant busy pouring petrol over an already raging fire of misinformation, sleight-of-hand prejudice and downright xenophobia.
The Conservatives, good to routine, with the help of their friends in the media, will flag up certain exceptional cases of ‘naughty migrants’ – I would list some but I am quite sure you might be able to recall this or that about (insert choice of foreigner here) busy claiming or brashly taking (insert choice of public service, benefit or British job here) while British people suffer endlessly as the Government sits on its hands.
We have the reaction – Labour will engage in pointless populist gestures (remember the uniformed border security force? And what about the constant upward rise in fees for visa services?) while immigration hard-liners including the ever-so-nice Frank Field, Migration Watch and various, assorted Conservative MPs from the south (I suppose they come in nice, foreign-made boxes, like generic chocolate) are busy suggesting mad-men measures, including inflexible quotas decided by unelected, unaccountable committees which will starve the British economy of talent come the next boom, and the laughable alternative of EU withdrawal.
This mad, endless, and spiteful debate does no one any good. It creates an opportunity for covert racists to engage in foreigner-bashing under a mainstream umbrella, and does nothing to sort out the underlying economic and social failures started by the Conservatives and aggravated by Labour that explains both the reason why resentment now exists and why migration was needed in the first place.
It also diverts attention away from more important issues. Resources, time and effort – both within Westminster and the media – that rightfully should be targeted to deal with the dreadful and inhumane tragedy that is human trafficking are now being uselessly wasted on trying to target a ‘threat’ from highly skilled migrants who, in most cases, end up being exemplary British citizens and represent a net contribution to the British economy.
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