By no means my view is objective, being immigrant myself I obviously have very distorted vision. However I am also lucky to work where I work and thus to participate personally in the migration debate across different tiers and political spectrums. God help me, I’ll be speaking to Northern Fabians about this in a week time! Though I admit I can’t ‘keep touche’ with Sir Green (Migration Watch farther) as nice as my colleague did yesterday in the Newsnight. By the way, my colleague is also immigrant!
It’s just on top of all absolutely just arguments (impact on schools, hospitals, housing, jobs, environmental impact – yes, carbon footprint!) which need solid analysis and practical measures there is a pure polemics about ‘getting only those whom we need in this country’, ‘those who have high skills’ and contribute to our economy. Excuse me, does your economy need any cleaners, waitresses, seasonal agriworkers, workers on the food factories, etc.? I think it does, as your local unemployed for some mystical reason (maybe because they receive benefits which foreigners can’t access and actually don’t want to) don’t want to take? Or because employers are rather take a trip to Poland to recruit 10 bus drivers rather then take 10 people from Jobcentre plus ‘who always late, sick, or arrogant’ ? Yes, because there are 3D jobs – dull, dangerous, dirty – Brits don’t want to do. And teachers and doctors from Lithuania are eager to do this...
But if I listen to the migration minister I have a feeling that in a couple of years time immigrants in this country will be only ‘highly-educated’ (thanks to Ukraine for my extensive education, I wonder whether they will send thank you note to Taras Shevchenko). So, excuse my simplification, but they will move into upper tier of social structure of Britain leaving 3D to locals, distorting even further the delicate balance of classes and masses in Britain. I already can see the highlights of the Mirror in 2 years time: ‘bloody foreigners took all our financial and science jobs and poor Brits have nothing to do but pick apples and serve people in the restaurants’.
I only wonder…
2 comments:
*sigh* you're right, and thank you for reminding me that it's not only where I live now that has an idiotic public debate about immigration....
I find the 'carbon footprint' part of the debate particularly frustrating, because it's a really inhumane argument that I think misses the point of environmentalism. If we're trying to protect our environment for peoples' welfare, then we make a net loss if the way to keep our carbon footprint down is to keep people shut out of the luxuries that could be accessible to them if they moved to a rich country. It's just as much enjoying our comfort on the backs of the distant poor as if we didn't do anything about our carbon footprints and let their homelands flood.
Thank you Eldan! I could expand more on this and also on the responsibility of the state like UK for the nations where they are involved in the conflict (e.g. the case of Iraqi interpreters). But there is not enough space here... Should try different places :-)
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