Xenophobia at our borders?

Xenophobia at our borders?

I can’t help thinking we are moving backwards as a nation when I read about the debate on the immigration problem at Calais, and when I watch the lingering conflict unfold on our TV screens. Surely we are kidding ourselves if we think we can build our walls high enough to keep struggling people, seeking nothing but safety and a fair chance of living a normal life, from entering this country. 

“Send the lot back or lock them all up” is a fantasy made all the worse by David Cameron is his silly “swarm” statement earlier this week. Let’s face it, we are truly horrible to the immigrants – not just Britain but the EU as a whole. Some of the fantasy has been translated into very harsh legislation which is very restrictive in terms of human rights and very unfair to those people who want nothing more than a fair crack or survival – however basic that may be. Isn’t it plain to see that the policies of this government and previous have made the world a very unfair place to live in, restricted access to entitlements for immigrants and dehumanised ‘foreigners’ beyond repair.

Yet still the ‘foreigners come’ – risking their lives crossing desserts, sea and land to get here. Some don’t make it alive and when they don’t we don’t even raise an eyebrow in sympathy. They come from places as diverse as Afghanistan, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine (I could go on) searching for an existence that is more than mere survival.

The migrants are not looking to swap one horrible existence for another. They come here because they want to work. They are not interested in the UK welfare system – often they don’t know anything about it – they come here because they’ve want/need to work. It really is that simple.

The real story in Calais is not that there are thousands of people seeking asylum in Britain. Given the historical context of overseas foreign policy and continued wars of aggression that should not come as a surprise. The real story in Calais is the persecution of any ‘foreigner’ who isn’t rich or white in Britain’s enforcement of its border regime. The real story is that migrants in Calais and the UK are systematically HUNTED down and arrested by border police, the purpose of this strategy being to disperse migrants form the country.

Ignoring their camps, locking them up, sending them back or humiliating them at our borders doesn’t work. What’s needed here is a real leader/country to face the facts, accept that they’ve been very hard done by and try a different approach. The migrant problem is real – probably of our own making – it’s a normal, positive, human phenomenon and as a leading grown up country we should be dealing with it in a sensible, non-archaic manner. 

The migrants don’t deserve to be treated like cattle, they deserve humility, compassion, fairness and a chance of a normal life. Is this really too much to ask?

Steve Corbett – August 2015.