I read an interesting report on the BBC website today (4/2/11). Allow me to extract (without any bias) the following:
Britons are the most anxious about immigrants, an international survey of eight European and North American countries has suggested.
- 23% of British people thought immigration was the country's biggest problem, compared with 10% in the EU (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and France) and the US & Canada - the findings came even though five of the nations had a greater proportion of foreign people in their populations.
- 59% of Britons believed there were "too many" immigrants - In Germany and the Netherlands, both countries with a higher level of foreign-born residents, the figure was 27%.
- British respondents were the most likely to say immigrants were a burden - about a quarter of UK respondents did not think even legal migrants should be allowed to access the NHS or state schools - in other European countries the figure ranged between 1% and 5%.
- Seven out of 10 people in the UK said their government was doing a poor job in managing immigration - this was behind only the US (73%).
Okay, as actor Henry Silva said in the film ‘Amazon Women on the Moon’, “What do we think? Bulls**t or not?”. Let’s take a look.
Overall I’d say the biggest issue the UK faces IS one of poor management, compared with other EU and US states. It’s logical that when you have a steady influx of immigrants, any country is eventually bound to run out of living space. What is also true (and would probably cover the vast majority of ill feeling out there) is that other states have certain, quite reasonable requirements from their new citizens - paramount of which is (I would imagine) a willingness to integrate and be productive within the new society which is welcoming them with conditional, but open arms. The integration is a hard one to tackle without this simple premise because people don’t seem to gel quite as much as perhaps they should. I’ve seen it and felt it for myself, but I believe this would moderate itself if people were more straight with one another and the system was fairer (we will see this last matter again in a bit). As it stands I would say the vast majority of people in the UK who are riddled with anxiety over immigration are feeling this way because we seem to pretty much indulge in giving handouts. Again, if the system was fairer and the handouts moderated, a lot more people would I think have a milder attitude because we wouldn’t be the pushover that we are rightly perceived to be. If we didn’t have a system which was so overwhelmingly complicated, corruptible and slow to adjust then it would likely as not function as intended, instead of being so incomprehensible to so many, riddled as it is with the many “bolt-on” quick fixes and inconsistencies. Even the system of law itself is in the same sorry state which might explain a lot, and all serves to highlight what we need to do to fix it. Simplify.
..However, nearly three quarters thought the government should allow more foreign doctors and nurses into the UK and just over half wanted more foreign care workers for the elderly
Hang on.. a minute ago, generally speaking, we didn’t like the idea of immigration but just over half of those surveyed think it perfectly acceptable to have an influx of foreign workers if they are going to fill the positions all our own qualified staff have abdicated? Before this aspect it seemed that the argument was a straight forward matter of common concerns of physical space and sustainability, the UK being approximately many times smaller than most of the alternative states being mentioned. However, it now seems that we're happy to draught foreign workers in because we've become a nation of people who simply don’t want to have to be bothered with our own mothers and fathers? How exactly am I supposed to interpret this report?
For those who read my blogs, it’s probably common knowledge that I have a relationship with an East Asian woman, so I would like to use my perspective as someone in an interracial relationship for the benefit of all, and speak some truths. It’s for certain that here in the UK the matter of racism will repeatedly rear its head. In part it’s because of many notorious political happenings of the past, but for a long time now I’ve heard it mostly recently from people crying wolf. Without a doubt, some immigrants will have legitimate need of refuge, facing indescribable punishments or worse in their own lands. As we watch the revolutions spread across the Arab world right now, the need for change in those states has never been voiced more strongly by those from within, and as a result the conditions of those states have never been more obvious to those around the world who are watching. There are many more cultures who have yet to go through that process, or even be close to voicing their oppositions. To those individuals in the worst trouble I extend a welcoming hand. Similarly, any who wish to come here as a means to seeking to better themselves, so they may gain skills for use either here or in their home countries are also welcome. Those who wish to come here so they can enjoy a state-funded life of relative luxury on our taxes, or seek to use our system to establish a base from which to further their many and varied international crime syndicates are extremely unwelcome. They don’t have any more right to do that than we do to employ a foreign workforce exclusively to take care of matters of real life which we might want to conveniently ignore – don’t you fear growing old one day to think that people will just want you out of the way?
For many people, and I include myself in this, the whole situation is really simple. Poor management and the acquisition of political favours and/or money can be virtually the only factors that enable such unjustifiable practices to continue unchallenged. If a framework of reason and common sense is in place when handling immigration then there is every reason in the world to anticipate the general population becoming more moderate in their feelings about immigration, as seems to be the case in other countries (subject to the report statistics being accurate). This would undoubtedly help in matters of social integration where the immigrant feels welcome enough to integrate, and we as receivers are happy to befriend. I say this without any need to resort to political correctness or socialism in the slightest. There is nothing wrong with basic fundamental kindness for a fellow human. I shall leave the last quote of the blog to Craig Kennedy, President of the German Marshall Fund (an American based body who are focussed on bridging U.S.–European differences on foreign policy, economics, immigration and the environment, and who funded the report):
GMF Fund president Craig Kennedy said the survey was a "wake-up" call for governments. "The survey shows that North Americans and Europeans have strong opinions about immigration policy, what works, and what doesn't.. but the survey also shows that the more one is exposed to immigrants, the more one feels positively toward them.”
Maybe it’s just me and my willingness to accept anyone who is reasonable, but I have to say that this is how I choose to conduct my day to day affairs. To me it matters not which culture someone belongs to. I work with a muslim guy - he's great. I have an east Asian girlfriend - she's wonderful. I take people on their individual merit, and if that ‘someone’ is reasonable then I will give them so much more of my time than if they’re belligerent, immoral and arrogant. With a simplified system of immigration (and indeed, a simplified law) there is no reason to think that any situation should be insurmountable. To my mind, what we need to do is stop introducing more 'measures'. Whilst it may logically create a framework for a theoretically consistent system, it leaves no room for the human heart or individual consideration. Maybe spending enough time on the web has opened me to the point that I see the world rather than states and countries these days. In fact I know I do. I can say with conviction that without us taking the time to be human, without us using common sense, and allowing the rules to make our decisions for us, the system will fail almost everyone in some way each time – whether it’s the poor soul who becomes a victim of that system, thereby depriving us of the riches of their individuality, or the individual who abuses the system and brings us all down.
Peace
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