You may find this hard to believe but I wasn’t around for World War Two. I’m old, but not quite that old. But my parents and grandparents were. My father, who was the son of an immigrant, sailed in the merchant navy at the age of 15, between Britain and America in order to bring in food and other supplies, dodging the U boats in the North Atlantic with little or no protection. His father was an ARP warden throughout the war, ensuring the lights were out when the German bombers attacked Bristol. Meanwhile, my mother was living in her native Rotterdam, losing everything three times over as the Germans razed the city to the ground, taking their homes with it. I say this, all pretty well apropos almost nothing, but here’s another thing: I have descended from immigrants and the current media vitriol towards the migrants in Calais scares the life out of me.
My grandfather, Alfred Johansen, came to Britain as an economic migrant. He came from Gjovik in Norway and settled in the west country, spending most of his life in the Brislington area of Bristol. But he didn’t come here to claim benefits, which was just as well because there weren’t any in the early 1900s: he came to work. And work he did, way into his late seventies. He came to Britain, worked hard, contributed, participated in the war effort, as did his brave son, and became part of the culture.
By contrast, my mother came from the Netherlands to marry my father. She worked too, never claiming benefits, almost totally self-reliant she raised her only son with next to nothing and anything she did have she worked for.
I wonder what the Daily Mail, Express, Telegraph and Sun would have made of my grandad. He would probably have been regarded as another foreign sponger, trying to milk the system, as would my mum. “Bloody immigrants. This country is full already. Send ’em back.”
Our media, especially the press, terrifies me at the moment. It is true that there have been some terrible scenes at Calais, but it’s only slightly worse than what’s been going on for years and not just at Calais. The migrants are routinely described as scroungers, just waiting to milk the system, and disgracefully compared to insects by the prime minister – the prime minister. Some of these “scroungers” are children, as young as 12 years of age, who have travelled halfway round the world, alone, to find a better life. There has to be a better way than this?
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, is going to slash benefits to asylum seekers. That’s a positive start then, removing the minuscule amount we pay them now. In cash terms, May’s actions are meaningless but in political terms they are making a statement: migrants are scroungers, all of them. Politics, politics and more politics. Cameron’s answer? Let’s send a few dogs over and some extra fencing. He was doing so well to start with, but he too has moved to join the red top scandal sheets in the gutter.
The bigger problem is failed and collapsed states. This is what is driving the movement of large numbers of people and that is where the problems begin. We talk about religion being the driver of war, quite justifiably, but should we not also address another issue, the one that is poverty? Poverty makes people move, it encourages people to seek reckless solutions, such as signing up with islamic fascist organisations like ISIS. If we in the relatively wealthy west do not address failed states, this is not something that will quickly go away. A few extra sniffer dogs and rolls of fencing are sticking plaster on a gaping wound.
But is the issue of our attitude to immigration that troubles me most. There is a widespread fear about levels of immigration, hence the surge in support for the far right Ukip at the last general election. That needs to be addressed by all the political parties, not least Labour which until recent times echoed the words of Gordon Brown from 2010 when he referred to “that bigoted woman” who had merely expressed her concerns about the effect immigration was having in some parts of the land. We cannot pretend that concerns do not exist and there is evidence, certainly plenty of cultural evidence, that in some areas we may have reached and even passed a tipping point.
It’s such a complex area, immigration. I know because I am the son of immigrants. And we do not even debate it openly and honestly, probably because it is so complex. The situation at Calais is near the end of the line of the migration story, with roots that go back many years and thousands of miles. The migrants may not all have the same motives for wanting to come here, but I’ll bet the main reasons are to be safe, to be free and to work.
The language of the tabloids resembles the crass, inflammatory language of pre war Germany, with black Africans assuming the role of the oppressed.
We can do so much better than this. We are part of the United Nations, we are, for now, part of the EU. What the world cries out for is bold and clear leadership, but instead we get quick fix non solutions whilst the situation in Calais – and elsewhere – gets even worse.
I don’t have the answers. I’m just an immigrant’s son who despairs at the way this country is going and the way the politicians and media is talking. But a national, and international, debate is needed now more than ever. Where is the politician with the vision to start it off?
