Score goals, run marathons, win gold medals, climb
buildings like ‘superman’ and win baking competitions - these are just some of
the requirements immigrants must accomplish if they want to be fully accepted
in British and European societies. The above list of requirements seems like an
unachievable aim for most migrants because it is representative of the fact
that being fully accepted is also an unachievable objective.
Mesmerising, brave and captivating: that’s how one would
describe Mo Salah, Mo Farah, Mamoudou Gassama and Nadiya Hussain. And, I must
admit that it is a joyous occasion to watch their attainments being rewarded
with a CBE, an award or a nationality. However, beyond the celebrations surrounding
their achievements lies a deep-rooted problem. It’s to do with the length and
effort ordinary immigrants must make to be regarded as British.
An extensive command of the English language is not
enough, paying taxes is too little and eating fish & chips is
insignificant. Only by accomplishing heroic acts does one become a good
immigrant but still not a citizen, let alone a human being. These are everyday
acts which are taken for-granted, overlooked and deemed inadequate.
We are not judged as either good or bad humans, not even
as citizens - but as immigrants, foreigners and ‘others’.
Theresa May’s hostile environment has busted the myth
that this country is a welcoming place for outsiders. Britain’s apparent
welcoming attitude was simply an act of lip-service, a carefully-crafted PR
campaign. But this pretentious party and sham show is now over because actions
always speak lauder than words. The treatment of the Windrush generation and
the broader hostile environment has made it clear - loudly and explicitly -
that we, immigrants, are not welcome here.
The Windrush scandal isn’t an isolated phenomenon, it is
symptomatic and deeply embedded in every part and portion of society: from the
heart of government to peoples’ social lives - people are not willing to accept
immigrants as their own, as one of them, as one and the same.
This is not some sort of left-wing, baseless, misconceived
argument. Rather, this is indicative and self-explanatory based on evidence. The
phenomenal rise of UKIP in 2014, the vote for Brexit in 2016 and Britain’s on-going
harsh and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers are just some examples which assert
that - electorates and politicians - don’t like immigrants despite the
overarching effort immigrants have made to integrate and assimilate into
British society.
There isn’t a favourable group of foreigners when it
comes to immigration policies. While the Brexit campaign was an explicit
rejection and backlash against European Union immigrants, it also adversely affected
other group of foreigners as evident by the exponential rise in hate crimes,
racism and xenophobic incidents in the aftermath of the referendum.
Of course not everyone is to blame for the hostile
environment. However, this xenophobic environment could have never been
implemented without the apathy of those who think that it was wrong. The only
reason why racist, revolting and repellent politicians were able to go ahead
with their agenda is because most people simply didn’t care and weren’t
bothered by it - as it didn’t directly affect them. In the eloquent words of
Martin Luther King Jr, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our
enemies, but the silence of our friends”. I will therefore not remember the
hostility expressed by UKIP and the Tories, but the silence of the Labour Party
and the Liberal Democrats – and certainly the complicity of the latter during the
coalition years.
In spite of this, the Environment Secretary, Michael
Gove, and many others have the audacity to claim that Britain is a welcoming
place for immigrants. Instead of perpetuating this myth, Michael Gove and his
like should actually consider creating a welcoming environment, rather than
just creating the perception of one.
Muhammed Hussain is the author of Diary of a Foreigner: Thoughts on Brexit
The Hostile Environment - rejected and alienated | Muhammed Hussain
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