Migration
The aim of this article is to reflect on events that shocked unshockable Belfast this week as we approach mid-June. It leans on conversations I had with a relative and also with a couple of close friends, all three chats to do with attitudes to migration.
1. Earlier in the week, my niece in Alberta sent me a message to say that the (now infamous) stabbing incident in north Belfast was a main story on Canada's television news. I explained that likewise here in the UK, it was the top story on the BBC's evening news programmes.
I replied to her saying that the violence here last night was disgraceful. I admitted that coverage of the attack and of the aftermath on immigrants reduced me to tears.... To keep her updated, I included extracts of an important statement from the family of the injured victim:-
“right now, our only priority is being at his bedside and helping him recover. We want to say a profound thank you to the local people who bravely stepped in during the attack. Your quick actions absolutely saved his life, and we will never forget what you did for him in that moment. We also want to thank the emergency services and the doctors and nurses looking after him. We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.
"We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”
2. A day or two further on, a pal who was born and was employed in Northern Ireland but now lives his retirement in England contacted me about Ulster politicians "touting" for the removal of the common travel area between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as a response to the stabbing. His point was that it has been operating for over a century and that its removal would only serve the growth of xenophobia, and the like.
In my reply to him, I said that I had watched the DUP leader calling in Parliament for an end to the open border between the north and the republic. This despite the fact that he knows that the current position is a key part of the Belfast peace agreement bringing benefits that Brexit would have otherwise denied; and that I can't see Westminster ditching the free trade area. After meeting the victim's family, the DUP MP called on the PM to "protect and close the open porous border," adding that a hard border is not the solution (1).
I added that the sending by the BBC of its experienced news anchor to Belfast was significant as was his report illustrating the contrasts between the protesters who appeared to be loyalist, wearing masks and balaclavas, and the non-protesting stance of nationalist citizens. I opined that these racist protests were a bad advertisement for both Belfast and for those advocating the case in favour of our union with GB.
3. The next day, I was waiting for the overdue delivery of a new doormat which I had been told would arrive that afternoon. To my surprise, when the door bell rang, instead of a delivery, I was being greeted by another long established friend, just happened to be passing. He has never migrated from NI. As soon as he came in we agreed to exclude politics from the discussion. Almost inevitably, not least because of us both having civic consciences, the current hot topic of public interest arose - just before my friend had to leave.
In our somewhat truncated discussion, he argued that migration is a major issue in many cities across the UK and Ireland, as well as abroad, not least in America. His parting shot, I must admit stumped me - a comment that what Belfast is experiencing is much the same as everywhere else, no better no worse. In the interests of harmony, I held my own counsel private (2).
In retrospect, I was glad to hear his assertion. One prime inaccuracy compelled me to consider the veracity of those other places he had cited as being the same as here. Mulling over the evidence, none of them involved their local citizens putting on masks and balaclavas, without mandate or any legal right, marching like paramilitaries to specific streets and burning property to evict migrants by force. To implement these acts on consecutive days and nights, to take the law into their own hands, trying to destroy decades of good work to mend community relations - none of this reflects well on Northern Ireland's image as in any way law-abiding or welcoming, one hundred thousand welcomes or whatever the right number now might be.
Ever since colonialism became an established feature of Britain's foreicn policy generations ago, people have been migrating from Ireland - the whole island was British then. When the Great Hunger happened, the famine, in the mid 1800's emmigration became established, an escape imperative. This has continued in both jurisdictions, with Northern Ireland's outward migration encouraged further by three or more decades of the Troubles. Is it any wonder why we desperately rely on migrants to provide essential help to staff our services industries, not least in the National Health Service?
Our citizens who have had to leave, for whatever reason, have been welcomed and contribute hugely to build the economies in Britain, the USA, Australia, Canada and in many other countries. Have we not suffered enough? Nothing excuses the violent actions of Ulster citizens who have attacked innocent migrants and their families whose culture, a justifying loyalist spokesman, described as "alien." (A phrase occurs).
Incidentally my postal delivery arrived the next day - including "100,000 welcomes." So, sing the song -
Come into the parlour. There'll be a welcome there for you
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