As press and certain politicians seek to load all the ills of our society onto people arriving in small boats, it is high time we faced up to the fact that there are consequences to any country’s actions, not just in the sense of war and conflict, but also resulting from empire-building. And while the conquering and colonising of other lands may have purported to be for the sake of spreading ‘civilisation’ or religion, it was – and still is – almost always driven by pure greed.
Rome acquired an enormous empire, but many of its greatest personalities were actually from its colonies; the emperors Hadrian and Trajan, to name but two, were both born in the country we now know as Spain. In fact, Rome itself attracted people from all over its empire and became a very multicultural city.
The same has proved to be with the case with the Spanish empire: Spain has attracted and continues to draw in citizens of its former colonies in Hispano-America; and France has many immigrants from North Africa and other former colonies further afield. And, of course, it is the same with the British Empire: a high proportion of immigrants to the UK have come from our former colonies, a direct consequence of our imperial past.
There is no former colony – of whichever imperial nation – which has not been plundered of its natural resources and, in the days of slavery, even of its peoples. I find it difficult to visit any stately home in the knowledge that most were built on the blood, sweat and tears of slaves and exploitation of the resources of conquered countries.
And the process of plundering continues: many former colonies which have gained independence have been left under the control of corrupt and unjust regimes. As a result, multinational companies continue to exploit their resources to little or no benefit to the native peoples.
A film which I found particularly moving n this subject was ‘Even the Rain’, directed by Icíar Bollaín: in a sub-plot of this film, a multinational water company seeks to privatise the water supply to a Bolivian community (for profit, of course), depriving the local people and farmers of their most vital resource and making them pay for it.
In another example of this type of exploitation, putting profit before people, the community of La Oroya, Peru, suffers the consequences of lead-poisoning because the American metallurgical company exploiting the nearby mine fails to prevent lead pollution. These are just two examples of what happens worldwide. Small wonder that many ‘illegal migrants’ are what have come to be labelled disparagingly as ‘economic migrants’, seeking to escape from such poverty and exploitation.
All too often, when a former colony was granted independence, the ‘mother country’ failed to establish secure and stable governance. Many former colonies were artificial constructs, such that once they became independent, they fragmented into rival communities, often breaking into unrest and civil war. Millions of citizens of such countries become refugees and asylum seekers.
The harm continues to be done: as I read a couple of days ago in a post on Facebook: “If you export armaments, don’t complain about importing refugees!”. Of course, many migrants are fleeing from war and violence. Surely they deserve our sympathy, the more so because our country has often provided the very weapons and munitions from which they are fleeing… and we may even have instigated the war. There are too many obvious examples of this, and yet our armaments industry continues to thrive on conflict elsewhere in the world, and thereby to generate displacement and migration.
As a linguist, I was very interested to hear that an important element of attraction to some of the ‘boat people’ who arrive on our beaches is… our language. Asked why they aim to come to the UK in particular, some have explained that it is because they speak English. Of course, English is a lingua franca, spread around the globe by the former British Empire. But there is more to it than that, as a result of the boom of communication and entertainment industries in the 20th century.
I once had a heated discussion on this with a dear friend. I’m talking about linguistic and cultural imperialism… The world – at least the ‘free world’ – is bombarded with British and American films, television programmes, and popular music. Simple to explain: the US in particular can produce such material, often arguably of dubious quality, much more cheaply than most countries, as exemplified by what is on offer on so many channels of Spanish television. This also has the effect of giving a false view of ubiquitous prosperity, particularly in the US. glamourising the lifestyle portrayed as being available to all in English-speaking countries. It is hardly surprising, then, that so many migrants aim for the UK because they hope they will be able to prosper thanks to a competence in English, if they make it to our country.
Interestingly, an expression used frequently in the context of what are now being called ‘Brexit boats’ is ‘pull factors’. If one is to believe Farage, Reform and much of the British press: luxury hotels, benefits, free taxi rides, under-the- radar work, benefits… the list seems endless, and almost all are total fiction or gross exaggerations, as revealed by Emma Monk in “Playstations-to-spanish-lessons-debunking-the-asylum-freebies-list”. The government could do far more to debunk these myths emanating from the far-right. [Instead they perpetuate it with talk of confiscating gold and jewellery at the border. Ed]
However, there are also what we might call ‘push factors’ and, as we have seen; these are mostly the consequence of the behaviour of our country in past centuries. The problem with ‘push factors’ is that they result from our chequered history and cannot be expunged. In this sense we are reaping what we have sown.
Our country cannot just wash its hands of its past activities, of behaviour which has contributed to the flow of migrants to our shores: what we are experiencing is the consequence of our past misdemeanours.
The story doesn’t end there; there was a phrase in a book I was reading this morning: “we own our words”. Indeed. Every provocative statement by politicians and the press stirring public alarm and indignation about boat people in particular, and migrants in general, contributes to the creation of discontent and division. This is how migrants and ‘boat people’ are being demonised and scapegoated, with the resultant protests and demonstrations, and – very worryingly the rise of Reform UK, a party devoid of constructive policies, but sickeningly successful in generating and exploiting fear, suspicion and hatred among the more naïve elements of the electorate. They are reaping what they sow.
The irony is that, dealt with properly as in Spain (article to follow), migration is a positive thing, especially in a low-birthrate society in which we are not replacing ourselves. The upside-down demographic pyramid means we need more young people to work and pay taxes, and to look after the growing numbers of aged needing care! We should be celebrating immigrants’ contribution to our society, not scapegoating them for the negative impact of successive governments’ political choices.
