If That Was Our Finest Hour, This Is Probably Our Feeblest

[poliphilo]

Between 2,000 and 3,000 people in Calais- most of whom are refugees from the hell holes we've done our best to poke (invading Iraq, bombing Libya)- and we're reacting as though it were 1940 and the nazi hordes were massing on the far side of the Channel. It's cruel, weak-minded and pathetic.

Oh, and deeply racist (but of course we're not racist are we? Perish the thought!)

I'm ashamed of my country at the moment.

Comments

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

See, you're just like us after all.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Can you send some here? It is cold, and the paperwork is horrendous, but we need 300,000 immigrants a year to keep our tax base up.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose if your government were prepared to fly people over...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

And yet both our nations have a not ignoble history of welcoming migrants and refugees...

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Ashamed is not too strong a word for how I feel..........

[samhain-punk.livejournal.com]

As an immigrant to this country myself, I feel so very conflicted about this whole issue. Mainly, because I know that when people talk about immigration as a bad thing, they aren't talking about me since I'm white and speak English (I've even had several people say this to my face) and that fills me with such a despair and a bit of self-loathing. Because why should it be easier for me, why should I get some free pass? I'm still an immigrant, and I came here for (though less dire) a lot of the same reasons the migrants in Calais want to. And, I'm sure most of these people trying to come across from Calais would work much harder and offer more to this country than I ever could, especially now that I'm basically disabled. But no, I won't have to face the same prejudice and censure they do, ever. And yet, sometimes when I try to sleep at night, I get this horrid anxiety that I am not welcome or wanted, either. That they start by turning away some and then every 'other'. Especially before I received my Settlement visa, I had so much panic every single day because the Tories were making that process ever more burdensome and ridiculous.

I, since the Tories now have free reign, find myself wondering if I really want to stay here. I love the UK. I love the people, I love the overall sensibility of the country, and damn it, I love the weather. I've lived here almost 11 years, much longer than I spent in any other one place, and I'm married to a lovely British man and this is his home. I've been thrilled for it to be mine. But the Tories seem to be chip chip chipping away at a lot of things I love about this country. And, because I'm not eligible to vote, I feel completely powerless, not that my single vote would change anything anyway. But I can't even voice my displeasure because I don't 'belong' and I don't feel like I have that right.

Sorry for the possibly incomprehensible rant. It's just been weighing on me.