Tuesday 21 June 2011

Let an umbrella be your smile

An asset, not a monkey for your back. 
Chaos HQ marched around with umbrellas last Sunday* to kick off Refugee Week, a collaborative effort to highlight the positive contributions of asylum-seekers to Britain.

We brolly-paraded for two reasons. Firstly out of a moral conviction best captured by Pete Postlethwaite in Brassed Off: 'If this lot were seals or whales you'd be up in arms but they're not are they? They're just ordinary, honest human beings and not one of them with an ounce of bloody hope left.'

Secondly, we suspected it might rain. It did.

I recently met a nice lady at the park who reminded me of Britain's historical commitment to sanctuary. We small-talked about children, crap weather and other bog standard things. Then she quietly told me that she was born in Prague and came to Britain at the age of seven via the Kindertransport rescue mission. This humanitarian movement saved thousands of continental Jewish children by resettling them in Britain just before the outbreak of the Second World War.
Bridge over troubled water. 

No matter how much I read about such things, to actually meet someone who was part of it was a very moving experience. She wishes, she said, that she could have seen her parents through adult eyes.

The man who kicked off our umbrella march along the Thames captured the mood perfectly when he said: 'We are proud to be British. We are proud to protect refugees. We are proud to be refugees.'

I was reminded of the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Gogol Bordello: 'Rememberremember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants.'
One nation, united under a rain-cloud. 

Right now you can find posters up in the underground that helpfully point out that many British cultural staples - fish and chips, M&S, the Mini, the Milibands (delete as appropriate depending on your political and lifestyle leanings) - come from immigrant stock.

A very useful reminder to counter the constant printed downpour of negativity on the subject of immigration.

The kingdom belongs to such as these. 
So be proud this week and every week to support refugees - as British a thing as understated tea and royal bunting.**

Show your support even if you're little - like my pair of short migrants, who slept through the event in spite of a very boisterous drum core. And be welcoming even if your fellow humans are a little different from you.

Consider it theoretical karma in case you ever have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

We are all foreigners, somewhere.

*You can find great photo coverage of the event here.
**Actually, what on earth is bunting?

27 comments:

  1. What an incredible post and so moving and correct. I believe and support everything you have said and wish wholeheartedly more people felt the same. I hope through my filmmaking work and social documentaries that I can pass on the same messages. Great stuff.

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  2. Thanks Vicki! Glad to hear support for this view, amid so much negativity out there...best of luck with your film projects - I look forward to checking them out.

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  3. Brilliant post and such a worthy cause to highlight. I'm fortunate enough to have been born in this country and take that for granted much of the time. But coming from a part of the country that is typically hostile and suspicious to immigrant populations nothing makes me feel sadder and more ashamed than people talking about refusing the right to asylum seekers or shutting the gates to all 'foreigners'. MOST people who settle here do so with honourable intentions and contribute to society, indeed often more than some who are born here, so I am all for protecting the rights of immigrants, and particularly at a tie when a harsh economic environment is making even the most normally benevolent of communities agree with those who argue we can't afford to 'let them in'.

    Good luck with the campaign xXx

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  4. Thank you Christina, such a thoughtful note, and how nice to be in good company on this!

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  5. There is so much angst about immigrants in the UK and when people start complaining to me about it (me! an american in the UK!) I just say 'bloody foreigners!' in a silly voice and suddenly they realise what they're saying--that it's ok for some nationalities and not others...

    Lovely post.

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  6. Hah, I love that - I am adopting your silly-voiced 'bloody foreigners' tactic henceforth!

    I get the same thing all the time - so strange how people can forget that Americans aren't usually indigenous to the UK...

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  7. What is bunting? Question 1 on the citizenship exam...

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  8. Really?! Nooo!!! *studies furiously (not a euphemism)*

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  9. natalie donohoe21 June 2011 at 21:49

    A really great cause to highlight, I don't think the average person actually realises how much immigrants
    contribute to our country, yes some may be here for a 'free ride' but there's plenty more born on english soil who enjoy that too. I live in the north and peoples attitudes can be very black and white on the whole issue.

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  10. A great cause. Since beginning our stint abroad, I have more empathy than ever for immigrants and asylum seekers and despair at some of the terrible attitudes they have to put up with. Love the umbrellas! Emma :)

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  11. Thanks Emma - my empathy for the world's wanderers likewise stems from being one of them.

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  12. Thanks Natalie, I agree that the contributions of immigrants too often go unnoticed.

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  13. Another reason why I love London and Londoners from wherever they may originate. What a fabulous opportunity to be part of.
    It's a shame there is a handful of asylum seekers or immigrants that upset integration for the majority and it's even sadder that the tabloids pick up on those few and paint a picture that's not representative of the whole making the job so much more difficult.
    What a great post!

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  14. Thanks for stopping by Mari! As per the old wisdom: the tabloids will always be with us.

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  15. Brilliant post! I am an immigrant in the USA so I support all immigrants wholeheartedly!

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  16. Thanks for visiting Emma! You have my respect and my sympathy - immigrating to America involves EVEN MORE paperwork than immigrating to Britain ;)

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  17. Polish Mama on the Prairie22 June 2011 at 20:08

    I teared up at this one. Especially since I was thinking about this all week. You really captured it well and I love the quotes you used. Shared on my private & fan facebook walls AND going to tweet this because I loved it so much! God bless you and your family.

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  18. What a lovely comment, bless you Kasia, what an incredible journey you've made from your homeland of your birth to your other homeland across the water. I got nothin' next to that story! How wonderful to connect over Refugee Week :)

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  19. Great post. Unfortunately, the current resentment against immigrants isn't unique to Britain. It's sad to see that it's apparently very hard to learn from the past...

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  20. Great post. We are currently watching a series in Australia called Go Back to Where you came from. Three nights of eye-opening television on the plight of refugees. So a timely post for me.

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  21. Thanks Allison! I'll have to check out the series, sounds intriguing.

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  22. Cheers Deborah, you make a very good point. Immigrants get much worse press in the land of my birth (America) than they do in Britain. Absurd indeed, when put in an historical context.

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  23. Well done for standing up for what you believe in. As Allison said, we are going through the same issues in Australia. I haven't seen the TV show, but I have read stories about a government decision to send unaccompanied children back to their countries. Children! How are they going to jeopardise the country's security or anything else, really.

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  24. Children??? Arg. How sad, and as you say: how pointless.

    Thanks for stopping by Tat :)

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  25. Hello from another wanderer. I was born and raised in Germany,then moved back home(Turkey), then moved abroad,moved back home then came to UK,moved home and came back. Brilliant post,it really spoke to me. I love the quotes you used.

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  26. Thanks for stopping by fellow wanderer! Having different homes is a lonely way to live, I find, but also a rich and fulfilling one. Happy travels, wherever your feet take you :)

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