The A to Z of isms - Xenophobism
Xenophobia is a term used to describe the fear and hatred
of the foreign "other".
It is a fear that the other, the less deserving foreigner,
will take away your way of life.
Xenophobia has a long history.
The Romans and Greeks labelled those outside their borders as barbarians
uncivilised brutes who needed to be conquered
for fears of them contaminating the empire.
And xenophobia is shaping the political debate today.
In the campaign for Britain to leave the EU,
we were starkly warned about the threat of the hordes of foreigners
supposedly swarming to the border of fortress Britain.
The prime minister at the time of the vote, David Cameron,
ushered in Brexit, in part by badly misjudging the power of xenophobia
when he assumed that people would not ...
Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump was elected on a wave of xenophobia
against the imagined ...
… supposedly pouring across the border with Mexico.
"Build the wall" is the perfect slogan of our xenophobic times.
Though it would be wrong to confuse xenophobia with racism,
though the two are often related.
Racism is more than the fear of the other.
It is a system of oppression based on the belief that so-called races
are superior to others.
Just as much of the Brexit vote
was based on the desire to curb white migration into Britain,
we have seen xenophobia in places like South Africa,
where migrants from other African countries
have been violently attacked by other black people,
who are themselves poor and lacking in opportunity.
It is a logic of scarce resources -
of the country being too full to sustain the outsiders.
And a reminder that you can be a victim of racism
and perpetrate xenophobia.
The Windrush scandal was caused by the hostile environment
a xenophobic policy aimed at squeezing out illegal immigrants
by making checks of documents routine in all areas of life,
including work, education and even visiting the doctor.
The unsurprising result was that many, including those who had legally
come from the Caribbean post-war,
lost their jobs or were deported to countries they had long left behind.
But it was also the logical conclusion of decades of immigration
policy that purposefully restricted immigration
from Britain's former colonies in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.
The expansion of freedom of movement from Europe was a continuation
of welcoming white migration, whilst closing the door on people of colour.
Xenophobic fears are easy to stir when inequality increases.
The pain the so-called natives feel through poverty and inequality
are turned onto the foreigner trying to jump the queue.
It is no coincidence that following that increased inequality
since the 2008 financial crisis,
xenophobia has been on the rise across the world.
Thankfully there is a way to tackle this trend.
When society is more equal and provides for all,
there is no need to fear the other.
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