Refugees and minorities suffer as the drawbridge is raised
Donna Miles is an Iranian-Kiwi columnist and writer based in Christchurch
OPINION: I was in London when Rishi Sunak, a British Hindu of Indian heritage, became the first prime minister of colour in a country that once ruled India, much of Africa and a great deal beyond.
None of my British friends thought his appointment would help marginalised groups. My conservative friends hoped he might bring some economic stability. My leftist friends criticised the undemocratic transition of power and said the only minority group Sunak represented was Britain's small class of oligarchs.
When I lived in the UK, in the mid-80s, brown people were almost invisible in positions of power and often referred to as 'P*ki's – a racial slur directed indiscriminately at people who were South Asians or physically resembled them.
The UK has become much more tolerant now, so much so that when a Greek acquaintance said he was sure the Tories would not elect a brown prime minister, I was prepared to bet money that they would.
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So when Sunak won, I was £20 richer and felt glad that, at least symbolically, the UK was leaving behind the old world.
I say “symbolically” because a great deal of the Prime Minister's proposed policies, especially around immigration and asylum, denies others the same chances in life that Sunak's parents were given when they emigrated from East Africa to the UK in the 60s.
Sunak's elevation was announced at the beginning of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, that provides, among other things, a time for self-reflection. Sunak would have done well to reflect on his own family migration history and the impact of his policies on desperate people fleeing war and persecution.
Sunak and his Home Secretary Suella Braverman, also of Indian descent, are proposing policies that many, even senior Tories, have dismissed as “sickening” and likely “unworkable”. Policies such as detaining or deporting child refugees arriving on boats, and shipping to Rwanda, asylum seekers reaching the UK by crossing the channel – a plan which Braverman described as her “dream” and “obsession”.
The Home Secretary doesn't shy away from using “inflammatory language” while discussing immigration. Recently she claimed 100 million displaced people were eligible to come to the UK. A clearly alarmist figure as most displaced people have remained inside their countries and the UK takes far fewer refugees than other major European countries.
The Rwanda plan was first introduced by the previous Tory Home Secretary, Priti Patel, whose family fled Uganda after the brutal dictator, Idi Amin, stripped all Ugandan Asians of their assets and ordered them to leave the country.
In the 70s, the Ugandan Asians were settled within weeks in the UK. Families of some of the same refugees are asking what happened to the UK.
The reality is that refugees are a convenient scapegoat for politicians to distract voters from the main issues facing the country.
Twelve years of conservative rule have put the country under effective self-sanction via Brexit. Everyone seems to be on strike. The cost of living is through the roof. UK rivers and seas are full of raw sewage. The health system is falling apart and the country's economic growth forecast is worse than any other in the developed world-including Russia.
To distract from all these issues, Tories, copying from Australia, have decided to make “stop the boats” their main political slogan. And who better to introduce policies that hurt people of colour the most, than people of colour who cannot be accused of racism?
The drawbridge mentality is not limited to the UK. Many European right-wing populists, who espouse anti-immigrant policies, themselves turn out to be descended from immigrants.
In New Zealand, we have our own version of the same phenomenon.
NZ First's Winston Peters and ACT's David Seymour are of Māori descent-and yet, to put it mildly, are not known for their advocacy for Māori.
Peters used his first speech since losing power to attack the increased usage of te reo in public life – particularly the phrase “Aotearoa”.
Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, referring to Seymour's proposal to abolish Te Puni Kōkiri/The Ministry of Māori Development and the Office of Māori Crown Relations, said Seymour was weaponising his Māori whakapapa against his own people.
The drawbridge mentality is not limited to politicians either. Many immigrant groups in various countries have attempted to distance themselves from new arrivals in order to avoid being associated with negative stereotypes and discrimination.
Author and refugee advocate Behrouz Boochani told me many immigrants supported Australia's cruel offshore asylum system. Some of my own Iranian friends prefer policies that would limit the number of immigrants in New Zealand.
In all these situations, I can't help but think internalised racism plays a part. But whatever the cause, it is truly disappointing to see privileged people pulling up the ladder behind them.
What we need is shared wellbeing, not diverse shades of manipulation and inequality.