"Migration brings significant benefits for this country. But it is a complex area never far from heated public debate. That is why we need an honest discussion about it, that acknowledges the local pressures which migration can create in our communities and on our public services."
We've found that it certainly excites heated public debate. Community hysteria in Pool last autumn, for example. I hesitate to put a link to this repellent column written at the time - but I suppose people could write to the Editor and ask why it was ever published.
We've also found
- we need to refer constantly to the definition of migrant worker reached after consultation with Inclusion Cornwall i.e. someone who has come from overseas to work in this country, for economic reasons, and has been here for less than five years.
- it also important to calibrate our workshops, according to whether there are migrant worker members of staff and the children of migrant workers in schools where we are working
- crucial, too, is the presentation of the work done by migrants in this country. Manual labour is vital to keep the economy ticking. Any intimation that this work is of any less 'value' than professional work needs to be avoided at all costs. A blog reader wrote to me about this, stressing that the value of manual labour should be emphasised at all times - and reactions against it avoided.
She is angered by "the attitude that 'Those that do that kind of work just aren't as good as me.'... 'I don't need to get my hands dirty.'... 'These people have nothing to do with me.'... 'I have nothing in common with them.'... 'These people don't count'."
"I worked as a migrant labourer for four years. As an American in America. And the words I remember: 'There's nothing I hate worse than an apple picker that can read' . This is not a migrant issue - it's a human issue. It's acknowledging and respecting every human's existence and contribution to this amazing Life on Earth."
Particularly successful this week was Ewa's bag, with her selection of possessions brought to remind her of home. Ewa in fact has been an inspiration - she has embraced the project passionately. She clearly has a campaigning spirit. Her father was a Solidarity activist. One of her earliest memories is of him returning home with his coat drenched with tear gas, and the whole family crying.
