Immigrants built this nation …. What if they didn’t?

With elections round the corner there is a lot of talk of  immigrants and their benefit to the nation. I had a conversation earlier this year with my priest and very rarely am I told off (I was glad I was in this case). I pointed out how good immigrants were for the economy as I contribute by paying taxes and paying for things…. I was stopped there and then and asked what if I didn’t do any of that should I be asked to leave the country?

While the anti side protests that we rob precious resources the side that supports us thinks of us in terms of how we benefit society and them. both these arguments are selfish… its just that one is less selfish than the other. I have heard people tell me how grateful they are to immigrants who built roads as there were none in Britain till we came in. Sounds like a compliment or is it? What if we didn’t build roads? I find this assumption problematic as it positions the immigrants as the new working class and can only think of them in terms of productivity. This argument calls to mind a sketch by Rowan Atkinson about immigrants and curry.

I will let you watch it.

The line now that we have got the recipe is hilarious and it points to a deeper problem – we have stopped being useful and therefore should be asked to leave. Working class immigrants are elevated and white ones demonised as scroungers which ferments animosity and has lead to the rise of groups such as the EDL.

What if we didn’t make curry, roads, or take up any job that came our way would we still be welcome? Working in jobs no one wants to is not our choice it is a necessity (we aren’t given allowed access to public funds). I agree we contribute to the economy however human society isn’t about working alone.

Is our worth to be measured only in how we can make the lives of the middle classes comfortable and exotic? 

  

PS: Comments about the previous post ruffled some feathers. Yes some white people are very nice and have wonderful personalities and good intentions which I have every right to question. Good manners are not being questioned here just the thought process around certain ideas.