Quote:
Originally Posted by Livia
That's some very evocative language there joey.
I can't see anyone here scapegoating genuine refugees. Should more have been done earlier? Well yes, of course. But that could be said of any country. I'm really tired of this whole "you're all horrible and cold" stance. My own family came here as refugees, genuine refugees. Were they let in with open arms? No. There was hell on in all quarters about the amount of Jews coming into the country. opposition to refugees is not something new, although some people seem to think the 30s and 40s was some magical time when Jews were let in and welcomed with open arms... it wasn't like that at all. There is far more done now for refugees than there ever was in the past.
I come from the East End, where there are more than anyone's fair share of refugees. I works for an FE college that recognised 130 languages, where those refugees were welcomed, taught English, taught a trade if they didn't have one or given academic English classes to follow their profession, all free. They were housed, given medical care and could live freely and without fear. Maybe there aren't a lot of refugees where you come from but there are a lot where I come from. Taking refugees isn't a new thing for us we've been doing it for a long time.
The thing that makes my heart sink is that some people don't recognise the good that this country does. Who was the first to land in Africa when the ebola crisis struck? The British army with field hospitals. Who is dragging refugees out of the water in the Med? The Royal Navy. Are they doing it because some people have shamed them? No.
Should we be doing more? Possibly... but we are just one of many and the UK is already the most densely populated country in Europe with a wealth of social problems including homelessness, poverty, an overstretched infrastructure... Germany have taken many more refugees than us because their birthrate has been falling year upon year.
No one here thinks genuine refugees should be turned away. Certainly not I.
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I'm sorry Liv, and do not want to be seen as obsequious just because we are friends, but I cannot help it - you post so eloquently and truthfully.