Myths About Asylum And Migration

I've sent this off, in slightly different form, to the Telegraph today:

"The problem with a surge in BNP candidates, along with right-wing policies by Labour and the Conservatives, is that it leads to myths and half truths. Asylum seekers and refugees are less than 2% of the population of Coventry. They’re not pouring into our city. Until a decision on their claim, asylum seekers have to live on a poverty-level subsidy and aren’t allowed to work. We do have our share of economic migrants from Eastern Europe, but it’s not the highlife. Some are living six to a house, and are being exploited due to not knowing about employment rights or health and safety.

If you don’t bother understanding anyone different than you -- whether it is migrants, Muslims, asylum seekers, “scoungers who should get a job,” or gays, lesbians and bisexuals -- and if you hate a group hard enough, they start to seem less than human. Once that’s achieved, you can start taking their rights away.

We’re facing challenges like globalisation and global warming, and we have to build up local alternatives together, not become separated by difference."