Diane Abbott: economic migrants and refugees deserve equal sympathy

[Boiler 46,337]

Economic migrants from Africa not ‘lesser cause’ than Syrians fleeing war, shadow international development secretary says

Patrick Wintour Political editor
Thursday 5 November 2015 15.05 EST Last modified on Thursday 5 November 2015 16.13 EST
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Economic migrants coming to Britain should be treated with the same sympathy as refugees fleeing war, Diane Abbott has said.

The shadow international development secretary also said it is wrong and racist to claim, as some of her colleagues in the Labour party had done previously, that eastern European immigrants were the cause of wage cuts for English workers.

Abbott was speaking on Thursday at an event to welcome refugees in north London also attended by the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The refugee and immigration issue is likely to be controversial as Labour seeks to defeat a Ukip challenge in next month’s Oldham West byelection, triggered by the death of Michael Meacher.

She said: “I would remind you, thousands of people crossing the Sahara, risking their lives in the Mediterranean, coming over the Balkans, are also economic migrants and we do not want to fall into the error of thinking that refugees are in some sense a class of migrant more deserving of our sympathy.

“Just as our hearts goes out to Syrians struggling, dying, suffering and drowning, our hearts should also go out to economic migrants in Nigeria, Eritrea and north Africa, struggling, drowning and suffering. Economic migrants are not a lesser cause.”

She said the migration crisis had been caused by problems such as climate change and instability, but “above all there are issues with a series of ill-fated western interventions in Libya, Syria, Iraq and across the Middle East”. The European Union is predicting that there will be as many as 3 million refugees arriving in Europe next year.

Without naming any individual, Abbott also criticised “those in the Labour party that seem to want to argue that immigrants are in some sense the cause of our economic woes”. She said: “This is something I deplore. Immigrants in and of themselves do not cause low wages. Predatory employers, deregulated labour markets and weakened trade unions – they cause low wages.”

She argued that some people, including members of the Labour party, wrongly contend that the current debate about immigration is not about race by pointing to the fact that eastern Europeans are white.

Abbott said: “I would refer them to the toxic anti-Irish racism of the 19th century – the way the Irish were dehumanised and caricatured. Every single allegation made against the eastern Europeans – they were undercutting local labour, they were driving down wages, that they were the cause of the problems of the English working class – every single allegation that you hear made against eastern European migrants today, they said about the Irish in the 19th century. It was wrong then and it is wrong now.”

The government’s response to the crisis was inadequate because the refugee conversation had been poisoned by the toxic debate about immigration year after year, she said.

Abbott added that it was hypocritical of neoliberals to wring their hands about the effects of eastern Europeans on wages, since it was the liberalisation of labour markets and the weakening of trade unions that were the real culprits.

She described Corbyn as “the first authentically leftwing leader of the Labour party in a generation”.

Speaking at the event, Corbyn said his success in the Labour leadership election showed “the politics of me, not we, are over”. “It was a victory not for me, but for all those that want to see a different, better and more peaceful world,” he said.

He called on Britain to “hold out the hand of humanity and not brutality to refugees. I do not use the language of swarm and swamp and all those things. I look at those people as fellow human beings, just like you, just like me, just doing their best to survive in a cruel and dangerous world”.

Corbyn said David Cameron’s pledge to take in up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was inadequate, pointing to the hundreds of thousands being granted asylum by Germany and urging the government to assist local councils in giving a place of safety to refugees in the UK.

He insisted he held no brief for those fighting in Syria, and said he only wanted peace in the region. “Further bombing, further interventions, further boots on the ground, further wars is not going to solve the problem. All wars have to end by a political solution,” Corbyn added.

Without specifying how many refugees the British government should take, the Labour leader pointed out that Germany has taken hundreds of thousands of refugees and Britain should be doing more.

He said: “Refugees should not be treated as a problem, a threat, a difficulty and somehow or other to be confronted and kept out.

“The problem across Europe will not be solved by the construction of razor-wire fences around countries, by having gun boats in the sea and by having electronic surveillance and tagging of people all across the world that are trying to achieve a place of safety.”

The solution lay “in greater equality and above all by ending the series of wars that have disfigured this century so far,” Corbyn added.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/05/diane-abbott-refugees-economic-migrants-deserve-equal-sympathy

[lostinblue 1,989]

Their population is around 58 million they should be able to handle 10-20 million from Africa .... It would be a good test for their socialist system .

[Boiler 46,337]

UK is about half the size of Colorado. Does make you wonder what the impact on the carbon footprint would be?

[lostinblue 1,989]

UK is about half the size of Colorado. Does make you wonder what the impact on the carbon footprint would be?

Don't they wonder about that ... The folks that lie awake at night... worry .all hours of the day the ocean will rise 1 cm .. Cut coal they say.. Don't drive ... walk to save the earth ... All the sudden you have a million new drivers on the road ,

[Boiler 46,337]

Many millions, actually there may be no coal mines left?

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I will have to assume that the two of you are acutely aware of the truth that was said, most especially the parallel similarities to the Irish in the past. Not just in the UK but the US as well. Those who forget history are truly doomed to repeat it.

[Boiler 46,337]

Certainly agree with your last sentence, the Irish connection? there is none.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Certainly agree with your last sentence, the Irish connection? there is none.

The similarities between the two sets of immigrants, modern per the OP and the Irish back in the day, in their treatment by the larger society (at least the vocal folks who derive pleasure from disparaging new immigrants) is spot on.

[Dakine10 5,452]

European imperialism and the exploitation of Africa went on unabated for centuries. Now they have to deal with the consequences. Good for them.

As an alternative, I would suggest European countries begin calculating the amount of wealth that was stolen from those countries and return it. Otherwise shut up about refugees and economic migrants.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Dakine10

[Boiler 46,337]

European imperialism and the exploitation of Africa went on unabated for centuries. Now they have to deal with the consequences. Good for them.

As an alternative, I would suggest European countries begin calculating the amount of wealth that was stolen from those countries and return it. Otherwise shut up about refugees and economic migrants.

Where wou Putin get that much money?

[Dakine10 5,452]

Where wou Putin get that much money?

Most countries would just print it nowadays.

At least the UK could auction off the crown jewels. That should help a little. They're not using them anymore, anyway.

[Boiler 46,337]

Flood Africa with Roubles, that should help.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Flood Africa with Roubles, that should help.

Looking at a map of imperial Africa, Russia had Djibouti.

Theoretically France, Britain, Belgium, Germany Spain, Portugal, and even Italy would be looking at higher compensation in Africa.

[Boiler 46,337]

How about Asia?

Eastern Europe

Finland

????

[Darnell 8,479]

1. Economic migrants from Africa

not lesser cause than

2.Syrians fleeing war,

3.shadow international development secretary says

1. Easy peasie... illegal alien. Transit africa to europe. Lighter skin hue? Maybe fit in, otherwise not.

2. Get special treatment. Thats it. Nothing else to say.

3. This is a made up position; this human should be shot. No, seriously.