terça-feira, 21 de junho de 2011

Intervenções no blogue 'The Lisboners' (VI)

[Em resposta a este artigo]

I agree. In fact, I think human rights should be at the heart of Government policy, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Unfortunately, anti-immigrant rhetoric is useful during an economic crisis. You need to pin the blame on someone, and immigrants, especially poor immigrants, make great scapegoats. After all, they don’t have a vote, they are easily perceived as coming in to «steal jobs», and they are easily accused of being the cause of all criminal activity – and then, no one will speak for them, because it might mean that person will lose votes in the next election. Or is accused of not being «patriotic» enough.

We need someone to counter this kind of rhetoric, and speak not just for immigrants, but also for international development, even in this time of crisis. In my opinion, this means speaking out against protectionism, which is precisely what anti-immigration measures amount to.

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