‘I just feel as though the country hates me,” the Romanian student told me, adding that she felt frightened to leave the house. Before I’m accused of legitimising scaremongering, I reassured her to the contrary. But here is just one anecdote that should both disturb and shame Britons.
Around three million people — Europeans who help keep the United Kingdom ticking — have been left feeling both fearful and insecure by the European Union (EU) referendum result. This is not an attack on Leave voters, among them many working-class people who feel ignored and derided, and with grievances that have long been unaddressed by Britain’s political elite. But the rhetoric of the official Leave campaign (which emphasised immigration from Europe was a problem), the sense of legitimacy xenophobes and racists think they now have, and the lack of assurances European migrants have: Well, how would you feel?
That there is currently a political debate about whether to deport European migrants is a matter of national shame. People who have come to UK — as Britons have flocked to European countries — and worked, paid taxes, settled down with their families, contributed to communities are now told they may get booted out. The government has refused to provide assurances about EU nationals already living in Britain, claiming it would depend on negotiations, effectively transforming human beings and their future security into bargaining chips.
And it’s not just European citizens living among Britons who have been plunged into insecurity: What of the hundreds of thousands of Brits living in the sunny tranquillity of Spain? Even if parliament swiftly resolves to rule out deportations, the damage is done. People have been left feeling unwelcome, only grudgingly accepted in a place they made their home. How ugly Britons must look to the outside world.
A new low
Indeed, when I spoke with that Romanian student, it was difficult not to recall the ugly episode when Nigel Farage declared he would be concerned if a Romanian family moved in next door. At the time, it seemed like a new low in British political debate. Then came the official Leave campaign that wasted no time in portraying EU migrants — as well as Turkish citizens, based on the false claim that Turkey would imminently join the EU — as potential rapists, murderers and criminals.
Millions of people who voted Leave do not regard EU migrants like this. But, because of this rhetoric, xenophobes and racists now think they have a mandate. Reported hate crimes in London are increasing: They haven’t peaked after the referendum. The Met reports a 50 per cent increase in hate crimes compared to the week earlier. Social media is rife with reports of hatred on the streets. As Media Diversified points out, racists are being unchallenged and given platforms such as on the BBC, which can only be a source of intimidation for millions.
It doesn’t matter how you voted in the referendum. The insecurity and fear that many now feel among people in Britain is a source of national embarrassment for the UK. It is surely incumbent on all of us to challenge this fear and bigotry and to show solidarity with those who feel threatened. History’s verdict on Britons, if they fail to do so, will be damning, to say the least.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
Owen Jones is a columnist and the author of Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class and The Establishment — And How They Get Away With It.
