harborshore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
harborshore) wrote2010-10-28 01:15 am
harborshore) wrote2010-10-28 01:15 am
note about the general swedish discussion of immigration at the moment
In reference to the racist party we seem to have voted in, people are now starting to say things like, “Well, I obviously don’t agree with their ideas, but I think it’s important to have a discussion about immigrants…”
Fuck that shit. First of all, it’s a discussion about immigration if it is anything at all (and the distinction is really really important because it frames the debate as being about an issue as opposed to being about individual people). Second of all, to decide that such an incredibly heterogeneous group ("immigrants") is all the same ("lives on welfare" "has it easy" "commits a lot of crime") is bigoted and also a mistaken framing of the discussion as “us” and “them” where “us” represents some kind of category of “real Swedes”. May I ask what qualifies one to become a Swede? Paying taxes? Having children here? Marrying a Swede? BEING BLOND?
Have your goddamn debate about immigration if you want to, but frankly, it won't solve our problems. We ought to be talking about small towns and we ought to be talking about democracy and we ought to be talking TO the voters and not over their heads, and we ought to not let the racists link the frustration of people without jobs or prospects to immigration, because it's a faulty link. And we can also have a discussion about immigration, but it ought to be about how we treat people who come here, because how we do it right now, well, that's some seriously flawed methodology if we're looking to make integration work (in the sense that the way we treat asylum seekers and illegal immigrants often borders on inhumane).
Most importantly, can we just agree that this is complex, and can we talk about why seemingly simple solutions (stop immigration) won't work? CAN WE GET SOME COMPLEXITY UP IN HERE THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS.
Fuck that shit. First of all, it’s a discussion about immigration if it is anything at all (and the distinction is really really important because it frames the debate as being about an issue as opposed to being about individual people). Second of all, to decide that such an incredibly heterogeneous group ("immigrants") is all the same ("lives on welfare" "has it easy" "commits a lot of crime") is bigoted and also a mistaken framing of the discussion as “us” and “them” where “us” represents some kind of category of “real Swedes”. May I ask what qualifies one to become a Swede? Paying taxes? Having children here? Marrying a Swede? BEING BLOND?
Have your goddamn debate about immigration if you want to, but frankly, it won't solve our problems. We ought to be talking about small towns and we ought to be talking about democracy and we ought to be talking TO the voters and not over their heads, and we ought to not let the racists link the frustration of people without jobs or prospects to immigration, because it's a faulty link. And we can also have a discussion about immigration, but it ought to be about how we treat people who come here, because how we do it right now, well, that's some seriously flawed methodology if we're looking to make integration work (in the sense that the way we treat asylum seekers and illegal immigrants often borders on inhumane).
Most importantly, can we just agree that this is complex, and can we talk about why seemingly simple solutions (stop immigration) won't work? CAN WE GET SOME COMPLEXITY UP IN HERE THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS.
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*ahem* Sorry about that, apparently I needed to get my rant on.
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