Full transcript
0:00The A to Z of isms - Xenophobism
0:03Xenophobia is a term used to describe the fear and hatred
0:07of the foreign "other".
0:09It is a fear that the other, the less deserving foreigner,
0:11will take away your way of life.
0:14Xenophobia has a long history.
0:16The Romans and Greeks labelled those outside their borders as barbarians
0:20uncivilised brutes who needed to be conquered
0:22for fears of them contaminating the empire.
0:25And xenophobia is shaping the political debate today.
0:28In the campaign for Britain to leave the EU,
0:30we were starkly warned about the threat of the hordes of foreigners
0:33supposedly swarming to the border of fortress Britain.
0:37The prime minister at the time of the vote, David Cameron,
0:40ushered in Brexit, in part by badly misjudging the power of xenophobia
0:44when he assumed that people would not ...
0:50Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump was elected on a wave of xenophobia
0:54against the imagined ...
0:58… supposedly pouring across the border with Mexico.
1:00{\an2}"Build the wall" is the perfect slogan of our xenophobic times.
1:04Though it would be wrong to confuse xenophobia with racism,
1:07though the two are often related.
1:09Racism is more than the fear of the other.
1:12It is a system of oppression based on the belief that so-called races
1:15are superior to others.
1:16Just as much of the Brexit vote
1:18was based on the desire to curb white migration into Britain,
1:22we have seen xenophobia in places like South Africa,
1:24where migrants from other African countries
1:26have been violently attacked by other black people,
1:29who are themselves poor and lacking in opportunity.
1:32It is a logic of scarce resources -
1:34of the country being too full to sustain the outsiders.
1:38And a reminder that you can be a victim of racism
1:41and perpetrate xenophobia.
1:42The Windrush scandal was caused by the hostile environment
1:45a xenophobic policy aimed at squeezing out illegal immigrants
1:49by making checks of documents routine in all areas of life,
1:52including work, education and even visiting the doctor.
1:57The unsurprising result was that many, including those who had legally
2:00come from the Caribbean post-war,
2:02lost their jobs or were deported to countries they had long left behind.
2:06But it was also the logical conclusion of decades of immigration
2:10policy that purposefully restricted immigration
2:13from Britain's former colonies in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.
2:16The expansion of freedom of movement from Europe was a continuation
2:19of welcoming white migration, whilst closing the door on people of colour.
2:24Xenophobic fears are easy to stir when inequality increases.
2:28The pain the so-called natives feel through poverty and inequality
2:31are turned onto the foreigner trying to jump the queue.
2:34It is no coincidence that following that increased inequality
2:37since the 2008 financial crisis,
2:39xenophobia has been on the rise across the world.
2:42Thankfully there is a way to tackle this trend.
2:44When society is more equal and provides for all,
2:47there is no need to fear the other.
2:53Thanks for watching! :)
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