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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Anti-Immigrant Politics, Belonging, and Research

An well-written piece from the NY Times:

Britain's Poles Are Paying Their Way
 
LONDON — “You are not from here,” I heard during a recent visit to my hometown, Wroclaw, in Poland, while I was out for a drink one evening with friends. “What do you mean? I was born here,” I said, surprised. 
“You speak Polish,” said my interlocutor, thoughtfully, “but there’s something strange about you, something different.” 
It left me wondering if I was in danger of becoming an immigrant in my own country. Or even whether I would discover — back home in London — that I wasn’t really Polish anymore.
For migrants everywhere, the question of belonging is often fraught, sometimes vexing. Like many Poles, I am dismayed by recent remarks about immigration from Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron. Britain’s membership in the European Union meant that restrictions on the free movement of workers from the newer member states Bulgaria and Romania were lifted on Jan. 1. In response, Mr. Cameron introduced a series of measures — with rhetoric to match — aimed at discouraging a fresh round of immigration.

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