After a series of successful online events which explored the intersections of different identities with migration status, we have expanded this work into a wider campaign.
Building on the themes explored in the Who is Welcome event series, which included the relationship of racism, Islamophobia and queerness with migration, we are pleased to launch the Who is Welcome campaign alongside our Words Matter campaign.
Migration is often looked at as a siloed issue. Campaigning and policy work rarely looks at the construction of migrants through an intersectional lens or how racism shapes our idea of who is welcome in the West. At the Migrants’ Rights Network, understanding the role intersections of identity play in shaping migration, including refugee, policies is central to our campaigning work. We must understand and be honest about who harmful migration, including asylum, policies are aimed at, and why.
The language of ‘welcome’ also has hidden meaning. A ‘welcome’ places the destination country as a hospitable ‘host’ that welcomes ‘guests’ (in this case migrants) who in turn are expected to be grateful. This rhetoric reinforces the problematic ideas that migrants, including refugees, must contribute, integrate and exhibit gratitude thus creating a hierarchy and the notion of conditional belonging. By calling this campaign ‘Who Is Welcome”, we are also questioning the inherent nature of migration and belonging that creates the host/guest relationship.
Who is Welcome events
The recording for the first event can be accessed here.
Our reflections on our second event can be accessed here.
The recording for the third event can be accessed here.
The recording for the fourth event can be accessed here.
Podcast
Episode 1: Patriotism and Migration
Episode 2: Queerness and Migration
Episode 3: Masculinity and Migration
In this project:
- Who is Welcome: Gender, Queerness and Migration
- Who is Welcome: Disability and Migration
- Who is Welcome: Islamophobia and Migration
Updates
Our latest articles about WHO IS WELCOME?
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It’s racist to…
It’s racist to stand outside a hotel and intimidate refugees. It’s racist to claim refugees are a ‘threat’ to local communities. It’s racist to tell people to ‘go back to where they came from’. It’s racist to blame a lack of local resources on people seeking sanctuary. Demonstrations outside hotels accommodating refugees are increasing. We…
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Britain is an expert in homonationalistic ideology
LGBT History Month Blog
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How Britain exported homophobia
by a member of the MRN community and queer asylum seeker