British and Proud
04-27-2009, 03:03 PM
Welcome to Scotland ... if you’re white and rich
Joanna Blythman
PASSENGERS ARRIVING at Scottish airports and ports from abroad these days are bombarded with mixed messages. They are greeted by cheery Scottish government Homecoming adverts extending the cordial hand of international friendship to anyone and everyone who might be interested in coming to Scotland to "celebrate its culture, achievements and heritage", for which read "generating revenue from tourism".
Interspersed between these are terse, almost fascistic notices from the UK Border Agency warning of steep fines, even jail sentences, for entering the UK illegally or aiding anyone who does.
This juxtaposition speaks volumes about our collective preparedness to open our doors to the world. On the one hand we want to welcome people from overseas, especially if they are white and have lots of money to spend (note how the marketing focus of Homecoming is the prosperous, white Scottish diaspora in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to the exclusion of less affluent, non-white descendents of Scots in the Caribbean, people who trace their families back to the plantations where Scots overseers interbred with enslaved Africans, occasionally by consent, but more often by rape.
On the other hand, we reserve the right to deport anyone we don't like the look of, and that has a habit of being anyone with a darker skin who isn't rich.
Continues here (http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2504263.0.welcome_to_scotland_if_youre _white_and_rich.php).
Joanna Blythman
PASSENGERS ARRIVING at Scottish airports and ports from abroad these days are bombarded with mixed messages. They are greeted by cheery Scottish government Homecoming adverts extending the cordial hand of international friendship to anyone and everyone who might be interested in coming to Scotland to "celebrate its culture, achievements and heritage", for which read "generating revenue from tourism".
Interspersed between these are terse, almost fascistic notices from the UK Border Agency warning of steep fines, even jail sentences, for entering the UK illegally or aiding anyone who does.
This juxtaposition speaks volumes about our collective preparedness to open our doors to the world. On the one hand we want to welcome people from overseas, especially if they are white and have lots of money to spend (note how the marketing focus of Homecoming is the prosperous, white Scottish diaspora in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to the exclusion of less affluent, non-white descendents of Scots in the Caribbean, people who trace their families back to the plantations where Scots overseers interbred with enslaved Africans, occasionally by consent, but more often by rape.
On the other hand, we reserve the right to deport anyone we don't like the look of, and that has a habit of being anyone with a darker skin who isn't rich.
Continues here (http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2504263.0.welcome_to_scotland_if_youre _white_and_rich.php).