.I don't eat donkeys
Asylum seekers and refugees are regularly pilloried in the tabloid press. An Iraqi journalist who spent years in exile broadcasting against the regime of Saddam Hussein, says it’s time the media told the true story of why people come to Scotland.
cople seeking refuge in Scotland are worried hy
what is written about them in the media. Most
asylum seekers and refugees do not read new spapet‘s regularly -A mainly hecause they can't afford them a but they can't help noticing headlines claiming that they are not really escaping from danger: that they are here to exploit the British puhlic: that they are criminals lleeing l'rom justice who want to continue their actiy'ities in the l'K; or more strangely that they are eating swans or donkey's.
This is all nonsense. Asylum seekers and refugees come to Britain hecause they are in danger. They hope to find peace and have a normal life. What does this mean'.’ It means a life where no one is trying to kill. threaten or harass them; where they do not get l'rightened ey'ery' time there is a knock at the door. where sal'ety‘ does not depend on humouring the rulers ol a y'iolent police state. or just heing lucky if you are a member of the ‘correct' religion or ethnic group.
When asylum seekers and refugees in Britain .see headlines calling them liars they hegin to tear. Most have no experience of a free press. In the countries they come from there is not the same Variety of media. Often there is only one newspaper. one radio station. one TV channel. all mouthpieces ot' the regime. It a group is ahtised in such a press they haye good reason to worry. hecause it can
mean they are ahout to he attacked.
WHEN ASYLUM SEEKERS AND REFUGEES SEE HEADLINES CALLING THEM LIARS THEY BEGIN TO FEAR
So. when stories attacking asylum seekers appear in the British press
reporting the policy of the goyernment and that persecution is not far behind. They do not understand that British newspapers are talking to different audiences and
.-\ i "\ x\. y'\- \‘.' . \ arc simply icllccting readers attitudes .M.
hack to them. They do not appreciate
‘ 157‘.
they fear that these are simply
()ne newspaper. which I will not name. hlames asylum seekers and refugees for almost eyerything that goes wrong in Britain. yet they neyer talk to them directly. Instead there are quotes from extremists eager to seek the limelight and pictures of indiyiduals who liay'e heen charged with crimes. They do not intery iew the frightened Somali woman who has heen abused in the street hecaUse of' her colour. or the young .-\rah man. heaten hy thugs hecause the had things written ahout rel'ugces makes them think they can get away with it. I once spent an hour talking to a journalist from this newspaper: he wrote his story as it we had ney er spoken. I was pti/Iled at first until I realised that his newspaper had to hehay'e like this. They had turned asylum seekers and refugees into the ghost in the closet: the monster under the hed. l’uhlishing an intery iew with a real one would he like turning the lights on and showing that there was really no monster at all. I think that would not sell \‘ci'y' many newspapers.
I am not saying the newspapers should not write about asylum seekers and refugees. .\'or do I want them to write positiye propaganda. I want them to tell the truth and let readers decide for themsclyes. ll. refugees want to liye in Scotland they must expect to answer questions and explain what has happened to them. There is no other way to hpr the Scottish people to understand. It is the duty of the media to help rel‘ugces do this. If they don‘t. they are no hetter at" :. than the propaganda sheets of any third world dictatorship.
Many asylum seekers and refugees haye been in Scotland for years. They are becoming a part of the communities in which they liye. Scottish people are heginning to see that the newcomers do not come with empty hands. and that they can make a contrihution to the communities they
that Britain is a country ruled by law". where they will not he randomly arrested or treated harshly. They come from places of’ danger where figures of authority are to he feared; where men in uniforms must he treated with caution.
It is unfortunate that the press ol'ten fails to understand why asylum seekers and refugees are so afraid to he criticised in the media. They do not appreciate the tear. and. yes. often the terror that such headlines can create in people‘s hearts. This is hecause they do not really intery'iew asylum seekers and refugees at all. relying instead on xenophohic myths that appeal to their readers' prejudices.
12 THE LIST 8-.3.‘ Jun 3306
Inc iit. Rel'ugee Week is a time when asylum seekers and their neighhours get together to show how people can liy'e together; that new people can bring new ideas and eyen hrighten up the old ones.
I hope the wider media will attend some of the eycnts and report on how asylum seekers and their neighhours are building a life together. I also hope that many people will come and take part in the eyents: that they will get to meet some asylum seekers and see that there is no monster in the closet alter all. .»\nd I promise we won't eat your donkey's!
Refugee Week in Scotland, Mon 19-Sun 25 Jun.
PlUCKING FRUITS FROM THE CULTURAL BUSH
it. in I Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor. two of the finest actors of their generation ii: say:: here) haye agreed to star in Woody Allen‘s as yet untitled next lllt)‘.l(:. The aiiia.'iritj duo Will play brothers who turn to crime after hitting financial problems. before becoming mortal enemies
New Order hate announced a new UK tour for this autumn which takes in Glasgow Academy on 18 October .
Ang Lee is to make a spy thriller set in WW2 Shanghai, The Chinese language feature lust. Caution is being scripted by Wang Hui-Ling. who previously coy/rote Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon . . Ed Harris and Norah Jones have been midi-xi to the cast of My Blueberry Nights. the Eriglish-language debut of Wong Kar Wai. The story of a young wernan who he :3 across America pondering the meaning of love already has Jude Law and Natalie Portman in its pipeline . . Bad news for Elton John whose attempt to write a US Sitcom is rumoured to have been given the thumbs- down because the plot would apparently have been too outrageoars for An‘ierican audiences. Him and Us was about the life of an ageing gay mUSiCian and his entourage. Kim Cattrall had been tipped to appear . . . Back in Blighty. matters Wlll be decidedly steamy on the small screen with news that Andrew Davies (who recently iniSisted that sex needs to be in the Spine of any drama) is giving us two new lTV adaptations. His version of the EM Forster tale A Room With a View Wlll be coming at us in 2007. while Odd Girl Out. the Elizabeth Jane Howard story. breathes down our necks before the year is out.