To Understand the Resentment Some Feel Towards Refugees ?

[wantaholiday]

I've name changed for this because I'm a regular poster and don't really want it known I've taken in a Ukrainian family.

We are a family with teenager school children and a Ukrainian mum and her six year old child are living in our house with us as in our spare bedroom as part of our family. We are very, very lucky because the family are lovely and a joy to have. It was a big gamble taking them as we didn't know them and just because you're escaping a war doesn't make you a nice, easy to live with person. Likewise for them, offering space doesn't mean we'll be easy.

They have been given a lot of help (this is great) such as, our oversubscribed and full village primary school made extra space to take child in. People in the village have been very welcoming, they've received loads of donated toys and clothes (that they needed). They've also gone out of their way to invite mum and kid to things and offer lifts (also needed) to the mum. Even the dentist, you can't get an NHS dentist for 50 miles in any direction from where I live, this was even on the news a while ago, my dentist has made an exception for them and taken them on as NHS patients.

All this is great, and I'm very happy about all of it and shows what a great place the world is. My issue is how we treat our own poor. So many people in the UK live in real long term grinding poverty with no end or hope in sight, they and their kids get none of this special treatment and are even blamed for their own circumstances. I can understand if they might feel resentful towards my guests. For what it's worth I think they're completely blaming the wrong people, it's not the fault of refugees that poor people in the UK live in such dire conditions, it's the fault of government. Absolutely no sympathy understanding or excuses given to people living comfortably lives who also resent refugees though.

I've turned off voting because I don't want any vote to be read as if we are right to be resentful of refugees .

It’s impossible to agree 100pc with a political manifesto. You have to decide what’s most important to you but that could result in things you dont want.

The OP's point is that our needy are treated appallingly in comparison, and have access to less help in this country than refugees.

It is possible to believe that refugees deserve any assistance we can give them, while also recognising the fundamental unfairness and inhumanity in how poorer people are treated in this country, and believing that those people deserve more help than they get.

We can't win with the Middle East, we either leave tyrants like Saddam Hussein in power, killing and torturing his own people and those of other countries he invades, or we intervene and "impose" democracy on people who don't want it and reject it, and we are to blame for that as well. Look at all the hatred directed at Israel, by any measure the most democratic and free country in the entire region.

Absolutely this.

Classism, racism, populism and prejudice all have an impact when the government decides who it will help and who it won't.

Look at all the hatred directed at Israel, by any measure the most democratic and free country in the entire region.

I don't think the Palestinian people get much benefit from that democracy and freedom....

Absolutely, and the people in this country have made a choice and this is what the outcome is. No school places, no dentist, long waits at hospital, no where for granny to go when she needs a care package, libraries shut, public amenities privatised and unaffordable for the poor, public transport outside of London prohibitively expensive, housing system inaccessible to many, the list is endless.

Ok…so why do you think the UK and the US invaded Iraq in 2003? Saddam hadn’t invaded another country in quite some time, and his regime was no different to that of other dictators.

And you honestly believe Israel is a free country? Does that apply to the Palestinians too?

Exactly my first thought!

donyou think it’s deliberate that the predatory capitalist looks like Rupert Murdock?

If you want something done your way then you do it!

people get to invest their energy in what they think is worthwhile.

Yes, that’s the point of the picture……..

Which is how long the family staying with us waited. Theyd actually managed to get a job and get paid before their UC got sorted out.

I understand what you are saying OP. People will always resent it if someone else suddenly turns up and gets something they don't get when they're desperate then. It is inevitable

All those words just to say Ukrainians aren’t brown and Muslim.

Yes, it’s supposed to be the likes of the right wing Murdoch press making you look not at the real culprits (the government and the capitalist cronies) but look towards those who have even less than you and blame them instead

You’ve got to be astoundingly self centred to be jealous of someone who has fled thei country due to war and doesn’t know what family or home will be there to go back too.

surely we can see it’s not the treatment of the refugees that is wrong here but the lack of support and services for those who were born without land or money

where’s the ire for the billionaires and their extreme hoarding problem?

Let’s be honest. Refugee resettlement schemes in Europe are a response to the replacement rate crisis. The continent needs more labour and mostly cheap, unskilled labour. It’s not the milk of human kindness. So it’s nothing to do with distribution of resources.

Are refugees from other countries being treated the same? I very much doubt it.

It is the same with lots of issues. When my mum had cancer there were MacMillan nurses, Maggies Centre, and neighbours all ready to offer help and support. But have another life-threatening illness and there is far less support and help out there.
Some causes get more public support and help than others.

It's like the thing that if you are drowning & there are two others drowning with you, save yourself before saving anyone else. There wouldn't be an outcry if this country looked after it's own properly, made sure that everyone had suitable housing, enough money to feed & clothe themselves, be warm & dry. When there are people being forced to live in B & B accommodation or a family in a one bed flat with not enough money to manage & people are having to choose between heating & eating, not being able to get a doctors appointment, see a dentist or find school places for children you can expect people to not be happy.

It isn’t the same. Local poor people are not in a war zone. Refugees are literally escaping with their lives.

Besides, it’s not ok to resent refugees their right to life because there are vulnerable people locally.

It should not be one or the other, it should be both.

The blame culture is carefully constructed by the powerful to turn the little people against each other and distract them from the appalling imbalance of power and distribution of wealth in the UK. Don’t fall for it.

No person in the UK is poor because of a refugee. They are poor because there is a corrupt and morally bankrupt government.

This really annoys me. There are other illnesses just as serious and many with absolutely no hope of a cure. But the support oncology patients get just isn't there for other things.

I agree with this. I felt we had a particular moral duty to the Afghan refugees, and we failed them terribly

Where I live the hotels are brimming with refugees from different countries. It's a very poor town but the middle classes from the surrounding rich areas love to do collections and such. They always post about it on Facebook complete with pictures

We have no infrastructure in place for these people, that is the issue. You can't find an NHS dentist and it's a struggle to get your kids into local schools. Food banks are used regularly by locals and everyone is feeling the strain

Don't even try to apply for social housing because you won't get a house. It's sad what has become of my town of Runcorn, and it's frightening to go out after dark

Ukranians are perceived as admirable. It's not about blond hair and blue eyes, it's about men saying goodbye to their families and sending them to safety while the men go back to fight their war. They are making a stand, making an incredible effort against Putin. Who would have believed they could make such a dent in Russia's might?
We've heard of the war crimes they suffer, we've seen their devastated cities. All European countries are taking in Ukranians in vast numbers for the same reasons. Rightly or wrongly they have our sympathy. I'd say rightly.

Aren’t Ukrainian and Russian forces quite evenly matched in troop numbers?

Arent the people of Afghanistan worthy? Those that worked for the British?

This is the narrative that was sold to us. And we all bought in. Why not? They genuinely need help. Ukraine is suffering and the maps does not show any type of winning on their side. Each day, it's a little bit more of Ukraine disappearing. They too bought into the narrative. Your families will be taken care off. Just go and die already. They will be safe.
Why are no other refugee treated the same? None. All the other refugees have admirable stories, they just are not told. They don't fill the BBC night after night reporting on a first person narrative the atrocities going on a little further away with gripping personal stories that you can relate to and identify with as victims.
Ukrainians were treated as individuals, all the others are treated as a mere number, a class, a group, faceless, usually male. It's all about the dingy, a panoramic view of the sea, the rescuers, the police, the army, a Politian or two, back to the reporter, back to the studio.
Maintaining emotional distance does wonders to perpetuate prejudice. Us vs them is not the reality.
This crisis should sober us all, all of a sudden there was money a will and a way. I believe the outcry was general and everybody stepped up to the plate, and somehow, the government to. Let's face it, it is a disgrace for all the others in need that are simply ignored day in day out in this country. We should do better. Yes it is a disgrace, but beware of replacing a rigged system with another rigged one. I would say let's not be attracted to even a zest of racism and populism, this is a recipe for disaster. Humane and unethical do not mix.