How to counter the fear that migrants may “take their place”? I’ve been thinking about my own experiences, and of those close to me, to draw on some answers. Humans are varied and a one-size-fits-all approach is invariably doomed to fail. And yet, how to provide personalised support to many people with ever-shrinking public resources?
Empowerment, feeling like a part of society, feeling useful, feeling welcome in a community, are all parts of integration. One can say it is up to the immigrant to integrate. But it is also true that sowing seeds on arid land will not lead to a rich harvest. The earth that receives a new plant must be prepared with healthy soil to enable the seedlings to grow roots, thrive and, eventually, bear fruit.
Although mandatory labour and poor or no pay is not to be recommended, a system of mentoring and coaching could be evaluated. The key question is how to make a person feel valued? For this to happen, an attitude shift is required. In our current toxic environment, in order to bring about much needed mindset change, the way we talk about culture and migration needs to be communicated differently: not as giver and receiver, but as equals, mutually supporting each other. And alongside this, the creation of a network of projects and safe spaces with a focus on integration of marginalised and isolated persons, will ease mutual integration.
Helen’s story
I am not an immigrant. By luck I was born British – stable, safe, and free to set the course of my own life. I chose art – something often dismissed, but the very thing that I felt represented the best of Britain’s culture.
I grew up in a predominantly white area where immigration was evident mostly in the South Asian families who kept our corner shops running, and in Liverpool’s Chinese community. I joined in their public festivities and enjoyed their food and other products. They were, at the same time, familiar and also wonderfully different.
Life in Britain is not always kind, and my family, of course, had their fair share of brushes with poverty, ill health and social troubles. But, I hope, this served to give me understanding and empathy – a glimpse into the fear and despair faced by people experiencing much worse.
Today, the national conversation about immigration has grown alarmingly cruel. It seems more about punishment than efficiency, or even what is most beneficial to the country. Many of us are asking: isn’t there a better, more humane way?
It was online, on Bluesky, that I met Nazish. Not “an immigrant,” just another person discussing the power of volunteering in helping people find connection and purpose. It struck me that on social media, we meet each other without the baggage of nationality. We share our experiences and interests, give recommendations and show off our meals, travels and knitting projects without ever asking, “Where are you from?”
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Integration – human exchange
What if real life worked like that? What if integration started not with bureaucracy or charity, but with simple human exchange?
The connection between Nazish and me, which developed further, reflected how we both came with the same idea through different experiences.
The idea began with something small – a knitting group trying to help a woman learning English – the shared interest in craft effortlessly bridged differences. From there, the thought grew: what if local clubs – knitting circles, gardening groups, book clubs etc. – opened their doors to newcomers, not out of charity, but curiosity? What if integration was built on reciprocity rather than rescue?
It’s a well known problem that Brits are lonely. Immigrants are lonely too.
We all need ‘third spaces’ – places outside home and work where we can connect in an organic way.
Art, food, music and play are universal languages. So what if sharing your version of these universal human activities could build belonging and resilience far more effectively than the isolation and mandatory integration programs we currently have? What if these gatherings could provide safe spaces to relax, make connections and recoup a sense of self? To practice too the essential skills of language and trauma recovery, that in many other situations would feel overwhelming, or go unpractised entirely.
Via my own experience of disability, I feel strongly that any persons place in a community should not be based on labour as proof of worth. It should be about creating opportunities for what Nazish calls “a sense of meaning” for a community. That the seeds of belonging and self-worth, a feeling of being seen, that sustains people before they can truly grow roots, are better sown in ground that is well nourished and receptive. To me, that means that the healthy way to reframe integration is as the natural finding of a place within the permaculture.
We have so many fundamental things in common – “there is more that unites us than divides us” as the quote almost goes – that it only needs a method of enriching the soil that helps us all grow. A robust and openly accessible network of groups, clubs and gatherings that can provide company, connection and enjoyment to every person who has need of them.
Integration should mean connection
Integration should never mean the erasure of one entity, disappearing into the dominant one. It should mean connection – the slow weaving of lives and stories through empathy and shared humanity, another form in the continual evolution of a culture. People should not be asked to prove their worth through labour, paid or unpaid, nor should the host community fear losing what they have.
Government programmes can provide housing and language classes, but only communities can provide belonging. The cost is as yet unknown, but the return is immense.
There exists a system of support for asylum seekers and immigrants already. Bloated and mismanaged, it relies on severely overstretched public services and indefatigable charitable groups without creating a common ground where hosts and immigrants can interact as equals. Compounded with poisonous public discourse, without safe spaces for the community to come together, it is only natural that this scarcity breeds resentment. Parallel, but rarely meeting, is a constellation of social groups for existing communities – home grown, individually funded, often hard to find and vulnerable to disruption or loss.
A new way could involve melding these systems together, supported by government. It could fund the creation or improvement of real third spaces either via churches, libraries and community centres, or with reclamation of empty spaces for community cafes and creative spaces. It could be as obvious as a push to gather listings of existing groups within hubs to promote awareness. And to coordinate the creation of new groups to meet demand – something akin to a freshers fair, where locals and immigrants alike can go to find like minds and groups fitting their interests.
The input of relevant cultural institutions would be welcomed – to promote their existing activities. It would serve as guidance for individuals into research and education. What is important is the spirit of mutuality, giving and receiving in equal measure, in safe and welcoming spaces.
Belonging grows in the connections we create between people. In welcoming others, we enrich ourselves. We are told that creating a space for others is an act of charity. Instead it should be seen as an opportunity for mutual enlightenment. Strengthening the fibres that connect all living beings is really the only way to protect the fabric of our shared humanity. Actions such as setting up a nationwide network of hubs as safe spaces for people to interact as equals will ease cultural micro-integration.
If we prepare the soil, the seedlings will grow. If we bridge our differences with empathy and openness, we will discover that we were never as different as we previously imagined.
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