Ghosts
poverty : mid
Channel 4 showed Ghosts last night at 10pm. They pushed it a bit in the week so hopefully a lot of people will have seen it. What struck me was how thoughtlessly the illegals were treated by ordinary people like you and me. I hope the film struck other viewers the same way and thus raise the general consciousness of the public.
Employment agencies exploited their vulnerability, taking bribes to find them work and paying low rates. Neighbours reported them to police even though they caused them no trouble. It was easier to blame than to try and understand. Other cockle fishers ganged up on them. And large supermarkets knew they were getting cheap labour but did nothing about it.
All these can no doubt find a good excuse, backed by the law too, to do what they did. But exploiting or blaming the 'other' is very common and very easy to slip into. How easy is it to talk about the unemployed, for example, as if they are missing some virtue or quality that working people have? If we got to know these individuals better we would usually find they have bags of goodness and decency. If we got to know the backgrounds and lives of illegal immigrants we would similarly find many heroes amongst them.
Posted by Peter 14 Sep 07
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