Votewise Election Watch: Immigration
Race and immigration is currently the second greatest concern to voters, after the economy, with 33 per cent identifying it as the most important issue facing Britain today (and consistently so throughout most of the last decade). Recent projections from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the UK's population will exceed 65 million by 2018 and 70 million by 2029, with two-thirds of that increase being caused, directly or indirectly, by migration to the UK. Now, Balanced Migration, a cross-party group of MPs and peers, including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, has called on the main parties to make a manifesto pledge not to allow the UK's population to exceed 70 million.
Irrespective of whether it is even realistic for politicians to set population targets, our response to this widely-felt concern should surely be tempered by compassion. We need to consider, as we do in the chapter on nationhood and immigration in Votewise Now!, whether 'British' is an inclusive or exclusive label – a way we welcome and integrate others, or separate ourselves and keep others out. One way to understand better the extent to which we have been influenced by irrational 'them and us' rhetoric is to listen to some of the stories of those who have come to Britain in recent years.
The following is the account of Miroslaw Grzelak, a former Nazi skinhead from Poland:
‘I was born and grew up in Poland. My family were Catholic, because almost everyone in Poland is (!) but we were not practicing Catholics. When I was a child I used to go to a mid-week class at the local Catholic church and was confirmed and took my first communion. I knew that God existed but nothing more. It wasn’t personal for me. One day when I was about eleven, I argued with the priest, slammed the door and never went back to church.
‘Around this time my mother and father got divorced. I missed having a father figure in my life. I looked for something to fill the gap and at fifteen I became a Nazi pagan skinhead. As a football hooligan, white supremacist, Nazi I had an identity and belonging within my group. I believed what they believed. I hated people of non-white races, especially Jews and felt I was doing good by fighting them. I hated Jesus, because I knew it he was a Jewish King.
‘Justyna and I moved to England five years ago because we wanted better salaries. I got a job as a bus driver. I thought that white British people would welcome me as a white Polish guy – instead I met people who had racist attitudes towards me – they were angry against Polish people taking British jobs. It made me think “they are treating me in the same way that I was treating other people.” One day I watched a programme about asylum seekers from Africa. It shocked me that they needed to come to England to escape persecution when I had just come to England for better pay.
‘One of my hobbies was listening to podcasts. One time “coincidently” I downloaded a podcast about God and the Bible, created by a Polish Christian,Martin Lechowicz. I started to listen to his podcasts. He spoke in a clear, natural way about the Bible. So I started reading the Bible to prove if it was true or not. I started at the beginning with Genesis but got stuck in Leviticus.
‘Then God put a fellow countryman, Jacek in my path. He came to work for my bus company and told me he was a Christian. He gave me a Polish Gospel of John and I read it. I was really surprised about all that I read about Jesus. I was really keen to read more and read the whole of the New Testament. I realised what I read was true and that I couldn’t disprove the Bible and God. It made sense. I realised what Jesus had done for me and understood what I should do next. So I asked Jesus to forgive me, to change me and I became a Christian. I didn’t want to live the old life that I had lived before.
‘One day I was reading my Bible on the bus. A lady saw me and asked if I was a Christian. When I said that I was she asked me which church I went to. I told her I didn’t. She said if I was a Christian I needed to be meeting to worship with other Christians. But I didn’t know where to go and I knew from reading Acts and Paul’s letters that I needed to be careful what church to choose. I asked Jack and he said that it would be best to pray that God would help me find the right church. So I did.
‘A few days later, I was waiting with my bus at the train station. An elderly gentleman got onto the bus and said did I know where Eden Baptist Church was? I didn’t understand the first word he was saying and asked him to write it down on a piece of paper. Then I thought “Well I have been praying to God to show me the right church to go to. I should go to this church to see if it is God’s answer!” The next day was Sunday, and Justyna and our three children went to Eden. And we have been coming to Eden now for three months.
‘Now I am a Christian I can look back and see so many times when God was reaching out to me and helping me to find Him – what we think are coincidences in life are no accidents at all. God is in control of our lives. So today I am being baptised to show that I am born again – I have died to my old life, and am alive in Christ. I am really grateful for all he has done for me.’
Explore race and immigration and all the big general election issues further by ordering your copy of Votewise Now! today.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
