English Language IIA
Debate 6: Xenophobia
Owner:
L-LIIA-G6-1
Members:
ST-LIIA-G6-1
ST-LIIA-G6-2
ST-LIIA-G6-3
ST-LIIA-G6-4
ST-LIIA-G6-5
Discussion Leaders:
DL-LIIA-G6-1
· L-LIIA-G6-1
10w
FORUM debate 6/Xenophobia
Group Name: Joined-hands Team
Group members: ST-LIIA-G6-1, ST-LIIA-G6-2, ST-LIIA-G6-3 ST-LIIA-G6-4 & ST-LIIA-G6-5
Discussion Leader: DL-LIIA-G6-1
STEP 1
Individually write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.
· ST-LIIA-G6-3
Hi! My name is ST-LIIA-G6-3 and I’m from Spain too. I go to the same class as ST-LIIA-G6-1 so obviously I’m also studying an English Studies Degree at the Universitat de València. I’m not very sure of what I want to become in the future but I know that English is really my thing. One of my favourite things in life is travelling, I love knowing people from other countries and learn about their cultures.
So, what are you studying?
And where are you from?
· ST-LIIA-G6-4
Hello guys! I am ST-LIIA-G6-4 and I’m Spanish as ST-LIIA-G6-1 and ST-LIIA-G6-3. I live in a small village near Castilla la Mancha named Ayora, which is very popular because of its oil and honey. I’m also studying English Studies Degree at the University of Valencia, and in the future I would like to be a cultured person with the knowledge of many languages like French, Italian, German… and obviously English. In my free time I used to do some sports but what I like the most is dancing every type of music, especially Beyoncé.
What about you? Who is your favourite singer or group?
Thanks for reading me xx
English Language IIB
Debate 6: Xenophobia
Owner:
L-LIIB-G6-1
Discussion Leaders:
DL-LIIB-G6-1
· L-LIIB-G6-1
FORUM debate 6/Xenophobia
Group Name:
Group members:
Discussion leader(s): DL-LIIB-G6-1
STEP 1
Individually write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.
English Langauge II E
Debate 4: Xenophobia
Owner:
L-LIIEG.2-G4-1
Members (G.2):
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-4
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-5
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIIEG.2-G4-1
- L-LIIEG.2-G4-1
FORUM debate 4/Xenophobia
Group Name: About Xenophobia
Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIIEG.2-G4-1
Group members: (G.2):
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-4
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-5
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).
STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
-Why do you think xenophobia exists in today’s society?
-Do you think that xenophobia is justified in some cases?
-What motivates xenophobia ( in your opinion)
– Do you consider your country xenophobic?
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
-Do you consider your country xenophobic?
Yes. Of course. My mother is French and, once, she told me that some Spanish used to shout at her while driving. When my grandfather died, he let us his car and the license plate was from France. I can still remember how some men shouted at my mother: «¡Get back to your country!». The funny thing was my mother shouting back in a perfect Spanish.
I also remember that feeling of not knowing what to do. I can’t forget that moment. I think that it’s something disgusting having that behavior towards someone who is just as human as you. And I will never understand why there’s people who act like this. They disrespect humanity, they disrespect themselves. Xenophobia can’t be justified. Never. Biologically, we are the same. And it will always be like this.
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
Hello!
My name is ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6 and I’m nineteen years old. I’m from Valencia, Spain. Nowadays, I’m studying Translation in English and French at the University of Valencia. I love learning new languages and I also speak Gallego because I’m used to hearing my mother’s family. Moreover, I greatly enjoy travelling around the world to discover new cultures. Last summer I have worked as a lifeguard. However, in a nearly future, I would like to find a job as a medical translator or probably as a language teacher.
I have read an article related to Xenophobia [UNESCO, Social and Human Science, Xenophobia] and I have realised that there are differences between xenophobia and racism, words very similar that a lot of people tend to use as synonyms. Meanwhile, racism means distinction based on physical characteristics differences, such as skin colour our facial features, xenophobia implies behaviour based on the idea that the other is foreign.
Although we live in a developed world, it still exists xenophobia due to two causes. The first is migration which have developed a hatred towards newcomers because a lot of people consider that immigrants are going to take their jobs. The second is globalisation that increase the competition between states and the believe that your country is the best.
I believe that in Spain there are some people who have a strong feel of patriotism and this could entail xenophobia. But, do you think that it is a question of belonging to foreign countries or, also of money? Probably, xenophobes don’t reject rich people who came to Spain to spend their money here. Perhaps, what they really hate is the poor ones who come to Spain trying to find a better life.
I light of the above, how can we solve this problem?
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
– Do you think that xenophobia is justified in some cases?
No. Xenophobia is completely unacceptable in this society.
The world in which we live is based on values such as human fraternity or respect and this kind of behaviour put the actual status quo at risk.
Moreover, these «people» ‘s arguments are not solid at all. Under our skin, people of all ethnic groups are the same thing: a human being. The darkness of your skin is the biological way of protecting people from the harsh effects of the Sun. So the white skin of those that consider themselves » a superior race» or simply » something better better than those animals» is pale due to the geographical and climatic situation: they live in colder places and they do not need a thick skin to protect themselves from the sunlight.
Besides, there is a group of men and women that enjoys making fun of people speaking Spanish ( or other language ) in a thick accent. To be honest, I do not mind if someone speaks with another accent. It is understandable, it is correct. This group seems not to be conscious that they are natives and that person they are laughing at is trying to do his/her best to be understood and be accepted by a new society.
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
– Do you consider your country xenophobic?
Yes and no. Spain itself is not xenophobic but a large number of its population is and I consider that is not their fault. We Spaniards grow up surrounded by people ( sometimes our family, especially the oldest members ) saying that countries like England and France are our national enemies because, throughout our history, we made war against them due to an ancient enmity ( apparently, they tried to conquer us few centuries ago or they looked down on us ). All this speech can affect your point of view but you could be better than that and form an opinion analysing reality objectively.
Besides, I can only talk for myself but I have met excellent people who, according to the xenophobic part of my «compatriots», should be my » national enemies». These people from states like USA, Russia or Germany are amazing friends willing to have a nice conversation or to have dinner together. They have never treated me badly for being Spanish.
Luckily, our young people will grow up in international circles thanks to globalization; this is a good pretext to leave this ideology based on hate behind.
So what do you think about my point of view and this » pseudo-analysis of the Spanish society? Any comment will be welcome!
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
What motivates xenophobia:
Xenophobia is the agressive answer of the most incivil social segment. The multitude feels that people from other countries are attacking their cultural elements such as their language or their tradition.
Also, the desire to belong to a group is pervasive and primeral. While identification with a specific human community can be possitive, it can also lead to distrust of those who do not belong.
In addition, I strongly believe that this way of thinking denotes a lack of knowledge: people who is not interested in learning new languages or learning about new cultures tend to be more xenophobic. In my opinion, it is due to some media that do not represent the diversity of the multicultural society and act by promoting racism and violence, using false images and negative stereotypes of vulnerable groups and individuals, in particular immigrants and refugees, thereby promoting the dissemination of racism and xenophobic feelings among the people.
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
+ ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2 Wow! Simply shocking!
I am so sorry about your mother’s experience but you can not say just «yes». You should analyse it in depht. Spain is not xenophobic in itself ( as I have said in another comment ). We can only consider xenophobic to a specific part of our population. Our young people are truly open-minded and aware of the international nature of the world we live in. In a few decades we will be the majority of the Spanish population and we will be able to eradicate xenophobia once and for all.
With respect to what you say about xenophobic people, I agree with you: THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO ONLY HATE. But these are people who hate because they’ve been taught to hate. Someone has manipulate them since they have memory and that’s why they think that way. I think we should give them a chance and try to re-educate them socially.
What do you think?
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
+ ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3 (I think that I already answered this but here we go again). You’re right about not developing the question «Do you consider your country xenophobic»? but I thought that my explanation about what happened with my mother was enough. Sorry because it wasn’t. So, yes. I agree with you, we consider xenophobic only a part of Spanish people. They have been raised by their parents, who strongly believed that different people from they were bad for our country. Because they had grown hearing stories about strangers who came here and pick our jobs and money. Re-educating that type of people will be difficult, really difficult. They have been thinking the same way for a long time and it will be so hard (for them, for us) to change their minds. Yes, is possible. Everything is possible. But it requires even the same amount of time. I think. I don’t really know because I haven’t met somebody xenophobic. And if I do… Well, I won’t tolerate it. We are humans, now and forever. Genetically, we have the same structure. The only thing that distinguish us from other persons is our mentality. And it’s a shame being xenophobic. Our world is multicultural, is beauty in everything. We need to appreciate these because if we don’t, we will lose our humanity.
- ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
-What motivates xenophobia?
I believe that, in most cases, what motivates xenophobia is fear.
We live in an age when fear has been more and more present in our lives because of the terrorist attacks that have been perpetrated all around the world: Paris, Orlando, Istanbul, London, Catalonia… These attacks have incited people to fear and hate radicalisms and Islamic religions. Even though they are committed by isolated groups or religions, people have started to fear all Muslims in general. Because that is what people do, generalize.
Another common dread is the fear to the unknown. People are scared of what they do not know, and that is exactly what foreigners are. Everybody tends to reject them instead of trying to know them. I strongly believe that, if everyone tried to accept the unknown, everything would be easier. That is the reason why, following ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3’s and ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2’s point, I believe that families should educate their children to be open minded with foreign people.
What do you think? Is there anything else that motivates xenophobia?
English Langauge II E
Debate 4: Xenophobia
Owner:
L-LIIEG.2-G4-1
Members (G.2):
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-4
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-5
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIIEG.2-G4-1
· L-LIIEG.2-G4-1
FORUM debate 4/Xenophobia
Group Name: About Xenophobia
Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIIEG.2-G4-1
Group members: (G.2):
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-4
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-5
ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).
STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
-Why do you think xenophobia exists in today’s society?
-Do you think that xenophobia is justified in some cases?
-What motivates xenophobia ( in your opinion)
– Do you consider your country xenophobic?
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
-Do you consider your country xenophobic?
Yes. Of course. My mother is French and, once, she told me that some Spanish used to shout at her while driving. When my grandfather died, he let us his car and the license plate was from France. I can still remember how some men shouted at my mother: «¡Get back to your country!». The funny thing was my mother shouting back in a perfect Spanish.
I also remember that feeling of not knowing what to do. I can’t forget that moment. I think that it’s something disgusting having that behavior towards someone who is just as human as you. And I will never understand why there’s people who act like this. They disrespect humanity, they disrespect themselves. Xenophobia can’t be justified. Never. Biologically, we are the same. And it will always be like this.
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6
Hello!
My name is ST-LIIEG.2-G4-6 and I’m nineteen years old. I’m from Valencia, Spain. Nowadays, I’m studying Translation in English and French at the University of Valencia. I love learning new languages and I also speak Gallego because I’m used to hearing my mother’s family. Moreover, I greatly enjoy travelling around the world to discover new cultures. Last summer I have worked as a lifeguard. However, in a nearly future, I would like to find a job as a medical translator or probably as a language teacher.
I have read an article related to Xenophobia [UNESCO, Social and Human Science, Xenophobia] and I have realised that there are differences between xenophobia and racism, words very similar that a lot of people tend to use as synonyms. Meanwhile, racism means distinction based on physical characteristics differences, such as skin colour our facial features, xenophobia implies behaviour based on the idea that the other is foreign.
Although we live in a developed world, it still exists xenophobia due to two causes. The first is migration which have developed a hatred towards newcomers because a lot of people consider that immigrants are going to take their jobs. The second is globalisation that increase the competition between states and the believe that your country is the best.
I believe that in Spain there are some people who have a strong feel of patriotism and this could entail xenophobia. But, do you think that it is a question of belonging to foreign countries or, also of money? Probably, xenophobes don’t reject rich people who came to Spain to spend their money here. Perhaps, what they really hate is the poor ones who come to Spain trying to find a better life.
I light of the above, how can we solve this problem?
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
– Do you think that xenophobia is justified in some cases?
No. Xenophobia is completely unacceptable in this society.
The world in which we live is based on values such as human fraternity or respect and this kind of behaviour put the actual status quo at risk.
Moreover, these «people» ‘s arguments are not solid at all. Under our skin, people of all ethnic groups are the same thing: a human being. The darkness of your skin is the biological way of protecting people from the harsh effects of the Sun. So the white skin of those that consider themselves » a superior race» or simply » something better better than those animals» is pale due to the geographical and climatic situation: they live in colder places and they do not need a thick skin to protect themselves from the sunlight.
Besides, there is a group of men and women that enjoys making fun of people speaking Spanish ( or other language ) in a thick accent. To be honest, I do not mind if someone speaks with another accent. It is understandable, it is correct. This group seems not to be conscious that they are natives and that person they are laughing at is trying to do his/her best to be understood and be accepted by a new society.
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
– Do you consider your country xenophobic?
Yes and no. Spain itself is not xenophobic but a large number of its population is and I consider that is not their fault. We Spaniards grow up surrounded by people ( sometimes our family, especially the oldest members ) saying that countries like England and France are our national enemies because, throughout our history, we made war against them due to an ancient enmity ( apparently, they tried to conquer us few centuries ago or they looked down on us ). All this speech can affect your point of view but you could be better than that and form an opinion analysing reality objectively.
Besides, I can only talk for myself but I have met excellent people who, according to the xenophobic part of my «compatriots», should be my » national enemies». These people from states like USA, Russia or Germany are amazing friends willing to have a nice conversation or to have dinner together. They have never treated me badly for being Spanish.
Luckily, our young people will grow up in international circles thanks to globalization; this is a good pretext to leave this ideology based on hate behind.
So what do you think about my point of view and this » pseudo-analysis of the Spanish society? Any comment will be welcome!
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
What motivates xenophobia:
Xenophobia is the agressive answer of the most incivil social segment. The multitude feels that people from other countries are attacking their cultural elements such as their language or their tradition.
Also, the desire to belong to a group is pervasive and primeral. While identification with a specific human community can be possitive, it can also lead to distrust of those who do not belong.
In addition, I strongly believe that this way of thinking denotes a lack of knowledge: people who is not interested in learning new languages or learning about new cultures tend to be more xenophobic. In my opinion, it is due to some media that do not represent the diversity of the multicultural society and act by promoting racism and violence, using false images and negative stereotypes of vulnerable groups and individuals, in particular immigrants and refugees, thereby promoting the dissemination of racism and xenophobic feelings among the people.
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3
+ ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2 Wow! Simply shocking!
I am so sorry about your mother’s experience but you can not say just «yes». You should analyse it in depht. Spain is not xenophobic in itself ( as I have said in another comment ). We can only consider xenophobic to a specific part of our population. Our young people are truly open-minded and aware of the international nature of the world we live in. In a few decades we will be the majority of the Spanish population and we will be able to eradicate xenophobia once and for all.
With respect to what you say about xenophobic people, I agree with you: THEY ARE PEOPLE WHO ONLY HATE. But these are people who hate because they’ve been taught to hate. Someone has manipulate them since they have memory and that’s why they think that way. I think we should give them a chance and try to re-educate them socially.
What do you think?
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2
+ ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3 (I think that I already answered this but here we go again). You’re right about not developing the question «Do you consider your country xenophobic»? but I thought that my explanation about what happened with my mother was enough. Sorry because it wasn’t. So, yes. I agree with you, we consider xenophobic only a part of Spanish people. They have been raised by their parents, who strongly believed that different people from they were bad for our country. Because they had grown hearing stories about strangers who came here and pick our jobs and money. Re-educating that type of people will be difficult, really difficult. They have been thinking the same way for a long time and it will be so hard (for them, for us) to change their minds. Yes, is possible. Everything is possible. But it requires even the same amount of time. I think. I don’t really know because I haven’t met somebody xenophobic. And if I do… Well, I won’t tolerate it. We are humans, now and forever. Genetically, we have the same structure. The only thing that distinguish us from other persons is our mentality. And it’s a shame being xenophobic. Our world is multicultural, is beauty in everything. We need to appreciate these because if we don’t, we will lose our humanity.
· ST-LIIEG.2-G4-1
-What motivates xenophobia?
I believe that, in most cases, what motivates xenophobia is fear.
We live in an age when fear has been more and more present in our lives because of the terrorist attacks that have been perpetrated all around the world: Paris, Orlando, Istanbul, London, Catalonia… These attacks have incited people to fear and hate radicalisms and Islamic religions. Even though they are committed by isolated groups or religions, people have started to fear all Muslims in general. Because that is what people do, generalize.
Another common dread is the fear to the unknown. People are scared of what they do not know, and that is exactly what foreigners are. Everybody tends to reject them instead of trying to know them. I strongly believe that, if everyone tried to accept the unknown, everything would be easier. That is the reason why, following ST-LIIEG.2-G4-3’s and ST-LIIEG.2-G4-2’s point, I believe that families should educate their children to be open minded with foreign people.
What do you think? Is there anything else that motivates xenophobia?
English Language IV
Debate 6: Xenophobia
Owner:
L-LIV-G6-1
Members:
ST-LIV-G6-1
ST-LIV-G6-2
ST-LIV-G6-3
ST-LIV-G6-4
ST-LIV-G6-5
ST-LIV-G6-6
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIV-G6-1
· L-LIV-G6-1
Forum debate 6/Xenophobia
Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIV-G6-1
Group members:
ST-LIV-G6-1
ST-LIV-G6-2
ST-LIV-G6-3
ST-LIV-G6-4
ST-LIV-G6-5
ST-LIV-G6-6
STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).
STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader(s) assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).
· ST-LIV-G6-1
Hi everyone! My name is ST-LIV-G6-1, I’m 20 and I’m an Erasmus student from France. I’ll be the moderator for the debate which is going to deal with xenophobia.
I study English and Spanish along with international business, and I would love to become a translator once I get my master’s degree. Actually, my dream job would be translating TV series for Netflix as I basically learned English by watching movies and series with subtitles. I also love going to concerts and festivals and not a day goes by that I don’t listen to music.
Please feel free to introduce yourselves as well, so we can all have a better idea of who we are working with.
I, for one, will do my best to make this debate as smooth and complete as possible.
Regarding the topic itself, I came up with the following questions:
* How would you define xenophobia?
* Why are extreme-right political parties known for being xenophobic gaining popularity in Europe?
* Is xenophobia something we can eradicate? How?
* Why are genocides still happening?
· ST-LIV-G6-5
Hello everybody!
My name is ST-LIV-G6-5 and I’m nineteen years old. I’m from Valencia, Spain. Nowadays, I’m studying Translation and Interpretation in English and French at the University of Valencia. I absolutely love learning new languages and I also speak Gallego because I’m used to hearing my mother’s family. Moreover, I greatly enjoy travelling around the world to discover new cities and cultures. Last summer I have worked as a lifeguard in a beach of Valencia. However, in a nearly future, I would like to find a job as a medical translator or probably as a language teacher.
I have recently read an article related to Xenophobia [UNESCO, Social and Human Sciences, Xenophobia] and I have realised that there are differences between xenophobia and racism, words very similar that a lot of people tend to use as synonyms. Meanwhile, racism means distinction based on physical characteristic differences, such as skin colour or facial features, xenophobia implies behaviour based on the idea that the other is foreign from outside the nation.
On the other hand, these days, although we live in a highly developed world, it still exists xenophobia and genocides due to two causes. The first cause is migration which have developed a hatred towards newcomers because a lot of people consider that immigrants are going to take their jobs. The second is globalisation that increase the competition between states and the believe that your country is the best. For instance, this kind of fear develop extreme-right political parties that are gaining popularity in Europe as United Kingdom Independence Party, Alternative für Deutschland or Front National.
Bearing in mind what has been argued, how can we solve this problem and is it a problem of education?
· ST-LIV-G6-2
Hi, my name is ST-LIV-G6-2, I’m 20 years old and I’m an Erasmus student from Milan, Italy. I study Linguistical and Cultural Mediation and, in the future, I’d love to work in the field of international cooperation, possibly with an institution like the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), to give as much help as possible to those countries that are living in very critical conditions.
Xenophobia is a very actual topic and a big problem that is affecting mostly every Country in Europe and around the world. I would define xenophobia as “the fear of the strange and the foreign”: contextualizing the word in the current situation, it is the fear of people who come from different countries and have a different culture. The raising popularity of extreme right-wing parties such as Lega in Italy and AfD in Germany is the consequence of the increase of xenophobia due to the massive migratory waves from Africa and the Middle East to Europe. This fear is often unjustified: lots of people, like ST-LIV-G6-5 said, are worried that immigrants could take their jobs, but that’s totally untrue. The lack of valid information in the national presses and the propaganda of xenophobic parties based on the creation of fear among people are getting the problem harder to solve.
· ST-LIV-G6-1
I agree with + ST-LIV-G6-5, we need to make the distinction difference between racism and xenophobia so as not to create any confusion in the debate. According to the Cambridge dictionary, xenophobia is an «extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religions, etc.» whereas racism is «a belief that people’s qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of other races are not as good as the members of your own».
Taking that into account, both of you + ST-LIV-G6-5 and + ST-LIV-G6-2 rightfully pointed out a major cause for xenophobia these days: an increase in migratory waves from Africa and the Middle East to Western Europe.
More and more people believe that immigrants are bad for a country’s economy when, according to economists, they can actually turn out to be a great asset. In an article from the Huffington Post (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-portes/economic-europe-refugees_b_8128288.html), journalist Jonathan Portes argues that Europe’s overall population is aging, sometimes even shrinking, thus the need for extra labour force. For example, Greece’s mortality rate has been exceeding its birth rate for several years. What’s more, immigrants have different skills and knowledge, which can help increase competition between countries.
Still, immigrants are perceived by some as thugs, thieves or rapists. So where is this coming from? Is this a problem of communication as + ST-LIV-G6-2 suggested? Are the media responsible? How can we reverse that?
Immigration Is Good for Economic Growth. If Europe Gets It Right, Refugees Can Be Too. | HuffPost
huffingtonpost.com
· ST-LIV-G6-3
Hello everyone! My name is ST-LIV-G6-3, and I’m 22. I’m from Valencia and I’m studying the Translation degree in English, but I want to begin next year with German too. As many others here, my dream job is to become an audiovisual translator, more specifically related to videogames, and that’s why I would love to learn Japanese as soon as I can.
Now, regarding to the topic, I would define xenophobia not only as fear of foreigners, but also to their culture and/or religion. Actually I’ve heard lots of people who don’t like foreigners not just due to where they are, but mostly due to their religion or even the language.
Those political parties which are known as xenophobic use the demagoguery to convince people, for example, it’s easier to blame foreign workers of the EU who had to move to another country to find a job than criticize the methodology of the country that you are from.
This kind of thoughts are very difficult to erradicate. As far as people keep misinformed thanks to the media and those creepy political parties, they will remain thinking that way. At least that’s my point of view.
In a more radical way, there are even people who think that those immigrant workers or just tourists are a tumour for their country that must be excised. The reason of this is the complex of superiority. Believing that just because where you are from, the others are not as important as you and your ego.
· ST-LIV-G6-2
As ST-LIV-G6-1 said, work is one of the key points of this discussion: in his CNN article (https://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/07/opinions/xenophobia-over-rationality-mammone/index.html), journalist Andrea Mammone points out that “we have «more British-born people … in work today than ever.»”, but at the same time “the UK Home Secretary’s proposed restrictions on foreign students and the stigmatization of British companies hiring too many overseas workers and professionals go exactly in such direction. It also represents an evident legitimization of xenophobia”. If politicians start to “legalize” xenophobia, than this problem will be even harder to solve.
Immigrants can be an important workforce in every country and could help to solve the increasing European mortality rate. This workforce, though, must be used in the right way: in southern Italy, some owners hire immigrants illegally in their citrus fruits plantations, forcing them to work more than eight hours a day without any type of insurance and with a very low salary.
In Milan, though, a regular group of immigrants from Africa have started to learn how to bake bread and bakery products: this project involves a group of bakeries and professional bakers that decided to offer to those migrants the possibility to acquire very important skills and to be ready for the job market. The project has just started, but it has already gained popularity and achieved great results.
· ST-LIV-G6-5
It is true that the distinction between xenophobia and racism is very difficult, even experts doubt on this difference. However, what + ST-LIV-G6-1 has done is a great idea, it is important to check constantly the concepts in the dictionary especially in the officials as the Cambridge Dictionary.
It is generally argued that immigrants gave to our country a wide range of wealth and, moreover, they help us to develop more and more to create a better world. Not only are immigrants good for the development but it is also an action which enriches economically. So, why people reject people from other countries or religions? Do you think that is it a question of belonging to foreign countries or also money? According to the philosopher Adela Cortina, probably, xenophobes don’t reject people who came to Spain to spend their money here. Perhaps, what they really hate is the poor ones who came here trying to find a better life or jobs. In this case, we are talking about “aporofobia” which means fear or hate poor people.
On the other hand, there can be no doubt that most of immigrants in Spain find a job illegally with bad and precarious labour conditions working more than it is accepted. Many clothing labels use this kind of “work” to make their articles since products cost less. Although we know that, we go on buying those branches who use this work. This is done because lots of foreign people do not have any king of education so, as + ST-LIV-G6-2 outline, it is important to create projects to help immigrates to develop themselves in order to get knowledge of the job market.
· ST-LIV-G6-3
Regarding to the concepts in the dictionary, I think that sometimes this organisms don’t reflect reality as it is. More specifically, the language is not what those institutions say that it is. The speakers of a language decide it through what they say, how they say it and the way they think. We change the meaning of the words just by changing our tone or the way we’ve been taught. What I want to say is that we build those distinctions between terms. About the immigrants who some people reject, this is as we know. It depends on the money you have. Nobody complains about rich people who want to spend money on their country, but the do complain when an average person needs to find a job to live as he or she deserves. Xenophobes identify that as stealing. Stealing money, stealing opportunities. If the government helped immigrants to find what they are looking for, as well as helping them to be a part of society, like everyone else is, xenophobes probably wouldn’t behave as they actually do.
Maybe the point is the aporophobia you mentioned before. Nowadays the world is related to money. It doesn’t matter where you are from or what your religion is if you are rich. But what if you are poor?
· ST-LIV-G6-5
The concepts racism and xenophobia, as I have said before, are so difficult even the specialist doubt, so I believe that if we spend all the forum discussing that, we would waste the time arguing two terms complicated to define and explain. What it is important is to conclude and expose something we can do to solve xenophobia, a problem that nowadays, despite living in a globalised world, still exist.
Regarding what + ST-LIV-G6-3 has said, it is obvious that the matter isn’t in the country where you come from, the real problem is the amount of money that you earn because we live in a world which are materialist, and everything revolves around money, money and more money.
Bearing in mind what has been previously argued, a possible solution to stop xenophobia could be to do some changes in the educational system and try to work with foreign students to learn to work with people who think completely different as you. For instance, a forum debate as we are doing here because these days, we have a lot of materials and technologies which made communication easier. Order option could be to work on projects to help immigrants to develop their own skills in order to enter the labour market. But this could be successful if governments don’t change the legislation.
· ST-LIV-G6-1
Let’s summarise all your arguments in order to move forward and try to figure out a way to fight xenophobia.
From what has been said so far, xenophobia comes from fear instituted by far-right parties. As + ST-LIV-G6-3 pointed out, they use demagoguery to reach their goal which is for everyone to believe that immigrants shouldn’t be allowed in. Indeed, it is easier to blame them for unemployment (stealing our jobs) and poverty (stealing benefits) than to question our own policies.
However, I do have to disagree with both of your + ST-LIV-G6-5 and + ST-LIV-G6-3 when you say that «it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what’s your religion». I think it has a lot to do with it, especially since ISIS started targeting Europe. The far-right relies a lot on islamophobia with arguments such as: “if we don’t close our borders, we will be welcoming terrorists into our homes” suggesting that immigrants (most of them Muslims fleeing conflict in the Middle-East) are terrorists, and in some way, media coverage helps their agenda. For example, whenever an attack happens, headlines will refer to the suspect as “terrorist” if he’s Muslim, and “lone wolf” if he’s a white male. I think it’s an angle worth exploring if we want to come up with a suitable solution.
We have established that people are afraid of poor people, different cultures, different religions, different languages, etc. We also know that economic arguments can be rebutted. Nonetheless, fear is irrational and it won’t be enough for people to understand that xenophobia makes no sense and doesn’t help anyone. As + ST-LIV-G6-5 suggested, we could focus on a reform of the educational system to teach children not to be afraid of what’s different. The government could create more opportunities for immigrants to learn skills and fit in their host country. + ST-LIV-G6-2 mentioned a project in Southern Italy where Italian bakers would teach immigrants how to bake. I like this idea because sharing knowledge also helps them know each community better and erases all kinds of biases.
Let’s try and develop these ideas to see which one would be better for our project.
· ST-LIV-G6-2
I completely agree with ST-LIV-G6-5, education could be a very important instrument against xenophobia. If children grow up with the idea that we are all the same, and differences among people of different countries and skin color do not really exist, we could really hope for a better future. In schools, projects to fight xenophobia already exist, but they should be increased, for example with teachers of different countries.
Nowadays, lots of people with African, South American or Asian origins who have lived in European countries for decades or were born in Europe with parents who are from a non-European country are still considered as “foreigners”, especially from the old generations: this people, on the contrary, have completely acquired the local language and way of life, and they should be considered as an important resource for the country, rather than foreigners, but to get to this there is still a lot to work on. Young people are the ones that really could make the difference in our future: the European Union should increase scholarships for the Erasmus+ and Erasmus Mundus programs to convince more students to embrace this adventure, that really opens minds and destroys the walls of xenophobia. Universities and schools are very important because they give a massive contribute to the creation of young people’s ideas and minds, and programs in favor of cultural integration and equality could really make the difference.
On the other hand, immigrants should try to do their best to find the right way to be part of their new country, respect the new culture that surrounds them and enrich it with theirs. Prejudices against them will never completely disappear, but they could be drastically reduced with the help of both parts: of course, the biggest effort must be made by those countries that are now experiencing a big wave of xenophobia and must react and fight it with intelligence, education and open minds.
· ST-LIV-G6-5
First of all, as it is my last post, I would like to highlight my position. There can be no doubt that it exists xenophobia and it is true that in many cases it has a lot to do with the religion or the country where you from. However, this fear and hatred could increase if you are poor. So, poverty is a question very related with the xenophobia.
My solution to this problem will be to change education since it is an important instrument against xenophobia. I mean, all types of education starting with family education and, of course, the education which all of us receive in schools and high schools. Nonetheless, this could take a lot of time since education is a part of the government and they must take the plunge. But an innovative idea will be to create a program called “Living abroad” that consist to do a half a year working as a volunteer in other countries to know more cultures and the way in which other people live. This kind of program could be done with more or less with fifteen or sixteen years old because with this years, young people start to develop their own thoughts and actions.
To sum up, considering the multicultural societies where we live today, xenophobia restricts global integration and citizens must do something to eradicate negative attitudes towards immigrants. Xenophobia and racism destroy a society and could break it too.
· ST-LIV-G6-3
I will say that education is the point at all. Not only advertisements and TV campaigns concern people, as someone could think. We’re all humans at all and all of us receive education at our childhood. Those education and values that we learn at a very young age make us what we are and how we think. We must be educated in terms of equality. Poorness is not something that should define humans, and definitely, as we said, it is the main reason of being xenophobe. Those who are xenophobes haven’t actually meet foreign people. They hate them and that’s it. When we don’t put names into faces, it’s easier to discriminate, as they don’t «classify» them as human beings. This is called reification. If all of us were accustomed to live in touch with others, and not only others, but also with different cultures, religions… probably we wouldn’t have created a word to say xenophobia, because it is all due to society. What we need is one big society which involves everyone, not the idea of cultural barriers or fear to the unknown. Actually, we are all «unknowns» from the point of view of the foreigners too. Definitely, education and socializing should be taught together. Respect is not just a word, it could be, and it should be our way of living. We can’t teach just the theory of «respect», we need real life examples. Not the example of the teachers, but also the example of ourselves and those who are with us.
· ST-LIV-G6-2
I think that all of us have come up with very good and clever ideas that could become reality in a recent future. To conclude, and underline my ideas, I would say that many solutions to solve the problem of xenophobia can be found, and education is for sure the most important one.
Even though, it must not be the only one: each government has to recognize the importance of this problem and act to solve it as soon as possible, because it is getting bigger and bigger. Project as the one that was created in Milan, where immigrants have the chance to build their own future, could be fundamental to change the perception that people have of immigrants and foreigners, that is to say, the view of them as «parassites». Situations in which immigrants work illegally and without insurances must be eliminated now and governments have to act in order to find a way to convert this problem of illegal work into a way of creating extra and legal workforce, that can really be fundamental for the economy.
It is unbelievable that in 2018 xenophobia is considered such an actual problem, and each citizen should question himself/herself on why is this happening. The fact of being aware of the problem could be the first step that could lead to a solution.
· ST-LIV-G6-1
First, as the moderator for this group, I would like to thank those who participated in this debate. All of you came up with good argumentation and great ideas, which makes it easier for me to elaborate on a solution that everyone likes.
We all agree on one thing: change must come from education. As + ST-LIV-G6-3 said, xenophobia usually comes from people who have never actually had the opportunity or taken the time to get to know someone “different” from them, whether it be culture-wise, religion-wise, etc.
A way of changing that would be get immigrants and high school students to meet, so that both can learn about each other’s country and life stories. As + ST-LIV-G6-5 pointed out, it would have a bigger impact on 15/16-year-olds given that, at that age, teenagers start developing a political conscience.
It could take the form of workshops where students and immigrants would be working together: one would teach a useful skill to the other and vice-versa. As an Erasmus student, I believe that setting up tandems would be the most efficient way to deal with our problem.
Indeed, a student could learn another language and help an immigrant with its host-country’s language as most of them can only speak their mother tongue. They would get to know each other and any kind of bias from both sides would most likely be erased. Creating a dialogue is the first step towards living together in harmony, and that is the idea we will be developing in our pitch.