Women for Refugee Women at WOW. Photo: Maria MargaronisDespite being couched in myths, immigration is firmly on the political agenda as the UK General Election approaches. It was therefore unsurprising to find it also on the programme for the Southbank Centre’s fifth annual Women of the World festival (WOW). Five experts made up the WOW panel on immigration on Saturday 7th March: Diana Nammi, founder and Executive Director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Foundation, Ghada Rasheed of Women for Refugee Women, Ayah Omar from the Network of Eritrean Women, Sindy Czureja, representing the Roma Support Group, and Maria Patsalos, a lawyer with immigration expertise.
According to Ipsos MORI’s 2014 survey, Brits think that 24% of the population are immigrants; in reality, it is 13%. The WOW panel was clear that the gulf between perception and reality is down to media and political rhetoric, in particular, said Nammi, ‘Nigel Farage’s racist agenda’ and right-wing political aims. As a result of the media attention Farage receives, migrants become popular political scapegoats. This is not a new phenomenon, but it does tend to become especially heightened around election times.
Political scapegoats
