The David Lean film A Passage To India contains a scene in which an Indian nationalist asks an English college lecturer on what basis England (meaning the United Kingdom) is justified in governing India.
The Englishman, Fielding, replies "Personally I'm out here because I need a job."
The Indian nationalist quite reasonably points out that "Qualified Indians also need a job."
Fielding then replies "I got in first", which is clearly not true.
If I've got it right, the Indian men in this scene are all Urdu speaking Muslims, and therefore might - and I stress might - be descended from people who migrated into India from central Asia in the sixteenth century. Therefore Fielding's response could have been along the lines of "Then go back to central Asia, and let a real Indian have your job".
Today there are many Indians living in Britain, along with many more from Pakistan and Bangladesh, both of which were once part of India. Many of them occupy jobs while many native British people are unemployed.
If I were to question an Indian man working in this country about his moral entitlement to be working here, then I suppose I might get a polite reply in the manner of Fielding - or I might get called a racist.
I am aware that many British people live and work overseas. Whether or not that is acceptable is not for me to decide. What I am clear about is that I do not object in principle to any citizen of a foreign country speaking out against British people taking their jobs.
Unlike communists, I do actually value free speech.
Then logically it must also follow that you do not object to any British person speaking out about foreign people taking their jobs.
ReplyDeleteQuite right either way.