A N I N T E R V I E W W I T H A L E X A N D E R B E T T S DANIELLA BENNETT REMINGTON & KEYA PATANI
Alexander Betts is the Leopold Muller Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs , Director of the Refugee Studies Centre , and a Senior Research Fellow at Green-Templeton College at the University of Oxford . His TED talk ‘ Why Brexit happened – and what to do next ’ explains the deep-rooted divisions in our society and how we can progress towards one that is more inclusive . In this interview , we were able to ask him further questions about what Brexit means for multiculturalism and globalisation .
DO YOU SEE A DISTRESSING IRONY IN THE BACKLASH AGAINST REFUGEES , SEEING AS NEARLY EVERY MEMBER OF OUR PRESENT MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY TO SOME EXTENT HAS A REFUGEE BACKGROUND ? I think too often people fail to recognise how many people in our society and in positions of leadership have families who have a refugee background . Huge proportions of British society have relatives who were refugees from the Holocaust or , if we go back even further , fled persecution for religious reasons from Europe . One of the reasons why Europe has become so multicultural is that we ' ve had a willingness to welcome refugees and migrants from all around the world . I think that it is absolutely right to say that there is an irony that societies like ours have very short memories and fail to recognise the importance of refugee migratory movements in forming the
22 society we have today .
DO DO YOU THINK THAT THERE IS IS EVER GOING TO TO BE BE A WAY THAT WE WE CAN RE-EDUCATE SOCIETY AND MAKE THEM RECOGNISE THEIR PASTS , OR OR DO DO YOU BELIEVE THE XENOPHOBIA AND GENERAL HOSTILITY THAT HAS EMERGED IS IS A CONSEQUENCE OF OF PEOPLE ’ S OWN INSECURITY ABOUT THEIR POSITION IN IN SOCIETY ?
Politicians have to show a lot more strong leadership when it comes to questions on migration . They have to show courage and leadership and be open and honest with their electorate . They must be candid about the extent to which we can and cannot control migration in the 21st century , and candid about who is coming from where and why . Many people coming to the UK from countries like Syria or Somalia are coming from desperate situations and have a right to seek asylum ; you have to also be honest about the ways in which myths and media distortion lead to misinformed public opinion . What needs to change is political leadership and a much more responsible media . At the moment publications like The Daily Mail and The Daily Express write about immigration in ways that are misrepresentative .
WITH REGARD TO THESE WITH PUBLICATIONS REGARD TO , WHAT THESE ARE
PUBLICATIONS YOUR OPINIONS , WHAT ON THE ARE WAY YOUR THEY HAVE OPINIONS LATCHED ON THE ONTO WAY THEY IMMIGRATION HAVE LATCHED AS HAVING ONTO IMMIGRATION SORT OF LINK TO AS HAVING SORT TERRORISM OF LINK ? TO TERRORISM ? I think that the media and politicians often connect migration to other issues as a way of creating public fear . The link to terrorism is one for which there is very little evidence ; for instance , in the United States , just three people have died as a result of terrorist attacks by refugees in the last 40 years , and all those deaths were the result of Cuban refugees and were in the 1970s . So , the