15 ms·

Sir Mo Farah reveals he was trafficked into the UK using another child’s name

220 points by nigerian1981 4y ago

0xbadcafebee 4y ago
If you're interested in this subject, I recommend reading the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Report-Complete-062420-FINAL.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Re... (maybe not the entire thing, it's.... very big. but the first 20 pages or so are compelling) You can select a specific location here: https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-re...
olivermarks 4y ago
Illegal immigration into the UK from the third world is far greater now than it was in the era of Mo Farah's childhood. I have to wonder how the UK social construct can survive with the huge numbers of people entering given the lack of housing, water, food etc https://youtu.be/PAeRejE467g https://youtu.be/PAeRejE467g
- mrtksn 4y ago
  Most immigrants are economically very active since starting a new life from zero requires that. Unless you can't physically fit people in the island, the solution would be to let the immigrants work legally. Number of houses are not fixed like the total number of bitcoins, people can build new ones. Despite the political rhetoric and recent trends, immigration is a good thing and the problems it causes can be reduced when handled properly. That's why the government, despite being dominated by Brexiteers who won by preaching the horrors of immigrants and lack of border control, actually don't try stopping the immigrants. Surely the topic is a good tool for populist politicians but once they got the results for their careers, they can't actually live with those fantasies because people will notice. I know that this is not a popular opinion but that's that. UK had option to control the immigration when was in the EU and choose not to. Why do you think is that? Because people who work are a good thing.
  - sva_ 4y ago
    Cheap labor that isn't allowed to vote. We see this all over Europe. I wonder what gives.
    - mrtksn 4y ago
      Isn't allowed by whom exactly? Simply allow immigrants to vote. Have no work permits, thus working as cheap labor? Give them permits. It's appalling how people pretend that they don't have anything against immigrants but they are against illegal immigrants as if the paperwork for legal work is a natural phenomenon and they can't do anything about it.
      - notch656a 4y ago
        Why even have permits then? Just get rid of the permit system altogether. There are probably many million starving African desperate to work a job like trash-man or food packager. Competition for lower skilled jobs will become fierce, but I guess competition is a good thing.
        mrtksn 4y ago
        I agree. Why would the government be the first step of HR? As if the companies can't choose the right employees for themselves and they need to go through the state bureaucracy so that they don't hire a lumberjack from Bangladesh as a JS developer in Bristol.
        pessimizer 4y ago
        Yes, changing even the tiniest thing is basically destroying everything.
        random314 4y ago
      - yunohn 4y ago
        > Isn't allowed by whom exactly? To be clear, as suggested by the rest of your comment, it is currently not allowed due to various political reasons. Nobody is arguing ideal situations, only reality.
- jeffbee 4y ago
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  > I have to wonder how the UK social construct can survive with the huge numbers of people entering Wow like, are you concerned about Replacement maybe? Seems a little racist to me but I'm not that Great at european geopolitics I guess.
  - brippalcharrid 4y ago
    I suppose the folks at the UN must have been swept up by racist rhetoric when they started writing reports about Replacement Migration for Western countries.
- labster 4y ago
  If you’re legitimately worried about excessive immigration, you should be doing everything you can to fight climate change. Hundreds of millions of people could be displaced by environmental disasters like sea level rise, typhoon flooding, drought, and famine. If you don’t want a repeat of the emigration at the end of the Bronze Age, we need to do all we can to stop climate change.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - Gollapalli 4y ago
    It's because they see a better quality of life in western countries. Climate change has nothing to do with it.
  - _carbyau_ 4y ago
    This will be interesting here in Australia. We've had quite a lot of major flood events on the east coast in the past year. Thousands of people should move as it is predictable that it will happen again in the next 20 years. So completely within our own country we will have climate change related movements of people. We also have a lot of landspace for our population size and quite a few neighbouring pacific island nations that may need a place to go. And to offset China's assertions in the Pacific, Australia is doing all it can right now to be seen as the "helpful neighbour"... I expect to see more in this space over the next 40 years.
- jen20 4y ago
  What UK social construct, exactly?
- yunohn 4y ago
  > Illegal immigration into the UK from the third world Ironic, given the UK’s history of illegally colonising and creating a “third world” from their exploitation.
  - fennecfoxen 4y ago
    Really the third world is still basically defined in terms of your historical relationships to the US or the Soviet Union. Despite the end of that particular conflict the membership in various worlds hasn't much changed.
- balderdash 4y ago
  It’s all about a) the amount (enough to make up for the lower developed birthdate, and to keep inflation low, but not so much as to completely destabilize the quality of life of the native lower/middle class) b) composition (not all immigrants are created equal when it comes to net contribution (regardless of desire to work/contribute)(e.g. a someone older, with serious health conditions and lacking an a grade school education Vs say a college educated, young, and healthy.)
- fy20 4y ago
  Refugees from the Ukrainian war can be used as a good case study to understand this. I live in Lithuania, which has taken over 50,000 people since the start of the war, which equates to around 2% of the total population. Most of the refugees are women and children, as the men usually stay to fight, so they are less productive in the labour market. They are given a lot of benefits that regular working class do not have, which has led to the media and working class creating a lot of disdain towards Ukrainians. A friend told me that over the weekend he saw a worker in a supermarket start shouting at a Ukrainian woman who simply asked him where something is. It sounds exactly the same as the rheotric from rightwing media in the UK before Brexit, 'all these immigrants stealing our jobs'. In the capital there is a shortage of housing, and the advertised rental prices have gone up 30-50% based on what they would have been asking for last year. This isn't just because of Ukraine though. Over the last decade a lot of people have relocated to larger cities, and I feel that a lot of this is life returning to normal post COVID (people want to live in the city centre again), as well as new construction projects being delayed (there are two large residential developments in my street that planned to complete early 2022, but still aren't anywhere near ready). Prices for food have gone up, but I see this more as an effect of energy prices going up than because of refugees. I have not noticed any shortages of anything, outside of what products sanctions have stopped.
- thrown_22 4y ago
  They don't. There's a reason why right wing parties are popular for the working poor and why Brexit and anti-immigration in general is most popular in the most economically depressed areas. Liberals aren't doing themselves any favors by sweeping thins like the Rotherham child rape gangs and Manchester Arena bombing under the rug because they happened to white trash.
  - pppq 4y ago
- xbmcuser 4y ago
  Illegal immigration happens because of the billions of dollars of corruption that is done in those countries and then parked in UK banks and property markets. If the west would stop the illegal and corruption outflow of resources from poor countries the need for people to get out of these countries and immigrate to west would decrease dramatically automatically.
DantesKite 4y ago
I clicked the link thinking it wouldn't be an enthralling story, but man, what an enthralling, difficult life that man had.
jeffbee 4y ago
I certainly hope the villain of this story suffers consequences greater than being contacted by BBC News.
- rectang 4y ago
  This is a sensational story and I think it's going to be hard for this individual to keep their identity hidden, even though I take it Farah doesn't want to name them.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
lsllc 4y ago
Gosh this is such a heartbreaking and yet fascinating story. The BBC version is has more detail including some possible immigration jeopardy for Sir Mo due to getting citizenship under an assumed name: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62123886 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62123886 In the documentary, barrister Alan Briddock tells Sir Mo his nationality was technically "obtained by fraud or misrepresentations". Legally, the government can remove a person's British nationality if their citizenship was obtained through fraud. However, Mr Briddock explains the risk of this in Sir Mo's case is low. In a case like this there should not be any possible repercussions, Sir Mo is the victim here and the law should be solidly on his side and not have to rely on the kindness of some civil servant choosing not to remove his citizenship. EDIT: The Home Office says "“No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said."
- worik 4y ago
  > No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said. I agree the "he law should be solidly on his side and not have to rely on the kindness of some civil servant " It is for Sir Mo Farah. Good on him, respect. But for Ahmed the minimum wage worker, they would be in detention and booked on an aeroplane to Rwanda before you could say "class ridden hell hole". Good on him. This is how all people should be treated. It is not true in England.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - cm2187 4y ago
    Not sure I understand the point you are making. That everyone should be able to cheat the immigration system?
    - petesergeant 4y ago
      I suspect the OP is saying that children trafficked into a country they subsequently grew up in should probably be treated as victims and dealt with compassionately, whether or not they're widely loved sports stars
NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
I've actually met him one day on the Nike campus. He's a tiny person and very friendly.
mhh__ 4y ago
Priti Patel is stamping a ticket to Rwanda as we speak.
- rvieira 4y ago
  Fortunately she believes she is popular and is busy prepping her bid for PM, at the moment.
  - toyg 4y ago
    She is popular. I had to switch radio channel yesterday when one of her supporters called in; Rwanda effectively locked in the "casual nazi" constituency for her, and that constituency is vast. It's possible she won't find the 30 MPs she needs to get on the ballot, but if she manages to get on the shortlist, I'd bet good money she will win.
    - nly 4y ago
      Well she's 100/1 on Betfair right now, so you can easily go get yourself some emotional insurance.
    - cmsj 4y ago
      I detest how right you are.
    - rvieira 4y ago
      She's not popular. She's consistently in the bottom positions in Tory member polls. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/tory-members-over-60-white-male-choice-of-leader https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/tory-member... https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/12/poll-of-tory-party-members-reveals-who-is-top-in-leadership-race-16982499/ https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/12/poll-of-tory-party-members-re... https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/06/06/snap-poll-conservative-members-want-mps-vote-keep- https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/0...
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jhugo 4y ago
> In the documentary, Farah admits to being worried about his immigration status. However, the Home Office confirmed on Monday night that he would not face any repercussions. “No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said. Just imagine if it wasn't Sir Mohammed publicly admitting to using a fake Somali passport and assumed name to gain UK citizenship.
- andylynch 4y ago
  I have no doubt that this is a major reason why he’s speaking up now. There are very few Britons as well respected as he is and I can’t think of anyone better placed to speak for people who’s been through this, and to push back on the govt’s cruel and cynical approach to the problem of human trafficking.
- nly 4y ago
  Do you really think the authorities haven't known about this for some time?
  - jhugo 4y ago
    No, but that's irrelevant to the point I'm making.
TedShiller 4y ago
Law doesn’t apply to him?
- viktorcode 4y ago
  I'm afraid it's worse. The law does apply, but what the law does is at the discretion of a civil servant handling the case. It isn't clear cut. As the result thousands of people who were living legally in the UK for decades found themselves facing possible deportations as they can't prove to the government that they have lived there for all those years.
lordnacho 4y ago
I have a suspicion that almost every immigrant to the west is close to a horrendous story like this one. My family were immigrants to the west as well and also had a crossing-the-water story. Nothing happened, but friends had stories about falling into the water and having to swim. My oldest cousins still remember it. I acquired a teenage sister after turning 20, suddenly. A friend of the family brought her as the child of a woman he'd married, and was now divorcing, forcing them to return home. Turns out, she was not the child of this woman. My parents had a couple of days to decide to keep her, as the guy had decided to leave for the old country to look for another wife. This is not even the only terrible arrival in the West story in my own family, but I'll spare you the other one. I suspect if you go eat at certain ethnic restaurants in the major UK cities, you will meet someone with at most 2nd hand knowledge of sitting in the back of a truck going under the channel. When I investigated the immigration stories is friends, the most reasonable ones seem to be from parents or grandparents who came in the 60s or earlier. Sailors who happened to decide to stay in the West, that kind of thing. After that most of the stories are hairy. Escaping some regime, crossing water in a crappy boat, that type of thing. Not a whole lot of current dinghy-over-the-channel stories, but that mainly owes to my age.
boffinAudio 4y ago
The White Stolen Generation have another angle of this story to tell. Australia essentially boosted its white population by kidnapping kids from low-income/poor/wrong-class families across the Empire and shipping them off to Australian families for adoption. Basically the same thing that was happening within Australia with the Stolen Generation (original land owners kids) was also being done at scale across the Commonwealth: human trafficking to increase the 'whiteness' of the population. This is widely unacknowledged as a social ill in modern Australia, alas. But its still a source of immense pain and suffering for a lot of people - who had their kids ripped from them, and who had their families disappeared on the other end of a vague and distant memory of a boat ride that was supposed to be a fun summer break .. A real tragedy that the British got away with their genocides.

220 points by nigerian1981 4y ago

If you're interested in this subject, I recommend reading the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Report-Complete-062420-FINAL.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Re... (maybe not the entire thing, it's.... very big. but the first 20 pages or so are compelling) You can select a specific location here: https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/ https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-re...

olivermarks 4y ago

Illegal immigration into the UK from the third world is far greater now than it was in the era of Mo Farah's childhood. I have to wonder how the UK social construct can survive with the huge numbers of people entering given the lack of housing, water, food etc https://youtu.be/PAeRejE467g https://youtu.be/PAeRejE467g

mrtksn 4y ago
Most immigrants are economically very active since starting a new life from zero requires that. Unless you can't physically fit people in the island, the solution would be to let the immigrants work legally. Number of houses are not fixed like the total number of bitcoins, people can build new ones. Despite the political rhetoric and recent trends, immigration is a good thing and the problems it causes can be reduced when handled properly. That's why the government, despite being dominated by Brexiteers who won by preaching the horrors of immigrants and lack of border control, actually don't try stopping the immigrants. Surely the topic is a good tool for populist politicians but once they got the results for their careers, they can't actually live with those fantasies because people will notice. I know that this is not a popular opinion but that's that. UK had option to control the immigration when was in the EU and choose not to. Why do you think is that? Because people who work are a good thing.
- sva_ 4y ago
  Cheap labor that isn't allowed to vote. We see this all over Europe. I wonder what gives.
  - mrtksn 4y ago
    Isn't allowed by whom exactly? Simply allow immigrants to vote. Have no work permits, thus working as cheap labor? Give them permits. It's appalling how people pretend that they don't have anything against immigrants but they are against illegal immigrants as if the paperwork for legal work is a natural phenomenon and they can't do anything about it.
    - notch656a 4y ago
      Why even have permits then? Just get rid of the permit system altogether. There are probably many million starving African desperate to work a job like trash-man or food packager. Competition for lower skilled jobs will become fierce, but I guess competition is a good thing.
      - mrtksn 4y ago
        I agree. Why would the government be the first step of HR? As if the companies can't choose the right employees for themselves and they need to go through the state bureaucracy so that they don't hire a lumberjack from Bangladesh as a JS developer in Bristol.
      - pessimizer 4y ago
        Yes, changing even the tiniest thing is basically destroying everything.
      - random314 4y ago
    - yunohn 4y ago
      > Isn't allowed by whom exactly? To be clear, as suggested by the rest of your comment, it is currently not allowed due to various political reasons. Nobody is arguing ideal situations, only reality.
jeffbee 4y ago
giraffe_lady 4y ago
> I have to wonder how the UK social construct can survive with the huge numbers of people entering Wow like, are you concerned about Replacement maybe? Seems a little racist to me but I'm not that Great at european geopolitics I guess.
- brippalcharrid 4y ago
  I suppose the folks at the UN must have been swept up by racist rhetoric when they started writing reports about Replacement Migration for Western countries.
labster 4y ago
If you’re legitimately worried about excessive immigration, you should be doing everything you can to fight climate change. Hundreds of millions of people could be displaced by environmental disasters like sea level rise, typhoon flooding, drought, and famine. If you don’t want a repeat of the emigration at the end of the Bronze Age, we need to do all we can to stop climate change.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Gollapalli 4y ago
  It's because they see a better quality of life in western countries. Climate change has nothing to do with it.
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  This will be interesting here in Australia. We've had quite a lot of major flood events on the east coast in the past year. Thousands of people should move as it is predictable that it will happen again in the next 20 years. So completely within our own country we will have climate change related movements of people. We also have a lot of landspace for our population size and quite a few neighbouring pacific island nations that may need a place to go. And to offset China's assertions in the Pacific, Australia is doing all it can right now to be seen as the "helpful neighbour"... I expect to see more in this space over the next 40 years.
jen20 4y ago
What UK social construct, exactly?
yunohn 4y ago
> Illegal immigration into the UK from the third world Ironic, given the UK’s history of illegally colonising and creating a “third world” from their exploitation.
- fennecfoxen 4y ago
  Really the third world is still basically defined in terms of your historical relationships to the US or the Soviet Union. Despite the end of that particular conflict the membership in various worlds hasn't much changed.
balderdash 4y ago
It’s all about a) the amount (enough to make up for the lower developed birthdate, and to keep inflation low, but not so much as to completely destabilize the quality of life of the native lower/middle class) b) composition (not all immigrants are created equal when it comes to net contribution (regardless of desire to work/contribute)(e.g. a someone older, with serious health conditions and lacking an a grade school education Vs say a college educated, young, and healthy.)
fy20 4y ago
Refugees from the Ukrainian war can be used as a good case study to understand this. I live in Lithuania, which has taken over 50,000 people since the start of the war, which equates to around 2% of the total population. Most of the refugees are women and children, as the men usually stay to fight, so they are less productive in the labour market. They are given a lot of benefits that regular working class do not have, which has led to the media and working class creating a lot of disdain towards Ukrainians. A friend told me that over the weekend he saw a worker in a supermarket start shouting at a Ukrainian woman who simply asked him where something is. It sounds exactly the same as the rheotric from rightwing media in the UK before Brexit, 'all these immigrants stealing our jobs'. In the capital there is a shortage of housing, and the advertised rental prices have gone up 30-50% based on what they would have been asking for last year. This isn't just because of Ukraine though. Over the last decade a lot of people have relocated to larger cities, and I feel that a lot of this is life returning to normal post COVID (people want to live in the city centre again), as well as new construction projects being delayed (there are two large residential developments in my street that planned to complete early 2022, but still aren't anywhere near ready). Prices for food have gone up, but I see this more as an effect of energy prices going up than because of refugees. I have not noticed any shortages of anything, outside of what products sanctions have stopped.
thrown_22 4y ago
They don't. There's a reason why right wing parties are popular for the working poor and why Brexit and anti-immigration in general is most popular in the most economically depressed areas. Liberals aren't doing themselves any favors by sweeping thins like the Rotherham child rape gangs and Manchester Arena bombing under the rug because they happened to white trash.
- pppq 4y ago
xbmcuser 4y ago
Illegal immigration happens because of the billions of dollars of corruption that is done in those countries and then parked in UK banks and property markets. If the west would stop the illegal and corruption outflow of resources from poor countries the need for people to get out of these countries and immigrate to west would decrease dramatically automatically.

DantesKite 4y ago

I clicked the link thinking it wouldn't be an enthralling story, but man, what an enthralling, difficult life that man had.

jeffbee 4y ago

I certainly hope the villain of this story suffers consequences greater than being contacted by BBC News.

rectang 4y ago
This is a sensational story and I think it's going to be hard for this individual to keep their identity hidden, even though I take it Farah doesn't want to name them.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

lsllc 4y ago

Gosh this is such a heartbreaking and yet fascinating story. The BBC version is has more detail including some possible immigration jeopardy for Sir Mo due to getting citizenship under an assumed name: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62123886 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62123886 In the documentary, barrister Alan Briddock tells Sir Mo his nationality was technically "obtained by fraud or misrepresentations". Legally, the government can remove a person's British nationality if their citizenship was obtained through fraud. However, Mr Briddock explains the risk of this in Sir Mo's case is low. In a case like this there should not be any possible repercussions, Sir Mo is the victim here and the law should be solidly on his side and not have to rely on the kindness of some civil servant choosing not to remove his citizenship. EDIT: The Home Office says "“No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said."

worik 4y ago
> No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said. I agree the "he law should be solidly on his side and not have to rely on the kindness of some civil servant " It is for Sir Mo Farah. Good on him, respect. But for Ahmed the minimum wage worker, they would be in detention and booked on an aeroplane to Rwanda before you could say "class ridden hell hole". Good on him. This is how all people should be treated. It is not true in England.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- cm2187 4y ago
  Not sure I understand the point you are making. That everyone should be able to cheat the immigration system?
  - petesergeant 4y ago
    I suspect the OP is saying that children trafficked into a country they subsequently grew up in should probably be treated as victims and dealt with compassionately, whether or not they're widely loved sports stars

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago

I've actually met him one day on the Nike campus. He's a tiny person and very friendly.

mhh__ 4y ago

Priti Patel is stamping a ticket to Rwanda as we speak.

rvieira 4y ago
Fortunately she believes she is popular and is busy prepping her bid for PM, at the moment.
- toyg 4y ago
  She is popular. I had to switch radio channel yesterday when one of her supporters called in; Rwanda effectively locked in the "casual nazi" constituency for her, and that constituency is vast. It's possible she won't find the 30 MPs she needs to get on the ballot, but if she manages to get on the shortlist, I'd bet good money she will win.
  - nly 4y ago
    Well she's 100/1 on Betfair right now, so you can easily go get yourself some emotional insurance.
  - cmsj 4y ago
    I detest how right you are.
  - rvieira 4y ago
    She's not popular. She's consistently in the bottom positions in Tory member polls. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/tory-members-over-60-white-male-choice-of-leader https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/08/tory-member... https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/12/poll-of-tory-party-members-reveals-who-is-top-in-leadership-race-16982499/ https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/12/poll-of-tory-party-members-re... https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/06/06/snap-poll-conservative-members-want-mps-vote-keep- https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/0...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

jhugo 4y ago

> In the documentary, Farah admits to being worried about his immigration status. However, the Home Office confirmed on Monday night that he would not face any repercussions. “No action whatsoever will be taken against Sir Mo and to suggest otherwise is wrong,” a spokesperson said. Just imagine if it wasn't Sir Mohammed publicly admitting to using a fake Somali passport and assumed name to gain UK citizenship.

andylynch 4y ago
I have no doubt that this is a major reason why he’s speaking up now. There are very few Britons as well respected as he is and I can’t think of anyone better placed to speak for people who’s been through this, and to push back on the govt’s cruel and cynical approach to the problem of human trafficking.
nly 4y ago
Do you really think the authorities haven't known about this for some time?
- jhugo 4y ago
  No, but that's irrelevant to the point I'm making.

TedShiller 4y ago

Law doesn’t apply to him?

viktorcode 4y ago
I'm afraid it's worse. The law does apply, but what the law does is at the discretion of a civil servant handling the case. It isn't clear cut. As the result thousands of people who were living legally in the UK for decades found themselves facing possible deportations as they can't prove to the government that they have lived there for all those years.

lordnacho 4y ago

I have a suspicion that almost every immigrant to the west is close to a horrendous story like this one. My family were immigrants to the west as well and also had a crossing-the-water story. Nothing happened, but friends had stories about falling into the water and having to swim. My oldest cousins still remember it. I acquired a teenage sister after turning 20, suddenly. A friend of the family brought her as the child of a woman he'd married, and was now divorcing, forcing them to return home. Turns out, she was not the child of this woman. My parents had a couple of days to decide to keep her, as the guy had decided to leave for the old country to look for another wife. This is not even the only terrible arrival in the West story in my own family, but I'll spare you the other one. I suspect if you go eat at certain ethnic restaurants in the major UK cities, you will meet someone with at most 2nd hand knowledge of sitting in the back of a truck going under the channel. When I investigated the immigration stories is friends, the most reasonable ones seem to be from parents or grandparents who came in the 60s or earlier. Sailors who happened to decide to stay in the West, that kind of thing. After that most of the stories are hairy. Escaping some regime, crossing water in a crappy boat, that type of thing. Not a whole lot of current dinghy-over-the-channel stories, but that mainly owes to my age.

boffinAudio 4y ago

The White Stolen Generation have another angle of this story to tell. Australia essentially boosted its white population by kidnapping kids from low-income/poor/wrong-class families across the Empire and shipping them off to Australian families for adoption. Basically the same thing that was happening within Australia with the Stolen Generation (original land owners kids) was also being done at scale across the Commonwealth: human trafficking to increase the 'whiteness' of the population. This is widely unacknowledged as a social ill in modern Australia, alas. But its still a source of immense pain and suffering for a lot of people - who had their kids ripped from them, and who had their families disappeared on the other end of a vague and distant memory of a boat ride that was supposed to be a fun summer break .. A real tragedy that the British got away with their genocides.