Read on Twitter
There is a lot to unpack in this whole thread, and some excellent points raised by excellent people pertaining to solidarity and the power there is in not fragmenting an identity whilst acknowledging the nuance of a wide range of individual experiences. https://twitter.com/HeyEmJude/status/1326883385701240833
Just to throw my own tuppence in, as this is something that I've written about largely in my blog and is also present in a good chunk of my thesis. Like the person whose tweet I quoted above, I acknowledge I have a certain level of privilege. I migrated by choice, not by force >
> I come from an upper middle class family who could afford to send me abroad, I read as white, I was fluent in English before I moved to the UK because my socioeconomic status also enabled me to study the language in my home country, meaning all I did here >
> was acquire a Scottish twang and sense of humour, which often fools people enough to think I am a 2nd gen migrant who was actually born or grew up here. My theatre practice has an international, multilingual and cross-cultural flair because that's what I'm interested in. >
> However, I am unmistankenly migrant. I first moved to Scotland in 2006 on a student visa, 14 years ago, but because of the Hostile Environment games, I am still not entitled to ILR. The only passport I have and the only one I can have, is Brazilian. I don't have European >
> parents or grandparents. In Brazil, I'm white, but here I'm olive-skinned. I have the fluency and the accent, but the hair, the eyebrows, the hips and the name always give it away. There is no ethnicity box that I feel comfortable to tick on those monitoring forms. >
> and quite simply, my life is hell and my mental and financial health have deteriorated exponentially since 2012 because of the rules imposed by UKVI. I have no recourse to public funds. I am not eligible for any covid support grants, either because I'm a full-time PhD student >
> which I have to be because of my migrant condition. Non-EUs are not allowed to study part-time. I was self-funded because when I applied for my PhD, all the big scholarships excluded international students. I did get one from my institution, but it only covered fees at home >
> level, but it costs me double because I was born outside the UK/EU, so I still had to pay about 9k a year, even with a studentship. Being a migrant also means I'm only allowed to work up to 20h a week and I'm not allowed to register as self-employed. When covid hit, I was >
> furloughed by the lovely venue I work at, but I'm on a zero hour contract with them so though I'm thankful for my furlough payments, they don't even cover my rent. Being furloughed also excludes me from receiving other covid support. There was another grant flagged up to me >
> that does not exclude internationals, furlougheds or students, but stipulates you can't have more than 3k in savings. I currently have more than that sitting in my savings account because I needed to prove to UKVI that I could support myself for the visa extension period >
> but I can't touch that money until I get a decision. So I can't work, I can't access support and I can't use the money I have. And that's because I'm a migrant. I'm fortunate I have a British parter and British friends who have helped me through, but I hate being a burden >
> though I know they will say I'm not. It's sweet and appreciated, of course, but they shouldn't have to be responsible for me, and they wouldn't have to, if those restrictions weren't in place. And that will always, inevitably, set us apart. >
> I don't call my practice 'migrant theatre' but it has been affected by my experience. It has also held me back, as I've had to spend my time, money and energy jumping through bureaucratic hoops while by UK born peers could just get on with their careers. Even thought it's not>
> explicitly stated because it could be misconstrued as racist, I know I have been rejected from jobs because of my status. Sometimes, they just wanted someone local. Sometimes, it's just too much paperwork and hassle. Sometimes, you need someone who can work more than 20h/week >
> So yes, it's important to understand nuance and individual experiences, but none of that is going to change for the better for me or anyone else if we split. Divide and conquer, remember...? What we need now is unity and, as was pointed out in that thread, to work towards >
> making 'migrant' stop being a dirty word, and one of the ways to do that is by reclaiming it and using it widely and proudly, showing that we come in all shapes, sizes and colours.
