One of the things which has struck me most since moving to London is the language of the city. There are currently almost 300 languages spoken in Greater London and almost every borough has in excess of 100 languages within its boundaries. English, Welsh and Gaelic are heard alongside Urdu, Polish, French and Mandarin.
The plurality of languages is reflective of a broader cultural diversity which is evident throughout London.
On my street alone there is a run of Vietnamese owned restaurants, a Cypriot Turkish social club, an Afro-Caribbean run take away and an Eritrean café; people have not only come to this city from every corner of the globe – they have come to this street.
Huge damage
I love this about my new home. Seeing the many far flung languages thriving on my new doorstep, makes my own dislocation somewhat less daunting. Over the last few weeks however, streets like mine across London have seen the return of a language that has done huge damage to them over the years.
The sight of the infamous Home Office ‘Go Home of Face Arrest’ van rolling through the most ethnically diverse areas of London marked the return of this language; the language of suspicion, of contempt for the other and language of fear.
The van was followed up by a security checkpoint at a North London tube station where (almost exclusively black and Asian) men and women were stopped and asked to ‘prove’ they had the legal right to be in the UK. The soon afterwards the Home Office twitter account was back in the act labelling people in a recently taken photograph ‘immigration offenders’ before the formalities of charge or trial.
Racist connotations
The goal of the campaign, I suspect, is to set new terms of reference for public discussion of migration and multiculturalism. To resurrect ‘Go Home’ as a slogan, despite its disgracefully racist connotations. To introduce ‘immigration offender’ as an accepted term for anyone who trip over the labyrinthine visa and asylum systems.
To make those who might appear to an officer in any way foreign to ‘prove’ their right to exist in the UK.
Language is an incredibly powerful tool which can communicate messages directly and, often much more powerfully, indirectly.
Fighting back
When I walk around London and see signs and hear conversations in many different languages, the message I take away from that is that the city I have moved to is one that is open and welcoming to people from all over the world and that includes me.
The message I get from the ‘Go Home’ van is quite a different one.
But people are fighting back and the Home Office are facing a number of legal challenges about the way they’ve been tackling this campaign.
Yesterday, campaigning human rights organisation Liberty also hit back. Their own van – bearing the words ‘Stirring up tension and division in the UK illegally’? – was a well aimed reply.
Campaigners message to the Home Office? Think again. It’s good advice.
