142 EXAM PRACTICE Read the article about the language used to describe refugees and migrants. First decide whether the statements (1–7) are true (T) or false (F) and put a cross ( ) in the correct box. Then identify the sentence in the text which supports your decision. Write the first 4 words of this sentence in the space provided. There may be more than one correct answer; write down only one. The first one (0) has been done for you. READING 4 (3) Look for information on how business people working abroad are referred to. (5) Your legal status determines if you are allowed to stay in a country. (6) You need to find a word similar to ‘frighten’. (7) How could you tell whether the labelling was effective? Help Words shaping realities In an interview with a British news station, David Cameron, then British Prime Minister, told viewers that the French port of Calais was safe and secure, despite a ‘swarm’ of migrants trying to gain access to Britain. Other politicians were quick to spot that this was not a positive description and rushed to criticise Cameron’s language. Cameron clearly chose his words badly. As Lisa Doyle, a Refugee Council worker, puts it, the use of the word ‘swarm’ was dehumanising – migrants aren’t insects. It was also badly timed, coming after a Sudanese man became the ninth person in less than two months to die while trying to enter the Channel Tunnel. This is a very well-used underground train line that runs from France to Britain carrying thousands of cars and lorries daily. Migrants often try to get to England this way by breaking into and hiding in the back of lorries or by walking along the tracks, which is extremely dangerous. These are desperate people. Much of the anger over the British leader’s comments missed an important point, however. Cameron was far from alone when it comes to troubling use of language to describe the world’s current migration crisis. Language can be used to activate people politically, and the language used to describe migrants and refugees is a clear example of this. The way we talk about migrants in turn influences the way we deal with them, with sometimes worrying consequences. Consider even the most basic elements of the language about migration. Writing in the Guardian, Mawuna Remarque Koutonin asked why white people are often referred to as ‘expatriates’ when they move abroad to live and work. “Top African professionals who go to work in Europe are not considered expats,” Koutonin wrote. “They are called ‘immigrants’, which has a far more negative sound to it, yet they are doing the same jobs. This is not equality.” When considering that more than 70 million people (with numbers growing daily) around the world have been forced to leave their home countries, certain words annoy experts more than others. The repeated use of the term ‘boat people’ to describe people using boats to migrate over the Mediterranean or across South East Asian waters presents similar issues. It carries a negative image. “We don’t call middle-class Europeans who take regular holidays abroad ‘EasyJet people’, or the superrich of Monaco ‘yacht people’,” says Daniel Trilling, a magazine editor. It creates a huge barrier between those who are lucky enough to live in stable war-free countries and those who are forced to leave their homes for reasons beyond their control. Additionally, it fails to highlight the horrors of fleeing by boat – many Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigent m des Verlags öbv
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