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Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Sun – Using Romania and Bulgaria to Get More Readers
“From today, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria —- two of Europe’s poorest nations — will be free to travel to the UK. Though the Government has tried to cap the numbers allowed to work, it is clear many will seek jobs without permits.
The EU will pump £20billion into Romania over the next seven years in a bid to revamp the country’s dire infrastructure. Huge chunks of it is expected to be lost in Romania's culture of bribes and corruption.”
How I love the way this Sun reporter makes it look like no good will come from our joining the EU! No benefits, no advantages, hell, they just took us in because they cared so much! Nothing of interest to them here!
Oh yeah, and the illegal workers that will simply flood their country! Oh my! Like there are no other countries Romanians would rather go to. Such as Spain and Italy (much nicer climate there anyway). No, we will all, 23 million, pack our bags and move to England, cause there's only milk. And honey!
But I have to admit, in some way, I feel complimented, as a Romanian, by such an attitude. To my mind, the British are completely convinced any Romanian going there is smart/good enough to take the job. No British citizen could be better! All employers are simply stupid, so they will hire illegal workers who are under qualified and would take a low payment. Who cares the job won’t get done?
The reporter never stops to wonder:
Who are those who would work without a permit?
Are there enough jobs in GB for this segment?
This is just crying “Wolf” every time. My dear reporter, if this fails to happen, you will have to find a different country to through accusations at! Do you know that many countries?
In my opinion, the true professionals, those who have Master’s Degrees and University diplomas would never go there to work illegally in a pub or clean houses or be an au-pair or God knows what. Now, given Romanian is the second most spoken language in Microsoft, I think you should not worry about the illegal workers! Start worrying for later dates, when those Romanians will be allowed to compete with you on the same jobs. Knowing all my colleagues from Journalism…well, you have a job to worry about, don’t you, dear Sun reporter?
As a tabloid The Sun targets low class workers from the UK, and low class workers from the UK are troubled by the lower class, better job, lower wage workers from Romania taking their lousy jobs...
I did a small mistake moving to USA and going in UK would be the same. It's not because Huidu & Gainusa returned from London very disappointed by the ratio blondes / Indians, and the same thing applies to New York (not to forget the Latinos either). Of course, it is strange to that countries with such a huge immigration would still be able to push immigration scare at a mainstream level, close in importance to global warming, war against terrorism and Britney's panties. It is just the fact from the LSE study: the social structure in USA and UK is the most rigid of the civilized world. Once a poor, always a poor. So why bother when other countries are fairer with newcomers?
Luci, thanks for the input and the link. What can I say, at least we should be proud we are given that much importance.
Safiya,it is true latent racism can be much worse, revealed in small successive doses. But you would expect countries that think so high of themselves would do a better job when it comes to their xenophobic fear. Control it somehow.
As of now, Romania is a net contributor to the EU budget: we just paid some 30 mil. euro, and the famed subsidies are yet to come. Besides that, Romania was already a net contributor, since in the previous years had to pay contributions to various EU programs, such as research financing etc., while having restricted access to the programs those funds were for.
This all true. The Sun is run by hacks from the editors on down.
But I have to say, they aren't that far off about money disappearing the "culture of bribes and corruption". There was just a story yesterday, bags of money were given to fund repairs on Iasi's Palace of Culture. Now the money is gone and they didn't fix a single thing. They didn't even pick up the trash in the back. I think corruption will not end until all the old people in power die. Even the constant EU pressure is not stopping these idiots from taking all the money. This scandal is going to become a big story, very soon. I feel it. And the Sun will sell more papers.
Yes, bribes and corruption do persist. But that will eventually change, I hope, and it has nothing to do with the article's angle. This is the only real issue here and it's not enough debated I am afraid.
This is very similar to something I heard in Germany. I lived there for a bit and all I kept hearing were Germans complaining about loosing jobs to eastern europeans. Same thing happens here in America and all the more in California. Poeople are constantly complaining about loosing jobs to low skill labor.
Whats important to note is the level of life style those doing the complaining have. Germans average the highest pay rate of any country at 22.50 euro/hour. Californians are also very well paid and live very luxurious life styles. Oddly enough, both of these countries and their capital systems have no qualms about outsourcing and exporting labor to impovrished nations.
Wallmart is a great example. They love having low skill labor in other countries. So whats the big disconnect here? Well in truth, as long as the labor is in another country, you dont have to pay health insurance, disability and offer a reasonable pay rate.
Coincidentally, Romania has a high level of education and technically trained workers. And as for the corruption? Has anyone bothered to mention the US government and the 500 billion wasted on the Iraq war?
Perspective. Its really something isnt it.
Anyway, that was probably more than I should have said. But I do have a bias for Romanians =).
Just one piece of info The Sun will probably not publish very soon: the British diaspora is one of the largest in the world. As a matter of fact, there are now 1.5 million Brits living and working in Australia (recent migrants, I mean, not the ones that went 200 years ago). And it bothers me to see how one-sided all these stories are, because I always make an effort to understand both parties, immigrants and receiving countries.
Loloma, you are perfectly right! I try to see every aspect of an issue, it is so important if our goals are acceptance and mutual understanding.
Lou, it is a tabloid, but even tabloids have some standards! I mean, at least some order in the article, some facts to support it! Or maybe I ask for too much.
Name: Alina Home: Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania About Me: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts". It's also where I feel free and my preferred means of expression. See my complete profile
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As a tabloid The Sun targets low class workers from the UK, and low class workers from the UK are troubled by the lower class, better job, lower wage workers from Romania taking their lousy jobs...