As anti-immigrant rhetoric rises across Europe and the U.S., this report looks beyond the headlines. What historical forces shaped today’s migration flows?
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00:00The West is freaking out about immigrants.
00:02They are taking our jobs, changing our culture, draining our economy.
00:06Across Europe and America, the immigration debate is heating up.
00:09But is this just a border issue?
00:12From the 17th to the 20th century, Europe and later the United States
00:17expanded their reach across Africa, Asia and Latin America,
00:20not to uplift these regions, but to profit from them.
00:23Millions were displaced, enslaved or conscripted into wars they didn't start.
00:27Borders were drawn without consent, communities were split, language erased
00:32and local economies were forcibly tied to imperial capitals.
00:35Britain extracted over $45 trillion from India alone during its colonial rule,
00:40as per economist Utsa Patnaik.
00:42Belgium oversaw the death of up to 10 million Congolese in King Leopold's Congo Free State,
00:47a personal colony built on rubber and ivory.
00:50The United States, through a mixture of military interventions and economic policies
00:53in Central America and the Caribbean,
00:55propped up dictatorships and destabilised democracies,
00:59all under the guise of fighting communism or protecting American business interests.
01:03And now, the very people whose countries were impoverished by colonial systems
01:07are being vilified for seeking safety, opportunity or stability in those same Western nations.
01:13Across Europe, anti-migrant rhetoric has entered the mainstream.
01:16Far-right parties have surged in Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands,
01:20exploiting fears about culture and security.
01:22In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally Party now dominates polls.
01:27Her narrative, the immigration is eroting French identity.
01:30In Germany, the far-right AFD is polling above 20% in some states.
01:34They've called for re-migration policies that would deport even legally settled migrants.
01:39Sweden, once a bastion of liberal asylum policy,
01:42has now adopted some of the strictest immigration laws in Europe post-2015,
01:46after the refugee influx.
01:48But is immigration the real threat?
01:49Let's look at the data.
01:51Immigrants in the US contribute most in taxes than they can take in services.
01:56According to the Cato Institute, they contributed over $330 billion in federal taxes in 2021.
02:02In Europe, migrants are younger and more likely to work than native populations.
02:06A 2023 OECD report shows immigration boosts GDP and helps with critical labour shortages,
02:12especially in ageing countries like Germany and Italy.
02:15In Britain, the NHS would collapse without its immigrant doctors and nurses,
02:19many from former colonies like India, Nigeria and Pakistan.
02:23The cultural argument?
02:25It's pure not fact.
02:26Culture is not a zero-sum game.
02:29And yet, the idea that immigration dilutes national identity is being pushed to rationalise xenophobia.
02:34The West often asks, why can't they fix their own countries?
02:38But forgets to ask, who broke them?
02:40Today's migration is not an accident.
02:42It's the aftershock of centuries of plunder, war and interference.