International Migrants Day is a day to stand in solidarity with migrants and create a culture centred on respect. It is also an important opportunity to reflect on the harmful racist and classist norms and expectations that migrants are being forced and expected to live up to.
#WatchYourLanguage is a demand for a radical shift in language. It’s time to change our language from conditional or extractive narratives on belonging to compassionate, affirming and liberating ones.
Migration advocates regularly embrace terms like “integration”, “assimilation” or “contribution” and fail to understand that racial justice movements have been campaigning against these terms for decades. Talking about “integration” in relation to migrants, including refugees, might seem harmless, but these terms have racist undertones because they expect migrants to meet standards of Whiteness and to give up important aspects of their identity in order to be worthy of respect. Racial justice movements have also spoken at length of the limitations of framing “lived experience” or “representation” as being synonymous with liberation. Why do we continue to use language or narratives that we know are harmful?
On International Migrants Day, we urge everyone to stop using harmful language. Don’t fall short of the bare minimum required for solidarity. #WatchYourLanguage and help us defy the damaging narratives surrounding migration.
What norms do you want to defy? Share your video on social media with the hashtag #WatchYourLanguage this International Migrants Day.
Watch the #WatchYourLanguage video by members of our Network here.