Migration: Making Scotland Great!
Last Thursday, in collaboration with our “Migration: Making Britain Great” campaign, we celebrated the launch of “Migration: Making Scotland Great”.
A crowded room of speakers and attendees from a diverse array of backgrounds came together in Glasgow on 8th February to look at ways in which we can use the power of sport to change how immigration is talked about.
Part of the partnership project between Migrant Voice, Show Racism the Red Card and IMIX, the “Migration Making Britain Great” initiative is looking at how we can take the positive messages of diversity we see in sport, and use them to combat the hostile rhetoric around migration in general.
Speakers, including football Manager Marvin Bartley, CEO of Outdoors For You, Razgar Hassan, and Mahnoor Sultan Campbell from Women on Wheels, spoke passionately about the way in which sports and activities can help break down barriers in communities and bring people together.
Nazek Ramadan, Director of Migrant Voice, said:
“Being part of a partnership like this with Show Racism the Red Card and IMIX is a fantastic way to bring together diverse voices to help show that migration is a positive for our communities. Together we can build on the way migrants are already seen as a benefit to sport to show how much they mean to all of us, and how we can challenge the hostile rhetoric around migration.”
Former Hibernian, Bournemouth and Burnley midfielder, Marvin Bartley, now Manager at Queen of the South FC, spoke on celebrating diversity:
“The ongoing demonising of migrants from all walks of life is totally unjustified and unnecessary. Throughout my footballing career I have been in dressing rooms that are truly multinational. We live and breathe football together and we all show a genuine interest in finding out more about each other’s backgrounds, cultures and the journeys travelled. We have 49 different nationalities playing in Scotland. That is a cause for celebration and long may it continue.”
Billy Singh, Campaign Manager for Show Racism the Red Card Scotland, shared his thoughts on the future for Migration: Making Scotland Great:
“We are very much looking forward to developing education work around this much needed campaign. We will educate and inform, challenge perceptions and shed a light on the positive contributions that migrants have made to Scotland. Together we WILL change hearts, change minds and change lives.”
