14/10/2024
I'm here to tell you this evening it is time for us to stop running away from the truth about foreign nationals.
You are members of a global community, you should think.
It is time for you to understand that as the informed citizens, the conscience of your countries, you must challenge the misinformation that divides us and define a new narrative of inclusion for all people, regardless of their nationality.
Worth is often defined by someone with the right passport, the right accent, the right background.
Many don't have that.
If your mind is closed, open it! If your beliefs are restrictive, challenge them!
Don't drink the poison of xenophobia because it makes you less human!
Your perceptions can be fair, your judgments can be just, you can be a society that is beautiful in its diversity and inclusion!
We often want to believe the misinformation about foreign nationals, and since society rejects the stranger, we reject our own humanity.
You dig conspiracy theories?
Let me tell you about something we've all encountered - the spread of false narratives about immigrants on social media.
Remember when you first started seeing those posts?
Memes claiming immigrants were stealing jobs, bringing crime, or unable to integrate.
For many of us, it was easy to scroll past, to ignore, or even to believe.
We complained about changing neighborhoods, about foreign accents in our stores.
But we were missing the bigger picture.
Millions of foreign nationals faced a different reality.
In our cities, in our workplaces, in our schools - countless people found themselves not just socially distanced, but culturally silenced.
While we shared unverified statistics, they struggled to share their true stories.
While we debated policies based on fear, they couldn't reach out to show us the richness of their cultures, the depth of their contributions.
I remember scrolling through my feed, seeing post after post about the "immigrant threat." I'd think, "They can't possibly contribute like we do.
They need us to show them how things work here." But what I was really saying was, "I've bought into the big lie, and I don't care to challenge it."
It's as if a descendant of immigrants, comfortably settled in their adopted land, forgot that not so long ago, their own ancestors faced the same suspicion and misinformation.
Today, I want us to confront this big lie.
I want us to create more opportunities for cultural exchange, to make room for foreign voices in our national narratives, to keep the flow of true stories and real experiences coming from all.
But it takes time to become free of the lies, to stop seeing foreign nationals as a threat.
It takes time to reject the most important lie: that foreign nationals inherently can't do the same things nationals can do unless a national shows them how.
The xenophobic voices are often the loudest spreaders of misinformation.
They've used fear and false narratives to keep their perceived superiority, to keep everything they have.
And yet, they're the first to talk about protecting culture and national values. I never get caught up with these excuses for exclusion.
As a matter of fact, one of my favourite quotes that stops all the talk about it is from an immigrant named Albert Einstein: "All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field."
If a society wants to believe lies about foreign nationals, to keep playing this game of cultural exclusion, that's its problem.
If it's got the power to silence foreign voices, to keep them from sharing their true selves, that's our collective problem.
Cultural exclusion is not a question of preserving national identity; it's a question of moral integrity.
It is societal power that makes the unwritten rules, that decides whose stories get told and believed.
And it is often media power in the form of biased reporting and algorithmic echo chambers that reinforces those narratives, that pushes people away from the truth about foreign nationals they desperately need to hear.
The vast majority of foreign nationals in our societies live in a state of cultural self-censorship, perpetually trying to fit in, never knowing if they'll have the chance to truly express their identity without fear of rejection or misunderstanding.
We are on the move for our collective liberation from misinformation, to end this cycle of suspicion once and for all. We're tired of trying to prove to skeptical societies that foreign nationals have valuable skills and perspectives.
We're tired of trying to explain to closed minds that cultural diversity is not a threat to national identity.
We are concerned with getting the truth out - the truth that all humans, regardless of origin, have the capacity to contribute, to innovate, to enrich our shared culture.
The question is, will societies overcome their fear of the unknown, of adding more colors to their cultural tapestry?
Will they allow for a world where no voice is silenced, where no culture is deemed less valuable?
If not, we have no choice but to say very clearly, "We will share our stories, create our own platforms of truth, and show you the true meaning of cultural integration," sure as the sun rises on all nations.
In closing, I know it's getting late, may I leave you citizens of the world with these last words.
"If I am not willing to listen to foreign voices, who will listen when my voice becomes foreign?
If I am only concerned with my own cultural narrative, what kind of global story am I writing?
If not now, when will we challenge the big lie?
And if not through our collective action, how will we ever create a world where all cultures are valued?"
We need an undying commitment to building a global community where the truth about all people flows freely, and no one is left voiceless in the shadows of misinformation.
Good Night and POWER TO ALL THE PEOPLE, POWER TO ALL THE
PEOPLE.
