A Catalan-born journalist who received racist abuse after speaking out on the government’s ‘settled status’ process says Brexit has left her feeling like a “second class citizen.”
Wales Online journalist Estel Farell-Roig, who is originally from Barcelona, has criticised the “humiliating” and “insulting” process which has been set up for European Union citizens who wish to remain in the United Kingdom.
Estel moved to the UK in 2013 to study journalism at the University of Sheffield, and spent almost two years working for the South Wales Argus before joining Wales Online in April last year.
In an opinion piece for the Cardiff-based site, she said she had “felt welcome overall” after first coming to the UK – but that had changed with the 2016 referendum on EU membership.
Estel, pictured, told HTFP she was “pleasantly surprised” by most of the reaction her piece had received since it was published, but admitted there had been some racist comments.
Comments on Facebook included “the way they are all coming in the UK will start to sink soon” and “no deal send them all home.”
Said Estel: “I didn’t look at the comments on Facebook and got a couple of racist and ignorant tweets, but overall people were quite nice and understanding.
“Some people came out in the website defending me and someone sent a letter to the paper, which was lovely.”
In her original piece, Estel wrote: “Before the Brexit vote, I never really thought of my immigration status in the UK. I knew I wasn’t British, but felt welcome overall.
“Now, I can’t help feeling like a second class citizen on a daily basis and I am angry, especially this week as applications for settled status have opened.
“In my mind are all the articles about us coming here to steal your jobs, to claim your benefits, to use your NHS. All we do is take, right? But I am a young woman working full-time and paying taxes here. I don’t have children and rarely go to the doctor. I spend my money in the UK and, this year, I am hoping to buy a house with my boyfriend of five years.
“Still, all we do is take and now I will have to go through the humiliating process of applying for settled status. Having lived in the UK for five-and-a-half years, I find it insulting.
“Before Brexit, I never thought about becoming a British citizen because I am not British but now I see it as something I will have to do in the next few years.
“I am not looking forward to spending thousands of pounds on something I don’t believe in, but I can’t risk not being able to access the NHS in 20 years time if I fall ill. I guess the ones that wanted Brexit have won and taken back control, right?”
“Settled status is a daily reminder I am not from here – and maybe that I don’t belong here. It singles us out and frames the debate around migration being something negative.
“Instead of making me feel proud I speak three languages, it makes me feel conscious about the way I pronounce ‘r’ and ‘s’. Above all, this makes me really sad as I can’t deny I am excited to build a life here. It makes me doubt my plans and decisions.”
She added: “I am lucky that, as a journalist, I have a voice but, when I think about the settled status scheme, I feel like a bargaining chip, a pawn in the Brexit debate.”
The government announced earlier this month that a £65 fee for those applying for settled status, which Estel described as “petty but symbolic”, had been scrapped.
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I don’t like the racist slant that Brexit is bringing . I have lived in India , Europe ,USA and Africa and as a foreigner never suffered any problems from local people who were always respectful . However it doesn’t help when articles like this add to the whole hypocrisy of certain immigrants – you cannot say you are not a “taker” then in the next sentence say you need to register as you “cannot take the risk of not being able to access the NHS in 20 years time “ inconsistency like this is what makes local people very cynical
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Sorry Bill, I don’t want to have to follow the example of every story on my local papers’ websites, which are full of BTL comments on anything remotely Brexit-related, but if this person is working in this country and contributing to the economy she is perfectly entitled to access NHS services. End of.
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As for the racist slurs, the people are scumbags who have not grown up and are not worth wasting your time on. There are still a lot of racists in this country. They will always be with us. The country would be a nicer place if they left.
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I cannot even comment here, the page is jumping around. Is anyone else having this issue with htfp? Started yesterday, still not resolved.
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One of the things that baffles me about the way Brexit is being portrayed, is that it’s seen as a symbol of small-minded racism by the British, in opposition to Europe somehow being racially liberal.
Hungary, Poland, Austria all have right wing governments. Italy has been doing and saying some truly shocking stuff, including turning away migrant boats. Holland and France frequently flirt with right wing leaders. Indeed this lady herself is Catalan and it’s not too long ago many of her compatriots were getting treated quite shabbily by the Spanish police, themselves no stranger to authoritarian brouhaha.
The right over here are a joke. Not so long ago a right wing march in Liverpool had to be coralled into the toilets of Lime Street station by the police for their own protection and were later physically chased out of the city to Benny Hill music.
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What browser are you using Lydia? Knowing this will help us to fix it.
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My pages keep jumping around, too. Tell us what browser we should be using.
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Thanks for your email Paul, hopefully you will get this sorted soon.
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If you tell us what browser you are using we can try and get to the bottom of it.
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Why is she described as “Catalan-born” rather than Spanish? I can’t help thinking that a more significant agenda is being pursued here.
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