I moved here from Poland with my family in November 2005. When I first arrived in Merthyr, the area seemed to be very closed off, especially if you were an outsider. It was still very much in a 70s time warp, dominated by working men’s clubs and untouched by multicultural experiences.
The change in Merthyr is very visible over the years that I’ve been calling it my home. I guess people aren’t scared of the unknown any more and are now more open to change, which means they are now willing to expand their horizons and look further than the working men’s clubs.
As an interpreter I connect two cultures together: Welsh and Polish. When you’re an immigrant you feel like an invisible part of Britain. Until you’re ingrained in the culture, you’re not seen or heard. Your voice doesn’t count and you learn to live with it until you’re given that voice, through opportunities, through people, through the media. That voice started to exist, it gave us an identity and introduced us to the world, but the way things are heading it seems like we will fall below the visible line once again. It’ll just be Britain and a bunch of its immigrants as separate entities.
In very simple terms, I think the Brexit vote was very much driven by fear, and I think that journalists fabricated the reality. I think Britain should have stayed, and I guess it’s quite an obvious answer for a foreigner from Eastern Europe, but I personally think my perspective represents the majority of my peers. Our dream was for Britain to be open, tolerant, forward-thinking.
I think it was a risky decision. I respect the determination behind the people who voted out of the EU, their determination for Britain to be ‘Great’ again, but I also think Britain is a great country and always will be. If we personify it, it’s just like a human, always changing with time. Those who voted out seem to have trouble letting go of the old version of greatness: Britain as a strong-standing, independent, but closed-off island.