Alternative facts and immigration: fake it til you make it?

Political propaganda is not new. With migration, it's a world of shadowing boxing.

'They're coming to take your jobs' 'We can't help them' 'Health tourists!' 'Let's get tough'

Recently, government policy in the UK and elsewhere has been about shaping what people think about what is happening not shaping what actually happens. In the UK, the focus on being tough on immigration has smothered debate on whether immigration is good, bad or inevitable, or whether policies will make any difference at all to a world on the move. Media discussion of immigration has amplified problems and occasionally celebrated exceptional individuals, but how far does this reflect everyday realities?

In this workspace, academic researchers, artists and activists will work with YOU to shape the news headlines. We will uncover ‘facts’ about immigration (based on research, not conversations half-overheard by a Trump adviser) and views rarely given space in the mainstream media. Together we will develop a newspaper edition that engages with seldom-heard realities of immigration and its control. Come and learn more about immigration and the immigration control industry. Share your thoughts, hopes and dreams. Get creative in faking news that will make people look at the world in a new way.

There There is a 50% Romanian 50% Serbian performance company, founded in London by Dana Olărescu and Bojana Janković. Our work explores topics that emerge at the intersection of personal experiences and big-picture policy and politics, including immigration, immigrant and national identities. Our practice spans performances, installations, interventions, audience development and research. Find out more: www.therethere.eu

Mapping Immigration Controversy is a collective of eight academic researchers based at 6 universities (Warwick (Hannah Jones), Goldsmiths (Yasmin Gunaratnam, Emma Jackson, William Davies), Bedfordshire (Sukhwant Dhaliwal), Birmingham City (Kirsten Forkert), East London (Gargi Bhattacharyya), and South Wales (Roiyah Saltus)). Following the Home Office ‘Go Home’ van campaign of 2013, we conducted research into the effects of government communications about immigration control on everyday lives in England, Scotland and Wales. Our book based on this research, Go Home? The politics of immigration control, will be published by Manchester University Press in April 2017. Find out more: www.mappingimmigrationcontroversy.com

Participation in this workspace is free and open to all, but please reserve your space as places are limited.

This event is part of the Who Are We? programme at Tate Exchange.