Monday 3 February 2020

Everybody Welcome

Norwich signs

Winchester Tower is a tower block in Norwich where many different people live from all sorts of countries and backgrounds. Last weekend some posters were put up in the tower block.  The posters called for everyone living in the flats to, "Speak English or leave." They were placed on doors on all 15 floors of the block.

The response from people of Norwich has been to make clear to all residents that everyone is welcome. The day after the posters went up there was a demonstration outside the tower to show that people disagreed with the posters. The photo shows the wall at the entrance to the tower, now adorned with many posters that say things like, "Everyone welcome in Norwich,"; "Not in my name - we love you."; "Stand up to racism, love your neighbour."

Norwich is known as a city of sanctuary where refugees are welcome. On twitter someone posted a photo of the new posters and said, "This is the Norwich I want to live in."

what do you see in the picture?
where is it?
why is it there?

- why do you think someone put up a poster saying, "speak English or leave"? (because we know not everyone understands about diversity and no outsiders yet. Not everyone was lucky enough to go to a school like ours where everyone is welcome and we like being different. Some people are frightened of difference; they think everyone should be the same. That's the opposite view to us; we think it's wonderful to see difference, talk about each other being different and learn new things. But this person had a different view.)
- how did they want to make people feel? (scared, unwelcome, like an outsider)
- the residents could have ignored the posters, or just taken them down and threw them away. They could have left them up. What did the residents choose to do?
- why did they have a demonstration outside the block; what are they trying to show?
- where have the new posters come from? why do you think people put up the new posters?
- "Not in my name!" what does this mean
- how do you think residents felt when they saw the new posters?
"This is the Norwich I want to live in," what does this mean?
- With so many welcoming posters going up, what does this show about people living in Norwich today?
- What can we learn from the residents of the tower block?
- why is this about No Outsiders?

www.no-outsiders.com




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