"International Sheffield" - Letter from Chief Executive

Letter published in two local newspapers on 17 March 2011:

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Dear Editor
This past weekend in Sheffield was marked not just the Lib Dem conference, but also by two outstanding events, that showed Sheffield at its International Best.

The first was the end of the wonderful season of films about immigration, that the Showroom has put on for the last 2 weeks, demonstrating the enormous benefits that migrant workers and refugees bring to this country and the barriers that are put in the way. The range of films showed, both the contribution that is made to local communities where they settle, bringing in their own community spirit which can add to what already there, and to their work, which can boost the local and national economy, AND enables the provision of essential services, by their jobs in health, care and education.

The films did not present easy answers or neat solutions, to all the issues that are raised by contemporary migration across the world, but they always recognised that fundamentally, we were talking about human beings, not statistics.

The other significant event was the simply incredible First Sheffield University International Languages Festival, that was organised by students from across the country, and across the world, attending Sheffield University.

Over two days, there were 300 workshops, introducing people to the full range of richness of languages from across the globe, and across history, many of which are spoken in Sheffield.  I hope this can be an annual event for the whole community in Sheffield.

The amazing commitment shown by students from across the world must be congratulated, although I do wonder how many of those dedicated international students would be excluded from both Sheffield and Hallam Universities, by the Governments ill-thought through, proposed cap on migrants.

This is International Sheffield at its best, let’s ensure that it isn’t lost.

Jim Steinke