Beyond the Political Noise: How Migrants Are Used as Scapegoats for the Real Crisis

Is the immigration debate really about borders — or is it a political smokescreen? In this episode, we unpack how migrants are often turned into political scapegoats to redirect public anger away from the real causes of public frustration —rising inequality, underfunded public services, unemployment, and the soaring cost of living. Migration policy expert Zoe Gardner brings a UK lens, showing how media narratives and political talking points can manufacture outrage that shields those at the top. Sharon Ekambaram joins from South Africa, where xenophobia, inequality, and coordinated disinformation campaigns reveal the same pattern playing out in a different setting. Different continents. Same playbook. Together, they expose how anti-migrant rhetoric gains ground when inequality deepens and why that’s rarely a coincidence. We dig into who benefits from these narratives, how social media supercharges them, and why public attitudes are often far more humane than political messaging suggests. This is a sharp, myth-busting discussion about power, inequality, and who really benefits when societies are encouraged to blame outsiders instead of confronting systemic injustice. If you enjoy the episode, please like, share, comment, and leave us a review.

You can listen to Beyond the Political Noise: How Migrants Are Used as Scapegoats for the Real Crisis online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Beyond the Political Noise: How Migrants Are Used as Scapegoats for the Real Crisis is an episode from EQUALS by EQUALS.

This episode is 28:01 long.

This episode was published on Feb 25, 2026.

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