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Immigration policy and race relations in the Labour Party
Since Tony Blair’s election in 1997, the British immigration model has changed significantly. Blair made a concerted effort to link immigration policy to economics in what is called “economic migration,” a connection that was rarely made by previous administrations.179 By embracing economic migration, Blair has broken with the tradition of unquestioned immigration restrictions that dominated the British political scene for the previous half century. Beginning in 2001, Blair proposed a number of measures not to limit, but to facilitate the migration of both low- and highly-skilled workers. Additionally, Labour has facilitated transitions between visas to encourage economic migration. Now foreign students can apply for a work permit through the Highly Skilled Migrants Program or the Science and Engineering Graduate Scheme while still finishing their studies. And although Tony Blair took a firm stance against numeric caps on immigration, he also took firm measures to discourage illegal immigration and asylum seekers. He increased resources for border control dramatically in order to decrease illegal immigration, and created the Border and Immigration Agency on April 2, 2007. The agency was previously a part of the Home Office, but in its new independent state benefits from greater operational freedom. In order to discourage individuals demanding asylum in Britain, the government began “dispersing” asylum seekers – forcibly relocating them around the country – and reducing social benefits granted to asylum seekers.180 But in recent years, Labour in the majority has been attempting to modify its approach to race relations. The passing of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act in 2000 and the Human Rights Act in 1998 have, in the words of Will Somerville, “made equality a fundamental tenet of general policymaking.”181 And under Tony Blair, Labour’s attitude towards multiculturalism evolved to envision changes within the British population itself. Blair often referred to a “twoway street” or a “two-way process” when speaking about integration, encouraging adaptation of the host community as well as that of immigrants.182 In 2006, he proposed a measure that would link community funding to integration, a measure based upon Blair’s belief that the multicultural model in Britan must be closely linked to community in order to succeed.
Blair’s idea of a “two-way street” was echoed by the 2007 report by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), a report commissioned by the Labour party that was also mentioned in the previous section. The report suggested that in order to improve race relations, Christmas celebrations should be “downgraded” in favor of other religions’ festivals. Although the report did not suggest eliminating Christmas from national holiday calendars entirely, it did call for greater equality among Christian festivals and those from other religions. The IPPR report is strongly in favor of multiculturalism, supporting the idea that communities should be able to conserve individual culture and identity. Surprisingly, the report does not even insist on language competency among ethnic communities. It said that immigrants should be required to be fluent in English “if – but only if – the settled popualation is willing to open up national institutions and practices to newcomers and give a more inclusive cast to national narratives and symbols.”185 Later, the report called for a “multicultural understanding o Britishness.”186 In addition to reducing the importance of Christmas, the report proposed a number of other ways to improve race relations, such as the elimination of church bishops from the House of Lords, an end to “sectarian” religious education, and the introduction of flags other than the Union Jack around the country.
Criticism of British anti-discrimination law
The majority of South Asians in Great Britain will face discrimination at some point in their lives. In 1994, the Fourth National Study of Ethnic Origins, or NSEM, asked thousands of white Britons to respond to questions regarding minorities. The results showed a surprisingly high amount of prejudice and discrimination against South Asians. For example, 32.6% of white believed that Asians were the most discriminated-against minority in Great Britain, followed by 11.7% who said specifically Pakistanis, 10.6% said Muslims, and 10.4% who said Caribbeans. Fully 26% of participants acknowledged being personally prejudiced against Asians and 25% against Muslims. With such widespread prejudice among the population, one might expect strong antidiscrimination laws to protect minorities. Although minorities in Great Britain are protected by anti-discrimination law, granting individuals who have been mistreated the possibility of legal recourse, some have criticized British laws for placing a too-heavy burden on victims to prove that a crime has been committed. Sociologists Model and Lin compare British antidiscrimination law unfavorably to those in other countries in their article, “The Cost of Not Being Christian.” According to their studies, the United Kingdom holds a very stringent standard of evidence in anti-discrimination cases.201 Also, similar cases filed by different individuals are deliberated separately and are not considered together, meaning that repeat perpetrators of racial discrimination often escape with less-severe punishments. Individuals who file claims are financially responsible for their own defense, discouraging lower-class Asians to come forward; in Canada, on the other hand, discrimination complaints are financed by the government. Finally, although discrimination is officially a crime in Great Britain, the law does not specify religious discrimination, a striking omission since the majority of non Christians in the country are of South Asian descent.
The Macpherson Report
No discussion of racial discrimination in Britain would be complete without a discussion of the Macpherson Report. This report is a 1999 investigation into institutionalized police racism in Britain, inspired by the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence. Lawrence was a young black man killed in a racially-motivated attack at a bus stop, but his killers were never caught due to racism and cover-ups by the mainly white police. As a result, the government commissioned the Macpherson Report to develop a series of suggestions for how to protect racial minorities and improve police relations with the public. The Macpherson Report provides a wide range of modifications, both to the legal system and to the British police itself. In order to grant the government greater supervision over police forces, it changed laws in order to allow police officers to be disciplined even up to five years after retirement. It also declared that “all racist words or acts” by police officers should be punished by dismissal, or at the very least a discimplinary proceeding. The Report also guaranteed independent investigations into all public complaints registered against the police.203 In order to increase racial sensitivity among police forces, the Macpherson Report suggested that local ethnic minorities be involved in regular police training and that all officers be required to attend regular “racial awareness training.”204 Another modification was to the composition of police forces themselves. According to the report, police forces should include greater ethnic diversity and make an effort to employ more minorities. In the words of the Guardian newspaper staff, “Police forces should reflect the cultural and ethnic mix of the communities they serve.”
Following the report, the term “racist incident” was enlarged to include even noncrimes that were racially motivated. Also, such incidents could be reported 24 hours per day, and not only in police stations. On the whole, the Macpherson Report was successful in placing the police under greater public and government control and protecting the rights of victims and victims’ families. The Report falls under the broad umbrella of “race relations” and “multiculturalism” in modern British politics, and its efforts have gone a long way in protecting the rights of minorities. However, social and cultural prejudices still exist.
Table of contents :
INTRODUCTION
THE FIRST BRITISH ASIANS: A HISTORY
I. The Colonial Era and Early Immigration
The “divide and rule” theory
Segregation in colonial cities
The British colonial attitude
History of immigration to Britain
II. The First “British Asians”: 1945-1968
The post-war period
The Arrival of South Asians in Britain
The “myth of return”
The Commonwealth Immigrants Act
Immigrants as employees
1965 Revisions to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act
1968 revisions to the Commonwealth Immigrants Act
III. British Asians Put Down Roots
The interdependency of the South Asian community
The Kenya and Uganda Asians
Causes of discrimination against South Asian immigrants
Immigrants and religion
SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF SOUTH ASIANS IN GREAT BRITAIN TODAY
I. Race Relations and Immigration Restrictions: South Asians in British Politics
The UK model: a dual approach
Political Racism and the British extreme right
Immigration policy and race relations in the Conservative Party
Immigration policy and race relations in the Labour Party
Criticism of British anti-discrimination law
The Macpherson Report
Towards new immigration quotas?
II. The Situation of Contemporary British Asians
The British Asian “community”
“Feeling” British
Physical segregation of South Asians
Bradford: the “sum of all fears”?
Consequences of physical segregation: a comparison
South Asian Studies in British universities
Language ability and employment
III. The Generation Gap
The generation gap in film and literature
The generation gap in reality
THE PARTICULAR SITUATION OF BRITISH MUSLIMS
I. Specific Challenges to Muslim Integration
Muslims as the Minority
Difficulties in Language Acquisition
The Politics of biridari
Gender inequality
The Muslim Generation Gap
Sharia courts
II. British Muslims and Extremism
The London subway bombings
Young Muslims and Extremism
The colonial hypothesis
Islamophobia in Britain
The Bosnia effect
The problem of foreign imams
Effects of the generation gap
Extremism in universities
III. Hope for the Future
British Muslim Success Stories
Muslim Youthwork Foundation
The Muslim Youth Hotline
The Nasiha Program
City Circle
The An-Nisa Society
Is Islam the culprit?
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
