The Sydney Morning Herald Great racial divide keeps communities apart Date: 13/12/2001
By Warren Hoge in London Whites and ethnic minorities in Britain are deeply divided, leading separate lives with no social or cultural contact and little sense of belonging to the same nation, a government report says. The report, a study of race riots this year, said Britons "tip-toe" around the subject of discrimination and needed to engage in an "honest and robust debate" to forestall further unrest. The authors of the study, commissioned by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and released on Tuesday, said they were dismayed and shocked by their findings. "Whilst the physical segregation of housing estates and inner-city areas came as no surprise, the team was particularly struck by the depth of polarisation of our towns and cities and the extent to which these physical divisions were compounded by so many other aspects of our daily lives," they said. Linking this finding to the riots, the report concluded: "There is little wonder that the ignorance about each others' communities can easily grow into fear, especially when this is exploited by extremist groups." Outside the narrow confines of sport and pop music, where Caribbean blacks have rapped and rocked their way to stardom, most ethnic minorities - 4 million or 7per cent of the population - say they face prejudice on an almost daily basis. Substantial immigration from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent dates only to the 1950s and 1960s, when the government encouraged it to meet labour shortages. The riots in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham - three communities in northern England with large Asian populations - were the worst outbreaks of racial conflict in Britain in 20 years. The fire bombings and stone throwing in Bradford alone caused $A29 million in damage and left more than 300 police injured. The investigation said that all three outbreaks of violence emanated from deep distrust between white and non-white communities and a lack of opportunity for minority youths. It also said far-right and racist groups had contributed to the violence. Mr Blunkett provoked criticism on Monday when he appeared to place some of the blame for the growing segregation on immigrants themselves. He said migrants had to shed traditions such as forced marriages and genital mutilation if they wanted to live in Britain and that they needed to learn to speak English and otherwise adopt "British norms". Mr Blunkett protested on Tuesday that his insistence that people learn to speak English was in their best interest. "This is not 'linguistic colonialism', as my critics allege, it is about opportunity and inclusion," he said. "There is no contradiction between retaining a distinct cultural identity and identifying with Britain." The report faulted politicians, community leaders and police and cited housing and job discrimination. But it said that communities choosing to live in separation was part of the problem, "and it will lead to more serious problems if it is not tackled". It recommended that Britain adopt an oath of allegiance for new immigrants to show their "clear primary loyalty" to Britain. The chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Habib Rahman, said that "asking just one faction of the community to sign an oath of allegiance to the Queen is clearly divisive. This proposal is very unfortunate. It goes against the fabric of a multicultural society." The New York Times This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. http://www.smh.com.au/news/0112/13/text/world12.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/ until 11 March, 2001 and Recoznettwo is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznettwo%40green.net.au/ from that date. This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
