The anti-police rioting of the spring and summer of 1981 led to methods of community policing becoming somewhat gentler, and methods of riot control becoming much more effective. Ultimately it led to the rise of "multicultural" policies to make different ethnic groups feel more accepted in British society - as a cheaper alternative to investment in job creation or urban renewal.
Showing posts with label multiculturalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label multiculturalism. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Notting Hill
The first major race riots in Britain occurred in August and September 1958, first in Nottingham and then in Notting Hill Gate (West London). In each case the violence was started by young white men looking for trouble deciding to target black men with white girlfriends or wives.
The Notting Hill Carnival, which has been claimed to be the largest annual street festival in Europe, is a celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture that began in reaction to the Notting Hill Riots. It too has featured on a special stamp issue as a representative aspect of modern Britishness (see here).
In 1976 there was a second race riot in Notting Hill, this time young black men reacting to heavy-handed policing of the Carnival.
The Notting Hill Carnival, which has been claimed to be the largest annual street festival in Europe, is a celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture that began in reaction to the Notting Hill Riots. It too has featured on a special stamp issue as a representative aspect of modern Britishness (see here).
In 1976 there was a second race riot in Notting Hill, this time young black men reacting to heavy-handed policing of the Carnival.
Immigration and multiculturalism
Before the Second World War, mass immigration to Britain had been from within Europe, with the most clearly foreign groups being the Irish, and Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. Mass immigration from outside Europe began only in the postwar period, when the immigration of substantial numbers of West Indians (that is, people from the Caribbean), Africans (especially from Nigeria) and South Asians (from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) created pockets of far more visible racial and cultural difference in many British cities.
The British Nationality Act 1948 gave a right of settlement in Britain to any citizens of the British Empire or Commonwealth. The Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury on 22 June 1948 with 492 immigrants, mostly from Jamaica: the beginning of postwar mass immigration. In 1954 around 10,000 immigrants from the West Indies arrived (see this clip, from about 1 min onwards). Such immigration resulted in a much more visibly culturally and ethnically diverse country. It supplied not only labourers for British industry, but also doctors, dentists and nurses: without the immigration of medical professionals, the NHS would not have survived.
As the 1955 report linked to above has it:
The official approach to integration was proclaimed in 1965 by the Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, as:
Britain is now a multiracial society, with something over 85% of the population identifying itself as "White British" on the 2001 census returns. Another 7% identified themselves as "White Irish" or "White Other" (Polish, etc.); the "non-white" 7% of the population, still well over 4 million people, identified (in descending numbers) as: Indian, Pakistani, "Mixed Race", Black Caribbean, Black African, Bangladeshi, Chinese, "Other Black", and "Other Asian".
The laws that created Britain's current ethnic composition and race relations are:
With the exception of the Immigration Act 1988 (which incorporated European Community agreements on the free movement of persons into British law), the trend of this legislation has been to restrict entry to new immigrants (undoing the work of the British Nationality Act 1948), while at the same time outlawing discrimination against existing immigrants. It was in reaction to the proposed equal opportunities legislation of the Race Relations Act 1968 that Enoch Powell gave his "Rivers of Blood" speech.
The British Nationality Act 1948 gave a right of settlement in Britain to any citizens of the British Empire or Commonwealth. The Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury on 22 June 1948 with 492 immigrants, mostly from Jamaica: the beginning of postwar mass immigration. In 1954 around 10,000 immigrants from the West Indies arrived (see this clip, from about 1 min onwards). Such immigration resulted in a much more visibly culturally and ethnically diverse country. It supplied not only labourers for British industry, but also doctors, dentists and nurses: without the immigration of medical professionals, the NHS would not have survived.
As the 1955 report linked to above has it:
Already their coming has caused a national controversy, but one point must always be borne in mind: whatever our feelings, we cannot deny them entry, for all are British citizens, and as such are entitled to the identical rights of any member of the Empire.
The official approach to integration was proclaimed in 1965 by the Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, as:
not a flattening process of assimilation but equal opportunity accompanied by cultural diversity in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance
Britain is now a multiracial society, with something over 85% of the population identifying itself as "White British" on the 2001 census returns. Another 7% identified themselves as "White Irish" or "White Other" (Polish, etc.); the "non-white" 7% of the population, still well over 4 million people, identified (in descending numbers) as: Indian, Pakistani, "Mixed Race", Black Caribbean, Black African, Bangladeshi, Chinese, "Other Black", and "Other Asian".
The laws that created Britain's current ethnic composition and race relations are:
- Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962
- Race Relations Act 1965
- Commonwealth Immigrant Act 1968
- Race Relations Act 1968
- Race Relations Act 1976
- British Nationality Act 1981
- Immigration Act 1988 (EC free movement)
- British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990
- Asylum and Immigration Act 1993
With the exception of the Immigration Act 1988 (which incorporated European Community agreements on the free movement of persons into British law), the trend of this legislation has been to restrict entry to new immigrants (undoing the work of the British Nationality Act 1948), while at the same time outlawing discrimination against existing immigrants. It was in reaction to the proposed equal opportunities legislation of the Race Relations Act 1968 that Enoch Powell gave his "Rivers of Blood" speech.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Immigration report
A 1970 French TV report on immigration to England and the beginnings of multiracial Britain, with a brief snippet of Enoch Powell speaking French:
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