The riots the expression of a plea to be seen
"...true justice can only follow a thorough investigation of
the facts..."
The outbreak on 06 August 2011 of 3 consecutive days of sheer
abandon across the major urban centres of England was arguably the predictable
consequence of failed social policies stretching back some forty years. This
blog argues that the August 2011 riots have exposed the underbelly of an
insipid and deep rooted social political and cultural malaise that is being
experienced by the British population such malaise driven by uncertainty disaffection
and dislocation evident at all levels of society across all “class groups”
across its major institutional and administrative structures, and amongst our “decision
making classes”.
The decision-making classes have been left floundering in fear of
the future potential for a dystopian crisis. Such fear fuelled by the widely
held view amongst such decision makers that what they perceiving as “British
values” and their well crafted fiction of cultural superiority as being at risk.
This piece seeks to not only explore what British values purport
to be but to analyse and consider them in the context of actual concrete
outcomes, even amongst its ardent progenitors there is no clarity on just what
is distinctive about the values they describe as “British” and further the
actual narratives of daily lives of the masses of society do not reflect an
impartial adherence the values in question.
2012 finds Britain undergoing an epoch changing identity crises the
emergent conditions of which the state finds itself unable to effectively manage
or control. One of the key battle ground of this epoch changing identity crises is immigration
and the agenda for a definition of what it means to be “British” in a
globalised highly mobilized world of mass migration in the light of the
legacies of Britain’s unsavoury colonial past and English isolationism.
On the ground can be witnessed a shifting of the tectonic plates
in terms not only of a sense of self of those who describe themselves as
British but a defacto social and political transformation, underpinned by changing
political demographics and the ineluctable redefining of
“traditional” societal cultural references. Thereby engendering the perception in
the minds of the decision makers and by way of osmosis to the wider Dunkirk
generations and their offspring that orthodoxy is under attack
To understand just what underpins the above one needs to consider and analyse current population shifts in the UK not just the current position but the projections that indicate that by 2051 so called ethnic minorities (from a range of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds) will make up upwards of 20% of the British population. This fact alone to my mind is sufficiently potentially transformative to stimulate a debate on particularising just exactly what concrete realities will manifest and how these changes are to be managed with a view to building a cohesive, inclusive and just society.
Unfortunately rather than considering the above in a positive
light and formulating a coherent strategy to modernise Britain the
decision–making classes in near state of despondency appear to be battling in a
futile rearguard action to maintain the status quo the unavoidable consequences
of which is a fractious society where discontent is overwhelming and
individuals are ready to act thereby heightening the danger of further widespread
civil unrest.
The “decision making classes” include politicians in particular
“conviction” politicians bent on sustaining the status quo, leviathan media
houses, professional political commentators, think tanks trained in the dark
arts of coercive persuasion, prominent and esteemed academics for hire and
civil servant Comandantes, this motley crew otherwise known pits itself
with committed intent against those it considers to be the underclass “the
plebs”; it is this confrontation and the resultant dialectic tension that played
itself out in commercial centres across the inner-city streets of the country in the riots of August
2011.
The backdrop to the above conjectured is that Britons have for
centuries languished under the considerable constraints of a rather odious class
system an oppressive system whose stated aim is to entrench inequality and embed social inertia.
The effects of this system is evidenced by statistics such as although only 7% of children in education go to private schools upwards of 80% of
leadership roles in our society are performed by privately educated individuals. Indeed it
so pervasive that even previously traditional working class avenues for social
progression i.e. music now evidences between sixty and eighty percent of its
commercially successful artist as coming from privately educated backgrounds
Needless
to say the percentage of ethnic minorities represented in private schools is
painfully low this feeds through into a dearth
of ethnic minorities at the highest levels case in point being senior civil
servants and local authority, prominent musicians, executives high ranking officials
and the range of high end jobs.
Thereby even in a post-modern Britain class affiliations is a key determinant of
success governing ease and terms of access to, opportunity, power, wealth and high
life expectancy; in effect
access to opportunity is disproportionately determined on the basis of an
individual’s membership of a particular class such membership bestowed by
birth, and considerations of ethnic origin.
The outcome of the above is a social, cultural, political and
economic landscape largely predicated on privilege and entitlement of those who
own and control the wealth and resources and a disenfranchised majority with
little chance of significant upward mobility. Predictably this system stifles
dynamism, stunts social progression is divisive, archaic and inherently
ethnocentric and racist, unfit for purpose in the context of a search for the
development of twenty-first century ideals.
One of many debilitating legacies of this class system and a reflection of the overwhelming power of the state is that under the UK’s unwritten constitution we as citizens are not endowed with positive inalienable rights enjoyment of which is protected by the state instead we remain subject to the unlimited power of the authority of the Queen in Parliament.
Attempts to introduce positive inalienable rights are even today,
in an era where the protection of human
rights is widely accepted as indispensible to good governance is actively being thwarted by
significant elements of the “leadership class” in particular politicians and
the media stir up hysteria in opposition to the effective implementation of human
rights laws in the UK.
Whilst it may be true that many of the strictures of class are
less evident today than in the recent past, the issue is that its legacy
continues to shape British cultural norms and institutions as is evident from
the continued existence of an unelected second tier legislative chamber
consisting of “Lords” a very class reflecting title , our subjugation to an
unelected monarch as our constitutional head of state such monarch equipped
with archaic, unspecified and opaque powers and unaccountable to
any other organ of the state or individual.
Further it is to be noted that
two-thirds of ministers in the current government are privately educated more
than half senior civil servants are thought to be from a privately educated
background as are the overwhelming majority of senior judges. Act as a sort of Praetorian Guard charged with
the maintenance of ritual
nature and form.
The strategically important question is, just how do we move on from
an insular, exclusionary, bombastic and jingoistic society predicated on class
and privilege and the legacy of the vestiges of entitlement of empire, towards a
progressive society predicated on inclusion, fairness, equality of access,
positive rights effective economic and social mobility.
Diversity and ethnicity are and has for
centuries been very much an integral part of the milieu of British culture and
of itself has acted as a barrier to entry into the arena of the “leadership
class” it shaped the horrors of British slavery and colonialism driven by
notions of race superiority.
The Diasporans
It seems to me that one of the leading transformative forces in
this dialectic is the group of peoples this piece describes as African Diasporans
a term which is explained below.
1940s post World War II Britain saw the influx of these
Diasporans, into inner city areas across the country, it was not realised at
the time, but these people and their descendants were to become one of the most
dynamic agents of change and social transformation the UK had experienced for 100
or more years.
The Diasporans are the descendants of the peoples who, from the middle of the 15th century to near the beginning of the 20th century were forcible removed from their place of origin, that is Africa, stripped of their culture, names, de-humanised designated as livestock that is “beast of burden” tortured and held in bondage under the harshest of conditions used as forced labour in the Americas no control over their sexual reproductive capacity or physical integrity for some 400 years.
The word Diasporan is used her to identify this group of people whose
children suffered a similar fate. Diasporans are the descendants of those who’s
labour and ingenuity, born on the plantation, generated the profit that built
this country and in consequence died in genocidal proportions.
One of the many legacies British enslavement of Diasporans is a people
who deprived of their cultural heritages and rendered rootless in foreign lands
and left with no alternative but to reconstruct their identity and achieve self
determination as they individually and collectively determine it; indeed an all
consuming task
One
important and pivotal outcome of this diasporan experience is that Diasporan’s exist
in a different dynamic from that experienced by “migrants” who are essentially
adventurous TRAVELLERS who leave their place of origin and set up home in a
foreign country with a view to gaining economic advantage but with their
culture and connections with their places of origin intact.
During slavery Diasporans found themselves located in the “White
dominions” of the empire the then commonwealth i.e. the Americas, the Caribbean,
significant numbers were also present in the UK itself and various parts of
Europe. All these peoples share a unique historical and cultural
experience having been systematically stripped of their status as human
beings and literally in law rendered
animals.
One of the most invidious and virulently debilitating of the
legacies of British enslavement of Diasporans is the loss “mother tongues” their
cultural, emotional and psychological integrity. Their mother tongues transmogrified
over time in the case of the UK enslaved
into English Dialect or Creole for French speaking Disaporans. Diasporan's are
not only born into cultures that are not their own but compelled to subscribe
to said cultural references tied via the medium of language and living
experiences
It should be said that the Caribbean despite its unique flavour
and idiosyncrasies is ideologically and culturally part of the West it shares the
West’s history the “native“ Caribbean languages are either English or some other
European language such as Spanish, French or Dutch, their religion is mainly
western (Judaeo-Christian), their political, economic and legal system
similarly western, as is their education system, cultural references, place
names etc.
The enslavement experience left the Diasporans dispossessed, culturally dislocated, emotionally and psychologically traumatized however it also ignited their defiance and determination for freedom and equality of consideration.
British Values?
Treated as an underclass we find ourselves somewhat in a perpetual
state of siege. Our history has been a relentless struggle for re-empowerment,
fought out over many generations and evidenced by our uncompromising insistence
on the need for social transformation that reflects the principles of equality
of treatment for all wherever we find ourselves effectively we find ourselves
in a continued state of protest. Such protest has borne well documented fruit
Diasporans have over the last 50 years had a far-reaching and deep impact on the development and implementation of Civil Liberties in the UK driving the agenda for accountability, transparency and the development of legal restraints on the day to day operations of the executive and the protection and promotion of the rights of the individual.
The Brixton riots of 1981 followed the wanton abuse and mass
detention of law abiding Diasporans by the British police up and down the
country’s cities such mass stop search and detain were part of an official
policing policy; the infamous Operation Swamp,
In response to the Brixton riots and the vociferous calls for
change on the part of the Diasporans the Home Secretary of the day William
Whitelaw MP commissioned the Scarman Report the outcome of which was the radical overhauling of the rules and procedures governing the police’s use of
force, their powers of arrest, alongside the individual’s rights during and
after arrest, methods of questioning faced, the rules on the taping of police interviews with w view to avoid the
common practice of false and fabricated confessions often extracted under
torture and which I myself have witnessed . The referred to changes were enacted
in law by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 which was introduced
in consequence of the Brixton riots of 1981.
The Brixton riots came about not only as a reaction to abusive
policing tactics but because the victims of this police abuse and criminality
perceived that they were under siege. In 1980 to 1981 I lived in Brixton and
can remember the tense atmosphere and the aggressive and intimidatory tactics
of the Brixton police who went around in gangs and made sure there presence was
felt despite fact that crimes were not being committed or reported. This lead
to overwhelming feeling of being under siege at the hands of the forces of the
state and without recourse to the protection of the law and exposed to torture
inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment a very unsettling experience.
To contextualise this period it is important to recognise that the 1980s saw over 1000 deaths in police custody a state of affairs that was under reported indeed the media, the politicians and political and social commentators called for even tougher laws, but resisted calls for any sanctioning of any corrupt and/or aggressively racist police and criminal justice system.
Brixton again erupted into violence September 1985 which itself
was sparked by the unprovoked police shooting of Dorothy "Cherry" Groce by the Metropolitan police which in
turn sparked the 1985 Brixton riots. Ms Groce was the innocent mother of a young black man
her crime was to open her front-door to allow the Metropolitan police entry
into her home to search for her son 21 year old Michael .
The next major riot was that of Tottenham in 06
October 1985 this riot was preceded by the death of Cynthia
Jarrett’s at the hands of the Metropolitan police. Its aftermath heralded the introduction for the first time
in the UK of Human Rights legislation giving rise to the Human Rights
Act 1998
Throughout the “Windrush era” the British state
operated a institutionally racist education system which branded Diasporans as
uneducable deviants with little prospect of ever being gainfully employed upon leaving school (save
as bus drivers, street cleaners, factory fodder and dustbin men). This failing haunts Diasporans even today who pass on the
legacies of their deprivations suffered at the hands of the British education
system to their children thereby rendering them and their families
dysfunctional with very narrow spectrum of
life opportunities to all intents and purposes outcast
The British education system actively sought to undermine and demean
and debase Diasporans by way of the subscription to an openly racist curriculum.
Reading list including children’s books such as Little Black Sambo, Robinson
Crusoe’s “Man Friday” Kipling’s racist
poetry the Golliwog books. These curriculum
books promoted negative racial stereotypes and not only re-enforced stereotypes
in the minds of the white children but engendered feeling of self-hatred and
self-denial in the psychic of the young supposedly uneducable Diasporans this
was further compounded by racist teachers whose personal hatred of
these children was often blatant and cutting. Diasporan children were seen
by the state as “educationally subnormal” see Barnard Coard’s 1971 report.
My own experience of the British education system of the 1960s and
70s mirrored the above as did that of my contemporaries with whom I have
discussed this. Any ambition was relentlessly discouraged and mercilessly quashed
any Diasporans brazen enough to aspire above their station.
The self-evident result of the above was school leavers indoctrinated with the soul-destroying belief that they lacked the capacity for intellectual merit or indeed the capacity to develop the skills and competencies required to make a valuable contribution to the wider society and left in no doubt that they did not belong .
Diasporan upon leaving school and attempting to enter the world of
work, were confronted by employers who subscribed to the stereotype of young
Diasporans as uneducable , untrustworthy, unreliable, indolent, unruly and
lacking any intellectual merit. In consequence these young Diasporans were
condemned to suffering throughout their adult lives a daunting all-consuming
battle with the British “leadership class”
It was a widely held view amongst the white British population
that Diasporans lacked the level of intellect and focus required to perform competently
at any level be it sports or any other area of gainful employment, perceived as
being physically imposing but lacking the levels of focus or ingenuity required
to for example be a striker in a top football club. This is the sort of crass
virulently racist BS that passed for reasoned thought and was openly b the backed
and promoted by the British media.
Despite the obvious advances won by my generation since the dark days of the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s substantive equality in the UK remains a illusion even today. Indeed during the period October 2010 to 2012 there were 225 deaths in state custody the vast majority of who were Diasporans.
The paragraph below is an extract from a research report produced
by the London School of Economics covering
the period from 2001 to 2002.
For the UK as a whole, in 2001–2, 70 people died in police custody
or ‘otherwise in the hands of the police’, an increase of 32 per cent on the
previous year. In addition, ethnic minorities make up the bulk of those who
have died as a result of physical force (other than guns) by the police or the
use of restraints (Inquest 1996)
Those that experienced the personal and institutional racism of
the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are in the main the parents and grandparents of
those who made up the so called rioters. Today young black males suffer an
unemployment rate of near on 50%, are heavily over-represented in the prison
system (7 times greater than our percentage of the population ) and conversely underrepresented
in tertiary education (14,000 university professors in UK only 50 of whom are
black) the music business, football management the list is seemingly endless.
These parents in consequence of their experiences often display symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome which has left them floundering therein lies the subtext of the riots of August 6th 2011 and previous inner-city riots going back some 40 years certainly not the pathological predilection for expensive trainers and flat screen TVs or an addiction to wanton violence as posited by the “leadership classes”.
A riot can be described as a spontaneous eruption of shared anger
expressed by way of violence against authority and property and is usually born
of despair triggered by an actual or perceived injustice. The injustice is
usually perpetrated by the representatives of the state or result from state
policies or lack of policies that provide redress for perceived wrongs. The
mindset is one of anger generated by feelings of powerlessness in the face of one’s
plight
The intensity, duration and wide geographic spread of the 2011 riots across several of our urban centres to my mind reflect the depth and extent of the despair and perceived powerlessness. A tsunami of riots spread from Tottenham through to Wood Green Brixton, Hackney, Croydon, Clapham Junction, Ealing, East Ham, Battersea, Peckham, Enfield, Eltham the city centres of Birmingham Bristol, Liverpool, Nottingham Leicester and Manchester.
Building
Stronger & More Dynamic Communities
Analysis in the aftermath of the riots has evidenced that it was
disproportionately the children of second and third generation Diasporans born
in the UK who were at the centre of the disturbances of early August. These
young third and fourth generation British born Diasporans (mostly male) despite
the advances fought for and won by their parents and the increased opportunities
that resulted therefrom remained ostracised.
Left devoid of any emotional attachment to the country of their
and their parents’ birth suffering a sort of double-whammy of despair born of
rejection from their place of birth, and disorientation of the dislocation of
enslavement and oppressive racist state policies.
The gains won by the parents and grandparents remained
tantalizingly out of the reach of the young Diasporan any benefits instead accruing
to newer entrants into the country and
the white majority population.
Newer entrants from [Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America Asia and Middle
East] were perceived by the white majority as not carrying
the same baggage as the Diasporans and having the pliability and focus that is
one of the hallmarks of the immigrant. Despite being the beneficiaries of gains
won by the Diasporans the new entrants often look down on the Diasporans as
lost, disconnected, lazy and disruptive; leaving the Diasporan further isolated
abandoned and ignored.
Further as regards state policy an insight into the mind set of modern UK social planners can be gathered from the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) classifications of ethnicity in Britain. This classification breaks down ethnicity into the main headings given in bold below with the subcategories as listed.
White
Black or Black British
British
Caribbean
Irish
African
Any other white
background
Any
other black background
Notice that it is only the category headed White that list a sub-category which describes itself as British thereby giving rise to the sub-category “white British” whereas
the sub-category British does not
appear under the heading Black or Black
British therefore there is no distinct sub
category of Black British. Thereby for black
born British person
1.
there is no sub-category British
2.
anyone who is Black whether born
British or not whether arrived in the country yesterday can select a listing of
Caribbean, African or Any Other
however this does not reveal whether that person is Black British that is born
in the UK or of some other nationality.
Those that use this data in the formulation and implementation of social
policy would be none the wiser as to whether the person was black and British
born or black and just arrived in the UK that day from Africa or the Caribbean
This rather than engendering social cohesion entrenches immigration status and
the racist perception that the status of being “British” or even “English” is reserved for
white people.
The categorisation ought to be
Black
British
Caribbean
Any other black background
This is just one example of the sort
of exclusionary measures adopted by British policy makers that militates against
Diasporans nurturing any meaningful sense of belonging or any emotional attachment
to their country of birth.
Further it demonstrates the determination of the “leadership
class” to quash social transformation
driven by desire to maintain notions of “Britishness”
as founded on narratives of empire, class and nationalism.
Post-riot analysis has confirmed the common experience of the
overwhelming number of rioters was not only that they perceived themselves as
marginalised but they hailed from that part of the society that was more likely
to suffer debilitating poverty, social exclusion, restrictive access to societal resources,
family dysfunction, entrenched unemployment, compounded by a mismatched education system driven by
mismatched education policy underlined by low teacher expectation.
Enlighten and meaningfully engaged communities encourage a sense
of connectedness with those with whom they share the same space demonstrate high levels of “emotionally
intelligence” and display a sense of collective ownership of that shared space. Such communities where provided with access
to have perceived wrongs listened to and addressed do not resort to rioting.
The building of strong communities is the sin qua non for the
development of a cohesive creative hard-working, aspirational altruistic society,
and is the surest safeguard against social disorder and insurrection.
The nurturing of a shared community ethos and the development of the
sense of a collective stake are powerful antidotes against the need for
repression by the state or dissatisfaction expressed by way of riot.
Whilst riots and social disorder have in the past proved to be mechanisms
of positive change they are extremely destructive not only of property,
infra-structure, resources and access to services but can result in the
permanent break-up of the very community itself as social planners intent on
damage limitation in conjunction with the “flog
em and hang em brigades” descend in
hot pursuit of post riot retribution.
Further it may heighten tensions of members of one group within
the community against another group within the community these can be difficult
to heal as such riots should be avoided in favour of dialogue and consensus
building. However where viable and efficacious avenues for such consensus
building are not readily available, accessible, affordable, and transparent the
outcome will be intercommunal strife
Those 3 consecutive days and nights of looting and arson tragically resulted in 5 deaths and around £200
million pounds of property damage. Compounded by the damage to the future life
and work prospects of several thousands of the young men and women pursued, arrested
and prosecuted suffering harsh and disproportionate sentences, upwards of 52%
of those arrested were descendants of Diasporans
One year on from the August riots, despite copious amounts of
media and academic analysis investigation and report writing the precise
underlying causes of the riots are still not understood, however what has
become clear is that the public is being prepared for yet another white wash
the ruling elite instinctively pulling up the draw bridges.
in the light of all of the above I am reminded of David Lammy’s
(MP for Tottenham) rather insightfully statement made in the course of a
televised interview conducted outside of the Tottenham police station a few
days after the outbreak and I quote
"true justice can only follow a thorough investigation of the
facts".
In consequence of all the above described obfuscation the wider
society is left with little understanding of just what the actual cause or
causes of the august 2011 riots were. Little or no constructive public debate
has arisen thereby hindering the wider society’s involvement in the development
of a viable strategy towards a more harmonious society. Instead the emphasis
from the media and the usual state authorities has been focused on revenge evidenced
by the disproportional punishments meted out.
Over one year on from those torrid 3 days in August 2011
no comprehensive or meaningful research into the UNDERLYING causes of the riots
has yet been called for or emerged in despite the magnitude of the events of
those days in August and its portent of worse to come.
The failure to do so (i.e. some sort of public inquiry) at this late stage reflects the myopia and
isolation of the country’s “leadership class” who remain lamentably unaware of
the need for serious reconsideration of the suitability and efficacy of current
social political and legal order in the face of a radically and rapidly changing
society region and wider world.
Tolerance
Tolerance
Such investigation would of course require the focused scrutiny of UK government policies form the 1970s to
current date; in particular the unwritten policy of “Tolerance” which has been
one of the primary tools of public policy in regards to the management of ethnic
social relations in this country. Whilst in and of itself tolerance is a
laudable thing unfortunately the manner and context of use of this tool has
resulted in condescension and entrenched separation.
Whilst the development of a society based on tolerance is on its
face desirable, the outcome in the UK has been the development of policies that
encourages indifference and wilful disinterest in the needs of “the other” that
is those who are not perceived as native or indigenous.
“Tolerance” can be
defined as “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose
opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own;
freedom from bigotry”. Wikipedia
All quite laudable however tolerance can prejudice active
engagement between communities, and promote apartness and facilitates formal rather
than substantive equality. Inclusion, on the other hand, stimulates engagement,
promotes substantive equality, encourages mutual respect, and provides a more
viable framework for direct and active participation in the wider society.
This piece suggested that social strategy should be predicated on
inclusion providing an alternative and more productive policy development tool
and would likely lead to a more equitable society and kerb some of the excesses
of privilege.
The attainment of inclusion will require a radical overhaul of the
fundamental principles upon which British society is currently based including
the dismantling of the remaining vestiges of empire, entrenched privilege, and the
scourge of class this would require the abolition of the monarchy and the web
of anachronistic allegiances to the Monarch you know Lords et al.
This would open the door to the formulation of a new inclusive
national anthem which rather than speaking of a heinous past could reflect
a modern Britain where the progressive development of talent is
the guiding principle underpinned by the principle that no one should be left
behind
British cultural identity ought no longer to be defined solely on the basis a narrow and
restrictive traditional English culture and customs but must
now take greater account of the fact of its greater diversity; guided by a
commitment to promote cohesion and celebrate
seeking the benefits difference has to offer rather
than stifle difference.
Ironically this country is in fact built on waves of mass
migrations 11th century Britons were descended from immigrants from northern,
western and southern Europe
that is the Lutes, Angles, Saxons, Normans, Celtics, Romans and Nordics each
ethnic influx having an immediate and profound impact on growth and development
of the English language, and the direction of British culture.
It seems to me that in more recent times it is the Diasporans who
have had the greatest impact on radically changing British cultural identity
towards a more inclusive agenda not only through our activism and fight for
civil and human rights but by way of music, arts, sports, fashion, thoughts and
ideas.
Britain emerged from WWII essentially as a basket case the ravages
of the Second World War saw the disintegration of its empire, and left the
British economy devastated and floundering, its hegemonic status having been
usurped by the United States of America.
African Diasporans where literally shipped in from the Caribbean
by the UK government to drive the British recovery and the reconstruction and
development of Britain in the aftermath of the fight against Nazism; a war in
which the Diasporans also fought and suffered and died.
The early Diasporan’s experience in the UK was particularly harsh,
living in overcrowded slum conditions blighted by an unofficial social policy
of “colour bar” that is exclusion on the basis of colour. This culminated in
1958 in the Notting Hill riots which resulted in five days of riot and two
weeks of disturbances in that part of London as Diasporans engaged in street
battles with the police, Oswald Mosley’s fascist Union thugs, the White Defence
League, Teddy boys and the Skin heads.
Whilst
most recent entrants have had a connection with
Britain predicated on their experiences of colonialism; in many cases having suffered
terrible and unremitting oppression under the rule of the British Empire and as
with the Diasporans this history continues to define the relationship of these
groups with Britain even today.
However Africans, Indians, Pakistanis etc. were able to keep
intact their language, culture, mores and traditions their rituals and religion
and were thereby able to maintain their sense of self and distinct culture and
identity a luxury denied to the Diasporan
Multiculturalism
Tolerance as a tool of public policy was concretized by way of the
ideology of multiculturalism. The last 30 years or more of multiculturalism has
brought some gains for new entrants in particular it has permitted new entrants
the opportunity to engage with the wider society in regards to work and
political enfranchisement whilst maintaining their own language, culture and
religion, thereby able to express their ethnic or cultural identity as they saw fit once they remained
within the law.
However multiculturalism also contributed to development of an
industry in and of itself and gave rise to some intractable and invidious
problems not least of which is a culture of “institutional racism” across the
institutions of the state, business, education and the media wherein policy
planners develop policies focused on maintaining and entrenching disadvantage for
the exotic other rather than facilitating engagement on the basis of equality
and fairness of access and treatment.
The suitability and efficacy of any social policy should be
measured against its capacity to produce a more equal society and improve the
quality and extent of access to opportunities particularly for those “in need”
regardless of ethnicity.
The debate surrounding the admission by the state that it is in
fact institutionally racist was fuelled by the Macpherson report (1999) instituted following the racist
murder (April 1993) of Steven
Lawrence in south east London and the state
denied access to justice for the Lawrence family.
To my mind Macpherson should be the end of the “race equality
agenda” and a move to a post-modernist “inclusion agenda” should be sought the
difference being the “race equality agenda” focuses on difference and is one
dimensional reducing a complex set of circumstances to that of just colour
whereas the “inclusion agenda” treats each individual as multidimensional and
focuses on resolving a complex set of relationships and factors constitutional,
institutional, public and interpersonal, cultural and focused on developing emotionally
intelligent.
Further and paradoxically multiculturalism although aimed at
tolerance inadvertently acts as a barrier to the development of a fairer more
cohesive and inclusive society acting as a barrier to meaningful cross cultural
engagement and thereby normalising prejudice and entrenching separatism.
Thereby engendering a “them and us” mentality on the part of
policy makers (the vast bulk of whom are white middle class men) and fails to
equip new entrants with the cultural understanding required to productively and
effectively interact with the wider British society in a meaningful, holistic
and mutually beneficial manner. Further and paradoxically multiculturalism has
contributed to stymieing outcomes for the poorest classes of white British
denying them the focus on their needs that an inclusive agenda would
permit.
It is important to note that the argument against the entrenchment
of multiculturalism is not an argument against the need to permit ethnically
different peoples to proudly maintain their cultural identity and indeed to
educate and engage the wider population in regards to their distinct foods,
music, clothes and traditions or religious and/or non-religious festivals since
where this is done in an open and inviting manner it can assist in enriching
the wider society and strengthening bonds. However social planners should focus
on developing an environment conducive to engendering a unitary identity whilst
respecting the need for the embedding of provision for the promotion of cultural
difference in a increasingly globalised world
This is limited by the bounds of pragmatism a dirty word for some.
It is important to note the current extent of cultural diversity makes a
nonsense of any arguments in favour of the UK continuing its experiment with
multiculturalism particularly given the current multiplicity of ethnicities in
our major urban centres a case in point being Tottenham which is populated by
Ghanaians, Nigerians Somalis, Zairians, Ugandans, Ethiopians, Angolans,
Pakistani, Indians, Greeks, Turkish, Kurds, Iraqi, Sri Lankan, eastern
Europeans, Afghanis, and Latinos to mention those of which I as a long term
resident of Tottenham am aware.
These various ethnic groups all speak distinct and separate
languages, occupy distinct and separate spaces, and adhere to different cultural
references and practice. With little or no shared spaces or cross cultural
engagement save perhaps for some of the children of some of these groups who
may find themselves engaged in the schools that is where these schools
themselves are not separatist. This presents a practical and pragmatic barrier
to multiculturalism. Multiculturalism tends to only work effectively in removing
barriers where there are a limited number of distinct cultural groups to be
catered for.
The purpose of this blog is to start an open and honest public
debate on just how out of such diversity “we” can create a cohesive and productive
society which recognises and accepts difference but seeks to find commonality without
retreating into notions of assimilation or integration
It is important to be aware that references in this blog to
Diasporans is not intended to ascribe labels but to open the debate about
identity and sense of belonging. As a permanently dispersed people we recognise
the paramountcy of stimulating such a debate but need our unique circumstances
to be acknowledged and thereby taken into account.
The Pursuit of an Inclusion Agenda
The building of an inclusive and cohesive society whilst elusive
is the only way forward for the UK indeed it is the only way forward for any
multi-ethnic unitary society. Present communities should take a long term view of
the way forward seeking to create a set of circumstances conducive to inclusion
and engagement with a view to setting the stage for the creation of amenable conditions
within the next 50 years or so.
This however will require the making of the collective decision
today to become part of something new and dynamic. This means out with the old
and in with the new, otherwise the unavoidable outcome will be continued
separatism and maintenance of a fractious society
The implementation of an inclusion agenda will require the embedding
of principles and ways of thinking with a view to creating a progressive consensus
rather than a coercive or prescriptive approach and will require the
development of fundamental values that are clearly understood and widely
accepted to inform the framework within which inclusion can be achieved
The primary objective of inclusion is the creation of conditions
which allow for representation of all across all areas of societal endeavour
and the abandonment of arrogant traditional English values that are the legacy
of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism across all spheres of state. Of course the emergence of any new approach
will present challenges and incur casualties but the rewards would be bountiful
as barriers to cohesive social policy and sustainable and equitable economic
growth and development would be dismantled
Inclusion should be predicated on the adoptions of “universal
values” founded on international human rights law, equality of consideration of
interest, fairness of outcome, and proportionality in regards to sanctions with
a VIEW TO achieving substantive equality a caring and compassionate society.
This will require a radically transformed
“leadership class” i.e. one that abandons its class affiliations and historic allegiances
(institutional and constitutional reform).
The society’s collective attentions should
be focused on eradicating an archaic, restrictive and intractable status quo, with a view to healing this fractious society.
