Subject: White knights
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 14:43:23 +0200


29th July 2000

Blimey!

Liam Connell would have me join the British National Party tomorrow, and
urge me to stop pretending not to be Enoch Powell's (rather Brummie
accented) voice from the grave.

I too share Liam's views when he asks: "...we might have to face the more
important question of why the 'developed' economies of Western Europe and
North America think it is legitimate to structure global capital solely for
their benefit?" But I fear that in the rest of his letter appears to set out
to prove that solutions are simple, and that I think in too abstracted a
manner about them - and yet he wants me to take time off the list to go and
read a lot of books in the library.

Rightly or wrongly, I try to follow Schopenhauer's adage (canonical, no
doubt) about trying to think for myself. On this issue, I am a little
suspicious of the need to constantly prop up one's arguments with canonical
texts, especially
ones written a good while ago (e.g. 1978) when immigration wasn't such a
problem. And I use the word problem, advisedly.

I have no access to all the latest statistics on British immigration, but I
do have enough sensitivity to know that race (or what I called "culture"
till Josna Rege pointed out that it's still your skin that counts) is
becoming a problem in Britain and Western Europe today. A problem for the
people who
live there already, black or white. And a problem involving white East
Europeans as well as people from beyond Europe.

THE NETHERLANDS AND EMPLOYMENT
Only yesterday, I translated at work a short news item saying that a Dutch
minister sees a looming imbalance between jobs and people to fill them and
suggested taking on some 7 million (I seem to remember) foreign workers over
the next 50 years to fill up the Dutch workforce. This idea is fine on
paper, but it doesn't take account of the factor I mentioned previously: how
many foreigners can a country absorb before you get social problems?

SWEDEN
The Swedes, in a rather naive and quite undemocratic way, have had a "name
and shame" policy for young fascists, showing photos on the front page of
all the major newspapers one day last spring. Apart from glorifying fascism
in some circles ("look at me on the front page") it does nothing to disguise
the fact that the democratic parties in Sweden have dithered for too long
about immigration. Has the Swedish legal system failed to such an extent
that individual criminals, whatever their colour, are never actually
arrested? Whether it's a question of mugshotting young white (and one black!
I'm not kidding) fascists, or of immigrants who murder other immigrants by
setting fire to the discotheque in Gothenburg (the victims were  mainly of
Kurdish origin), surely western democracies must be even-handed. They must
make sure, as must the Metropolitan police, that everyone is equal in the
eyes of
the law. So skin colour must not be a factor. But how do you achieve this
ideal situation where every police officer is an angel?

The kernel is assimilation, or not. The problems with immigrants in
Stockholm suburbs and the smashing up of tube trains are caused by an ugly
mix of poverty, racism, crime, drugs, high-rise ghettoed housing (ever been
to Flemingsberg?). The Social Democratic party which has been in power for
many years does not want to tackle the problems which have been growing, and
getting worse, especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union. NB Not all
problem immigrants to Stockholm are black.

THE NETHERLANDS AND ITS IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
Despite taking on board Josna Rege's blunt and calmly expressed truths, I
have not entirely abandoned my "culture rather than race" stance. I will
give a concrete example from the Netherlands. When the Dutch, tactlessly
enough, tried and failed to take colony Indonesia over again after kicking
out the Japanese at the end of World War II, some ethnically Asian people
decided that it would be safer to emigrate to the metropolitan Netherlands.
This minority, although clearly different racially to the average Dutch
person, has assimilated extremely well. I never hear a word said against
Indonesian immigrants and their children and grandchildren. They are just
accepted as Dutch people who may look a bit different, but speak, act and
behave like any white Dutch people. There was one slight hiccough when some
Moluccan separatists hijacked a train in Holland a couple of decades ago,
but this has not left any long-term scars to race relations between those
immigrants from the various parts of Indonesia, and ethnically mainly
Germanic (or occasionally Jewish) Dutch people.

So where does the racial prejudice in the Netherlands lie? Mostly against
Turks and Moroccans, and to some extent Surinamers, most of whom are later
arrivals. The younger Surinamers' reputation has been rather messed up by
suspicions of having a hand in the drugs trade, and the Turks' and
Moroccans' problems stem from a white Dutch suspicion of Islam (though,
remember, Indonesia is Islamic!), and also the fact that many, especially
Moroccan youths, become alienated from their
Moslem families and have not (yet) become Netherlanders. Especially young
women are clearly pulled between having to wear a veil or being allowed to
show their legs at discoes. This is seriously confusing for the identity of
young immigrants. And Moroccans male youths have gained, rightly or wrongly,
a reputation for being involved in petty crime.

*

I fear that Liam's ideas are based on a rather romantic vision of carnival
every day. Non-stop Divali, West Indian festivals, etc. Of course white
people join in, and enjoy themselves there, but I think black&brown people
will tell you of the curious schizophrenia so that they're "my mate" during
the carnival atmosphere, but are ignored as usual the next day.

It's everyday racism and cultural misunderstandings which have to be
tackled, but I don't think that British whites are being given a chance to
get used to
their black&brown compatriots, and vice-versa. There's always the
suspicion that there will be a "constant stream" of people who are not going
to necessarily respect the local rules.

I know that saying this makes people like Liam put me down as a dangerous
right-wing crypto who hasn't had the guts to "come out", but I just can't
see how unlimited immigration can be sustained if the number arriving at any
one time is too high. I think the Left in Britain has stuck its head in the
sand for too long, and now it's
New Labour who are paying the price. Whatever they do now will bring howls
of protest from some quarter. One of the nastiest racists I ever met,
incidentally, was a member of the Labour Youth Movement in Leicester about
20 years ago.

IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES AND ASSIMILATION
One further problem is concentrations of immigrants. Obviously you can prove
statistically, that the number of immigrants to Britain is minuscule, but
those who do come, for equally obvious human reasons, want to live with
people they've got something in common with. So, you've got Indian, West
Indian, etc., communities. What I'm wondering about is the next step. Do
these communities gradually assimilate into a kind of wishy-washy, lowest
common denominator Britishness, and/or do they want to retain their national
characteristics? I have no problems with a certain amount of retention of
one's original identity, religion, culture, language, etc. I do so myself
here in the Netherlands. But when out on the street, I have to respect
Dutch rules. I cannot keep telling people: "look mate, this ain't the way we
do it in Britain". When in Rome...

So I do wonder about the Pakistani Mancunians and their flags. Question:
imagine a serious war were to break out between India and Pakistan, as
opposed to skirmishes over Kashmir. Would the flagwavers during Eid say they
were British and join with their Indian fellow immigrants in trying to get
India and Pakistan to cool it, or would they take sides with their erstwhile
country, which could lead to clashes among immigrant groups? This is one of
the fears of indigenous people: that large groups of foreigners, settling
locally, could bring foreign problems to what used to be a peaceful
community. Whether these people come from South Asia or former Yugoslavia.

NO RESTRICTIONS AND NATIONALISM
Finally, the radical solution of not having any immigration restrictions is
an intriguing one. Either it would make the challenge to get into Britain
less exciting, or people who are fleeing for their lives or want a better
life, would come in ever greater numbers. But Liam seems to forget that
Britain is a member of the European Union and Britain can't go it alone on
every bit of policy it feels like. Joining the EU means voluntarily giving
up a bit of sovereignty. I cannot see the rest of Europe, given the
immigration problems that already exist there, going along with such a
solution. Britain is being nationalist by first joining the EU club and then
whingeing every time it has to do something according to club rules.

I know my views are controversial, but as I have said earlier, let's have a
debate and learn something instead of turning it into an argument between
incorrigeable Besserwissers.

Best wishes,

Eric Dickens



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---