Immigration

Writer: David Rosenberg

The Aliens Act | An immigrant land | The 'aliens' have landed | Media frenzy | Winners and losers | Who's British now? | Timeline

Who's British now?

The contribution of immigrants to British culture and life has been obscured. Tolerance has depended on the immigrants themselves keeping a low profile. They had to assimilate as much as possible into the dominant culture. White ethnic minority communities from across Europe have been absorbed almost without trace.

Post War Britain finally allowed itself to recognise Britain's contemporary multicultural reality, if not its history. African, Caribbean and Asian playwrights have flourished and Carnival has become a long-established feature of life in London and other towns and cities. Immigrants and their descendants have led a range of musical genres and influenced the language that goes with them.

Britain's high streets have a truly international flavour, reflecting immigrant cuisine. The consumer boom in washing machines in the 1950s converted a Chinese community centred on laundries to a community specialising in restaurants and take-aways. Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Turkish, Italian and Greek restaurants are common features across Britain.

The crucial service industries - health and public transport, continue to rely largely on immigrants. Their descendants too, make up much of their workforce. Many areas of commerce, especially the clothing industry and corner shops, have been developed by various immigrant groups.

Multiculturalism as an ideal was officially recognised in the 1970s. Since then local councils have devised ever more complex ethnic monitoring forms to gauge whether their services meet the needs of their diverse communities.

The latest developments are stretching these categories beyond their limits. The fastest growing 'ethnic group' are children of mixed parentage, reflecting diverse origins The melting pot is growing alongside stable and culturally distinct communities. Those who clamoured most loudly for an end to immigration have seen their demands increasingly met by governments. But at the same time as closing the gates, governments have had to acknowledge that multicultural Britain is here to stay.

Today the politicians and media are attacking the soft targets – desperate asylum seekers. They pour out the same tired arguments against them that were first used a century ago against Jewish communities and later against Black communities who are now firmly established here. Yet they cheer vociferously for the national football team, now largely composed of the descendents of those same immigrants.

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