Different factors have led to an explosive situation in Britain
GLOBAL GOANS SPEAK - 1
The writer is a socio-economic commentator based in the UK
LONDON
Britain and the Brits are racists – apparently so. You did not need to hear that from me – you saw and read all about it over the internet, news channels and social media. The riots, the abuse hurled and whatever.
One of the last bastions of high tolerance and mother of all democracies recently descended into chaos and could be on the path of complete self-annihilation. If you are planning to come to work and live in Britain, look elsewhere. Try Australia, Canada or Norway. For Britain is not the place to emigrate to!
Is England, Britain, the UK (or whatever you refer to the Brits homeland) really a racist nation? Are the Brits, those who you know and others, really racists? Are those riots reflective of the wider British society? To me it is all very subjective and depends on who you speak to.
Britain has always held the moral high ground on tolerance and free speech. People could pretty much say and do what they wanted.
Well, until now it seems. Britain is no longer able to come anywhere near the podium place on tolerance and free speech. That, sadly, is the picture presented by events over the last few weeks.
So, what has gone wrong with Britain today? What happened to tolerance? Is it true that being more tolerant has led to greater intolerance, and granting more freedom of speech has led to greater curtailment of freedom of speech? Has the establishment – government, police and politicians – taken a difficult matter and made it toxic? So much so that the pendulum has swung the other way? Just what are these factors that have led to such an explosive situation in Britain today?
In this 2-part series, I will focus on 5 factors: ‘The Asian Invasion’ and ‘White British Classes’ in this part, and then on ‘Population Growth’, ‘Freedom of Movement’ and ‘Multiculturalism’ in the subsequent part.
THE ASIAN INVASION
To understand racism and intolerance in a wider context, one should speak to our Goans and other Indians who arrived in Britain in the early 60s and in the 70s from Africa. Now that period was certainly a challenge when it came to race relationships.
With little knowledge of the Empire, local masses were unaware of the millions of passports issued by the British government to non-whites born in the former British colonies.
Resulting from an aggressive Africanisation programme, many East African Asians began to emigrate from their countries of birth to Britain; a trickle at first around the late 60s, rapidly accelerating in the early 70s. With the arrival of thousands of expelled Ugandan Asians, the tsunami-like effect of all “foreigners” landing at British airports did not bode well with the local population.
What followed next took its natural course. Asians began living in cosseted enclaves, or “bubbles”. After all, one knew exactly what life was in that bubble: food, culture, dress code and language. They needn’t go anywhere as everything was available just round the corner, which was just the magic potion needed to sow seeds of discrimination and allowing ‘racism’ to take a hold.
Today, not only areas like Southall, Tooting, Hayes, East London have a predominantly non-white presence, but cities like Birmingham and Leeds are now dominated by Asians and other races, all living in a cocooned ‘home away from home’ world.
WHITE BRITISH CLASSES
While globally, and at the top of the structure, the British Royals, the gentry and the aristocrats are seen to epitomise the grandeur of what Britain seems to be all about, the “white underclass” are less well-known and are at the bottom of the rung.
Blamed for everything wrong with Britain today (lazy, on the dole, on drugs and referred to as thrash), these forgotten ones have been terribly let down by political classes.
Sandwiched between these two classes is the “working middle classes” of varying levels (economically better off, technical-minded, builders, teachers, etc.) who form the bulk of the population. I am, of course, taking a very broadbrush view of complex social structures of Britain.
This white underclass is now full of anger with ‘scrounging immigrants’ who have been prioritised and granted benefits unfairly. For this group, white pride can easily spill over into attacking those who, they believe, should be at the bottom of the pecking order. Instead, they find themselves in that very spot.
The conclusion of a recent study revealed that the most disadvantaged in British society is the white boy whose life chances and opportunities are low to nil. This all feeds into a frenzied narrative where far-right individuals and groups are quite adept at telling the white underclass what they want to hear (thanks to use of social media), rather than what they need to hear.
It, therefore, comes with little wonder that children as young as twelve have been charged with criminal charges in the recent riots when their own parents have had to feel like they need to indulge in acts of violence to be heard and seen.
It would be incorrect to assume that only the white underclass has a problem with immigration and immigrants. The working middle class, including many non-whites, have expressed their complete dissatisfaction at the way immigration, both legal and illegal, has been handled by politicians over the last 30 years.
These individuals and political groups, unlike the underclass, have committed to peacefully pressurising politicians into change through the ballot box. Just as it should be, and just like the lesson they inflicted upon the Conservative party in the 2024 general elections when the Tories were reduced to a paltry 121 parliamentary seats as a result. [To be continued]
