A new race Cold War?
at 9:20am on Sunday, 20th April 2008
You would be forgiven for thinking that I'm talking about the fallout from the Beijing Olympics torch relay, but in fact I am referring to a speech being delivered today by Trevor Philips to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Philips argues that Powell was wrong to predict a 'hot war' between races, but that the UK instead now faces the emergence of a 'cold war', with relations between different races and ethnic groups at a low.
Two points come to mind:
First, if such a Cold War is emerging, why does the biannual Citizenship survey show that it is in areas of the highest diversity that people feel most relaxed about immigration and difference? Yes, there are specific problems, but I am yet to see evidence of the kind of widescale civil disorder Philips has been predicting in recent years.
Second, perhaps if our public and political leaders focused more on the alarming levels of socio-economic disadvantage suffered by immigrants - even after two or three generations - the population at large might begin to look on their new neighbours with the kind of compassion that Trevor Philips purports to want to see. The levels of unemployment, poor educational attainment, poor housing and child poverty experienced by our ethnic minorities are simply staggering.
Trevor Philips makes many good points, both in this speech and his musings more generally. But choosing the anniversary of Powell's speech to talk about community conflict looks like nothing more than political opportunism and the chance for a good headline. These are difficult times, and there are real problems to be tackled. But focusing on conflict without acknowledging that it isn't inevitable or failing to stress the underlying drivers, merely gives credence to those who would say that diversity necessarily causes conflict.
Two points come to mind:
First, if such a Cold War is emerging, why does the biannual Citizenship survey show that it is in areas of the highest diversity that people feel most relaxed about immigration and difference? Yes, there are specific problems, but I am yet to see evidence of the kind of widescale civil disorder Philips has been predicting in recent years.
Second, perhaps if our public and political leaders focused more on the alarming levels of socio-economic disadvantage suffered by immigrants - even after two or three generations - the population at large might begin to look on their new neighbours with the kind of compassion that Trevor Philips purports to want to see. The levels of unemployment, poor educational attainment, poor housing and child poverty experienced by our ethnic minorities are simply staggering.
Trevor Philips makes many good points, both in this speech and his musings more generally. But choosing the anniversary of Powell's speech to talk about community conflict looks like nothing more than political opportunism and the chance for a good headline. These are difficult times, and there are real problems to be tackled. But focusing on conflict without acknowledging that it isn't inevitable or failing to stress the underlying drivers, merely gives credence to those who would say that diversity necessarily causes conflict.
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