Introduction
Rioting is nothing new on Britain's streets; many experienced the violent clashes in Notting Hill in 1958, a racially motivated series of riots between white British residents and newly arrived Afro-Caribbean immigrants, the 1991 Tottenham riots, sparked by the death of a black man in police custody, and others over the years. But this time, the recent riots have a different context and underlying causes.
One of the vital issues to the cause of the riots is that many of those taking part are working class who feel they are the ones who are paying a heavy price for immigration. Successive governments have stopped listening to their grievances, and peaceful demonstrations are not doing it and giving unfair advantages, for instance, in housing and welfare, while the working class see the deprivation of their neighbourhood deteriorating. These grievances and concerns were often mistaken for racist views and ignored. Successive governments for the last twenty years have stopped listening to a series of peaceful demonstrations. The economic problems lowering the standard of living and the all-around pressure on their spending have exasperated their frustrations.
Broken borders, illegal migrants £1.2 million costing £8 to £10 million a day, a policy people did not vote for. The government must urgently organise for national and rational debates to be put on the table and discussed, as well as to follow up and slow immigration to a manageable level so at least let the infrastructure reach an adequate level to provide a reasonable level of services. Amid mounting fears of violent Islamic extremism, many in Britain as in Europe ask whether Muslim immigrants can integrate into historically Christian countries. Indeed, more effort is needed, even to the point of resetting the British Culture. It is argued, therefore, that both British Muslims and non-Muslim British must share responsibility to speed up the progress of Muslim integration and build a cohesive Britain.
What is culture?
There is a rumour that during the first couple of days after the
start of the riots in Liverpool, a group of young lads draped with
the flag of St George set up a roadblock. They stopped drivers to ask
them, "Are you English?" and one of the drivers replied,
"No, I am British," and another said I am not English; I am
from Yorkshire". Little did the young lad realise that the
question he asked was an age-old question that had played on the
minds of the English with their identity for centuries. The English
only identify by what they are not; otherwise, they do not need an
identity since they are the majority. The English are not Scottish,
Welsh, or Irish. They are neither Norman nor Saxon. An English
identity is a myth, an imagined identity, and that is as far it goes
with Nationalism in Britain. Yet, the resilience of the British
identity, rooted in its diversity and adaptability, remains a source
of reassurance.
The mix of the early Danes and the
Germanic people with the indigenous people as early as the fourth
century created a diverse society. The Norman invaders of 1066,
bringing in their baggage of over ten thousand French words, failed
to overcome the unique trait of an already diverse people. The
invaders became the invaded. And so it is today. Immigrants to this
green and pleasant land call it home and join in what has become
British culture. Their contributions, stretching their natural
inherited limits and blending their nature to join this rich, diverse
cultural community, have enriched British culture. They are the ones
who have allowed us to achieve an equilibrium in a pluralistic
society that energises a happy life under the umbrella
of the British sense of the culture of tolerance, fair play, and
legal systems, values embedded in British history and heritage.
So, from this introduction, I can say that immigration is
nothing new. The attempt at dividing this status quo is very much so.
In simple terms, my ideas are taken from a personal point of view.
When I first came to this country in 1958, I was one of few, a part
of an immigration drizzle that had started soon after 1945. Drop ink
in a large bucket of water that would quickly dissipate as I and
thousands of others like me have done. Especially within the last ten
years, specifically after Brexit, the trickle became a whole bottle
of ink thrown in at once in that same bucket of water. The 'flow
became a flood', which was a rapid increase in the immigrant
population. This rapid increase has, by and large, resulted in clusters of communities, which naturally breeds identity politics as
each community tends to protect its cultural
distinctiveness—resulting in a pluralistic society of parallel
lives and remaining happy with that difference.
Immigration
Such communitarian direction comes at the cost of traditional British dominant culture. Pluralism can be achieved, but not at the expense of losing British values. Mutual respect is the basis for tolerance, the rule of law, democracy, reasonableness, and individual liberty. An understanding of overlapping consensus as in Rawle's theory of Justice as Fairness suggests. Those who cannot accept this feel a sense of helplessness and social deprivation. Joining the new Reform Party provides a refuge, and they see its policies as a probable answer to their grievances.
There is no doubt for many that the cumulative growth of immigration is reaching a critical point, giving ammunition to those who say it is going out of control. An increase of 750,000 last year and a projected six million more by 2035, double the present population of Wales, is a significant strain on an already beleaguered health service. It's exerting pressure on an inadequate housing infrastructure, overstretched schools, and other services. The urgency of this situation cannot be overstated. Others, however, argue that these services will collapse without immigrants working in them. The NHS, for instance, is dependent on immigrants apart from the hospital backup staff; we need to train more doctors or nurses. Importing these Doctors and Nurses, often from poor countries, who need them most raises a fundamental moral question. But I digress.
Yet, cohesion is an agreed foundation on which society is built when different groups within a society can live side by side with mutual respect and tolerance. This is a lofty ideal but a practical necessity for a harmonious society. Some libertarians argue for open borders, emphasising the free movement of individuals as a fundamental principle of liberty. They believe individuals should have the right to move freely and seek opportunities. Many in Britain will support that view, and many others would defy this stand if it comes at the cost of the working class, mainly when immigrants are distributed in poor areas where services are overstretched and crumbling housing accommodations. Cultural distinctiveness becomes a distinguishing marker for a heated atmosphere, dislocating any would-be harmony there may have been. One way or another, the dominant group must re-identify, "I may be poor, but I am—Somebody!"
The dominant group sees
immigrants as protected by The 1951 UN Refugee Convention, The
European Convention of Human Rights and The 1998 Human Rights Act and
a sea of solicitors ready to act on these pointers. What was supposed to
be the dominant group resented the resulting invisibility and wanted public
recognition of their inner worth. This collective identity, knowingly
or unknowingly, leads to what we today label as modern identity
politics. Economic problems the country is in at the moment tend to exasperate the frustration, and often enough, scapegoating is always at hand. In culturally diverse societies, we can easily find patterns of state support for some cultural groups over others. Consequently, anxieties of the white working class refuse to endure such alienation. They shift to the Right to find refuge in populism and far-right, radical parties, where they are further manipulated towards racial differences, bringing racial hatred to the forefront. Headlines in newspapers further fuelled by politicians add to these temperaments.
Government policies right and wrong
The distribution of refugees could be better directed. They are put in the poorest yet housed comfortably. At the same time, those of their own have to wait for eighteen months or more and even then are housed in poor conditions, often mouldy and overcrowded accommodation. The local people feel ignored and marginalised, even despised by the establishment. The mainstream media headlines these discrepancies and unfair advantages, which adds fuel to an already volatile situation. The result is a divided, burgeoning, pluralist society. In such cases, it belies the idea that multiculturalism is enriching. In contrast, people experience a loss of privileges, prioritising the incoming rights over those already there, changing the nature of their communities they never agreed to, creating a loss in the natural and traditional social cohesion.
Britain also attracts some of the world's most capable and highly qualified people, driving up our wealth-creating potential. National life is enriched culturally and socially. Bringing in cheap nurses and doctors abroad, often poorer countries depriving their local population of badly needed care is open to criticism that this policy hinges on the moral question of self-interest.
That aside, bringing these people ironically stokes the fires even more. Nurses and doctors, whom we can not do without, need their families with them, yet more immigrants are needed, which exasperates the problem of community cohesion and adds pressure on an already beleaguered infrastructure in its present form. We need to torch the idea that multiculturalism in this country is somehow guaranteed.
The 0.1% of those rioting with the help of social media directing the anger has put an end to that.
Coming to this country, immigrants need to sign up for Britain's distinctive moral values, which are rooted in its heritage of tolerance, fair play, legal system, and theological Christian ethos that in today's secular world is labelled as Liberalism.
A desperate need to adjust this balance: People with low or no income can apply for an HC2 certificate to help with health costs, regardless of their nationality and/or immigration status. All asylum seekers are entitled to an HC2 certificate; some receive theirs automatically. An HC2 certificate entitles individuals to free NHS prescriptions, dental treatment, wigs and fabric support, sight tests, vouchers towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses, and necessary travel costs to and from a hospital for NHS treatment under the care of a consultant.
Home Office figures cited by the Financial Times in August last year showed that the annual asylum cost reached £3.96 billion in the year up to 2023—double that of the previous year and six times higher than 2018
Multiculturalism
Integration
"I do not regard it [integration] as meaning the loss, by immigrants, of their own national characteristics and culture. I do not think that we need in this country a 'melting pot', which will turn everybody out in a common mould, as one of a series of carbon copies of someone's misplaced vision of the stereotyped Englishman. I define integration, therefore, not a flattening process of assimilation but as equal opportunity, accompanied by cultural diversity, in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance." - Roy Jenkins, British Home Secretary
The fear of Islam is central to the lack of integration. List of Islamist-related terrorists:
The Manchester Arena bombing – an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American singer Ariana Grande.
The 2017 London Bridge attack was an incident where an attacker ran over multiple pedestrians on London Bridge. On Borough Market, the occupants of the van stabbed multiple people before being shot by police.
A bomb wrapped in a plastic grocery bag concealed in a bucket exploded at the height of the morning rush on the London Underground. ISIL claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The Rochdale child sex abuse ring involved underage teenage girls in Rochdale. Nine Asian men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences, including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child. 'I was raped more than 100 times from age 12', says a young rescued girl.
It is these and more like them we hear about from around the world that can keep divisiveness and discrimination alive and play havoc in an attempt to keep multiculturalism tamed.
Islam resistance
Those at the extreme end of belief, there is a willing culture to accept Islam as an authoritarian religion, allowing it to colonise the mind. Whatever it teaches must be correct, and no other way of thinking is accepted, establishing a conflict between Religion and State, descending into the medievalist darkness, effectively submitting to rule from within, and abandoning reason and their free will. At the same time, their nature remains static and takes no account of self-reflection. Politically, Britain and countries in Europe with similar cultural structures, such as France and Germany, find themselves once more at a dangerous crossroads, the dark ages of illiberal Europe, which the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 resolved. The press and social media play such significance in spreading ideas that such enrollment is dangerous to the British way of life.
Conclusion
To end this rather lengthy essay, I turn to St.
Augustine, asking why God did not make things similar. He replied if
all things were identical, they would not exist. He created diversity
not as a vehicle of self-realisation [...] but out of his love of his
creation and as part of his design to create a perfect world. God
could have easily created a uniform universe […] he did not show
how great value he placed on diversity. In diversity, each one of us
is endowed with a distinct nature whose constitution follows an
identical drive towards the good life, and we each contribute to this
harmony- Taken from Bhikhu Parekh's book 'Rethinking Multiculturalism'
Balancing the rights of immigrants with the
concerns of the white working class requires careful policy-making
that addresses the needs of all groups while promoting fairness,
inclusivity, and social cohesion. To Promote equal protection under the law
while safeguarding the rights of immigrants and addressing the
legitimate concerns of the white working class about job security,
wages, and social services. Publicly emphasise that legal protections
for immigrants are part of broader human rights protections that
apply to everyone. It can help dispel the misconception that one
group receives preferential treatment over another. Encourage
initiatives that bring together immigrants and the white working
class in community activities, sports, or local projects. Shared
experiences and interactions can help build mutual understanding and
reduce feelings of alienation. Organise cultural exchange programs
that allow different communities to learn about each other's
backgrounds and traditions. It can foster respect and appreciation
for diversity—launch campaigns to address misconceptions about
immigration, including immigrants' economic and social contributions.
Educating the public about the benefits of immigration can help
reduce fear and resentment.
A collage of ideas, therefore, taken from all walks of life, including the mainstream media, to look again at the differences and grievances. Pluralism in this great country of ours does not exist in a vacuum. We owe it at least to the future generation to keep that spirit of British fair play and tolerance for the next generation and keep the English or British heritage alive.