By Daniel Ronaghyon
The UK is officially the second most-popular destination for immigrants arriving to the European Union. A large proportion of newly arrived immigrants come from Eastern Europe. According to the 2011 Census, Poles are now the second largest foreign-born group in the United Kingdom, behind the Indians. We also know that around 37,000 Romanians and Bulgarians came to the United Kingdom last year. With the minimum wage in the UK being four times higher than the average wage in Romania, it is unsurprising that many Romanians seek a life out of poverty by migrating westwards.
Similarly, many of us, or our parents or grandparents (often by invitation of the British government), took the opportunity for a better life through migration. When they arrived here, they greeted with anti-immigration rhetoric, and slogans from the public as well as the right-wing forefathers of today, such as Enoch Powell, somewhat like the newly arrived Eastern Europeans have received. While for some second generation migrants, self–interest may have led to a ‘draw-bridge’ mentality, others have more genuine economic concerns about immigration that is being fuelled up by anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Three quarters of the British public have some opposition to immigration, according to the Migration Observatory, more and more ethnic minorities are joining the anti-Eastern European sentiments.
The mainstream anti-immigration party, UKIP, claims to have 6% of their candidates stemming from an ethnic minority background, against a UK average of ca 18%. This is high enough to raise eyebrows, though it is an underrepresentation of course. However, The 29th British Social Attitudes in 2011 asked 3500 ethnic minorities about their views on immigration. Some 29% responded that immigration should be ‘reduced a lot’. From these figures, one can guess the attitudes towards Eastern European immigrants from sections of the ethnic minority community.
These figures suggest that some second and third generation immigrants believe it is right that their families should have been allowed to better themselves, to escape hardships back at home and find a better life in Britain but no one else. Or rather, only a few should have the same chance. A possible argument for this is that many of us who originate from the Global South were victims of British imperialism. Our nations were exploited of wealth, be that gold and minerals, or oil, or other natural resources. And so we have a moral right to live and work here that Eastern Europeans don’t have. I believe when this argument is analysed, it does not differ substantially from that given by those people who were cheering at Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech. Their argument was that ‘since our people have been here for longer than yours’ have, we have a moral right to live and work here that you South Asians and Caribbeans don’t have’. Essentially, it boils down to a core principle; some people have a right to live here, and others don’t.
The descendants of some immigrants are now doing to Eastern Europeans what someone else did to their parents of grandparents – nodding along to anti-immigrant speeches or contemplating voting on a political leader who claimed he would be ‘concerned’ if a person of a certain ethnicity moved next door to him.
One simple reason for this trend would be that second and third generation immigrants are likely to work in the branches that Eastern Europeans are moving into, therefore competing over the same jobs. Eastern Europeans are also settling in what used to be traditionally settled in Caribbean and South Asian communities. Haringey and Brent that have had large South Asian and Caribbean populations host some of the largest Polish communities in the country as well. So while a competition of everyday resources may occur and account for some hostility, I don’t believe self-interest by itself can account for the growing trend that is the irony of immigrants’ descendants turning anti-immigration, which is essentially what is going on here. So another reason may be that many of these descendants view themselves as only British and so do not identify with other, more recent, immigrants.
With an increasing use of racist rhetoric by mainstream politicians, alongside Labour politicians ‘apologising’ over their immigration policies and their leader Ed Miliband branding Nigel Farage a ‘non-racist’ in light of his unpleasant remarks on hypothetical Romanian neighbours, often comes division and polarisation. Most ethnic minorities are aware when far right-wing opinions increase. Perhaps some, fearing that one’s own community will be targeted, will participate in racist attitudes towards other communities in an attempt to remove the angry public eyes away from one’s own ethnic group.
“If we all agree it’s the Eastern European people’s faults things aren’t great, no one will target my group, right?”
Well, be that as it may, there is an even better way of changing the political discourse; opposition to all forms of discriminatory politics and opinions. By simply affirming solidarity and compassion towards our fellow human beings. If everyone did that, we wouldn’t have to turn into what some would label as racists, bigots or hypocrites, in order to protect ones own interests.
No matter when we arrived or from what part of the world. we share many experiences and have more similarities than differences. Let’s not make our political leaders put us against each other for electoral purposes. While right now it is the Eastern Europeans being scapegoated, tomorrow it may be your own ethnic community being blamed for the country’s problems and making scary headlines in the Daily Mail.
