Libmonster ID: UK-1211
Author(s) of the publication: G. A. KARPOV

UK Keywords:immigrationIslamintegration

Migration processes in the second half of the twentieth century, as well as the need for cheap labor in the UK for post-war economic recovery, led to the emergence of large communities of representatives of Asian and African countries in the UK.

Existing ties from colonial times provided a certain advantage to visitors from India and Pakistan in the 1950s, mass immigration from African countries began 10 to 15 years later-with the emergence of African states. Steady flows of workers and students were periodically "diluted" by refugees from areas of interethnic and religious conflicts.

The formation of numerous immigrant communities from former colonies and the emergence of "immigrant" neighborhoods in large cities caused a series of discussions in British public and academic circles in the last third of the twentieth century. about how to consider these processes and their possible consequences.

According to the UK National Statistical Service classification for the 2001 Census*, the entire population of the country was divided into 17 groups1. Their selection is not based on a purely geographical or ethnic principle, for example, immigrants from China are designated as a separate group (Chinese), and visitors from a number of Asian countries (Iran, Iraq, Sri Lanka, etc.) were enrolled in one group (Other Asian).

This study focused on 4 groups that formed the most numerous and cohesive communities: IndiansPakistanisBangladeshis, and Black Africans2.

The first decade of the twenty-first century was marked in the UK by a number of new trends and problems related to Afro-Asian immigrants.

First of all, it concerns the demographic situation. The post-war rise in the birth rate in Great Britain had stopped by the early 1960s, and the birth rate began to gradually decline. Since 1971, when the number of children per woman in the country as a whole became less than 2, natural population growth in the future ceased to compensate for the natural decline.3 The stopped growth of the indigenous population was compensated by immigrants.

The population of the country increased by 0.2% annually from 1981 to 1991, by 0.3% from 1991 to 2001, by 0.5% from 2001 to 2006, and from the middle of the

Annual population growth in the UK in 1981-2006 (%)


* The next census will be held in 2011. Decadal censuses have been held in the UK since 1801.

page 49

Dynamics of South Asian migration in 1951-2001 (thousands of people)

2006 to mid-2007 - by 0.6% (by 388 thousand people), the contribution of immigrants to the total population growth reached 70%4.

In mid-2007, the UK's permanent population, according to official figures, was almost 61 million, an increase of 2.9 million in just six years since 2001.5 Most of the growth, due to immigration and high birth rates, came from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and African communities.

ORIGINS OF IMMIGRATION

The initial impetus for mass immigration to the UK from South Asia was the aggravation of interethnic and religious relations after the formation of India and Pakistan as independent states in 1947.Permanent instability of this region, extremely low level of socio-economic development with a high birth rate, and the need for cheap labor resources in Great Britain became the determining factors of immigration.

In 1951, there were approximately 15,000 Indians and no more than 5,000 Pakistanis living in England.6 The signing of the 1951 UN Refugee Status Agreement by the British Government and the increasing complexity of entry rules in the United States were the main reasons for the increase in the 1950s in the number of Indian immigrants from the Caribbean region, where they were discriminated against.7

By 1961, the number of Indians exceeded 150 thousand people, Pakistanis-30 thousand people.8 Since the late 1960s, there have been two main ways for immigrants from India and Pakistan to emigrate to England: family reunification and obtaining refugee status. The first method was favored by the preservation of kinship and clan ties, the second-a series of conflicts and military coups in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Refugee status was also sought by Indians who left newly formed African States due to ethnic and religious conflicts. The first case of this kind occurred in 1968, when a large number of Indians who had lived in this country since the XIX century left Uganda.9 At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, England received 27,000 refugees of Indian origin from Africa.10

In 1971, 400,000 Indians and about 100,000 Pakistanis lived in the UK11. Since the late 1970s, the authorities have been taking a course to tighten migration legislation. The 1981 British Nationality Act abolished the automatic assignment of British citizenship to those born in the country. Citizenship was granted only to those who had one of their parents who was already a British citizen.

According to the 1991 census, the number of Indians was 840,000, Pakistanis-477,000, and Bangladeshis-163,000.12

The main influence on the growth of the number of South Asian ethnic groups in the last decade of the 20th century was the persistence of a high birth rate among the 2nd and 3rd generation of immigrants. Data from the 2001 census confirmed the trend of high growth of the Indo-Pakistani population in the UK. At the beginning of the XXI century. More than 1 million Indians, about 747 thousand Pakistanis and at least 283 thousand immigrants from Bangladesh lived in the British Isles. The number of the first generation was 570 thousand, 336 thousand and 152 thousand people, respectively 13.

The size of the African population of Great Britain, according to various estimates, in 1951 ranged from 5 to 10 thousand people. In the post-war years, branches of British universities were opened in Ghana (Legon), Sierra Leone (Fourah Bay College), East Africa (Makerere) and Nigeria (Ibadan), with the direct involvement of the Colonial Office, in order to train cheap qualified personnel for the economy in Africa. After receiving higher education in their homeland, many Africans continued their studies in England. In the 1950s, law, medicine, education, and technical majors were most popular among African students in London14.

After gaining independence, African countries set up their own universities, without losing contact with educational centers in the former metropolis. In the 1960s, due to the outflow of a small number of European specialists, local governments tried to form their own personnel reserves. Specialists who received-

page 50

Religious composition of the Black African population in the UK in 2001 (%)

Having been educated in England, there were a number of advantages. But the socio-economic and political instability of African regimes has buried these plans. Most of those who left for training did not return, and many of them had skills that were in demand in England.

The results of the 1971 census for the first time revealed that about 65 thousand people were from African countries. At the same time, a strong flow of refugees from African countries begins. Angola, Somalia, Kenya, Eritrea, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, Congo, and Nigeria were the main sources of refugees during the 1970s and 1980s. Student and labor immigration, coupled with relatively lax migration laws, led to a rapid increase in the African population. In 10 years - from 1971 to 1981. it almost doubled, amounting to more than 100 thousand people.

Between 1981 and 1991, more than 50,000 asylum applications were submitted from African countries, but only 8,5 thousand people were granted refugee status and were able to live in England legally. 15 By 2001, the number of visitors from Africa, excluding illegal immigration, reached 485,000 people.16

The vast majority of Africans (83%) live in major metropolitan areas and port cities-London, Leeds, Liverpool and Cardiff. Of these, 80% are located in various parts of London, with large communities of Africans existing in areas of the capital such as Lambeth, Southwark, Hackney, Newham, Haringey, Brent, Lewisham and Wandsworth. 17.

Student immigration from Africa to the UK, which began in the 1950s and 1960s, was supplemented by refugees and labor immigrants in the 1970s and 1980s. The largest communities were created by visitors from Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa. The high birth rate in this group and the constant "feeding" of illegal immigrants suggest that the trend of doubling the African population of the UK every 10 years will not change in the first decades of the XXI century. The number of visitors from other Asian countries (Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Turkey, etc.), united in a separate group (Other Asian), amounted to 247 thousand people in 2001.

CHANGING MILESTONES AND NEW TRENDS

By the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, when the Conservatives came to power, they were faced with the formation of a multinational society in the UK. It has become clear that immigrants are now irreplaceable not only as cheap labor, but also in small businesses, healthcare, and construction.18

The very term "illegal immigrant" 19 has been revised. Statistical data accumulated by the mid-1980s on all (including Afro-Asian) areas of immigration to the United Kingdom in the postcolonial period20 began to be systematized.

In the 1980s, the issue of integrating the second and third generation of immigrants into British society and using the foreign experience of receiving a large number of immigrants became urgent.21

At the end of the 20th century, it was not immigrant communities from each country that attracted attention, but communities formed by people from certain regions, for example, from Gujarat.22 This trend is largely due to a series of urban riots in Bradford, Leeds and Luton in 1992-1993 and in the summer of 1995, during which two groups of South Asian Muslims, namely Mirpuri Pakistanis and Kashmiri Pakistanis, were most active.

According to the growing influence of newcomers from Asia and Africa, the approach to immigrants also changed - from the initial perception of them as carriers of a different cultural tradition, temporarily living in certain urban areas, to the rather peculiar attitude towards them as an integral part of modern British society

The most widely spoken languages (after English) among London schoolchildren (early 21st century)

Language

Number of school children

Bengal and Sylhet

40400

Punjabi

29800

Gujarati

28600

Hindi/Urdu

26000

Turkish

15600

Arabian

11000



page 51

The July 7, 2005 London Underground bombings and the radicalization of Islamic youth remained a major focus of attention in the UK throughout 2005 and 2008.

On August 10, 2006, British intelligence agencies uncovered a plot by Islamic extremists to blow up several passenger planes over the Atlantic Ocean at once. The reaction was immediate. Two days later, an open letter from the moderate Muslim establishment to Tony Blair issued an ultimatum to change foreign policy-criticize Israel more often and withdraw troops from Iraq, otherwise the Islamic youth in England will be even more radical. And on August 14, 2006, in a meeting with senior British officials, Muslim representatives put forward further demands: to declare two Islamic religious festivals as official holidays, and to apply Islamic laws relating to marriage and family life in the United Kingdom.23

Interesting are the results of surveys of the Muslim population of Great Britain about the terrorist attacks in 2005-2006. It turned out that 1% of the respondents themselves are not averse to participating in such acts and are ready to resort to violence in order to put an end to the "decadent and immoral" Western society. 4% refuse to condemn them; 6% say that suicide bombers acted in accordance with the principles of Islam, and 7% of respondents openly approved of terrorist attacks (among 18-24-year-olds, this number was 12%). 13% of respondents said that the suicide bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks should be considered "martyrs". 16% believe that the attacks were conducted incorrectly, but the reason for their actions was correct. 20% feel sympathy for the" feelings and motives " of the participants in the attacks. A huge number-56% of respondents-said they understood "why some people behave in this way" 24.

On July 7, 2007, in honor of the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks, thousands of Muslims held a rally in front of the Central Mosque of London demanding the creation of an Islamic state in the UK and other radical slogans.

In percentage terms, the share of radical youth is small, but in numerical terms, the presence in the country of several tens of thousands of young people who are ready to establish an Islamic state by force looks, to say the least, alarming.

The conflict here has not so much a socio-economic or political connotation as an ideological one. While multiculturalists are concerned about the difficulties of integrating Muslims into British society, Muslim immigrants themselves (especially in the second or third generation) see the situation in a different light.

London terrorist leader Mohammad Sidiq Khan, a Leeds - born husband, father, schoolteacher, was not talking about integration, employment or human rights in his suicide message. The motives that drove him and his associates to carry out terrorist attacks lie in the rejection of the modern Western system of values.25 There are even political forces in British society that are somewhat sympathetic to the Islamic order. These are far-right organizations (St. George's British League, Aryan Sword), whose leaders (Norbert Slinger, Richard Fling) have repeatedly spoken positively about Islam26.

The problem of cross-cultural interaction between immigrant communities and the local population remains less discussed, but no less serious in the first decade of the XXI century. Despite the long-term promotion of tolerance and multiculturalism, we can only talk about local successes, the situation has not fundamentally changed. For example, the most important indicator of the interpenetration and enrichment of different cultures - the number of interethnic marriages-at the beginning of the XXI century is negligible - no more than 2%27.

A number of studies have shown that ethnic differences were and remain one of the most powerful factors in dividing immigrant communities. For example, Africans often find a common language with native Britons, but in general they are less likely to contact the latter than with visiting blacks from the West Indies, but much better than with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.28

Today's Great Britain hosts many cultural events and competitions, such as Miss India United Kingdom or The One Hundred Great Black Britons.29 But the Miss White England pageant, for example, will be banned as a racist and xenophobic event even at the stage of its preparation.

Muslims are not overlooked by members of the royal family, especially Prince Charles, who, for example, in a speech on the occasion of the opening of the new building of the Markfield Institute of Higher Education in 2004, called for "be proud of the Muslims of Great Britain" and mentioned the contribution of Islamic scholars to the development of European civilization.30

In the secular state for several centuries, an Islamic investment bank operating according to the principles of Sharia law began operating in 2006. In January 2008, the British government department removed the electronic version of the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs" from the list of annual awards on the grounds that it does not reflect the Russian language.-

page 52

token to offend the feelings of Muslims 31.

The desire to separate themselves, to solve the internal and external problems of the community, based on their own ideas about the world order, is also inherent in other immigrant communities. This can be observed in the course of regular clashes and riots on interethnic and inter-religious grounds between different communities.

Discontent with the standard of living, the desire to control one's neighborhood by expelling representatives of other religious and ethnic communities, and the redistribution of spheres of influence between criminal groups can act as catalysts for unrest. Sometimes all these circumstances are combined, as was the case with the 2001 riots in Oldham and Leeds.32

Such criminal associations as ShereePunjabMuslim Birmingham PanthersLynxRedheads, and Burger Bar Boys now have a huge influence in Birmingham's Muslim and black communities. and the Johnson Crew. During the riots in Birmingham between Pakistanis and Africans in October 2005, local media took it for granted that a self-proclaimed 70-member local community council made certain decisions. In the same vein, the story is told about the existence of "illegal black radio stations" that regularly broadcast some information and comments on current events.33

One of the most recent such incidents was a clash in Birmingham on 9 September 2009 between members of the English Defence League, which opposes radical Islam, and local Muslims. 34

* * *

British society for several centuries was mostly homogeneous, and a sharp (literally within 1-2 generations) change in the national and religious composition of the country's population could not be perceived unambiguously by everyone. Hence the discussion and wide range of opinions of scientists, public figures and the media on how to assess this phenomenon.

Immigrant communities represent an active element of society in all respects, whose influence on the daily life of modern Britain is constantly increasing. If the above-mentioned trends and processes do not undergo fundamental changes in the coming years, then the probability of changes in the socio - economic and political landscape of the UK in the next 2-3 decades will be very high.


1 Office for National Statistics - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/default.asp

2 Ethnic Minorities in Great Britain // Commission for Racial Equality. London, 2007, p. 1.

3 Fertility // Office for National Statistics (ONS) - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id-951

4 Population Change // Office for National Statistics (ONS) - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id-950

5 Population Estimates // Office for National Statistics (ONS) - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp7ID-6

Lupton R., Power A. 6 Minority Ethnic Groups in Britain // Brookings Census Briefs. Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, Brooking Institution. 2004, N 2, p. 6.

7 Roots of the Future: Ethnic Diversity of the Making of Britain // Commission for Racial Equality. London, 1997, p. 39.

Lupton R., Power A. 8 Op. cit., p. 6.

Daley P.O. 9 Black Africans in Great Britain: Spatial Concentration and Segregation // Urban Studies. 1998. Vol. 35, No. 10, p. 1705.

10 Roots of the Future.., p. 40.

Lupton R., Power A. 11 Op. cit., p. 6.

12 Ethnic Minorities in Great Britain.., p. 1.

13 Ibidem, p. 1 - 3.

Daley P.O. 14 Black Africans in Great Britain.., p. 1704.

15 Ibid., p. 1705 - 1706.

16 Ethnic Minorities in Great Britain.., p. 1 - 3.

Daley P.O. 17 Op. cit., p. 1709.

Peters G.B., Davis P. K. 18 Migration to the United Kingdom and the Emergence of a New Politics // Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. May, 1986. Vol. 485, p. 133 - 137.

Couper K., Santamaria U. 19 The Changing Definition of Illegal Immigrant in the Practice of Immigration Control in the United Kingdom // International Migration Review. Autumn, 1984. Vol. 18, No. 3, p. 437 - 452.

Coleman D. 20 A. U.K. Statistics on Immigration: Development and Limitations // International Migration Review. Winter, 1987. Vol. 21, No. 4, p. 1138 - 1169.

Reitz J.G. 21 The Institutional Structure of Immigration as a Determinant of Inter-Racial Competition: A Comparison of Britain and Canada // International Migration Review. Spring, 1988. Vol. 22, No. 1, p. 117 - 146.

Crewe E., Kothari U. 22 Gujurati Migrants' Search for Modernity in Britain // Gender and Development. Mar., 1998. Vol. 6, No. 1, p. 13 - 20.

Pipes D. 23 Piggybacking on Terror in Britain // New York Sun, 29.07.2006 - http://www.danielpipes.org/3914/piggybacking-on-terror-in-britain

Pipes D. 24 Unpleasant news from Londonistan - http://ru.danielpipes.org/article/3760

Pipes D. 25 Speech of a London suicide bomber on television / / Web Log, 01.09.2005 - http://ru.danielpipes.org/article/2980

26 Britain's far right sees a way out in Islam - http://www.islam.ru/pressclub/tema/british_ultra

27 Inter-ethnic Marriage // Office for National Statistics (ONS) - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id-1090

Daley P.O. 28 Op. cit., p. 1715.

29 It's All Right to be White? - http://www.uepengland.com/bbs/index.php?act-announce&id=5

30 Speech by Prince Charles at the opening of the new Markfield Institute of Higher Education building - http://www.islam.ru/pressclub/tema/charls

31 Head of the Anglican Church will lose his post for sympathizing with Sharia law - http://top.rbc.ra/society/09/02/2008/140073.shtm

32 Oldham heals his wounds - http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian / uk/newsid_1358000/1358086. stm; Riots spread to Leeds - http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/rassian/uk/newsidl372000/1372500.stm

Freeman S., Knight S. 33 Birmingham Family Mourns 'Gentle, Religious' Stab Victim // Times Online, 24.10.2005 - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article582133.ece?token=null&offset=12

34 Street riots in Birmingham - http://news.mail.ru/politics/2876609


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