Post-Colonial+Experience

=** Immigration into Britain **=


 * Britain has always been a country for immigrants. Either they came by force or peacefully. **
 * Look at these diagrams: **


 * At first there were the Ancient Britons, Scots, and Picts who were followed by the Romans under Julius Caesar. **


 * Source: []**




 * Next came the Angles, Irish, Saxons and Jutes: **




 * Source: [] **

=** After that the French invasion of 1066 under William the conqueror: **=


 * Source: []**

=**Finally recent immigration:**=


 * Source: []**


 * On the other hand Britain had tried to invade about 80% of the globe at one time or another and in Queen Victoria’s day had ruled over 30% of the world including India, Pakistan and the West Indies, the immigrants from which, we are going to study more closely. **

=**The Decline of the British Empire**=

Historians disagree about how and why Britain's empire declined and ended. However, most would agree that factors like war and a changing world economy played a key role in the decline of the British empire. Before the Great War (1914-18) Britain was one of the richest countries of the world. Its strongest industry was the banking and finance trade - everyone owed Britain money! After 4 years of fighting, Britain's wealth was virtually all gone. Most of Britain's debts were with the USA. Britain was greatly weakened by the war. Although Britain recovered some of its strength after the Great War, it was completely bankrupted by the end of the Second World War. Its debts were even greater and it needed huge loans and grants from the USA to get back on its feet. The empire and its peoples played a crucial role in Britain's survival and victory in both world wars. However, by the end of the Second World War, most British people felt that rebuilding their own country was more important than holding on to distant lands. At the same time, Britain's economy was changing. Its trade with Europe and America became far more important than its trade with the empire. Nevertheless, Britain did not lose all links with its former colonies. The British empire gradually became the British Commonwealth. All of the former members of the empire were invited to become members of the Commonwealth. The great majority did, although Ireland did not and South Africa left the Commonwealth for many years. The Commonwealth was a voluntary organisation mainly aimed at promoting friendship and harmony between the nations of the former empire. However, there were other benefits such as sporting and cultural links, and special agreements in terms of trade and security as well.

**How the Empire Ended**
British rule ended relatively peacefully in many parts of the British Empire, although this was not always the case, of course. British ideas about "liberty" helped make peaceful decolonisation possible for some countries in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To the British, liberty meant freedom to rule yourself. However, it also meant that if you had liberty you had to use it responsibly. In other words, if parts of the empire were going to have liberty and rule themselves, they had to convince Britain that they were ready to run their own country in a way that Britain approved of. One British view of the British empire was that they were ruling these places until they were ready to rule themselves. As you can see in the second gallery of this exhibition, the British believed that British rule meant providing stable government and good order, and developing the education and experience of local peoples until they could take over the running of their own countries and rule them in the same was as the British had done. When they reached this stage they would be welcomed as members of the British Commonwealth. Not surprisingly, many Indians, Africans and other people in colonised countries felt this was a rather patronising view. They also pointed out that the first areas to be given self-rule were the colonies with many European settlers such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Critics of British rule wondered whether this was because the British thought Europeans (and European culture) were basically superior to non-Europeans. Thus they would give self-rule to "white" Australia, Canada and the other Dominions, but were reluctant to give it to non-white India or Africa.

In some parts of the empire (from Ireland to India to Africa), the British were influenced in their decision to leave by strong nationalist movements. People joined in a range of ways to try to gain their independence - ranging from democratic measures and peaceful protests through to armed resistance. (655 words)

Source: []

=** The following needs to be learned: **=


 * Post-colonialism and Migration Vocabulary **
 * 1) ==**a massive rise/increase in the number of immigrants: ** //gewaltiger Anstieg der Immigrantenzahl// ==
 * 2) ==**a radical/an extremist: ** //ein Radikaler/Extremist// ==
 * 3) ==**a secular culture: ** //eine säkulare/weltlich geprägte Kultur// ==
 * 4) ==**asylum seekers: ** //Asylsuchende// ==
 * 5) ==**colonial heritage: ** //koloniales Erbe// ==
 * 6) ==**discrimination against ethnic minorities: ** //Diskriminierung von ethnischen Minderheiten// ==
 * 7) ==**employment prospects: ** //Aussichten auf berufliche Beschäftigung// ==
 * 8) ==**ethnic group: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //ethnische Gruppe// ==
 * 9) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">former colonies: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //ehemalige Kolonien// ==
 * 10) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigrants of Caribbean/ Indian/Pakistani/ Bangladeshi/origin: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Einwanderer karibischen/ indischen/pakistanischen Ursprungs/aus Bangladesh// ==
 * 11) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigrants/immigration to Britain: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Einwanderer/Einwanderung nach Großbritannien// ==
 * 12) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigration policy: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Einwanderungspolitik// ==
 * 13) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">in search of material prosperity: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //auf der Suche nach materiellem Wohlstand// ==
 * 14) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">inhabitants of the Commonwealth: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Bewohner des Commonwealth (d.h. der Nachfolge organisation des British Empire)// ==
 * 15) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Islam/Islamic culture: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //der Islam/die islamische Kultur// ==
 * 16) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Islamic fundamentalism/an Islamic fundamentalist: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //islamischer Fundamenta-lismus/islamische/-r Fundamentalist/-in// ==
 * 17) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Islamism: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Islamismus// ==
 * 18) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">labour shortage: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Arbeitskräftemangel// ==
 * 19) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">moderate Muslims: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //gemäßigte Muslime// ==
 * 20) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">multiculturalism/a multicultural society: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Multikulturalismus/eine multikulturelle Gesellschaft// ==
 * 21) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">political campaigns: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //politische Kampagnen// ==
 * 22) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">race related riots: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Rassenunruhen// ==
 * 23) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racial discrimination: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Rassendiskriminierung// ==
 * 24) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racial equality: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Rassengleichheit// ==
 * 25) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racial prejudice: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Rassenvorurteil// ==
 * 26) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racial tensions: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Spannungen zwischen Angehörigen unterschiedl. Rassen// ==
 * 27) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racism: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Rassismus// ==
 * 28) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racist views: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //rassistische Ansichten// ==
 * 29) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">refugees: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Flüchtlinge// ==
 * 30) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">second-generation immigrants of Pakistani descent: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Einwanderer der „zweiten Generation" pakistanischer Abstammung// ==
 * 31) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to adjust to sth: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sich etwas anpassen// ==
 * 32) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to adopt British mainstream culture: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sich in die Kultur der britischen Mehrheit integrieren (mit dem Ergebnis einer weit-gehenden Anpassung)// ==
 * 33) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to be hostile to sth: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //etw. feindlich gegenüber stehen// ==
 * 34) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to be/become alienated from one's original culture: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sich seiner ursprünglichen Kultur entfremden// ==
 * 35) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to become completely assimilated: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //angepasst werden// ==
 * 36) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to become independent/to gain independence: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //unabhängig werden// ==
 * 37) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to call for sth: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //etw. fordern// ==
 * 38) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to commit racially motivated crimes: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //rassistisch motivierte Verbrechen begehen// ==
 * 39) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to discriminate against Muslims: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Muslime diskriminieren// ==
 * 40) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to enter a country: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //in ein Land einreisen// ==
 * 41) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to escape/to flee from war and poverty: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Krieg und Armut entkommen/vor Krieg und Armut flüchten// ==
 * 42) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to gain independence: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //unabhängig werden// ==
 * 43) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to gain/adopt British citizenship: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //die britische Staatsbürgerschaft annehmen// ==
 * 44) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to have/hold economic advantages: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //wirtschaftliche Vorteile haben// ==
 * 45) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to hold an ethnic/ religious/cultural identity: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //eine ethnische/ religiöse/ kulturelle Identität haben// ==
 * 46) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to integrate ethnic minorities into society: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //ethnische Minderheiten in die Gesellschaft integrieren// ==
 * 47) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to integrate into society: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sich in die Gesellschaft integrieren// ==
 * 48) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to leave one's home country: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sein Heimatland verlassen// ==
 * 49) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to live a parallel life in a separate community: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //in einer Parallelgesellschaft leben// ==
 * 50) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to make one's home in/to settle in a country: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //sich in einem Land niederlassen// ==
 * 51) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to reject Western culture/Western ideals and values: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //die westliche Kultur/die westlichen Ideale und Werte ablehnen// ==
 * 52) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to restrict immigration/ restrictions on immigration: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //die Einwanderung beschränken/Zuwan-derungsbeschränkungen// ==
 * 53) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to seek to become a British citizen: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //nach der britischen Staatsbürgerschaft streben// ==
 * 54) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">tolerance of/for sb/sth: **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> //Toleranz jdm./einer Sache gegenübe// ==

(Source: [])

 * 1) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">former colonies **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //ehemalige Kolonien// ==
 * 2) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">colonial heritage **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //koloniales Erbe// ==
 * 3) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to become independent/to gain independence **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //unabhängig werden// ==
 * 4) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">inhabitants of the Commonwealth **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Bewohner des Commonwealth (d.h. der Nachfolge organisation des British Empire)// ==
 * 5) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigrants/immigration to Britain **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Einwanderer/Einwanderung nach Großbritannien// ==
 * 6) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">a massive rise/increase in the number of immigrants **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //gewaltiger Anstieg der Immigrantenzahl// ==
 * 7) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to restrict immigration/ restrictions on immigration **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Zuwan-derungsbeschränkungen// ==
 * 8) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">asylum seekers **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Asylsuchende// ==
 * 9) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">refugees **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Flüchtlinge// ==
 * 10) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigrants of Caribbean/ Indian/Pakistani/ Bangladeshi/origin **==
 * 11) ==//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Einwanderer karibischen/ indischen/pakistanischen Ursprungs/aus Bangladesh //==
 * 12) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">second-generation immigrants of Pakistani descent **==
 * 13) ==//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Einwanderer der „zweiten Generation" pakistanischer Abstammung //==
 * 14) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to leave one's home country **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //sein Heimatland verlassen// ==
 * 15) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to enter a country **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //in ein Land einreisen// ==
 * 16) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to make one's home in/to settle in a country **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //sich in einem Land niederlassen// ==
 * 17) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to escape/to flee from war and poverty **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //vor Krieg und Armut flüchten// ==
 * 18) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">in search of material prosperity **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //auf der Suche nach materiellem Wohlstand// ==
 * 19) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">employment prospects **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Aussichten auf berufliche Beschäftigung// ==
 * 20) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">labour shortage **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Arbeitskräftemangel// ==
 * 21) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to have/hold economic advantages **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //wirtschaftliche Vorteile haben// ==
 * 22) ==**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">immigration policy **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">: //Einwanderungspolitik// ==
 * 23) ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to seek to become a British citizen: //nach der britischen Staatsbürgerschaft streben// ==
 * 24) ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to gain/adopt British citizenship: //die britische Staatsbürgerschaft annehmen// ==
 * 25) ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">political campaigns: //politische Kampagnen// ==
 * 26) ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">to call for sth: //etw. fordern// ==
 * 27) ==<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">racism: //Rassismus// ==


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 26.6667px;">MIGRATION AND POST-COLONIALISM **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">One of the important factors that influence migration patterns is historical linkage between former imperial powers and their colonies of the past. Clear examples can be found in the immigration patterns of Britain and France, where large groups of ethnic minorities have come from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and from the Maghreb, respectively. Such migration has been continuous since the big rise of immigration in the 1950s and 1960s. At street level, such ethnic minorities are frequently deemed ‘foreigners’ regardless of their formal and legal citizenship in those countries. Political and socio-economic problems surrounding immigrant populations are often interpreted as a failure of policies intended to aid in the integration of those people into the host society. And this failure, in turn, frustrates local people exacerbating anti-immigrant attitudes among the public. Post-colonialism challenges such situations by flipping the viewpoint from that of the locals to that of the immigrants. While immigration is a major concern for western democracies, post-colonial perspectives provide common stories of immigrants in those societies, stories that indicate the perpetual discrimination against non-European values.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Migration patterns and historical ties **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Post-colonialism is a way to look at a history from different perspectives. Post-colonial studies, the ideas of which are represented in the writings of Franz Fanon, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak et al., provide an alternative approach to understanding these immigration issues. The concept of multiculturalism in Britain and republican ideology in France usually explain the way those countries handle immigrants and their integration policies. Republicanism faces severe challenges from post-colonialism, as the former denies any alternative value system, such as that of Islam, to construct sub-groups within the state system, since it would undermine the unity of the community (read: the nation-state). The separation of church and state (läicité), for example, is a foundational principle in France since the modernization in the 19th century, which categorically denounces that part of the Muslim way of life that rejects the distinction between religious and secular spheres. As a result, Muslim immigrants are looked at as ‘backward’ and ‘pre-modern’. Post-colonialism, in turn, denounces the hierarchy of values that republicanism assumes. Post-colonialism provides a framework through which immigrants’ narratives can be heard and taken into account, as opposed to just being measured by modernist scales.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Post-colonial approach to migration **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Multiculturalism, on the other hand, seems more or less similar to post-colonialism, as the former seeks to allow diversity and community-building by ethnic minorities. Nevertheless, problems of hate crimes as well as the 7/7 suicide bomb attacks by British citizens in London in 2005 have proven that multiculturalism has not been effective in preventing the ostracism of ethnic minorities from the wider society, allowing extremism to penetrate into ethnic communities. While multiculturalism has encouraged minorities to build their own communities, it designates the minorities to remain minorities, segregating and consequentially excluding them from the main stream of the society. Ghettos are the most visible and extreme example of segregation by which there is no blending of members across racial or ethnic categories. Although ghettos no longer exist in Europe in a strict sense, there are ethnic quarters or areas where de facto segregation can be found. They live in limited areas because it is often cheaper in terms of living expense and it is convenient to receive communal supports. Nonetheless, by sticking together, different ethnic groups (including locals) hardly have any communications or transactions. There is a dilemma between autonomous communities and integration of the larger group such as a nation. Headscarves have a similar function as to make a person (in this case a woman) belong to a Muslim community but to isolate her from a bigger community surrounding the Muslim community. After all, the narratives of the immigrants have not been shared by the majority of the nation. Post-colonialism focuses upon such narratives, which have been unheard or remoulded in the western frameworks.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Post-colonialism is not limited to the specific bilateral relations between states based upon imperial/colonial history. Europe as a whole faces a mass influx of people as a result of the post-colonial transformation of the world. The issue of the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women is a model case; not only in France has the collision between the läicité principle and a particular Islamic custom caused an explosion in national politics, but also in Germany, where historical ties with the immigrant-sending countries are lacking, the headscarf issue has created a much heated debate.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The issue of Muslim women’s headscarves exemplifies the deficiency in communication between the host European societies and the immigrants whose narratives post-colonialism focuses upon.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Headscarf issue **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> In 2004 France finalized the dispute over Muslim headscarves by legislating a constitutional ban of religious symbols, in effect targeting headscarves at public schools. The initial case took place in 1989 and the then socialist government was ambivalent about the question. The government decided that the potentiality for those Muslim young women to become ‘modernized’ through public education was more important than a strict application of läicité. Since then, French politics has swung to the right, and, consequentially, a scarf ban came into legislation in 2004.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Also, in Germany, Muslim female teachers provoked national debates when they tried to teach at public schools with their headscarves and the school and administrative authorities prohibited this behaviour or fired them. The federal system in Germany leaves the management of education systems in the hands of the individual states, and about half of them ban headscarves at public schools.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The argument from those who are in favour of headscarf ban is based on the modern European value system, that is, to distinguish the private from the public and religion is in the former sphere. In Islam, such a distinction does not make sense, and it is not a question of ‘advancement’ and ‘backwardness’ in the scale of modernization. Post-colonial perspectives make it possible to place European and non-European value systems on an equal footing.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> In the argument of the pro-headscarf-ban side, Muslim women’s headscarves are considered a symbol of ‘oppression against women’. But is it not necessary to listen to those women in order to decide whether they are oppressed? When they are asked, many of them say that it is their own choice to wear headscarves. It should be noted that not a few highly educated Muslim women have begun to wear headscarves in the name of self-expression or establishing their own identities, a behaviour much influenced by European culture. It is also true that there are Muslim women who support the argument that family or Muslim community pressure forces them to wear scarves. The point is the diversity of Muslim women and the categorical assumption of ‘oppressed Muslim women’ ignores the various narratives of those in the centre of the debates.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Also important to note is the meaning of the headscarf. Except for very small minorities in secluded areas, it is a universal custom to cover one’s body in public, i.e. people wear some kind of clothes. Post-colonialism draws attention to the narratives of those women who feel the exposure of her hair is nearly equal to the exposure of her body. The act of her headscarf being removed then becomes a violent one, as though she is being stripped of her clothes. On the other hand, there is a concern that headscarves, being used as a symbol of ‘clash of civilizations’, deepen the divide amongst ethnic groups, thus worsening the segregation of ethnic minorities. Post-colonialism turns the table and insists that the segregation derives from the ostracism by the mainstream, not from the headscarves. It points out the fact that the violence involved with the banning of headscarves goes unnoticed within the European framework.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">While post-colonialism can open another route to tackle the migration issues in Europe, it is not only in the Western democracies but also in Asian countries that post-colonialism provides an important perspective to understand the difficulties that immigrants face. In conclusion, post-colonialism urges us to listen to those who have been unheard, thus, in the context of migration, focuses on the narratives by immigrants instead of treating them as objects. **

Source: __http://www.migrationeducation.org/51.1.html?&rid=120&cHash=3106240c12ca5844218ad0083cff3564__


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 26.6667px;">West Indians in Britain **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px;">IMMIGRATION AND RACE RELATIONS **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The Commission for Racial Equality reported in 1987 that very high levels of racial discrimination still existed in employment, housing, and other social sectors, and that the government had proved unwilling to strengthen anti-discriminatory measures. In the late 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's nationalism upheld a concern with English identity that furthered anti-immigrant sentiment. Thatcher claimed in 1978 that if immigration were not controlled, Great Britain would be swamped with more than 4 million outsiders. In the 1990s, racially motivated violence against blacks continues to rise, with some 60,000 attacks every year.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">The Brixton Riots

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">In late August and early September of 1958, Britain experienced some of the worst racial violence the country had ever known. For at least a week, the Notting Dale and Notting Hill sections of London were the scene of nightly clashes between whites and West Indian blacks who had settled in the area. The riots shocked the dominant white community in Great Britain that had long considered itself to be above the kind of racial conflict that was playing out in the American South and in the Commonwealth states of Rhodesia and South Africa at the same time.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The riots began during the evening of the last Saturday in August of 1958. It started when a crowd of white men attacked a white Swedish woman who was married to a West Indian as she was walking to her home in Notting Hill. They were incensed at the idea of a white woman living with and married to a black man. The police escorted her into her home after she had been pelted with stones, glass and wood, and struck in the back with an iron bar. Though there had been fierce riots the weekend before in Nottingham, where whites and West Indian blacks fought each other in the streets, after being sparked off following a bar brawl over a white woman talking to a black man, it was t he incident on that Saturday night in Notting Hill that was the catalyst which started daily rioting throughout west London, with the sections Notting Hill and Notting Dale experiencing the worst of the racial violence on the following Monday. Mobs of angry whites roamed the streets, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. They chased down and beat any vulnerable blacks they could find, broke the windows of shops which sold to blacks, and fought with the police who were trying to restore order.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> By 1951 the supply of European immigrants was drying up, and the government and British employers were forced to consider non-European sources of labor. Most members of the government were opposed to the idea but others, mostly in the Colonial Office, viewed the need for laborers to be too acute to worry about where they came from or what they looked like. The decision was made to consider the idea of bringing over West Indians, but for now to encourage immigration from Europe instead. By the mid 50s the supply of immigrants arriving from the Commonwealth to Britain on their own was outstripped by the demand for labour, and Britain was forced to actively recruit non-European laborers to fill the slots instead of passively accepting the inflow. At the same time the West Indies, which were still colonies of the British Empire, were suffering from overpopulation and severe unemployment. Their economies were based predominately upon agricultural exports, especially sugar, and were dependent upon the Mother Country as both a market for most of their exports and to supply most of their imports. The Second World War completely interrupted trade, and in the following years the price of sugar had fallen dramatically. Consequently, the Indies remained depressed economically at a time when British industry desperately needed all the workers it could find. These were two major factors in a chain of events that led to the immigration of large numbers of non-whites to Great Britain from the Commonwealth nations. This had started with former servicemen from the West Indies stationed in Britain during the war returned to the Mother Country looking for work.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> On June 22, 1948, the freighter, //Empire Windrush////<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">, //<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> docked in England with 492 Jamaican immigrants aboard marking the beginning of the migration of thousands of non-whites from the Imperial colonies and Commonwealth states to Great Britain. An estimated 125,000 West Indians immigrated to Britain between 1951 and 1958. The vast majority of the early immigrants were men, many were war veterans who had served as ground crew and mechanics in the RAF, and had highly marketable skills in a tight labour market. Only in the late 50s did women and children begin immigrating in large numbers to Britain. While small numbers of black people had been in the coastal areas for centuries, they were mostly sailors or ex-sailors, most Britons further inland prior to the war, had little exposure to anyone who wasn't white or from the same culture as themselves, and their introduction to the newcomers was a shock for the most part. It was also a shock for the West Indians, who had been brought up and educated in the colonial system to look favorably upon Great Britain as the 'Mother Country'. Most of their exposure to British whites was from college educated middle and upper class expatriates, the colonial administrators, the business and the plantation owners. When they came to Britain, they found the reality was very different from the ideal they had been brought up with. Edward Pilkington in his book //Beyond the Mother Country// has an excellent description of the colorblind ideals that the West Indian immigrants brought with them to Britain:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> One of the central pillars of the British 'way of life' was the idea that the British treated people equally according to the rule of law. **West Indians were taught that if they respected the British, the British would respect them**. The idea was that the British judged everybody on their merits and did not discriminate against anyone on religious, political or racial grounds. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Despite the demand for labour, some employers and employees wanted nothing to do with the newcomers, and there were no laws prohibiting racial discrimination in Britain at the time. The government began to hear complaints about the West Indians living as pimps from the earnings of female white prostitutes or off the welfare state and the police did not have the manpower to investigate all suspected cases. It was even mentioned in cabinet meetings, brought up by the Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> "Complaints are becoming more frequent that large numbers of colored people are living on national assistance or the immoral earnings of white women." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The general population seemed to think that the immigrants were arriving with no job prospects and were unskilled, when in fact the opposite was true. Most of the West Indian immigrants were skilled or semi-skilled workers. Some employers hesitated hiring black workers despite the obvious qualifications and their willingness to work for wages less than those demanded by native Britons. Even if they were hired, black immigrants who had management or professional skills were rarely placed in positions that fully used their talents but rather were often used in manual labor or unskilled positions. There were several reasons for the hesitation among employers. The first was racism, which was prevalent in most areas of British society at the time. Some employers simply refused to believe that the immigrants could perform as well as whites, they colluded with the labor unions to try and keep the newcomers out of the factories. The second major reason for employer reluctance was fear. They feared (with some justification) that if they hired black workers to fill the empty jobs their white workers would strike or even resign in protest. Whites still composed the vast majority of the labor force and were more experienced. If white workers went on strike, it would hurt the business, or disrupt vital services in the public sector, which in turn would damage the economy as a whole. Whites did not object to black co-workers on purely economic (i.e. taking jobs that would otherwise go to white natives) reasons:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> "What seems to have bothered whites most about working alongside blacks was having to share amenities. They disliked having to sit on the same benches, drink out of the same cups, or use the same lavatories. Some factories even provided separate latrines for whites and blacks as they did in the southern States of America and South Africa." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">By 1958 Britain was experiencing a mild recession. The unemployment rate in the general population was at 2%, with the rate among West Indian immigrants placed at 8%. Britain had been at full employment for a decade, and when people started losing their jobs, prejudice and expressions of racism became more blatant. The old charges that the black immigrants were accused of stealing jobs from whites and also coming to Britain so they could receive more generous welfare benefits than could be had in the West Indies were renewed. The government's view on race relations inside the country was officially 'colourblind', it tried to pretend discrimination didn't exist, and there was no legal recourse for blacks to challenge discrimination based upon race until the Race Relations Act of 1965 attempted to deal with the issue. Unions were especially hostile to black workers, because union workers feared employers would replace them with immigrants working for lower wages. They also suspected that the employers would use the immigrants as strikebreakers and try to destroy the power of the unions. Furthermore, union leaders accused blacks of being hostile to unions because so few joined them, not acknowledging the irony of expecting blacks to support an institution they had not been invited to join and which was openly hostile towards them? Besides the employment problem, black immigrants faced difficulties getting housing. Throughout the 40s and 50s, Britain overall and London especially, suffered from a severe housing shortage. The war had destroyed thousands of buildings in London, and damaged 10 times that number. The demand for housing skyrocketed as servicemen were demobilized and evacuees returned. The postwar boom in marriages and births further exacerbated the problem, and by 1951 it was estimated that London had half a million more households than houses.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> By the mid 50s, solving the housing crisis was a national priority with government and industry building housing as fast as they could, and a new ring of suburbs began to surround London. But this new housing came at a cost to the older sections of the city: Thousands of families became owner-occupiers for the first time, including skilled working-class people with steady jobs. But for those left behind in the inner cities the situation rapidly deteriorated. Rented accommodation was in short supply and public investment in old housing stock squeezed, which left bomb-damaged and dilapidated inner-city areas degenerated at an alarming rate. Indeed, more slums were created during the 50s through despair and neglect, than were knocked down. Most of the new construction did not add to available rental properties, and many landlords refused to rent rooms to blacks, either saying straight out that they wouldn't rent to a 'nig' or saying that the room had already been rented. Again, as there were no laws prohibiting racial discrimination in Britain in the 50s, notices advertising rentals often read 'No coloreds, no dogs, Irish not required. Blacks were forced into poor neighborhoods, and some landlords quickly discovered they could charge black renters far more than whites. After all, where would they go? Often several immigrants would share a room in order to cover the high rents charged by the landlords. The first West Indian renters were quite a shock to the white residents of the neighborhoods they moved to. Brought up during the Imperial period, most believed that their 'black brothers' were inferior to whites, and that they had to be affectionate and tolerant of their poor relations. But the West Indians did not play their part, refusing to act inferior which caused resentment and confusion among whites. For the most part the black immigrants were confident, worked hard, and weren't afraid to speak their minds.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> As more blacks arrived and moved to the neighborhoods they were allowed to live in, the uneasiness of the white natives in these areas increased. Not only did these newcomers not look like the native British, they also had strange habits and spoke English with an exotic accent. They talked loudly amongst themselves, sat outside barefoot, dressed in loud colors, and listened to music at high volume. All of these factors contributed to the feelings of unease and resentment by the poor whites who were their neighbors. The fact that blacks moved into already overcrowded poor/working class areas of London caused resentment simply by their presence. Because they got the apartment or room at a rate higher than a single white could afford, they were resented for denying the opportunity for a white to move into the rental. Before and after the riots, stories circulated in the neighborhoods about old ladies driven 'frantic by the noise' of West Indian families living next to them, or disturbed by smells from blacks who didn't know how to use a water closet. More ominous rumors concerning the alleged large numbers of switchblades West Indians had bought over with which they were going to 'do' the marketplace that weekend. J.P.W. Mallalieu, a reporter for the //New Statesman//, investigated these claims shortly after the riots:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Riots in Great Britain

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">A series of race riots, the most intense of which occurred in September and October in Birmingham and the Brixton and Tottenham districts of LondonA sequence of disturbances between white police officers and youths, predominantly black, occurred in London and Birmingham in the summer and autumn of 1985. These riots revealed that race relations in British society were deteriorating and brought to public attention the destitute conditions in which many blacks and whites lived. The worst riots took place in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, the Brixton district of London, and the Tottenham district of London. Although different incidents sparked each riot in 1985, they arose from similar social conditions: pervasive racial discrimination; consequent poverty, unemployment, and dilapidated housing; and poor relations between the police and the community.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Blacks from former British colonies in Africa and the West Indies began coming to Great Britain in large numbers after World War II and have since constituted about two percent of the British population. Although white-on-black violence had long existed, as demonstrated in the Notting Hill Riots of 1958, no large-scale race riots had occurred in Britain until the Brixton Riots of 1981. The 1985 riots revealed a number of similarities with those that occurred four years earlier.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> During the early 1980s, good relations had existed between the police and youth in Handsworth. However, in April 1985, a heavy policing approach designed to root out individuals who used or sold marijuana or committed other minor offenses gave the police special powers to raid local cafÃ©s; this policy strained relations between the police and the community. At around 5:00 PM on September 9 in the Handsworth district of Birmingham, Great Britain's second largest city, a black driver and white police officer got into an altercation over a parking ticket. The tension exploded when the police officer arrested the black driver. A crowd of young blacks of West Indian descent, some report as many as 100, gathered and accused the officer of racism. As more police arrived on the scene, a fight ensued, during which the police allegedly assaulted a black woman. Eleven officers were injured and seven police vehicles damaged; two people were arrested.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> A few hours later, a nearby bingo hall was in flames. When firefighters responded, a group of youths tried to prevent them from putting it out by throwing bricks and gasoline bombs. Other fires occurred in the area of Lozells Road. Looting and attacks on the police by as many as 400 rioters continued until about midnight, when over 800 policemen gained control of the area. However, the violence continued the next day. Newly elected Home Secretary Douglas Hurd attempted to show his concern by cruising the area in his car and talking to local people. However, the rioters showered him with insults and bricks, and his visit spurred further arson and looting. By evening on September 10, order was restored. The police had arrested a total of 437 people of various ethnic backgrounds, most of whom lived in Handsworth. Two Asian men who were stuck in a burning post office died of smoke inhalation, 79 police, eight fire officers, and 35 civilians were injured; 83 premises and 23 vehicles were damaged, at an estimated cost of Â£7.5 million. Later that week, so-called "copycat riots" took place in the West Midlands in places such as Dudley, West Bromwich, and Moseley. The disorder reportedly spread also to Coventry and Wolverhampton on September 12 and the St. Paul's district of Bristol on September 13.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Intense policing and raiding spurred a similar riot in Brixton a few weeks later. On September 28 at 7:00 AM, a group of police raided a house in Brixton searching for Michael Groce, a black man wanted for illegal possession of a shotgun. During the raid, Groce's mother was shot and permanently paralyzed. As news of the event spread, tension in the area grew, and a few hours later 300 youths attacked the local police station with gasoline bombs. This attack began eight hours of burning and looting by both blacks and whites that caused Â£3 million in damages. By midnight the police shed their usual defensive tactics and charged the crowd; the disorder subsided by 2:30 AM. The next day, clashes between the police and youths occurred sporadically but dissolved quickly. In all, 43 civilians and 10 police officers were injured, and 55 vehicles and a few properties were burned. The police arrested 230 people, half of whom were white, and recorded 724 serious crimes, including over 90 burglaries and a number of assaults and robberies. A photographer, David Hodge, died from injuries he sustained during the riot. A few days later, riots also occurred in Liverpool and Peckham in South London.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The most severe riot of 1985 occurred at the Broadwater Farm Estate public housing development, where most residents are nonwhites, in the predominantly white Tottenham district of London. Similar to the situation in Birmingham in the summer of 1985, the police had instituted a heavy policing approach around Broadwater. The policy involved extensive stop-and-search procedures. Black youths complained that in the course of such searches they were harassed, abused, and treated unfairly.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> As in Birmingham, a dispute between a black driver and a white policeman instigated the rioting in Tottenham, and, as in Brixton, another mother died during the disturbance. On October 5, a white police officer stopped Floyd Jarrett, a 23-year-old black man, and questioned him about why his car was not properly licensed. Although Jarrett explained that he had just returned from a two-month youth exchange trip to Jamaica and had not yet updated it, the officer arrested him on charges of car theft and, after an alleged altercation, on charges of assaulting a police officer. The driver was later cleared of all charges and received damages in the amount of Â£350.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> However, while the police held Jarrett at the station, other officers proceeded to his home to search for stolen property; during this search, his mother, Cynthia Jarrett, collapsed and died. The Jarrett family maintained that the police pushed her purposely and caused her death, but the police insisted that Mrs. Jarrett was unhealthy and had suffered a stroke. As news of the Jarrett incident spread, the next evening, blacks and others in the housing development responded with violence. Forty-seven cars and some buildings were burned and 20 civilians and 223 police officers were injured; policeman Keith Blakelock was stabbed to death.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Blakelock's death drew the condemnation of political figures from all parties, but conservatives and liberals differed on how to cope with the riots. The conservatives wanted law and order to be preserved at all costs and they supported harsh police strategies. Extreme right-wing figures such as Enoch Powell called for the repatriation of blacks to their "homelands," even though many of these blacks had been born in England and were British citizens.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Liberals saw the social conditions of the affected areas as the root of the problem: many communities suffered from decaying housing, high unemployment rates, especially among young black men, declining populations, and underdevelopment. Some liberals also condemned the policing policies and called for a concerted effort to recruit black police (at the time only one percent of the police force was black). In his report on the Brixton Riots of 1981, former judge Lord Leslie George Scarman had recommended better policing policies and an engaged social policy to improve the conditions of blacks in Great Britain and prevent racial conflict; but little had been done in the four years since the report was published.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Riots continued to occur in Great Britain in the 1990s as British society and successive governments continued their uneasy accommodation with the legacy of British colonialism, the realities of a multicultural society, and the persistence of racism and economic injustice.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">CONTEMPORARY GREAT BRITAIN **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Nevertheless, in the 1990s Africans and West Indians who are fleeing political troubles, or seeking a better life or temporary employment, continue to migrate to Great Britain. Unemployment is still rampant - up to 25 percent in some areas - but recent employment measures have placed blacks in public sector jobs, creating a small black middle-class community. Though discrimination still exists, blacks are also beginning to rise in the ranks of British government and politics. In 1987 four blacks, including Diane Abbott and Bernie Grant, were elected to British Parliament, and formed a parliamentary Black Caucus.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Source: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]


 * Telephone Conversation **

Wole Soyinka

The price seemed reasonable, location

Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived

Off premises. Nothing remained

But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,

“I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”

Silence. Silenced transmission of

Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,

Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled

Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.

“HOW DARK?”. . . I had not misheard. . . “ARE YOU LIGHT

OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench

Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.

Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered

Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed

By ill-mannered silence, surrender

Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.

Considerate she was, varying the emphasis—

“ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.

“You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”

Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light

Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,

I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,

“Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic

Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent

Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,

“DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”

“THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.

Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see

The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet

Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused—

Foolishly, madam—by sitting down, has turned

My bottom raven black—One moment madam!”—sensing

Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap

About my ears—“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather

See for yourself?”