MUITICUITURAL BRITAIN

Immediately after the Second World War, Britain looked like a prosperous and friendly country for an immigrant worker. All Com­monwealth citizens were free to enter the country and look for work, which was plentiful. However, since the Immigration. Act of 1962, successive governments have introduced regulations to restrict the number of immigrants.

It is difficult to get statistics on race, but the following patterns are clear. The percentage of non-whites in Britain increased quite rapidly between 1945 and the end of the 1970s. At present, more than half the non-whites in Britain are immigrants, but it will soon be the case that the majority of non-whites are people born in Britain.

Ethnic minorities are concentrated in the cities. The percentage of numbers of ethnic minorities who are unemployed, or in low-grade jobs, is higher than. in the population аз a whole.

Racial discrimination and poor living conditions have contri­buted to racial violence, especially in the day-to-day form of гelations between young blacks and the police, or in the more extreme form of inner-city riots. This is despite the Race Relations Act (l976), which was designed to promote equality of opportunity for people of all races.

People have been migrating to Britain for centuries. Immigrants have come to Britain from all parts of the world. Some came to avoid political or religious persecution, others to find a bet­ter way of life or to escape from poverty. Others still came to join members of their family who had already settled in Britain. Many of these immigrants were refugees. In the 1930s Jews fled persecution in other parts of Europe to settle in Britain. After the end of the Second World War many citizens of Eastern European countries decided to stay in Britain. More recently refugees have come from аs far afield as Uganda, Chile, Iran, and Sri Lanka.

Another group of immigrants were the citizens of the former British Empire, In the 1940s and 50s, people from the West Indies came to find work in Britain. Later, immigrants from Cyprus, India, Pa­kistan, Hong Kong and Bangladesh arrived, each bringing their own distinctive language, culture and religion to this country.

Now the children and grandchildren of this last group of immigrants have grown up and taken their places in a multicultural Bri­tain. More than 214 million strong, black Britons tend to be concentrated in particular areas of inner cities but their influence extends well beyond the big cities. Black Britons are well represented in sport and the media and there are few small towns in Britain that don't have an Indian or a Chinese restaurant and a Pakistani-owned post office or grocery.

Although racial discrimination was outlawed by the Race Rela­tions act of 1975, it does still occur — sometimes subtly, sometimes not so subtly. Black footballers, for example, are sometimes subjected to racial taunts from supporters of opposing teams. How do they feel about it? John Barnes, one of England’s black footballers, shrugs his shoulders. "If you let these people get to you,' he says, 'then they've won. I just ignore them and try to play even better".

I. Bead the list of ethnics groups residing in Britain and mentioned in the texts. What are their backgrounds? Native languages? Cultural ways?

English

Welsh

Scottish

Irish

West Indian

Sephardic Jew

Pole

Ukrainian

Sikh

Hindu

Chinese

Asian

Indian

Native British

Caribbean

COMPREHENSION CHECK

1. Considering that a third to a half of most of ethnic groups were born in Britain, do you see the future mainly аз an op­portunity for assimilation, or for the development of a multi­cultural society, or for some other movement?

2. Can you explain the idea of multicultural society?

3. How has Britain’s colonial past affected Britain today?

4. In what ways has Britain become more multicultural? What problems have arisen as a result?

5. How have immigrants from Europe contributed to the development of Britain?

6. What can you say about immigrants from the Third World?

7. What do you understand by the term immigrants?

8. Which immigrant groups came to Britain in the 1930s? In the 1940s?

9. When was racial discrimination outlawed in Britain?

10. Does racial abuse still exist?

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 1249