Ministers to spend £12m fighting white working-class extremism
Critics round on scheme to persuade white communities that immigrants are not unfairly taking their jobs, reports Robert Verkaik
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Hundreds of "white enclaves" across the UK have been chosen to receive special funding from the Government, in an effort to curb the spread of racist extremism among the working classes.
Ministers are to spend £12m reassuring 130 "traditional communities" across the country that immigrants and non-white residents are not unfairly taking their jobs and houses. The community initiative follows growing concerns that extremist groups such as the BNP are feeding on fears and myths that the white working classes are victims of social injustice. Yesterday, John Denham, the Communities Secretary, named the first 27 districts that would benefit from the money.
But critics attacked the plan as pandering to the BNP at the expense of minority communities, where there is evidence of real, rather than perceived, discrimination. The initiative received a mixed response from ethnic minority groups and taxpayer representatives.
Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesperson at the Muslim Council of Britain, said: "The Government has a duty of care to all communities so that none feels abandoned or neglected. At the same time, it should be recognised that there has been a lot of misinformation and half-truths put out by the far right, seeking to polarise communities and raise community tensions."
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It's true that many taxpayers feel abandoned by the main political parties, and while it's important to re-engage with them, this initiative looks more like a political gimmick in the run up to an election than meaningful action.
"Further, the Government should be tackling extremism in all its forms, not through central government diktat but through activists on the ground who know where the threat lies. Targeting one racial group over others has been proven in the past to be ineffective, costly, and counter-productive."
Julia Goldsworthy, Liberal Democrats spokesman on communities, said: "John Denham risks making the same mistake Gordon Brown made when he called for 'British jobs for British workers'. A lot of issues about extremism, whether Islamic or white fascist, boil down to poverty. The Government should have turned its attention to regenerating and developing our poorest communities over the last 12 years, rather than in its dying days."
But Mr Denham said if nothing was done to address the concerns of white communities it would create a vacuum filled by "those who want to exploit it for destructive and divisive reasons".
He added: "This is not, then, about Government combating the BNP. That is for political parties not the State. It is about addressing the legitimate fears and concerns, which, neglected, can prove fertile territory for extremism and those who would divide our communities."
Speaking at the launch of the project in London, Mr Denham said he had personally encountered one case of working class resentment over jobs given to Polish immigrants. "A new fast food franchise on the edge of a deprived estate chose to get staff from an agency much used by Polish workers. The local resentment at a lost opportunity of work outweighed the much larger number of jobs which went to local people from a new retail store," he said.
Recent changes had led to a "sense of resentment and a rise in insecurity" and created tensions in some communities, Mr Denham said. These changes included a decline in traditional jobs in predominately white areas, recent migration which was "perceived as having changed communities" and the persistent challenge of antisocial behaviour.
"Class still matters in Britain and the politics of identity ignores it at its peril. The position and growing self-confidence of minority communities can be seen as a threat to communities under pressure," he told the conference on community cohesion. "This does not mean stepping back on anti-racism or anti-discrimination."
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Comments
The Government have created discontent in a population that used to be tolerant because they have snubbed their own people - its now too late to pretend all can be well, it will take generations to assimilate the influx, if it ever does assimilate and now every time there is an improvement in the ecomony it will be flooded with cheap EU labour so there will never again be full employment for Britons.
So living on a sink estate where manufacturing has been dismantled, where the utilities and infrastructure are owned by foreign companies, where there is no hope of work or what there is pays Polish wages and where you see a never ending influx of immigrants going to the front of the queue how would you vote?
What a legacy this Government have left for the young people of Britain! - 12 years of damage cannot be undone by a six month splurge of insincere concern can it.
As an Afro-Caribbean married to a Fijian-Indian, I find your outrage at your perceived government injustice amusing. From my point of view, the British Empire sought to extract wealth and resources around the planet (nevermind the social horror both my and my wife's people endured). Flash forward a few hundred years and the descendants of the people who were abused are now moving to the UK to take small part of the social wealth our labor and resources generated and you resent this.
Now I suppose if you really don't like it, you could always close your borders, but from a trade perspective, were would that leave you?
Its a good tacticl to vote for a bunch of half-witted racists thugs? I think not.
Where do all the legal and illegal immigrants live and work then?
First off, all you have to do is emphasise that you're talking to WHITE people - a distinction we should have abolished long years past - I'm English, but it really doesn't matter as on most forms I fill in I'm actually "White Caucasian" or some other meaningless label. I live in England, part of the United Kingdom and my 'mother-tongue' is (UK) English. That to me says all that needs to. Maybe it's a failing in my upbringing (or, following current trends, I should blame a failure in my education) but unlike most Europeans I don't speak (or understand) a second language - perhaps just a very vague smattering of French. But there you are, I'm English. And yes, given all that I hear and read and see - I work in Peterborough - xenophobia would be an all too easy response to the issue of race. When I go walking at lunchtime the majority of voices I hear have distinct foreign accents or are speaking in their own tongue. Unfortunately the snatches of English conversations I do hear are usually peppered with swearwords and sound the way text messages read - but that's a gripe of a different stripe!
Extremism is a fear reaction to things we don't understand and people with an agenda can easily use it to stir up trouble, or at least create a situation where their views aren't perceived as the dangerous stupidity they actually are. I'm not sure spending £12m will do any good, but then the Government are damned if they do, damned if they don't at least try something (they're pretty much damned anyway, but that's yet another gripe). I'd suggest the government needs to determine at what age the possibility of extremism/xenophobia first sets in and target it's efforts there. As children, unless poisoned to think otherwise, we accept differences with equanimity, we're programmed to seek new experiences. But as we grow our capacity for wonderment and acceptance diminishes and that's when the fear can gain a hold.
I'd like to think I'm a well-adjusted, reasonably intelligent individual. But even I, just sometimes, find it hard not to feel just a little xenophobic...
And I concur with your comment on sometimes being ashamed of my colour - or lack thereof! Though racism isn't limited to white people, those of a pale skin tone do throw themselves into it with great gusto and spout rhetoric that bears no relation to reality (this side of an episode of the Twilight Zone)...
The Kinnocks with their obscene multi-million pound pension pot from the Fourth Reich, 'British jobs for British Workers' - promised by G.Brown, derided by the unelected 'Lord' Mandelperv, 'Lord' Ahmed with his threats to put Islamist rioters on the streets if an elected European MP (Wilders) was allowed to exercise free speech in this country. Ever increasing floods of immigrants, the submersion of our culture in the name of multi-culturalism, etc. etc. etc.
Yeah, the working class really need Labour.
we see it!!
we feel it !!
we live with it !!
day in day out and.......... were sick of it !!!
and i say people .......................NO MORE !
The irony is that the immigration policy of this Labout Government has created this very problem. They allowed half a million polish people into the counrty (France and Germany did not) The British government is a sop to muslim extremism - even allowing radical preachers to take to our streets and threaten the population with bombs. Muslim extremism is still allowed to grow and plan to one day make Britain a predominently Muslim nation. What Enoch Powell said all those years ago is coming to fruition. We need a Government who will curtail immigration now and not one who supports left wings lobby groups like the IAF. If they do not then the EDL and BNP will gradually garner more votes from the white working classes.
The UK may be up the creek but it's mostly due to the horrible behaviour of good old English people that has caused it, in my opinion.
As ironspiderzero mentioned above, overheard conversations from good old homegrown English people (and here I'm also going to include England born and raised descendents of more recent immigrants) are usually displaying astonishing ignorance and stupidity and their language is crude and usually offensive. Even if they're just discussing what they're planning to have for dinner...
I live in a little complex of flats and it's a pretty diverse bunch of people living there. A couple of white English people (me being one), a Hungarian couple, and two couples from India (though one half of one of those couples is British Indian). They're all "professional" people, in terms of work.
And you know what? Everybody is friendly, cheerful, polite, considerate.
Now... sadly, that's not something I can say about the bulk of white English people. And please don't get me wrong, I think there are horrible scummy people from ALL nations and skin colours etc, but it just seems to me that white English people are more hostile, rude, inconsiderate, greedy, selfish and unpleasant than most.
I've lived in quite a few other countries so I feel fairly confident in saying that while there are unpleasant people to be found everywhere, contemporary English have a particularly unpleasant psychological make-up.
And no, this is NOT due to immigration and nasty Islam turning the country into Saudi Arabia (North).
It's because the people in this country are just slaves to consumerism, which has no real culture.
Example? The relentless eradication of traditional English cafes. The cause of this: the spread of Starbucks et al, homogenised global brands, where I can get the same boring cup of coffee from about sixteen locations in central London as I can from a little suburb in Istanbul. And their popularity was boosted by vacuous people watching vacuous TV shows like friends and wanting to emulate the vacuous behaviour shown by them.
Though I have to agree, Labour have been fairly helpful in letting consumerism infect the country. Though I suspect there's not much that any government could really do to stop it.
With a combination of the type of news reporting that has gone on, plus some of the draconian laws brought out supposedly in support of anti-terrorism measures. This has gone on to sow fear and trepidation in the minds of the white majority unnecessarily.
For example, there was a news report about something or other in which young people were interviewed. All four youngsters were either black or asian, and no white youngster was involved. On the face of it, this might not seem wrong, but this was one of many reports where there is always a group of people being interviewed, and without exception there is always a black person, an asian person oh and a white person (almost as an afterthought). This is out of step with the representation of people on TV in relation to ethnic population size. And, you might not have noticed it, but the BBC seems to be a bit Scottish these days?
My point is, that a lot of sympathetic TV in relation to ethnic minority population size, plus positive discrimination, up and down the country, has elevated the ethnic minorities to a higher level of public exposure than should be normal, in such a way that the some of the white majority ethnic population, not all, mistakenly feels that it's place in the world is under threat.
New Labour is responsible for the increased discord between the white majority and the ethnic minorities. The BNP and others like them plus their UAF opposition are pawns being manouvered by a British government set on breaking Britain apart.
Anyone tempted to chuck ASCII fireworks at anyone else on this thread would do well to read this first!
By hacking away at immigrants, the following are in danger of happenning:
1 - resulting tensions flare up, people start crying 'something must be done' and the result is further curbs on our liberties, increased demands for ID Cards and surveillance. Nice one guys. Can't you see that 'problem-reaction-solution' is written all over this?
2 - attention is diverted away from the real causes of our problems: lack of affordable property due to market speculation and manipulation, lack of available credit thanks to banks tightening their lending criteria
An immigrant family down the road is a clearly visible, and easier target than the Government and the more nebulous 'Local Authorities'.
They're just a natural result of what's more likely to be a systematic issue, a symptom rather than a cause of the alleged problems faced by these forgotten communities.
As my mother used to say, "here here!"
You are correct, the immigrant down the street there and here in the US as well is an easy target. I was glad the Republicans here in the US lost the election otherwise I fear we would REALLY be on the road to chase out all our immigrants.
But I digress, I feel the issue is now, and has been for a VERY long time the fact corporations are too concerned with short-term profits and not long-term viability. Consumption is God! Interesting book for those wishing to study where we all might end up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Brief_Hi
Well done the Government. Shows that they have human face to it rather than idealogy crap.
What is "racism?"
What is a rascist?
Answer: http://www.truveo.com/A-Conversation-Ab
This has the Prince of Darkness' stink on it. My money's on Labour scraping back in, Gordo stepping down for health reasons and a cushy European number, someone harmless but nice getting the PM job and Mandy pulling strings from the shadows. Including the "his best mate for President" one...
As empires near the end of their time, the social and financial expectations of the indigenous population will exceed sustainability. Do you really believe for example that 40K is a reasonable salary for driving a tube train? This is only one example of lazy, ignorant people believing they deserve more than they actually do (on a worldwide basis even the poorest Brits' lifestyles are heavily subsidised by the sweat and blood of the world's poor).
If we are to survive as a viable economy on the world stage then we need to realise that our own expectations are driving UK plc out of business. We are no longer viable. The only thing that is keeping us afloat is the graft of less demanding immigrants (and the bloated UK financial service industry, which is only perpetuated through the lie that "we have the skills needed, and this is a valuable commodity which developing countries couldn't possibly replicate"). This is starting to come to an end now anyway...or hadn't you noticed?
We are in terminal decline, hastened by our moronic ruling class (politicians are indeed a very special breed of idiot) who destroyed our research & development and manufacturing base in favour of money-movers.
immigrants and non-white residents are not unfairly taking their jobs and houses
so you concede that jobs and houses are being taken, but its really fair?
I have read the BNP's budget proposal for my local council, I am not keen on their ideas at all, and certainly do not want them in Parliament representing Dagenham & Rainham.
Their pamphlets may say BNP, but I always read National Front, and only hear from them quick fix, short term, poorly thought out solutions to the long term issues of Britain.
The BNP campaign on issues which the present government refuses to put forward a counter argument to. I suspect because the government has painted itself into so many policy corners that it is afraid to expose it's mistakes in open debate.
Let me be clear, I have no time for the BNP, I suspect their long term motives as much as their short term policies. But now that they are considering their membership policies.
I have a suggestion;
Everybody in Britain should apply to join this nasty little gang, and suck the administration costs out of their campaign budget.
I appeal to black, white, Asian, gay, straight, anti-fascist, labour activist, Muslim, Jew, conservative, communist and priest, chief executive and brickie to apply for membership.
Of course please consider whether you actually wish to pay appropriate fees to the organisation, but as much as possible swamp their organisation with potential infiltrators. If you are truly against this organisation at least think about how to get rid of it.
Remove from the organisation its ability to function, or communicate with its core supporters, if they change membership rules, simply change the strategy of attack, it really doesn't matter, I am not asking you to be a loyal supporter.
People have legitimate concerns, I just think the BNP are not an appropriate represenative, but if we have to deal with them at lest we can deal with them democratically.
Just a suggestion.
Gordon Kennedy
JustVoteThemOut.com
deal with them at all. Hain is right. The BNP is an illegal organisation.