RUNNYMEDE WINTER 2010-2011 / ISSUE 364

aSYLUM SEEKERS
AND REFUGEES FACE
DOUBLE HIT
SOCIAL HOUSING AND
ETHNIC MINORITIES
IS MULTICULTURALISM
past its sell-by date?

Spending
CUTS
Runnymede

Bulletin
Dr Rob Berkeley editor’s
letter
Director
Sarah Isal
Deputy Director
Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Dr Omar Khan
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Julie Gibbs
Senior Research & Policy
Analyst
Jessica Mai Sims WELCOME to the first Winter edition of the online Runnymede Bulletin, just
Research & Policy Analyst as a predicted cold snap reassures me that we’ve definitely caught the end
Kjartan Páll Sveinsson
Research & Policy Analyst
of the right season.
Phil Mawhinney Unlike past issues’ wilfully elected topics, this quarter’s theme descended
Research & Policy Analyst
upon us as inescapably as the spending cuts themselves.
Jacob Lagnado
Research & Policy Analyst As we now begin to grasp the reality of how these swift and dramatic
Gabriela Quevedo
Research & Policy Analyst
squeezes on the public purse will affect us all, Ricky Joseph points the
Vastiana Belfon
spotlight on social housing (pages 6 and 7), where cutbacks will be felt
Real Histories Directory acutely by minority ethnic communities.
Robin Frampton
Publications Editor Meanwhile some of the most vulnerable groups among us are in danger of
Vicki Butler being hit on two fronts, as Julie Gibbs explores in her article on refugees
Public Affairs Officer and asylum seekers on pages 10 and 11.
Klara Schmitz
Project Assistant From page 8 Michael Keith takes a philosophical look at how the much-
Kamaljeet Gill disputed Big Society and the rolling back of state-funded public services
Project Assistant
might affect the struggle for racial justice.
Riffat Ahmed
Arts Project Manager Away from the spending cuts, another theme that has dominated recent
Rebecca Waller
Administrator
political debate, and remains of manifest interest to Runnymede, is whether
multiculturalism has had its day. Author Tariq Modood and influential blogger
Nina Kelly
Communications and Sunny Hundal explain their nuanced opinions over pages 12, 13 and 15.
Website Manager
Back at Runnymede, our public affairs officer Vicki Butler has been busy
with our parliamentary programme over the past few months, and gives an
ISSN 2045-404X
overview of what we’ve been up to from page 20.
The Runnymede Trust,
Sept 2010. Open access,
some rights reserved, A major area of our engagement in parliament is around stop and search
subject to the terms practice, via our connection with criminal justice action group StopWatch.
of Creative Commons
Licence Deed: Attribution- On pages 16 and 17, Benedicte Eichen outlines the fundamental issues
Non-Commercial-No related to stop and search and the disproportionate effects of these policing
Derivative Works 2.0 UK:
England & Wales. You are tactics on minority ethnic communities.
free to copy, distribute,
display and perform Also, do not miss Alan Anstead and Lucie Fremlova’s feature on the Roma
the work (including
translation) without written community, arguably the most disadvantaged ethnic group in Europe and
permission; you must
give the original author
often missing from discussions on race equality. For more on the same topic
credit; you may not use see Kamaljeet Gill’s analysis of Ian Hancock’s essays in Danger! Educated
this work for commercial
purposes; you may not Gypsy, which you can find in our familiar ‘reviews’ section towards the back
alter, transform, or build of the magazine.
upon this work. For more
information please go to Finally, as ever, I would like to earnestly thank everyone who has contributed
www.creativecommons.
org. For purposes other to this and the last three editions of the Runnymede Bulletin, making a
than those covered by
this licence, please complete set of the four seasons. Your time, effort and skills are sincerely
contact Runnymede. appreciated.
And thank you readers! Please feel free to send any feedback, suggestions
or responses to me at the email address below.
Runnymede is the UK’s
leading race equality
thinktank. We are a
research-led, non-party
political charity working
to end racism.

Nina Kelly, Editor

nina@runnymedetrust.org

2 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364 www.runnymedetrust.org

Contents

16
On the cover A view from...
06 housing cuts 20 ...parliament
Professor Ricky Joseph looks at What Runnymede has been doing
social housing cuts and black to keep race equality on the
and minority ethnic communities Westminster agenda

10 refugees and asylum 22 ...canada

How some of the most vulnerable Some good ideas on migrant
groups in our society expect to integration shared by the Toronto-
be hit by the cuts on two fronts based Cities of Migration

10
12 is multiculturalism dead?
Tariq Modood on whether
multiculturalism is still relevant

20 REgulars
04 news in brief
What has happened of note in
the past few months? A selection
of race-related stories here

23 reviews
Books and films with diversity in
mind come under the scrutiny of
Runnymede reviewers

27 director’s column
Rob Berkeley sees dangers as
well as opportunities in the Big
Society agenda
06
Features
08 big society and race
Oxford Uni’s Professor Michael
Keith examines the Big Society
through the lens of racial justice

14 rise of the far right

Kamaljeet Gill on how the spending
18 cuts may fuel the far right

15 response to tariq
Blogger Sunny Hundal gives his
take on multiculturalism

16 stop and search

How police tactics are affecting
ethnic minority communities

18 roma community
Alan Anstead and Lucie Fremlova
on a community that experiences
discrimination as standard

www.runnymedetrust.org winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 3

 news in brief
Spate of racist attacks in Sweden
is linked to the rise of the far right
ONE PERSON WAS KILLED AND
more than a dozen others injured
in a year-long spate of racially
motivated attacks in Sweden. Police
charged a 38-year-old Swedish man
with one count of murder and five
of attempted murder in November
2010. Reports suggest that the man
could also be linked to attacks on
several other dark-skinned Swedes
and immigrants.
The shootings have also been
linked to the entrance of the far-
right Swedish Democrats party to
parliament in September 2010. The
party, also known as the SD, defines
itself as a nationalist movement, and
regards Sweden’s immigration and
integration policies as failures.
Many people have argued that
the SD’s entrance into mainstream
politics has augmented racial
tensions in the country. There
have also been a series of anti-SD
Leading political theorist Lord Parekh defends
multiculturalism against recent criticism
AUTHOR & LEADING POLITICAL
philosopher Lord Bhikhu Parekh
addressed the successes and failures
of multiculturalism in the UK in a
talk on 23 November 2010.
Lord Professor Bhikhu Parekh
chaired the Commission on the
Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain,
a Runnymede project from 2000
that produced a pioneering report
on the real world consequences of
multiculturalism.
In his speech, Parekh revisited
the 2000 report, and called for the
coalition government not to abandon
the principles of multiculturalism
in policy making. He argued that
multiculturalism has “served the
UK well” in reassuring the national
4 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
rallies, in which protestors declared
solidarity with Sweden’s migrant
communities.
Swedish people report some of
the highest levels of racism against
Muslims in Europe, a recent report by
the Board of Integration determined.
Job seekers with a Swedish name are
50 per cent more likely to be called
for an interview than those with an
Arab-sounding name, according
to a study carried out by Swedish
National Television (SVT). This
discrepancy cannot be explained by
an applicants’ suitability for the job
in question, as this factor has been
controlled for in the research.
The lowest employment levels in
Sweden are among the African-born
section of the population, according
to a 2008 report by Statistics Sweden.
This report further shows a substantial
difference in school performance
between children from African
majority that differing cultures do
not need to be perceived as threats
to collective social values, and that
multiculturalism has contributed
towards greater cultural sensitivity.
Some of Parekh’s more interesting
and surprising comments concerned
the role of religion in public life. He
warned of devolving public service
delivery to the Anglican church,
and noted that religiously inspired
arguments are not always conducive
to public discourse.
Focusing on some recent
criticisms of multiculturalism, Lord
Parekh highlighted that terrorism
has become associated with public
understandings of cultural diversity.
This is an association that must be
by Lara Choksey
communities and their Swedish peers.
Amid this lingering ethnic inequality,
the rise of the SD has been likened to
a rise in the prominence of far-right
groups across Europe, suggesting that
racist ideology is moving closer to
conventional politics.
These developments were
discussed in Runnymede’s 2010 report
Preventing Racist Violence in Europe
in 2010, which suggests that “the
rise and gentrification of the far right
represents the extreme end of a Europe-
wide backlash against diversity”.
While providing an analysis of
race crime prevention practices
across a range of sectors, the report
highlights “a distinct lack of formal
structures to provide leadership,
share good practice and embed
prevention in policy.”
You can download the report here:
http://bit.ly/RacistViolenceEU
reversed, he argued, as it could lead
to further marginalisation of groups
of young Muslim men who feel
they have no identity within British
culture.
Lord Parekh ended with a positive
point, noting that local identity, which is
“more open and more loosely scripted”
than national identity, is a key element
in the future of multiculturalism. A
culturally homogenous state holds the
nation as the main point of reference;
cultural diversity therefore must locate
itself within local spheres in order to
prevent further cultural alienation.
Watch a video of Lord Parekh’s full
address, given at the 2011 Jim Rose
memorial lecture: http://bit.ly/JimRose
www.runnymedetrust.org

Stop and search changes passed
despite inaccuracy in ministers’ facts
A GOVERNMENT MINISTER
skewed his facts when defending
plans to scrap the stop and account
form and reduce the monitoring of
stop and search, reports influential
action group StopWatch.
Police minister Nick Herbert
MP claimed at a Westminster
debate on 1 December 2010 that
reducing time spent on the stop
and search form by cutting crucial
information – from 12 recording
requirements to 7 – will save more
than 300,000 hours of officer time
a year. The controversial changes
have now been passed through
parliament, despite the fact that
StopWatch recalculated the time
saving from Ministry of Justice
statistics, finding the real figure to
be closer to 19,000 hours per year.
Herbert’s original claim
assumes that it takes 16 minutes
to record the five pieces of
information the government plans
to cut; in fact it rarely takes more
than one minute. This means his
figures were out by up to 15 times.
Chuka Umunna, Labour MP for
Streatham in south London, said:
“The changes the government
is making to stop and search
powers are drastically watering
down the information collected
when a search takes place.
“This will prevent a proper
evaluation being conducted into
the use of these police powers,
in particular an assessment of
whether they are being used
in a proportionate and a non-
discriminatory way.”
Equally misleading was
Herbert’s claim that 450,000 hours
of police time would be saved
by scrapping stop and account
recording. This assumes it takes
12 minutes to fill in the form. In
www.runnymedetrust.org
reality, recording stop and account
rarely takes more than five
minutes, leaving the actual time
saving at 184,000 hours.
To put these numbers in
context, individual officers carry
out an average of eight stop and
searches and 15 stop and accounts
per year. The real time saving per
officer will therefore be a matter
of minutes per month.
Recent calls to cut red tape
in the police force have focused
almost exclusively on the form
that police officers are legally
obliged to fill in each time they
stop someone, which has lead to
this legal change in the procedure.
But by reducing monitoring,
law enforcement agencies are
seriously curbing their ability to
serve and answer to the public.
Dr Michael Shiner, an expert on
stop and search from the London
School of Economics, said:
“Real time savings can be
made by ensuring fewer, more
effective stop and searches, but
this cannot be achieved without
rigorous oversight and scrutiny,
which cannot, in turn, be achieved
without recording stops and stop
and search. In fact, real time
savings could be made by stopping
excess unfair and unproductive
stops and stop and searches on
black and Asian people.”
At the moment, black people
are stopped and searched by the
police at more than six times the
rate of white people. Meanwhile,
Asian people are stopped and
searched at more than twice the
rate of white people. Targeting
stop and search tactics on ethnic
minority communities continues
to drive a wedge between the
police the public that they serve.
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 5
Inequality persists
at Oxbridge
OXFORD ADMITTED ONLY ONE
black British Caribbean applicant in
2009, and out of 1500 academic and
laboratory staff at Cambridge, none
are black, according to official data
collected by Labour MP David Lammy.
Lammy writes, “If Britain has
become a ‘classless society’, then
Oxford still hasn’t got the message.
Oxford and Cambridge receive nearly
£400m a year of taxpayers’ money.
They cannot be allowed to spend that
money entrenching inequality instead
of addressing it.”
Runnymede’s director Rob
Berkeley, an Oxford graduate himself,
backed Lammy’s argument. Rob
locates the issue not only with elite
universities, but also with secondary
schools for a failure to motivate and
encourage the aspirations of their
students. He writes: “School level
careers guidance is too often weak,
and institutions such as the University
of Oxford are perceived as not being
open to the diversity of the potential
student population.” However, he
continues: “With only one black
British Caribbean student in a year,
this perception seems well-founded.”
Oxford University has criticised
Lammy’s interpretation of these
statistics. A spokesperson for the
university partially attributed the
under-representation of black British
Caribbean students to their lower
attainment in school, saying: “Only
71 black Caribbean students in all of
the UK achieved three grade As out of
nearly 36,000 students overall.”
However, privately educated
students who gain the necessary
grades for entrance into Oxbridge
have benefited from considerably
more guidance and encouragement
than their state-school counterparts.
Rob Berkeley says: “Oxford
University must wake up to the way in
which it is missing out on the potential
of students from black backgrounds
and work to address it.”
 A house of cards
As local authorities face cuts of 26 per cent, Ricky Joseph considers
the likely effects on housing, particularly for black and minority people
The omens were not particularly
promising even before chancellor George
Osborne announced the outcome of the
Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR)
in October 2010. The CSR, a set-piece
political event that rarely attracts the
attention of those outside of politics, the
public sector and the financial markets,
took on even greater significance for a
nation coming to terms with the bleak
realities of the biggest global economic
downturn faced in living memory. The
CSR detailed spending targets across
every government department over a
four year period (2011-2015).

Housing barely featured as an election

campaign issue among the three main
political parties, despite concerns
articulated by a number of leading
housing campaigning groups over
the shortage of affordable housing,
homelessness and ever-increasing
housing registers. Credit is due to both
Diane Abbott MP and Theresa May MP,
however. In Diane Abbott’s case, during
her bid to become the next leader of the
Labour Party following its election defeat,
she articulated her frustration at those
(even within her own party) who blamed
immigration as one of the reasons for its
failure to win office. Instead, she pointed
the finger to the lack of affordable housing
and job insecurity. In a leaked letter,
published in one of the broadsheets
on the eve of the CSR, Theresa May,
now the home secretary expressed her
concerns to chancellor George Osborne
MP that cuts in public expenditure ran
the risk of widening inequality in Britain
and more worryingly ran the ‘real risk’ of
breaking the equalities law.

The CSR itself made grim reading. The

raw headlines gave a taste of the scale
and depth of the challenges facing
our public services and communities
up and down the country in terms of
housing and wider welfare reform.
Photo: James Y Stewart

Across a number of key housing policy

and investment areas, we can see a
systematic chipping away of services
and financial support. Many seasoned
observers realised quite quickly that this

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Across a number of key
housing policy areas, we can see
a systematic chipping away of
services and financial support
would have a disproportionate impact
on ethnic minority households and
other vulnerable groups. The National
Affordable Housing Programme, which is
responsible for delivering up to 150,000
new affordable homes, is set to receive a
63 per cent cut in real terms over 2011-
15 (compared with 2008-11). The twist in
the tail is that new homes (in most cases)
supported by public funds must be let at
80 per cent of market rent. This will have
a significant squeeze on the budgets
of households who are on low incomes
or are receiving housing benefit. Ethnic
minority households feature heavily in
both groups. The debates that have been
raging since the 2010 General Election
around the withdrawal of ‘permanent
tenancies’ has been put before
parliament in the Localism Bill. This will
remove the right to security of tenure for
new tenants: a policy which some have
argued will result in the end of social
housing as part of the welfare state. It is
too early to assess its impact on ethnic
minority households. However, it is likely
to weaken families’ ties with their local
communities if they know in advance that
they may have to move from their homes
and neighbourhoods before long.
The social housing sector faces
real challenges to its development
programmes and in delivering the
national house building targets set
out by government. The cuts in capital
investment that are proposed have
to be seen in the context of already
difficult trading conditions resulting from
the impact of the credit crunch. Not to
mention the weak supply of funds from
the money markets and the slump in
the construction industry. Black and
minority ethnic (BME) households
are over-represented across a wide
range of housing indicators, including
overcrowding, poor quality housing and
insecure housing. Moreover, certain BME
groups, because of their family structure
and size, can have a greater need for
larger sized accommodation. The irony,
given the much welcomed commitment
www.runnymedetrust.org
to boost housing supply by 2020, is that
this will be at the cost of reducing the
supply of larger-sized accommodation.
In effect, what are likely to roll off the
production line will be smaller, higher
density homes that are cheaper to build
and manage. This places even greater
pressure on BME households who have
no other option but to consider privatly
rented accommodation or spend even
longer on the housing register.
Ethnic minority households are over-
represented in homelessness figures
across many local authorities’ areas and
make up 21 per cent of households that
have been accepted onto social housing
lists in England due to homelessness.
This figure is disproportionate to the
demographic profile of ethnic minority
groups. Funding for the Homelessness
Grant remains relatively unchanged over
the spending review period. However
concerns have been expressed that
Ethnic minority households are
over-represented in homelessness
figures and on social housing lists
the recession and expected increases
in unemployment in 2011 will feed
into higher levels of homelessness. A
number of studies on the impact of past
recessions suggest that ethnic minority
groups are much more vulnerable.
The Supporting People programme,
which provides housing-related help
to vulnerable people, enabling them
to live independently, will receive a 12
per cent cut over the period of the CSR.
Though many had feared a more severe
reduction in funding, this cut will still
have a tangible negative impact.
Local authorities will face significant
cuts of 26 per cent in real terms over
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 7
feature
the course of the CSR. This will have
a major impact on what they will be
able to do for vulnerable communities.
The government’s Localism Bill sets
out new policy ideas, most notably Big
Society, which it is hoped will mobilise
and empower communities and social
businesses to fill this gap in publicly run
services. It remains to be seen how the
government will support and encourage
local communities to take up the baton.
The welfare reform package announced
by the government includes specific
proposals aimed at making £50m a year
savings on housing benefit. The caps
to local housing allowance announced
in June 2010 will further reduce the
amount of housing benefit paid. This
change will have a significant impact
on BME households, which are twice
as likely to be unemployed. It is worth
noting that the Department of Work and
Pensions undertook an equality impact
assessment on the changes in July 2010.
It conceded (albeit based on limited
data) that ethnic minority households
were among the groups who stood to
lose an average £624 a year in benefit.
The government delayed implementing
these changes until this year (2011)
because of concerns over its wider
impact on recipients of housing benefit
and local authorities. Commenting on the
changes, Sheron Carter, chief executive
of Arhag Housing Association, argued
the changes would result in “state
sponsored overcrowding” and would
force people to live in accommodation
much smaller than their needs.
A further development that does not
bode well for ethnic minority groups are
government plans not to implement the
socio-economic duty contained within
the Equalities Act 2010. If implemented
it would provide further public scrutiny
to the way that public bodies attempt
to reduce social and economic
disadvantage when making strategic
decisions. 2011 promises to be a pivotal
year for equality issues.
Will the Big Society
As we try to understand how David Cameron’s Big Society agenda
may affect us all in practice, Professor Michael Keith of Oxford
University’s migration centre, COMPAS, points a philosophical eye at
the Big Society, interpreting how it might interact with racial justice
If we want to understand the race equality The significant difference in the unexplained penalty of 8 per cent.
dynamics of the scale of change at work trajectories of minority communities also
in the fiscal readjustments announced shows in the following statistics: All of the above need to be set against
in the autumn, we may want to think a changing pattern of inequality in the
about both demography of needs and • First generation Hindu men were United Kingdom which demonstrates
the historical complexity of regimes of paid slightly more (4 per cent) sustained inter-generational differences
welfare provision. than White British Christian men. in affluence and poverty, class mobility
However, given their qualifications and opportunity by social class.
Disproportionate impacts and (particularly) their
occupations, they would have
The headline story that we already
expected to be paid 14 per cent Employees
know for certain is that to the extent
more; there was an unexplained
that black and minority ethnic (BME) In the 1970s and 1980s we would have
penalty of 10 per cent.
communities are disproportionately expected a strong argument that would
dependent on programmes of social suggest that ethnic minority employees
• Second generation Hindu men
housing, employment benefits and were disproportionately represented
were paid 13 per cent more
‘workfare’ programmes, so they will be in the public sector and so would also
than white British Christian men,
disproportionately impacted by fiscal be disproportionately affected by the
only slightly less than would be
cuts. We know that the overall picture is cuts in public expenditure. However, a
expected given their qualifications
bleak in this regard due to the differing cursory look at some of the evidence
and occupation; an unexplained
patterns of poverty between ethnic would question this from the more recent
penalty of only 3 per cent.
historical material. In an ONS paper
recently published there is an analysis

The headline story we of total employment in the public sector

that shows total ‘non-white’ employment

know for certain is that ethnic

growing from 5.9% in 2001 to 8.6% in
2009. The proportions in the private
sector grew from 5.9% to 8.4% over the
minority communities will be same period of time. Although there are
some differences in ethnicity (such as

disproportionately impacted by
the difference in percentage between
black and Asian groups) we know
that these categories mask as much
fiscal cuts as they reveal in terms of social class:
Jamaican compared to Nigerian in the
minorities. However, from the various black category; and Gujerati versus
surveys from the Policy Studies Institute Bangladeshi under ‘Asian’. Therefore, it
• First generation Pakistani Muslim
over the years and related material, is worth being cautious about what we
men were paid 46 per cent
there remain both substantial historical can say here.
less than white British Christian
differences in poverty by race and
men. They would be predicted
ethnicity, and also significant differences The historical basis of the
to earn 30 per cent less on the
between minority groups.
basis of their qualifications and welfare state
occupation, so there was an
The most significant recent piece of The Big Society appeals to long
unexplained penalty of 15 per
work as a reference point here would traditions of ‘self help’ and mutualism.
cent.
be the Hills report. This was produced The easy way to classify such a move
in 2010 by the Government Equalities is through the language of cost cutting:
• Second generation Pakistani
Office and has the full title ‘Measuring shifting the burden of responsibility for
Muslim men were paid 12 per
inequality in contemporary Britain’ welfare from the state to the community.
cent less that white British
(John Hills, 2010). Just a couple of the To an extent this is true. However it
Christian men, about half of which
more exemplary facts on racialised masks some important trends that we
was explained by qualifications
inequality from the report are as shown miss at our peril.
and occupation, leaving an
in the Fact Box. Firstly, the origins of the welfare state

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be a racially just one?
frequently lay as much in cooperation,
mutualism and campaigning as they did
in state reform. In the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century concern for the
poor was made visible through the work
of the university settlements, charities
and agencies for social reform.
These in turn were frequently emerging
from Christian reform movements. In
the East End the role of figures such as
William Booth and Canon Barnett, who
founded university settlement house
Toynbee Hall, played an influential part
in structuring the welfare state through
models of Christian intervention. The
tension between particular religious
models of ‘need’ and ‘deserving poor’ and
universal models of ‘state intervention’
nuance the way we understand the
history of the development of welfare
provision as well as the way we might
understand its future. Crudely put, the
boundaries between state and civil
society have always been much more
fuzzy than some thinkers would suggest,
which means that how we think about
the future of community power needs
to understand some of the selectively
communitarian roots of the welfare state,
as well as the communitarian impulses
of the Big Society.
Liberal government and the
Bush / Obama legacy
It is important to remember that the
genealogy of some of the ideas of the
Big Society lie not just in the ‘Red Tory’
thinking of some of today’s think tank
directors such as Philip Blond, but also
in the ‘compassionate conservatism’ of
the Bush era. The latter sits alongside
a particularly American tradition of
community activism and a specifically
prominent role for religious-based
community activism / community
development that is based less on
‘political parties’ and more on civil
society organisations. In the USA, this
is particularly linked to the history of
the black churches and a number of
minority groups’ religious organisations.
There is a history of this in the USA that
is important and confounds the simple
left/right cartographies of politics. For
examples, think through the background
to the Industrial Areas Foundation, Saul
Alinsky and Obama’s own biography as
a community organiser. This opens up
www.runnymedetrust.org
feature
Some of the Big Society
ideas have their roots in the
‘compassionate conservatism’ of
the Bush era in the US
new hopes and new cautions. of familiar identity become the locus of
claims for resources and recognition
Community organising mobilises strong the Big Society may also provide new
forces of sentiment, moral powers that geometries of division.
appeal to a good society and a just
social order. The links between the
communitarian moments of the last
Labour government, the sorts of politics Professor Michael Keith is director,
witnessed in campaigns such as London Oxford University’s Centre on Migration,
Citizens, who are demanding a ‘living Policy and Society (COMPAS), a leading
wage’ for Londoners, and the demand centre in the field of migration policy.
for engagement in the Big Society show
many complementarities. The ‘new
politics’ of America in the last 15 years
could also be said to foreshadow the
‘anti politics’ of the Big Society in the
21st century in the UK. Fact box
The moral force at the heart of For white British households,
such political imaginaries are also median total wealth is
important. They appeal to the £221,000
reassuring categories that we know:
the neighbourhood, our friends, our
family and our faith. If the traditional For Indian households it is
enlightenment moral categories £204,000
appealed to transcendent imaginaries
that we invoke - the rights of man, the
For Pakistani households it is
global good, the colour line – the Big
£97,000
Society in part depends on a narrower
ethical calculus. If its moral power
derives from a sense of humanising
For other Asian households it
the bureaucratic machineries of the is £50,000
welfare state, its moral challenge will
be whether less obviously sympathetic
connections can sustain the welfare For black Caribbean
needs of the less sentimentally strong households it is £76,000
links between undeserving as well as
the deserving poor.
For black African households
In this sense in the politics of race it is £21,000
equality, the Big Society may both test
the resonance of the categories through
which we articulate claims for equality For Bangladeshi households it
and challenge our ability to make is £15,000
the strange familiar. In terms of race
equality, to the extent that we can make
bonds and links across boundaries
of identity politics it may open up new
possibilities. But to the extent that forms
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 9
Refugees face double
whammy from cuts
We know that the public spending cuts are likely to affect some of
the most vulnerable in UK society. Here Julie Gibbs considers in
particular the bleak situation facing asylum seekers and refugees
W
riting about spending cuts is
always a gloomy affair. There
are few good news stories in
the refugee sector these days
and things are set to get much worse over
the coming months. Government spending
cuts will not only affect asylum seekers in the
UK, but will also hit those working with and
for them too. The Refugee Council, which
is itself facing the prospect of considerable
cutbacks, recently pointed out: “Government
funding cuts could mean that we are at
risk of losing some of the most innovative
organisations that support the most vulnerable
members of our society, and which save the
British taxpayer money by dealing with some
of the more complex root causes of society’s
social challenges.”
It is important to look at the context of
asylum to the UK over the past few years. In
a time of recession, public opinion inevitably
hardens towards migrants of any kind, as
national unemployment rises and local
services experience an increase in demand, or
are cut altogether.
Although the proposed immigration cap is
still fuelling the idea that immigration to the
UK is desperately out of control, the truth is
that the number of asylum seekers coming to
the country has in fact dropped.
In fact, the annual statistics show asylum
claims are at their lowest level since 1993.
This is due to a wide range of factors,
including the global economic downturn. But
the point remains that despite public feeling
running high on the back of right-wing media
panics, the number of asylum seekers is now
at its lowest point for a decade.
That being said, asylum seekers in the UK
are still likely to suffer the cuts in a number
of ways. They will be forced to make stark
choices about issues such as housing, basic
essentials like food, and legal representation.
What is more, they are increasingly likely
to have to do so without the support of
10 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
community groups who are themselves facing
axed or dramatically reduced budgets.
Although asylum seekers will be affected
by cuts across all government departments,
the most salient one is that the UK Border
Agency (UKBA) is facing a budget reduction
of £500 million and a reduction of 5,000 staff
on top of 1,700 posts already lost. This comes
at a time when there are still a large backlog
of cases waiting to be decided (the so-called
Legacy Programme). The government has
pledged to speed up the asylum process for
newer cases through the Asylum Improvement
Programme. What effect this will have on
those claiming asylum is still unclear, but past
experience suggests asylum seekers will suffer
delays, poor communication and subsequent
frustration while their claims are handled by
overworked, target-driven caseworkers.
Legal aid cuts
One area where funding cuts are already being
felt is legal aid, and at the time of writing the
government has just announced £350 million
savings to the already stretched legal aid
budget. For the reasons set out above it is
more important than ever that asylum seekers
can access high quality legal advice and
representation to ensure that their claim has a
justifiable outcome. This not only assists the
asylum seeker in feeling that they are getting
a fair hearing, but also reduces costs to the
taxpayer. This is because fair asylum claims
reduce the expensive detention of asylum
seekers, decrease the amount of money spent
on appeals, and allow for either a speedier
process of integration into British society, or
a faster and less-contested removals process.
Appeals after initial decisions are currently
allowed at a rate of 28 per cent, suggesting
that Home Office decision making in the first
instance is often flawed. With more spaces
being built in immigration removal centres
and more people entering asylum fast-track
procedures, where claims are decided within
seven days, the focus appears instead to be on
removing as many people as possible in the
shortest space of time.
Changes to the way that legal aid is
allocated to firms and billed to the Legal
Services Commission, the body currently
responsible for administering it, have already
had a negative effect on the asylum law
sector. Since 2007, the Graduated Fixed Fee
Scheme has significantly reduced the time
available to representatives to spend on a
case. Asylum cases are more often than not
complex and time consuming. This is even
before considering essential elements, such
as the time it takes for the asylum seeker and
representative to build up a relationship and
disclose their case fully. Under the Graduated
Fixed Fee Scheme this has become extremely
difficult. Despite the desire of those high
quality advisers and firms to do the best work
for their legal aid clients, they are nonetheless
failing to make ends meet.
The high profile closure of major legal aid
provider Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ)
in July 2010 is just the beginning of a slippery
slope to asylum clients not being able to
access high quality legal advice. In addition,
nine law centres across the country closed
in 2010. Cuts in legal aid to asylum clients
would be disastrous for their access to a fair
and humane hearing, and we may see a rise in
appeals and fresh claims that will cost more
for the courts to administer and the Home
Office to defend.
The most vulnerable
At a recent conference on ending indefinite
immigration detention I heard time and time
again that accessing a solicitor is extremely
difficult for people in detention, and research
recently conducted by the Information
Centre about Asylum and Refugees (ICAR)
shows that even before the closure of RMJ,
good solicitors were difficult to find (or they
www.runnymedetrust.org

were not accepting new clients), especially
outside London. Despite large protests by
the asylum legal community, refugee support
organisations and asylum seekers themselves,
the government still insists that there is
enough access to legal aid for asylum clients.
In short the situation on the ground is a far cry
from the one that seems to exist in the minds
of the civil servants and ministers driving
legal aid policy.
Another area that has faced cuts, and
is likely to face more in the future, is the
support budget for asylum seekers on Section
4 support, that is, for those whose asylum
claims have been rejected, but for whom it
is still too dangerous to return home. These
people exist on a card payment scheme which
allows them £35 a week for everything aside
from the basic accommodation they are given.
Stringent conditions on the way that these
cards can be used, the specific shops they
can be used in and which specific items they
can be used to buy make life for people on
section 4 extremely difficult. Imagine living
a cashless life, one where there is no change
for the bus, for buying the cheapest food at the
market or clothes in a charity shop. Forcing
people to survive on such a small amount of
money is hard enough, but then taking away
their choice of what they can use it to buy
www.runnymedetrust.org
seems especially cruel.
Housing is another key area where cuts are
negatively affecting people’s lives. In October
2010, Birmingham and Wolverhampton
councils both announced that they would end
their contracts with the UK Border Agency
(UKBA) to provide housing for asylum
seekers next spring. The UKBA has also
announced that it will be moving hundreds of
asylum seekers out of Glasgow as a result of a
row over costs with the local council.
Thus asylum seekers who have been
forcibly dispersed upon arrival to cities around
the UK will now have their lives further
disrupted as funding cuts hit local services.
Refugees and asylum seekers often live in the
most rundown areas that no one else wants
to live in. Moving them as funding runs out
could mean they end up living in increasingly
unacceptable conditions, far from family,
friends, legal advisers and other networks
that they have worked hard to build up.
Organisations facing closure
Finally, I want to highlight the people
who set out to help asylum seekers and
refugees through providing voluntary and
charitable services. These groups are being
hit particularly hard by cuts in government
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 11
feature
and council funding, and many are at risk
of closure. London Councils, for example,
which is one of the largest investors in charity
and community sector groups throughout
the capital, must reduce its central funds by
80 per cent from April 2011. It will not be
able to honour previously agreed funding
arrangements for groups who thought they
had guaranteed funding for three years.
Many groups will be hard hit by this news.
Young Londoners, a charity that works with
unaccompanied minors and young asylum
seekers, faces possible closure.
This double whammy of direct funding
cuts affecting asylum seekers and refugees,
and indirect cuts to the funding of the very
groups that are best-placed to help them
through a crisis, is a particularly worrying
situation.
Only time will tell how one of the most
vulnerable groups of people in our society will
cope with these dramatic spending cuts and
what the consequences will be for all of us.
Julie Gibbs is a senior research and policy
analyst with the Information Centre about
Asylum and Refugees (ICAR). To find out
more about how you can support ICAR in this
difficult time visit: www.icar.org.uk
Photo: Physicians for Human Rights
Is multiculturalism
past its sell-by date?
Professor Tariq Modood’s second book on Britishness is published
amid a raging debate on multiculturalism sparked by David Cameron’s
disparaging comments. So, is multiculturalism out-dated?
The idea that multiculturalism threatened
social unity, let alone was subversive
of western civilisation, was undreamt of
when I published a collection of essays
on being British in 1992. As is evident
in my new book, Still Not Easy Being
British, much has changed since then.
Few people now believe that Britain can
be a society in which ethnic minorities
are treated equally without a large-scale
discussion of multiculturalism, national
identity and secularism. Some of the
more specific topics touched on in my
book are summarised below.
Muslims & multiculturalism
It is ironic that Muslims are experiencing
the pressures to step up and be British
Muslims just as other minorities might be
feeling an easing of identity pressures
and greater freedom to mix and match
identities on an individual basis. One of
the most interesting developments is the
emergence of organisations that want to
belong to the family of public Muslims,
but are thoroughly critical of a religious
politics. What is distinctive about these
organisations is the relative thinness of
their appeal to Islam to justify their social
democratic politics. They could just as
easily seek to privatise their Muslimness,
but feel a socio-political obligation to
do the opposite. Some contemporary
Muslim identity politics, then, responds
pragmatically, treating being ‘British
Muslim’ as a hyphenated identity, in which
both parts are to be valued as important to
one’s principles and belief commitments.
Of course to bring together two or several
identity shaping, even identity defining,
commitments together will have an effect
on each of the commitments. The two
identities will begin to interact, leading to
some reinterpretation on each side.
12 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
As Muslims discuss these matters of
identity, and as Muslim discourses
become part of British debates, these
issues will become more openly debated
and political maturity could mean that
when we seek Muslim voices we seek
more than one, or even more than a few,
kind of Muslims. This is easier to achieve
at the level of discourses, more difficult
in terms of institutional accommodation,
though it is not impossible.
So allowing Muslims to politically
organise ‘as Muslims’ without any
sense of illegitimacy, and to have group
representation in various public bodies
means allowing Muslims to organise in
ways they think appropriate at different
times, in different contexts and for different
ends. The result will be a democratic
constellation of organisations, networks,
alliances and discourses in which there
will be agreement and disagreement.
Group identity will be manifested more by
way of family resemblances than the idea
that one group means one voice.
Past its sell-by date?
I believe that it is neither intellectually nor
politically true that multiculturalism is out
of date. The term ‘multiculturalism’, like
the terms ‘integration’ or ‘assimilation’,
operates at different levels. There is the
sociological level that acknowledges
the fact that racial and ethnic groups
exist in society, both in the way minority
groups are told that they are ‘different’,
and in terms of minorities having their
own sense of identity. Then, secondly,
there is the question of what should
the political response be to that social
reality. Assimilation is one response;
liberal integration based on respect for
individuals but no political recognition
of groups is another. Or there is
multiculturalism (in its political sense),
meaning a response based not just
on the equal dignity of individuals but
also on the political accommodation of
group identities as a means of fostering
respect and inclusion for demeaned
groups. Moving beyond a focus on
exclusion and minorities is a third level
of multiculturalism, which is not just
about positive minority identities but a
positive vision of society as a whole. A
vision of society remade so as to include
the previously excluded or marginalised
on the basis of equality and belonging.
It is at this level that we may speak of
multicultural integration or multicultural
citizenship.
This third level of multiculturalism,
incorporates the facts of diversity, group
identities (by religion or race, for example)
and exclusion. But this level of defining
multiculturalism goes beyond individual
rights and political accommodation, and
is about encouraging minority difference
without a counterbalancing emphasis
on cross-cutting commonalities and a
vision of a greater good. This has led
many commentators and politicians to
talk of multiculturalism as divisive and
promoting of segregation.
This popular, as well as academic
critique, of multiculturalism was evident
in the 1990s, not just in countries that
had never embraced multiculturalism,
such as France and Germany, but also in
those that had, such as the Netherlands
and Britain. After the terrorist attacks
in America on 11 September 2001 and
their aftermath, including the London
bombings of 7 July 2005 and other failed
or prevented attacks in Britain, fears about
international terrorism and associated
www.runnymedetrust.org

wars and conflict coalesced with anxiety
about Muslims failing to integrate in
Britain and other countries. The anti-
multiculturalism discourses came to not
just dominate the relevant policy field but
to be at the forefront of politics. Discourses
of ‘community cohesion’ and ‘integration’
were prominent in this politics, which
overlooked the fact that no major theorist
or advocate of multiculturalism, nor
any relevant policy or legislation, had
promoted ‘separatism’. Theorists of
multiculturalism such as Charles Taylor
and Lord Bhikhu Parekh, related policy
documents such as the Commission
on the Future of a Multi-ethnic Britain
(2000) and enactments such as those in
Canada, which is universally regarded
as a pioneer and exemplar of state
multiculturalism, all built on an idea of
national citizenship.
From a multiculturalist point of view
then, though not from that of its critics,
the recent emphasis on cohesion and
citizenship is a necessary re-balancing of
the political multiculturalism of the 1990s,
which largely took the form of what I
have called above the second level of
multiculturalism. It cannot be understood
as simply a move from multiculturalism
to integration, as it not only continues
www.runnymedetrust.org
to understand exclusion and identity as
sociological facts but it also continues
with group consultations, representation
and accommodation.
Multiculturalism & religion
The multiculturalism in Britain that I
refer to has no single legal or policy
statement (unlike Canada) but has
grown up, sometimes in contradictory
ways, in response to crises as well as
mature reflection, and so is evolutionary
and multi-faceted. It is important to
remember however that the foundations
of Muslim/non-Muslim relations in Britain
are based upon white/non-white relation.,
The original policy paradigm that
multiculturalism came from was ‘race
relations’; no British policymaker or social
scientist expected, let alone desired,
religion to have political significance.
The new political relevance of religion
has not come top-down from the state,
but from the political mobilisation of
specific minorities or parts of minorities
who prioritised their religious identity
over that of ethnicity or ‘colour’ (which
is not to say that they deemed the latter
insignificant). The Sikhs were the first
religious minority to politically mobilise
and win concessions from the state in
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 13
feature
Photo: Vijay Jethwa
relation to the legal recognition of the
turban. So, in many ways, Muslim political
assertiveness arose in the context of
an anti-racism movement, equality
legislation and Sikh mobilisation; in short,
a political multiculturalism.
This has led many to say that we must
emphasise what we have in common,
and they are right. Emphasising and
cultivating what we have in common is
not a denial of difference. Commonality
cannot be taken for granted, both
in the sense that it usually has to be
worked at, but equally importantly it
has to be the right kind of commonality.
Hence difference and commonality
are not either/or opposites but are
complementary and have to be made –
lived – together, giving to each its due.
More than that, commonality must be
difference-friendly, and if it is not, it must
be remade to be so. This does not mean
weak or indifferent national identities; on
the contrary multiculturalism requires a
framework of vibrant, dynamic, national
narratives and the ceremonies and rituals
that give expression to a national identity.
A sense of belonging to one’s country
is necessary to make a success of a
multicultural society. That too is a lesson
we should have learned by now.
Rise of the far right
Kamaljeet Gill on how public service cuts may fuel their agenda
T
he government’s reforms to public
services threaten to sharpen tensions
and provoke conflicts in areas already
prone to attention from far right
groups. Economically deprived areas, which
can now expect less financial support from
local authorities, are the first to be targeted
by the British National Party (BNP) and the
English Defence League (EDL).
The public spending cuts might indirectly
feed into the far right’s hugely divisive
agenda in this way. When resources become
scarce, competition becomes more heated
and, in all probability, less civil. As public
service provision is slashed and services such
as street cleaning, libraries and play centres
are reduced, resentments are liable to build
between communities. Increased numbers
of people will feel that their neighbours are
receiving preferential distribution of the
increasingly limited local authority benefits.
There is also the potentially damaging
element of hyper-localism, which the Big
Society agenda incorporates, which devolves
power down to community groups. This does
not often lead to greater equality. In areas
where swingeing cuts have already excited
tensions, the monopoly of essential services
by one or another community risks arousing
further ire. For example, imagine that a group
of concerned Jewish parents wish to break
away from the local education authority and
set up a free school. As current policy stands
they would receive funding directly from
government. It is not difficult to imagine this
creating suspicion and resentment among
residents who have witnessed their local
comprehensive school suffer the effects of
massive cuts, such as the cancellation of the
Building Schools for the Future programme.
Similar problems could arise if an Islamic
charity takes over the provision of basic social
or healthcare services and, in line with Islamic
teachings, provides service users with Halal
food. Organisations like the EDL, who have
a history of picking up on such issues, would
have ample material to cultivate tension and
even violence.
There is an assumption that communities
are defined geographically and are close-knit.
However, communities often lack one or the
other of these qualities. As Steven Bubb,
Chair of the Social Investment Business,
14 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
English Defence
League march in
Newcastle, May
2010
pointed out at a recent conference on the Big
Society, Kurds living in Coldharbour Lane,
may not define their community in terms of
residence in Brixton, but rather in terms of the
Kurdish population of the capital. Similarly
there may be residents of a geographical area
that are not accepted into the ‘community’
by their neighbours. Young offenders in an
institution or asylum seekers are two obvious
groups that may live (geographically) within
a community, without being accepted into it.
With extensive cuts to public services that
previously catered to their needs, especially
those of asylum seekers and migrants, is
it really logical to assume that the local
community will step in and fill the gaps?
The last election resulted in the BNP losing
the majority of its council seats. Yet the party
increased their share of the total votes received
in England from 0.8% to 2.1% overall. There
remains a base level of support for the far
right that has not declined. Significantly,
the BNP have a history of successfully
capitalising on local issues. Their notorious
‘Africans for Essex’ flyer, for example,
took advantage of concerns over the lack of
social housing in Barking and Dagenham
by (falsely) claiming the Labour Party was
paying African migrants to move into the
area. In the absence of a positive vision of the
limitations of localism, the Big Society could
become a breeding ground for the type of
disputes on which the party thrives. Outlining
a minimum set of standards that should apply
Photo: Gavin Lynn
everywhere is therefore a vital policy aim for
central government, if only to define by whom
localism is to be implemented. Without such a
policy, it is likely that some people will be left
outside the local community, and the localism
agenda might be hijacked by extremist groups
of any shade.
Even without the influence of the BNP,
there is a significant risk that conflict will
increase. Proponents of the Big Society argue
that reforms will result in neighbourhood
and community groups working together;
in reality the situation is more complex. A
single community may unite to win resources
and supply a service; however in securing
those resources they will be denying them
to a raft of others, either through ignorance
or deliberate exclusion or simply because,
in times of hardship, funding is a zero sum
game. Even those who disagree with the
BNP or the EDL may feel resentment and
antagonism when they compete with others
for scarce resources.
There is naivety about the impact of both
cuts and the Big Society on community
relations. It will be a challenge for financially
constrained local authorities to mediate
between groups, especially when the groups
directly compete for the responsibility of
administering resources. In the resulting
vacuum there may be opportunities for
unscrupulous groups to take advantage of
sharpening local resentments. There are
potentially big risks within the Big Society.
www.runnymedetrust.org
Let’s move the debate on
Responding to Tariq Modood’s Soho Road, Birmingham,
is the most religiously
article on p12, Sunny Hundal diverse street in the UK

argues that it is the debate, rather

than multiculturalism, that is dead
“Just because a dog is born in a stable doesn’t make it a horse.”
That was the cutting reply that a National Front member once
gave me when I pointed out I had as much right to call myself
British as he did, having been born here.
It was around ten years ago when I heard that, and it has
always stuck with me. In one sense it was at the beginning of
a longer journey of discovery, of my own identity and sense

Photo: Riffat Ahmed

of belonging. I wanted to be British whether the National Front
guy liked it or not. More recently, I am more likely to call myself
English than British.
I say all this to make an obvious point: that identity and
belonging, along with the words we use with them, are always
To come back to my original point then, if multiculturalism in
changing. Always mutating. “Nothing is static. Everything is
reality is in rude health, why keep fighting old battles over what
falling apart,” as Tyler Durden says in my favourite film, Fight
it means?
Club.
Why not think about where we go from here, and find a
Reading Tariq Modood’s excellent discussion of
narrative that will help us achieve that?
multiculturalism (page **): its failures, successes and how it
I’ll explain what I mean. Let’s say you are worried about
should fit into modern society, I’m filled with those thoughts
people being forced to live a certain way of life they are not used
of mutation.
to. Or let’s say you are worried about how minority groups are
In one sense, multiculturalism is already dead. In large parts
being demonised in the press or being targeted by the police
of the political discourse, it is seen as an evil ideology that
using stop and search tactics. These are, I believe, some of the
undermines the very fabric of society. It is seen as the prism
key concerns around identity politics today. Along with poverty,
through which terrorism and the race riots of Oldham 2001
lack of social housing and all the usual issues of course.
happened. It is the prism through which the Daily Mail now gets
When discussing these issues and how to push back on
outraged over Halal meat being served in schools.
them, I rarely bother mentioning ‘multiculturalism’. My framework
The first question is, are we trying to flog a dead horse in
is civil liberties. My framework is human rights law and the idea
order to revive it? The second question is: do we even need to?
of us living in a parliamentary democracy that has valued the
I guess this is more of a fundamental question than simply
‘rights of man’ for hundreds of years.
a critique of what Tariq says about multiculturalism in his book.
What I am trying to say is that the danger for ethnic minorities
I don’t want to throw the discussion off course, but these
generally, and these debates we conduct, is that they become
questions are implicit when responding to the question “Is
out of kilter with public opinion and leave us behind. We don’t
multiculturalism dead?”
even talk about Englishness because people associate it with
Let’s say you want to defend multiculturalism as an ideal.
racial connotations and the far-right, and yet most people who
Tariq says it is a “vision of citizenship”, compatible with multiple
fly the English flag during football seasons simply want to
identities but not holding up one group as the model to which
express their love for their country. Most of them will also be
others have to conform to, while forging new national identities.
comfortable with a multiracial Britain and proud of people like
I cannot disagree with that. But frankly, neither will most
Andy Cole, Mark Ramprakash, Natasha Danvers, Amir Khan,
people in the Daily Mail who say they hate multiculturalism.
Kelly Holmes and many more.
We may have lost the battle over the meaning of the word; but
The meanings of multiculturalism, of Britishness, of
we have won the war to make Britain appreciate its cultural
Englishness have all changed over the last few decades, and
diversity. No one is demanding that Asian women are not
we have to accept that rather than trying to protect sacred lands.
allowed to wear Asian clothes; Boris Johnson, once the scourge
So my question to Tariq would less be a criticism of what he
of multiculturalists everywhere, is celebrating Eid in Trafalgar
says, but a broader question: why exactly do we need to save
Square; the representation of ethnic minorities in parliament is
or reclaim the definition of multiculturalism? I’m quite happy to
greater than it has ever been before.
let others think it’s dead, while talking about it in a different way.
If we divide up multiculturalism into two sections: as state
What do we gain by trying to revive it? Or at least, what do we
interventions (‘talking to community leaders’), and as lived
lose if we just say: ‘That’s right, multiculturalism is dead. Long
experiences, then the success of the latter has ended up
live multiculturalism.’
dictating the former anyway. In other words, even Conservative
politicians, while in government, will not go so far as to ask Sunny Hundal edits the influential left-wing blog, Liberal Conspiracy
minority groups to adhere to one way of life. It’s just not feasible. liberalconspiracy.org

www.runnymedetrust.org winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 15

Stop and think about
stop and search
Benedicte Eichen explores the effects of and alternatives to the
discriminatory stop and search tactics employed by UK police. If
monitoring is reduced, how can the police be held accountable?
The power to stop and search individuals
on the street is widely regarded as an
everyday part of modern policing. It
is also an intrusive tactic that, in some
instances, interferes with the right
to privacy and the right to freedom:
two of the most fundamental pillars of
contemporary democracy. American
civil rights leader Reverend Jesse
Jackson, who spoke at the launch of the
criminal justice action group StopWatch,
voiced concerns that Britain’s moral
authority is being damaged by the
government’s failure to stop the
police discriminating against ethnic
minorities. He said: “It is distasteful and
it undermines the freedoms and beauty
of democracy.” Such a statement seems
to fuel the contentious debate about
racial profiling and institutional racism,
an issue that was investigated after the
racist murder of black teenager Stephen
Lawrence in 1993.
Ineffective & discriminatory
Despite the continuous discussion about
the discriminatory element of stop and
search, the police exercise this power
on a frequent basis. In 2009 more than 2
million stop and accounts and 1 million
stop and searches were carried out by the
police in England and Wales. This is the
equivalent of approximately 10,000 stops
every day. There is an ongoing concern
that the pervasive use of such powers is
conducted in a racially disproportionate,
unfair and discriminatory manner.
An analysis of government data
conducted by StopWatch researchers
shows that black people are up to 26
times more likely to be stopped and
searched than their white counterparts,
and Asian people more than six times as
likely. These figures relate specifically to
stop and searches under Section 60 of
the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act
(1994), which allows officers to search
16 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
anyone in a designated area without
grounds for reasonable suspicion.
Ben Bowling, professor of criminal
justice at King’s College London and
member of StopWatch, argues that this
amounts to an abuse of a power, which was
“only ever meant to be used in exceptional
circumstances and lacks effective
safeguards.” He says: “This leaves room
for increased stereotyping, which is likely
to alienate those communities which are
most affected.” Such potential alienation
of communities is damaging for the
society as whole, but it also affects the
work of the police and therefore risks
becoming counter-productive. The police
argue, on the other hand, that the use of
stop and search tactics is necessary in
the fight against violent crime, in particular
knife crime. However, Richard Fuller MP
suggests that such explanation is not
representative of the evidence available.
In a Westminster Hall Debate tabled by
Fuller in collaboration with StopWatch, the
Conservative MP presented the example
of Tower Hamlets and Islington. Between
2008 and 2009 both boroughs had a knife
crime rate of 305 incidents. Tower Hamlets
responded by increasing the numbers of
stop and searches, exceeding the rate in
Islington. As a result, knife crime fell by 11
per cent in Tower Hamlets, whereas it fell
by 25 per cent in Islington.
Police discretion
Although the effectiveness of stop and
search tactics is questionable, the issue of
whether they breach fundamental human
rights was brought to light earlier this year.
In the case of Gillan and Quinton versus
the UK, the European Court of Human
Rights (ECHR) ruled that Section 44 of
the Terrorism Act (2000) was in violation
of the Human Rights Act. This exceptional
power permits officers to stop and search
anyone within a designated area without
any reasonable suspicion. The court
found that Section 44 afforded officers
too much discretion, without sufficient
safeguards against abuse. A decision
by the Home Office to scrap Section 44
followed shortly after the verdict. However,
the previously mentioned Section 60,
which affords officers similar discretion,
remains unchanged.
Furthermore, the Home Office recently
decided to remove stop and account
forms, a tool which was set up to hold
officers accountable for their actions
and to minimise profiling based solely
on a persons race. The government also
attempted to pass through draft guidance
to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act
(1984) Code of Practice that would have
allowed officers to stop and search on the
grounds of ethnicity. Due to pressure from
civil rights groups, including StopWatch,
the paragraph relating to ethnicity was
dropped from the draft guidance.
These policy changes reducing the
monitoring of stop and search send
a signal that the government does not
intend to challenge the racial inequality
in relation to this practice. Changes like
these undermine any previous work
to eliminate institutional racism and
weaken the established safeguards.
Furthermore, a lack of proper monitoring
will be detrimental to community
relations and police engagement; both
of which are vital components for a
sustainable crime reduction strategy.
Removing police accountability risks
jeopardising the core principle of British
policing: ‘policing by consent’, which
means that the public should have trust
and confidence in the officers securing
law and order.
The damaging consequences of the
discriminative and disproportionate use of
stop and search affects all levels of society.
From young black men who, on daily
basis, have to deal with the humiliating
experience of being repeatedly stopped
www.runnymedetrust.org

and searched, to the local communities
that distrust officers on the street, to wider
society, in which certain ethnic groups
are greatly over-represented in the prison
population. A recent study by the Equality
and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
shows that while black people make up
2.6 per cent of the population in England
and Wales, they represent 14.4 per cent
of the prison population. This depressing
statistic is in part affected by the racial
disproportionality in stop and search. For
many young people, a stop and search
becomes their entry point into the criminal
justice system: their first experience of the
police and how they are treated by them. If
these first encounters with the system are
targeted disproportionately at a particular
group, the consequence later on will be
equally disproportionate and result in a
skewed prison population and a widening
inequality gap between different groups in
society.
Alternatives
Change is necessary and possible. Even
though much of the evidence presented
shows that in relation to racial equality
there is still a long way to go, good practice
examples with positive outcomes do exist.
In Cleveland the police decreased the
numbers of stop and searches by 80 per
cent, while the rate of disproportionate
stops of particular ethnic groups, and
crime overall, was reduced. This came
www.runnymedetrust.org
Fact box
Section 60 of the Criminal
Justice and Public Order Act
(1994), gives police the right to
search people in a defined area at
a specific time. This law was set up
primarily to tackle football violence.
Under Section 44 of the
Terrorism Act (2000) any
police officer can stop and search
anyone or any vehicle that is
in a specific area, without any
reasonable suspicion
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism
Act (2000) is a special power
confined solely to policing the
UK’s ports and borders, where
‘examining officers’ are able to stop,
question and/or detain people,
without reasonable suspicion.
The Police and Criminal
Evidence Act (1984) Codes
of Practice provide the core
framework of safeguards around
stop and search, arrest, detention,
investigation, identification and
interviewing detainees.
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 17
feature
as a result of intelligence-led policing
and community engagement, which also
strengthened public trust and confidence
dramatically.
Such examples prove that there are
alternative tactics that are effective and
fair, and which do not create a wedge
between communities and the police. In
order to promote good practice policing
and challenge the government and the
police to rethink stop and search powers, a
number organisations and leading figures
in civil society, the legal professions and
academia have come together to form
StopWatch.
StopWatch
StopWatch works with communities,
ministers, policy makers and senior police
officers to ensure that the reforms to the
police service are fair and inclusive, and
lead to better policing for all.
The objectives of StopWatch include
advocating a reduction in ethnic
disproportionality in stop and search,
reviewing the use of powers that do not
require reasonable suspicion and working
to ensure effective monitoring, external
accountability and the promotion of good
practices.
To learn more about stop and search
powers and the work of StopWatch visit
www.stop-watch.org
Discrimination
as standard
Lucie Fremlova and Alan
and the employment restrictions placed on all nationals from
the new EU member states, the number of Roma migrating to
the UK has steadily risen. Although it is not known how many
Anstead of Equality examine the Roma live in the UK, the best estimate is around 500,000. Many
Roma adults, and most Roma young people in the UK were
situation of Roma living in the UK born here and view this country as their permanent residence.

Roma are the largest ethnic minority group in Europe with an

estimated population of 10 to 12 million people. Since their For many Roma, their living conditions in other EU member
arrival in Europe from India some 700 years ago, Roma people states was so poor that a life in the UK, often with salaries below
have been politically, socially, culturally and economically the minimum wage, selling the Big Issue or collecting scrap
marginalised by the dominant populations. Segregation of metal is considered by them to be a far better life. The majority
Roma still exists in many EU member states today; in fact Roma of Roma arrive in the UK in search of equal opportunities, a
people are arguably the most vulnerable and oppressed ethnic society free of anti-Roma attitudes, and a better economic,
group in Europe. social and political future for them and their children. The
research findings of the 2009 study conducted by Lucie
Many Roma from Eastern Europe, Fremlova and Heather Ureche shows
particularly from the Czech Republic, that some of the most frequent push
Poland, Romania and Slovakia, came to factors behind the recent movement of
the UK in the 1990s seeking asylum to Roma to the UK are as follows:
escape widespread racial persecution Fact box
and discrimination in their countries of • 58% of the respondents said that
origin. Since the enlargement of the EU in their primary motivation was work (i.e.
Every year on 8 April is the ability to engage within a labour
2004 (when Poland, the Czech Republic,
international Roma Day, held market that does not discriminate
Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia,
to celebrate Romani culture and against Roma);
Slovenia and Slovakia joined) and 2007
to raise awareness of some of the • 22% of the respondents stated
(when Bulgaria and Romania joined),
issues facing Roma people. they had come to the UK in search
nationals coming from the new member
states have been able to exercise their of a better life for their children (in
Between 200,000 and 800,000
right to free movement. As a result, many particular, the ability to be educated in
Roma Gypsies were killed
more Roma have moved legally to the mainstream schools as opposed to a
under the Nazi regime in Germany
UK to find work, equal opportunities and system whereby many Roma children
during the second world war.
a good education for their children; and are placed in segregated schools for
to escape racism and discrimination, not The greatest number live children with mental and physical
least the increasing number of racially in Central Eastern Europe: disabilities);
motivated attacks on members of their Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, • 15% of the respondents listed
community. Hungary, and the former discrimination in the country of origin
Yugoslavia. as the third most important factor;
• 97% of all the Roma respondents
Where have the Roma settled? Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie claimed that their life had improved
Wood’s heritage is Romany since they moved to the UK.
The Roma have established significant Gypsy, according to a 2007
communities throughout the UK, interview in the Guardian.
Situation in England
particularly in the north of England, Every second Roma person
the East Midlands, Kent and north and
was discriminated against in The research, which is available online
east London. There are also sizeable
the past 12 months, according to at found that many Roma in England
communities of Roma in Scotland
a survey taken by the European work for low wages on temporary
(particularly in Glasgow), Wales (Cardiff)
Union Agency for Fundamental contracts organised by gangmasters
and Northern Ireland (Belfast). These
Roma communities originate from the first Rights in 2009. and recruitment agencies. Their
asylum seekers, and new arrivals tend to vulnerability is often exploited. Some
settle where they have contacts and family agencies charge newly arrived
members. Despite the economic recession Roma large sums for temporary work

18 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364 www.runnymedetrust.org


placements, completing paper work, arranging registration
cards and finding accommodation.
Many Roma live in sub-standard accommodation, shared with
other families. Severe overcrowding often leads to poor health,
and low school attendance and attainment by children, with
substantial secondary school drop-out rates. The communities
have very little support in some areas and they are often unable
to access the services that do exist because of their lack of
familiarity with the systems and processes in the UK. Romanian
Roma in particular are often the most disadvantaged and
vulnerable, living in the most overcrowded conditions, often
with more than 15 people in one accommodation unit, and in
the greatest poverty. Roma adults are also generally isolated,
mixing only with other Roma people.
Employment barriers make social inclusion more difficult
Barriers to employment particularly affect Roma people from
Romania and Bulgaria who are, in reality, barred from taking
many types of jobs and so obliged to be self-employed or in
short-term agricultural work. Such limited options make it much
harder for Roma to work legally. There are also restrictions on
new EU member state nationals’ access to social benefits.
Many local authorities and organisations that provide services
are unaware of the numbers, locations or needs of the Roma
www.runnymedetrust.org
Photo: Ciara Leeming
Young Roma boys chat in
their school classroom in
Gorton, Manchester
residents in their areas. This lack of knowledge limits the ability
of these authorities to provide adequate and suitable services
for Roma communities.
Some good practice, particularly in education
Research has found that where local authorities have used the
Pupil Level Annual School Census to count their number of
Roma students, services have been formatted to better reflect
the needs of the Roma communities. The Traveller Education
Support Service and the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service
have been major forces in fostering the social inclusion of
Roma, as well as models of good practice. These services are
often the first contact, and sometimes the only contact, that
Roma have with any officials or service providers.
In the vast majority of cases, the invaluable work done by
education officers and schools with Roma pupils and their
families has served as a ‘springboard’ for other agencies to try
and reach out to these communities.
Some enlightened local authorities employ Roma as outreach
staff to engage Roma families on their children’s education,
family health and other service provision. But many of these
jobs are likely to be cut in 2011 under the Comprehensive
Spending Review measures.
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 19
 A VIEW FROM...Parliament
Since the publication of the last Runnymede Bulletin in the autumn,
our young coalition government has begun to make its considerable
mark on UK society. Vicki Butler reports on Runnymede’s efforts to
ensure that race equality remains on the political agenda
T
he past few months have been a
tumultuous period in UK politics.
The coalition government has
been introducing dramatic
changes to public policy at breakneck
speed, be it cuts to public funding,
restructuring of the NHS or the much-
criticised Big Society agenda.
Photo: Nina Kelly
20 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
Runnymede has been working to make
sure that the government is made aware
of the impact these changes will have
on black and minority ethnic (BME)
communities, particularly on the issues
of stop and search reforms, widening
access to university and the scrapping
of the child trust fund.
Stop and search reforms
As co-founders of stop and search action
group StopWatch, Runnymede has
turned the spotlight on the government’s
changes to stop and search recording.
Given that black people are six times
more likely to be stopped and searched
by the police than white people, this
remains a massive issue for many in the
BME community.
In 2010, the coalition announced that
it planned to reduce the amount of
information recorded on a stop and search
form. This means that police stopping and
searching someone will no longer have to
record the name of the person stopped;
whether injury was caused as a result of
the search; and whether any action was
taken as a consequence of the search.
StopWatch and Runnymede believe that
the scrapping of these categories will
make it impossible to measure repeat
stops and harassment, misuse of force
and the effectiveness and fairness of stop
and search procedure.
In addition, the government included in
the first draft of its proposals that ethnic
profiling should be introduced into
Section 60 stop and searches, which
allow the police to stop and search
someone without reasonable grounds for
suspecting them of a crime. This decision
by the government appeared to ignore
the massively negative impact similar
policies had on race relations in the
1980s. Following efforts from StopWatch
and others, this particular proposal was
fortunately retracted, though changes to
stop and search forms were retained in
the re-draft of the guidance.
To draw attention to these concerns,
StopWatch and Runnymede worked
with a number of MPs including David
Lammy, Chuka Ummuna from the
Labour Party, and also Conservative MP
Richard Fuller, who tabled a Westminster
Hall debate on the issue. The minister
with responsibility for the changes, Nick
Herbert MP, later faced tough questions
www.runnymedetrust.org

Theresa May MP addresses
the All Party Parliamentary
Groups on Equality and
Race and Community
on the changes from the All Party
Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Race
and Community in a meeting held in the
House of Commons in January, which
was organised by Runnymede.
Higher education
Working with Labour MP David Lammy,
Runnymede helped to reveal that only
one British black Caribbean student was
admitted to the University of Oxford in
2009. The information, gained through
a Freedom of Information request, also
highlighted that Oxford’s Merton College
has not admitted a single black student
for five years.
These shocking statistics generated a
great deal of press and publicity, and
in part resulted in the higher education
minister David Willetts stating that
increasing access to university is “not
just about social class”, adding that
in future universities will be judged
on whether they can provide more
opportunities for ethnic minorities and
other marginalised groups.
www.runnymedetrust.org
Savings research
At the start of 2010 Runnymede research
found that 60 per cent of black and Asian
people have no savings at all, a statistic
that has since been repeated in several
Westminster debates. So Runnymede
was disappointed that the government
decided to scrap the Child Trust Fund
and Savings Gateway, two policies
which successfully incentivised saving
in the UK. We outlined our concerns in
a response to the Savings Accounts and
Health in Pregnancy Grant Bill, which
effectively discontinued the policies.
In addition, Labour MP Kate Green drew
attention to Runnymede’s findings on
savings in the House of Commons debate
on the bill, saying that the fact that twice
as many black and Asian people have no
savings compared to white people should
“concern us greatly”. Green also tabled
an Early Day Motion citing Runnymede’s
findings last summer.
Parliamentary group on race
Runnymede acts as secretariat to the
All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)
on Race and Community, and has
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 21
Photo: Nina Kelly
organised two meetings for the group
since October, including the previously
mentioned question and answer session
with Nick Herbert MP, and a session with
equalities minister and home secretary
Theresa May.
The meeting with Theresa May was held
jointly with the APPG on Equalities and
focused on May’s duties as equalities
minister. During the session, MPs David
Lammy (Labour) and Richard Fuller
(Conservative) asked questions on
criminal justice. Other topics raised
included issues affecting Gypsy and
Traveller communities, the Equality Act
and mental health services.
It is worth highlighting, however, that
despite questioning from attendees on
the issue, May tended not to focus on
race equality issues unless pushed,
speaking instead on other equality
strands such as gender.
You can listen to the Q&A session with
Theresa May on the Runnymede website:
http://bit.ly/appgaudio
 A VIEW FROM... canada
Sarah Sternberg reports on some innovative migrant integration
schemes, gathered together as part of Toronto-based Cities of
Migration’s Good Ideas hub. So, what can we learn from Canada?
There were nearly 250,000 migrants to
Canada in 2008 according to Citizenship
and Immigration Canada. Figures from
the 2006 census showed that Canada’s
immigrant population reached its highest
level in 75 years, with foreign-born
individuals representing 19.8 per cent of
the population, a proportion second only
to Australia.
Canada’s large migrant population
represents more than 200 countries
globally, but of more recent arrivals
(between 2001 and 2006), more than
half came from Asia and the Middle East.
This represents a change in migration
to Canada, which previously saw the
majority of its immigrants coming from
Europe. In particular, the last decade has
seen an increase in immigrants arriving
from China, India, the Philippines,
and Pakistan, as well as from Eastern
European countries, such as Romania
and Russia.
Such changes in migration patterns and
the diversity of immigrant communities
present challenges for Canadian
integration policy. Here, we survey four
key examples of Canadian innovations
to improve the lives of immigrants, as
collected by the Cities of Migration
project as part of its online hub if good
ideas.
For new immigrants, unfamiliarity with a
new economy and financial system can
prove particularly disorienting. To ease
the process of financial adjustment,
the Bank of Montreal has launched a
package targeted towards new migrants:
the Newcomers To Canada programme.
The programme allows migrants to
quickly acclimatise to the Canadian
banking system, and offers customers a
credit card, which is a significant benefit
for new migrants, who are often setback
by a lack of credit history. But more
than this, the programme is innovative
in its carefully crafted, tailored support
to migrants’ needs. Staff are happy to
22 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
field questions on how to obtain health
cards, social insurance numbers,
neighbourhoods and schools, and the
service is offered in multiple languages
at the bank’s branches.
Indeed, something as simple as offering
a service in multiple languages can
have a real and valuable impact for
migrant communities. The importance
of overcoming language barriers was
recognised by the Canada Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) in 2008, when
Canadian cultural icon and television
classic Hockey Night in Canada was
broadcast in the official Canadian
languages of French and English, and
for the very first time, in Punjabi. Initial
responses from the community were very
positive, to the extent that the piloted
show has continued as a regular feature
on Canadian television. Following its
success, plans are already in the pipeline
for National Basketball Association (NBA)
games to be broadcast in Punjabi, and
for Hockey Night to also be broadcast
in Mandarin. By broadcasting a popular
show in Punjabi, CBC has helped bring
inter-generational families together
to watch the game in a language
that is understood by older migrant
grandparents and their children alike, as
well as making the show accessible to a
wider audience.
Similarly, accessibility was a central
concern for Canadian health providers
and AMSSA (Affiliation of Multicultural
Societies and Service Agencies of
BC), who started the Diversity Health
Fair in 2005. The initiative followed the
publication of statistics suggesting that
migrant populations were having trouble
identifying and accessing preventative
healthcare, despite Canada’s universal
and free healthcare system. This
problem of access, attributed in part
to language barriers and a lack of
information targeted towards migrants, is
tackled head-on by the Diversity Health
Fair. This free community event brings
together representatives and volunteers
from ethnic minority communities across
Vancouver, using interactive health
screenings and displays, and providing
information in at least two of the fair’s
eight selected languages. The event
has grown from strength to strength, and
has replicated its successes in six other
locations across British Columbia.
Other innovations directed towards
immigrant communities emphasise not
what Canada can do for migrants, but
what migrants can do for Canada. The
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
recognised the rich array of expertise
and skills that those coming to Canada
possess, and sought to capitalise on
these to enhance Canadian businesses.
Of Quebec’s more than 45,000 migrants,
more than 25,000 are between the ages
of 25 and 40 and have the equivalent
of (or greater than) a college education
(equal to a bachelor’s university degree
in the UK). However, many migrants lack
the resources or networks to access
appropriate employment. Through the
World on Our Doorstep programme,
businesses seeking highly talented and
qualified applicants are introduced to
potential candidates from migrant and
ethnic minority background, whom they
may not come across through their usual
recruiting networks. The programme
also offers migrants the chance to gain
experience in vocations with which they
are unfamiliar, and to start to build a
network of professional contacts, through
short-term internships. The need to match
up skilled migrants and employers has
been recognised in other parts of Canada
too, with Guelph, Ontario launching a
conference to foster such relationships.
While these inventive ideas address very
different issues affecting established
and new migrant populations in
Canada, they have the common aims of
enhancing integration into mainstream
Canadian culture for new and settled
migrant communities.
www.runnymedetrust.org
 REVIEWS: BOOKS & FILMS
Facing the lens at whiteness
The History of White
People
by Nell Irvin Painter, W. W. Norton & Co, 2010
Book review by Nicola Rollock
There is seemingly endless preoccupation, and
certainly much of it justified in the context of
equality, with the identities and experiences
of minoritised communities. Yet holding up
the mirror to the concept of white identity and
white experiences is not familiar terrain, and
is entirely missing from political discourse.
But these are precisely the types of issues that
African American historian Nell Irvin Painter
explores in The History of White People.
Painter begins her examination in
“antiquity”, drawing on the terrain of Greek
literature that she positions as a mix of both
myth and reality. She demonstrates how
people’s skin colour once carried no useful
meaning. Other markers, such as where they
lived or their group or tribal habits served
as the means of distinguishing one group of
people from the next.
Disengaged and uninterested?
Apart
by Justin Gest, Hurst & Co, 2010
Book review by Hannah Cooper
JUSTIN gEST’S FIRST BOOK DESCRIBES
itself as a study of democracy that explores
the differences between those who “engage
with the political system”, and “those who
reject it”. Gest’s interview-based study of
Muslim communities in London and Madrid
focuses on the identities of two particular
ethnic groups, British Bangladeshis and
Spanish Moroccans, and their ’apartness’
from the societies in which they live.
Gest’s principal premise is that the
growing community of Muslims withdrawn
from political life poses the greatest concern
to liberal democracies. From the outset, his
argument emphasises a lack of engagement
among citizens rather than questioning the
attempts (or lack thereof) of governments to
reach out to these minority communities.
While Gest recognises the problems of a
www.runnymedetrust.org
There are perhaps two key themes that
stand out for me in this book. The first
relates to the reminder by the author of
a slave trade involving (certain) white
populations as slaves long before the
commonly referenced Transatlantic Slave
Trade beginning in the 16th century. Venice’s
role as a central trading gateway, processing
and selling sugar produced in its colonies
in Crete and Cyprus, is fascinating. The
second relates to the notion of what Painter
describes as “degenerate families”. These are
impoverished white families, living on the
outskirts of mainstream society both literally
and morally in terms of perceptions about
their lifestyles as characterised by an over- deficient, state-dependent and unrespectable,
indulgence in sex, criminality and illiteracy. cannot be overlooked.
Mainstream white society’s response to such Certainly bearing in mind its level of detail
immoral degeneracy, often grounded in well- and ambition, this book would have benefited
meaning Christianity, was to explore possible from more visual aids, in terms of explanatory
“solutions”, including the segregation and maps and diagrams, to complement the text
sterilisation of these supposedly errant white more fully. Nonetheless, Painter has produced
groups. While we might respond aghast a useful and insightful book that is of
to such ideas, the similarities to current particular relevance to scholars and students
discourse about the white working class as of history, sociology and race studies.
government withdrawn from its people, the
focus is on the alienation of, in this case,
young Muslims, from “the structures of
democratic activism”, or civil society. Yet,
Gest does little to deconstruct or analyse what
exactly he means by such a ‘civil society’.
However, his departure from the
predominant institutionalist discourse is
useful. The study also gives us some useful
insights into the idea of living in a country
(and, indeed, being born into a country: most
of the case studies are the children of migrants
or have been living for several generations in
Western Europe) yet feeling a minimal, or at
least conflicting, sense of belonging. In terms of the ongoing debate on
He points to the idea of active apartism, British citizenship, the book is an important
for instance, when people encourage others addition. It seems laughable, for instance,
not to vote. He also looks at how wealthier that the government still insists on applying
individuals can feel just as ‘apart’ from a ‘citizenship test’ to incoming migrants when
their political system as those from poorer so many current citizens are disengaged from
backgrounds, due to a feeling of political the values and ideas that this test represents.
disenchantment. However, he fails to lead on However the book does too little to explore
from this point and indicate other reasons for the idea that perhaps this test indicates a
disengagement, skimming over issues such government disengaged from its people,
as race. rather than vice versa.
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 23
 REVIEWS: BOOKS & FILMS
Danger! Educated Gypsy
Selected essays by Ian Hancock
Edited by Dileep Karanath, Univserity of
Hertfordshire Press, 2010
Book review by Kamaljeet Gill
24 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
Education on society’s margins
“FOR MY PEOPLE, THE HOLOCAUST
is not yet over,” declares Hancock in one of
the most powerful essays of this collection.
Over the course of the 17 essays, written over
several decades, this sense of urgency forms
a leitmotif. Hancock’s essays touch on topics
ranging from the ancient history of the Roma,
the exodus from Northern India 1,000 years
ago, to the intensely personal history of his
own family dating back to the 18th century.
His tone is discursive and digressions can be
wide ranging but again and again he returns to
these challenges and his thoughts on how they
can be met.
Often these essays do not demonstrate a
strictly defined analytic focus; rather they
progress organically, with an emphasis on
narrative and exposition of even tangential
points. In one, for instance, an essay ostensibly
on the desire for education among contemporary
Roma in the US, is primarily taken up with an
extended narration of the history of attempts to
Every measure used by the Nazis
against Roma has since been at least
suggested by European nations
educate Roma in the US and Europe and their
historical aversion to such interventions, dating
back to the 19th century.
At the end of these discussions Hancock’s
conclusions are rarely earth-shattering: it’s
important that the Roma receive a good
education; they should develop their own voice
in academia and not allow the “Gadze” to speak
for them; and depictions of the Roma in popular
and academic literature have frequently been
unfair. However the fact that it has taken so
long for these points to be made, and required
someone as prominent in their field as Ian
Hancock, raises an interesting question. When
discussing a group as marginal and externally
demonised as the Roma, are even conventional
conclusions potentially radical? A fairly neutral
assertion such as, ‘a people should be able to
represent themselves and not allow themselves
to be purely the subject of outside depiction’,
becomes considerably more significant when
that group is one that has shunned and been
shunned by mainstream society for so long.
This point comes clearly to the fore in the essay
Responses to the Porrajmos. The essay is an
impassioned plea for the inclusion of the Roma
into the discourse of the Holocaust. Hancock
lists the 16 objections to the inclusion of the
Roma within the scope of the Holocaust’s
victims (Porrajmos - the Devouring - being his
preferred term, equivalent to the term Shoah,
which many Jews use instead of Holocaust).
These include “The denial of the right to live
is what singles out the fate of the Jews from
all other victims” and “No other group was
viewed with such disgust and contempt...”
each of which he systematically demolishes.
He then elaborates the reactions he and others
have received when claiming equal recognition
for the Porrajmos as is ascribed to the Shoah:
abuse, blanket denial and even censorship.
Discussion of genocide will always be
emotionally laden, but one cannot help but
feel that this is exacerbated when the group
demanding recognition is one that has been
considered beyond the pale of society for so
long by so many. He cites one attendee of a
conference who compared everything “the Jews
have given” to society to the fact that Gypsies
were “all thieves”. It is hard to think of another
group about whom such a racist assertion could
be so casually made in the same context.
For Hancock this is more than a sentimental
issue. Recognition of the Porrajmos is vital if
the horrific persecution visited upon the Roma
in the past is to be avoided in the future. Since
the collapse of the Third Reich every measure
employed by the Nazis against the Roma has
been implemented or at least suggested by
nations of Europe: sterilisation in Slovakia;
recommendations for incineration by an Irish
government official; and forced incarceration
and deportation in Germany. In the years since
the essay was first published in 1996 many
more examples could be added to this list,
though few more are necessary. Hancock’s
essays offer a timely reminder of the specific
ills vested upon a vulnerable people, but also
of the persistent vulnerability of any people
considered to be ‘other’.
www.runnymedetrust.org

New ways to tell an age-old story
A FIGURE STANDS BY A RIVERSIDE
wearing a bright yellow jacket surrounded by
white and grey. Life continues around him,
but the figure does not move. He is part of the
landscape, but wholly alien within it. This
is the visual metaphor around which John
Akomfrah weaves his remarkable depiction
of the era of post-war mass migration to
Britain, typified by the Caribbean migrants
aboard the Empire Windrush.
The Nine Muses was screened at the
British Film Institute Festival in October
2010. It sits uncomfortably in the category
of film; it could be more accurately described
as a cinematic elegy. Using a combination
of filmed shots, archival footage, music and
poetry, Akomfrah’s piece does not allow a
singular narrative. Employing the language of
the creative arts, the film offers many stories
on the themes of migration and belonging.
Focusing primarily on the experiences
Afromkah’s film highlights the
importance of telling stories that
the dominant cultural narratives
tend to leave out
of African, Asian and Caribbean migrants,
Akomfrah uses archive material from the 1950s
to the 1980s dug up from the National Archive
in Birmingham. “A cold coming we had of
it,” one of the unseen speakers narrates, and
indeed the images of bleak winter in a northern
climate, punctuated by bright figures standing
motionless, chill the viewer. In fog-covered
London streets, spectral figures in bowler
hats dodge cars and buses. The red flames and
leaping sparks of an iron factory illuminate
sweat-covered black and Asian workers.
Post-war Britain in Akomfrah’s film is
a space of contradictions. Colour combats
colourlessness. Nationalism breeds alienation.
The city is a heaving rubbish tip, filled with
the rubble of urban reconstruction. The streets
overflow with poverty, anger and sadness.
A sequence from the 1950s that particularly
stood out shows a smartly dressed black man
walking along a row of terraced houses. We
see him smile at the people he passes. He
stops at a notice board on which, we can
www.runnymedetrust.org
BOOKS & FILMS
assume, jobs are being advertised.
He has dressed, we realise, for the job
centre, rather than for a job. The people he
passed on the street have not smiled back. No
matter what costume he wears, we feel sure
that he will struggle to find work.
This is one of many desolate moments in
Akomfrah’s film. Yet these are countered by
moments of real warmth and, dare I say it,
pride. The film takes the audience through the
pains of ceaseless struggle, before abruptly
taking flight in the opposite direction. It refuses
to allow its migrant subjects victimhood, but
takes every opportunity to empower.
The use of poetry in the film is a striking
example of such empowerment. Readings from
T. S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, James Joyce,
Dylan Thomas, Nietzsche, Shakespeare,
Sophocles and Homer provide almost the only
source of spoken word. Akomfrah uses these The Nine Muses
canonic writings to highlight the universality Directed by John Akomfrah, 2010
Film review by Lara Choksey
of migration experience; the extracts dilute
the stark chill of alienation and struggle, as
well as the warmth of belonging.
Akomfrah’s film highlights the
importance of telling stories that the
dominant cultural narratives tend to leave
out. The unspoken and unwritten is given
a platform through abstract sounds and
images, and rational understanding is passed
over for sensory perception.
It is, in this sense, a film of resistance.
In another scene, while the cars pass, the
figure, on the roadside, is still unmoving.
This stillness could be seen as a refusal to
move. The figure places his image on the
singular path of history that seeks to pass
him by. Yet, as John Akomfrah said himself,
who can ignore a bright yellow jacket in the
middle of all that snow? Akomfrah shows that
there are spaces for these stories to be told,
and for perceptions surrounding immigration
to change. It is a case of finding the right
language with which to speak.
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 25
REsponse
A reader writes...
Baroness Janet Whitaker, regular reader
of the Runnymede Bulletin, writes in
response to Amanda Rice’s piece on
diversity the media (RB Summer 2010/362).
Dear Runnymede,
First, may I congratulate you on the excellent
summer issue of the Runnymede Bulletin. It
provided a really useful analysis of current
issues.
I think it was Amanda Rice who came
to talk on behalf of the BBC to the All
Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies and
Travellers, some time ago. We expressed our
disappointment that so little was done by the
broadcast media to counter the damaging
and inaccurate stereotypes of Gypsies and
Travellers in this country. This is all the
more worrying now that new legal measures
Books received Spring 2010 - Winter 2011
We are unable to review every book sent to
us, though many of them are worth a read.
We would like to mention the following,
which may be of interest to our readers.
- Asylum, Migration and Community by Maggie
O’Neill, The Policy Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-
84742-222-4.
- Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and
Ideology by Margaret M. Zamudio, Caskey
Russell, Francisco A. Rios and Jacqueline L
Bridgeman, Routledge, 2011, ISBN 978-0-415-
99674-7.
- Educational Equality by Harry Brighouse,
Kenneth R. Howe and James Tooley, edited
by Graham Haydon, Continuum Books, 2010,
ISBN 978-144118-483-2.
- Ethnicity and Crime: A Reader by Basia
Spalek, McGraw-Hill, 2008, ISBN 978-0-
33522-379-4.
- Identity and Participation in Culturally
Diverse Societies: A Multidisciplinary
Perspective edited by Assaad E. Azzi, Xenia
Chryssochoou, Bert Klandermans and Bernd
Simon, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, ISBN 978-1-
40519-947-6.
- Identity, Politics and Public Policy by Rick
Muir and Margaret Wetherall, ippr, 2010.
26 | RUNNYMEDE BULLETIN | wintER 2010-2011 / issue 364
are forecast that would take away Local
Authorities’ obligations to assess the housing
needs of this most disadvantaged community
and provide enough authorised sites.
People often airbrush out Gypsies and
Travellers when talking about race relations
and community cohesion and I think it
would have been helpful if Amanda had
included some mention of enabling better
understanding of this minority group
within the responsibility of public service
broadcasters “to reflect the complexity of
modern society”, and made specific reference
also to Gypsies and Travellers when “taking
care to avoid the stereotypes of old”.
When we consider Rice’s important point
that “the industry undoubtedly values diversity
as a bringer of great talent,” we could perhaps
also be reminded of the other purpose, closer
to the Reithian original purpose: to inform,
to educate and to entertain. This should
- The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity
by Benjamin Isaac, Princeton University Press,
2006, ISBN 9878-0-691-12598-5.
- The Iraq Papers edited by John Ehrenberg,
J. Patrice McSherry, José Ramón Sánchez and
Caroleen Marji Sayej, Oxford University Press,
2010, ISBN 978-0-19-539859-5.
- Race and Ethnicity in a Welfare Society by
Charlotte Williams and Mark R.D. Johnson,
Open University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-
33522-531-6.
- Race and Ethnicity in the 21st Century, edited
by Alice Bloch and John Solomos, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2009, ISBN 978-0-23000-779-6.
- Race, Sport and Politics: The Sporting Black
Diaspora by Ben Carrington, SAGE, 2010,
ISBN 978-1-41290-103-1.
Teachers and Human Rights Education by
Audrey Osler and Hugh Starkey, Trentham
Books, 2010, ISBN 978-1-85856-384-8.
- The Ashgate Research Companion to
Multiculturalism edited by Duncan Iveson,
Ashgate, 2010, IBSN 978-0-75467-136-7.
- The Future of Islam by John L. Esposito,
Oxford University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-
19516-521-0.
- The Future of Money: From Financial Crisis
to Public Resource by Mary Mellor, Pluto
stimulate better appreciation of the value
of our minority cultures and the need to put
an end to the blatant prejudice that deprives
people of secure homes and makes children
drop out of school as a result of bullying.
I would hope to hear what joint
programmes with the Gypsy and Traveller
communities the BBC and other media can
embark on.
Yours sincerely,
Baroness Janet Whitaker
Vice-Chair
All Party Parliamentary Group on Gypsies
and Travellers
Editor - Watch out for our Spring 2011 issue,
out in April, which takes the theme of ‘the arts’
and will include comment from the Traveller
community on Channel 4’s documentary
series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding
Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-74532 994 9.
- The Political Representation of Immigrants
and Minorities: Voters, Parties and Parliaments
in Liberal Democracies edited by Karen
Bird, Thomas Saalfeld and Andreas M Wüst,
Routledge, 2010, ISBN 978-0-41549-272-0.
- The SAGE Handbook of Islamic Studies
edited by Akbar S Ahmed and Tamara Sonn,
SAGE, 2010, ISBN 978-0-76194-325-9.
- The SAGE Handbook of Philosophy of
Education edited by Richard Bailey, Robin
Barrow, David Carr and Christine McCarthy,
SAGE, 2010, ISBN 978-1-84787-467-2.
- The SAGE Handbook of Race and Ethnic
Studies edited by Patricia Hill Collins and John
Solomos, SAGE Publications, 2010, ISBN
978-0-76194-220-7.
- Thinking Through Islamophobia: Global
Perspectives edited by S. Sayyid and
AbdoolKarim Vakil, 2010, ISBN 978-85065-
990-7.
- Unequal Britain: Equalities in Britain Since
1945 edited by Pat Thane, Continuum Books,
2010, ISBN 978-1-84706-298-7.
- Who Needs Migrant Workers? Labour
Shortages, Immigration, and Public Policy
edited by Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson,
2010, ISBN 978-0-19958-059-0.
www.runnymedetrust.org
Director’s
Column
Runnymede director Rob Berkeley
sees opportunities, as well as
dangers, in the Big Society agenda
Double the work with half the support
I
t is a testament to the speed and
depth of government reforms that most
organisations we work with are only
now coming to terms their massive
impact. More than £83 billion is to be
cut from public spending during the
course of one parliament. It is only now
as the NHS, local authorities, charitable
trusts, and quangos let voluntary sector
organisations know about what budgets
are available that the penny drops. Or
does not, as many are discovering.
I recently attended a meeting of the
London Minority Ethnic Elders Forum
where local and national politicians
sought to defend the cuts that are being
made. The organisations represented
at the meeting reported that services to
support the most vulnerable were being
put at risk.
One group supporting Cypriot elders
had recently been told that their funding
would be cut by 100 per cent in six
weeks’ time. They had planned for 20
per cent cuts, but nothing on this scale.
A group supporting Cypriot
elders is to have its budget cut by
100 per cent in six weeks’ time
You could see the distress caused by the
lack of time they had been given to even
let their supporters and know about the
situation. Or to direct their service users
to alternative organisations, though
these too are facing swingeing cuts.
The politicians’ responses were
predictable: ‘the cuts simply have
www.runnymedetrust.org
to be made’; ‘central government is
imposing the cuts’; ‘local authorities
have made poor decisions’; ‘Labour
profligacy’; ‘Conservative ideology’;
‘Lib Dem sell out’ etc. The audience
watched, dumbfounded. The political
debate failed to explain to them why
their precious luncheon club has
to close, or why the time and value
that they offer as volunteers has now
somehow become worthless, or why
they are now being asked to defend
services that they had worked so hard
to build up over many years.
Cuts on one front would be bad enough.
Instead, we have cuts on a number
of fronts as the authors in this Winter
Edition of the Runnymede Bulletin
have highlighted. As another example,
take the support that is available to
victims of racial harassment. Sheffield,
Wycombe and Reading are the latest
in a long line of Race Equality Councils
to announce their demise over recent
weeks. meanwhile Citizens Advice has
annouced office closures in inner city
areas and the Equality and Human Rights
Commission (EHRC) is to close down its
helpline and work with half the budget
it received last year. Cuts to police
budgets are likely to hit cities hardest,
with an impact on frontline support for
victims of crime, while national specialist
voluntary sector organisations like The
Monitoring Group are facing a squeeze
winter 2010-2011 / issue 364 | runnymede BULLETIN | 27
as government neglects to fund any
national race equality organisations.
Racist harassment persists and, history
tells us, will get worse in a period of
austerity. Nonetheless, it looks like the
victims will be on their own.
I, like many others, have been seeking
to understand how to capitalise on
the promising ideas in the Big Society
agenda that could support the
rebuilding of a popular movement for
race equality. I am convinced that there
is a powerful opportunity to bolster our
democracy, build connections between
people, and put citizens at the heart of
decision-making.
However, David Cameron’s confused and
confusing speech on multiculturalism
and the depth and speed of the spending
cuts have given me reason to pause.
Like the City of Liverpool, the outgoing
CEO of Community Service Volunteers
and many others, I’m beginning to
wonder whether the Big Society is a
distraction, a pipe dream to quieten the
progressives, while socially regressive
cuts are made.
As organisations (Runnymede included)
struggle to make ends meet, and as
demand for support increases and
capacity dwindles, the chances of
engaging people in any Big Society
activities are squandered. This is
particularly true for those who are most
vulnerable to the impact of the cuts.
What was presented as ‘we’re all in this
together’, increasingly feels like ‘every
one for themselves’. As the penny drops
and the spending cuts start to bite, we
must redouble our efforts to fight against
any increase in inequality, which would
only widen the gaps in our society.