31 May - 6 June 2001
Issue No.536
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 May - 6 June 2001 Issue No.536 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Punch and prejudice
Immigration and racism feature prominently in the run-up to British general elections on 7 June, writes Gavin Bowd from London
It took two jabs from Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to finally bring the British election campaign to life. His assault on a (free-range) egg-throwing farmworker in Wales was welcome relief from the torpor induced by the parties' tax and spending plans. The "rumble in Rhyl," endlessly replayed on television, also offered troubling insights into current social attitudes.
Of course, opposition politicians and commentators were quick to condemn behaviour "unbecoming" of a man of such high office. After all, in France, Front National leader Jean-Marie Le Pen had been declared ineligible for a premeditated attack on a female Socialist candidate. And, on the day of Prescott's big fight, and with uncanny serendipity, Bill Clinton, a true professional, had responded with a smile to a rotten egg thrown in Warsaw, Poland. That said, the Labour leadership refused to slap down their volatile comrade. "John is John," said Tony Blair, showing that class attitudes have not disappeared: Prescott is "proletarian" and, therefore, naturally violent. As for the British public, a clear majority were found to approve of Prescott's "self-defence."
The veneer of British "civilisation" has been wearing thin in recent years: the hysteria surrounding the death of Princess Diana, the release of convicted paedophiles and the fuel protests that paralysed the country last year have shown the public's potentially violent, even anti-democratic, gut instincts. It remains to be seen in this campaign if the issue of immigration and race will mobilise a part of the electorate, this time in favour of the Right.
The Conservative Party is making the problem of bogus asylum seekers a central issue. Although William Hague disowned MP John Townend's comments on Britain's increasingly "mongrel" society, he is proposing robust and authoritarian measures to sort out the "chaos" in the asylum system. If a blue dawn breaks on 8 June, the south of England will sprout detention centres for those souls who have migrated from as far as China to the white cliffs of Dover. Indeed, it was in this Channel port and key marginal seat that Hague and his frightening spokeswoman on home affairs, Anne Widdicombe, set out their plans for making the UK "a safe haven, not a soft touch."
How will this neat slogan play with the voters? It could be that Hague will only further alienate moderate Tory sympathisers: the asylum issue was seen to backfire for the opposition leader in last year's by-election campaign in Romsey, near Dover. However, a recent report on social attitudes revealed a deep well of antipathy to coloured immigration. Over 66 per cent of those interviewed wanted fewer immigrants from the West Indies and 70 per cent objected to the number of Asian immigrants. Few complained about the arrival of Australians, Americans or Canadians. The hungry, swarthy creatures who risk their lives to cross the Channel feed fantasies about crime, prostitution, drugs and sexual predation. There is a rich vein of racial paranoia for politicians to tap into.
It is not only the Tory party which is seeking to benefit from the immigration issue. The openly xenophobic UK Independence Party could steal votes from Hague. Another result to watch will be that of the far-right British National Party (BNP). Commentators rather complacently point out that, whilst in 1979 the National Front had 20,000 members and 3 per cent of the vote, the BNP today has only 1,500 members and garnered a meagre 33,000 votes nationwide in 1997. However, the BNP polled reasonably well in recent elections in London, albeit under proportional representation. The party's leader, Nick Griffin, is standing for parliament in the ethnic flashpoint of Oldham, where the local press has stoked up fears of Bangladeshi ethnic cleansing of whites.
An indication of how susceptible the British electorate is to anti-immigration policies will come on 7 June. Some stubborn realities will nevertheless remain. If the European Union is to keep its working population stable, it will need to receive 1.4 million immigrants a year between now and 2050. The UK, like other developed countries, has an ageing population and a low birthrate: workers are needed to fund the health care and pensions that the greying sons and daughters of John Bull increasingly rely on. It is unlikely that the Australian outback will be able to cope with demand.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page