Ethnic minorities in Britain

heathen minorities in BritainEthnic Minorities in BritainIntroduction(Mis)labelling identity signifiers bespeaks down the stairslying histories of index structure(s). Indeed, however a causal agent is made found on political, social, economic, cultural and heathenish grounds, an identity signifier carcass central to sustain, if non to rightful(prenominal)ify, existing occasion structures. Further, single specific identity signifier can be assiduous by contestant get goingies at heart a given discourse universe and horizontal in exchange. As contestants struggle over meaning-making, more thanover, exchanging (mis)labelled identity signifiers mingled with and within groupings of contestant parties gain particular significance when (mis)labelling practice reaches come out of the closet for outmost frames of contested discourse, beyond a more usual practice of (mis)labelling contestants. Islamophobia, if any, specially as contested within a U.K. context, is just much(prenominal) an prey lesson of an active (mis)labelling practice in which (Jeudo-Christian) Occident vs. (Islamist) Orient as practicable (mis)labelled parties to contest exchange exact same (mis)labelled identity signifier i.e. Islamophobic not only in order to frame parties to contest scarcely for an appropriation of what ultimately defines frames of contest per se.Indeed, much literature is dedicated to question the (mis)appropriateness of Islamophobia as a labeller of phobia generated, presumably, from an increasingly visible presence of Islam / Moslems in the U.K. in recent years. 1,2,3 The case for / against Islamophobia, depending on which party holds argument, is, in fact, made stuporous given the ambiguity of what constitutes a Muslim identity in the beginning place. 4 Considering potentially multiple identities of U.K. Muslims 5,6, contestation between and within relate parties holds a fluid ground more so based on or as a result of fluidity of what makes up I slamophobia. This motif examines multilayered use of goods and servicess of Islamophobia as contested within a U.K context. The argument, first, discusses literature on speed up traffic and in-migration policies, more emphasis creation laid on policies pertaining to Commonwealth subjects in Indian Subcontinent. An examination follows of how pelt along-based (addressing paganity, assimilation and multiculturalism issues) as argue to faith-based (addressing unearthly practices, rights, and interfaith relations) protections have much influenced and/or mixed up contestations over Islam, Muslims and, most importantly, Islamophobia, if any, within a U.K. context. Finally, Islamophobia is placed in a wider European context in which contestation over Islamophobia as much(prenominal) is connected to Continental debates on modern nation- earths and multiculturalisms.Race, rush along relations and immigration policiesHistorically, Britain has received waves of immigrants of divers e descent for a multitude of reasons. Yet, post-World contend II period, particularly during mid-1940s, 1950s and mid-sixties, witnessed unprecedented influx into major industrial cities for reconstruction efforts. 7,8 Up until late 1960s, no specific laws addressed inter-ethnic violence and conflict. Ironically, ex-colonies subjects were regarded, aft(prenominal) all, as second class citizens. 9 Only when families of Asian (primarily Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi) operates started to flood English cities and ports in what is referred to as chain immigration (i.e. residents invite close family members and friends and, once pecktled, relatives and friends invite their own families and friends) did topical anaesthetic acts of ethnic violence give prominence to and raise earth aw beness on a national level of alien citizen status as part of British reality. 10Still, post-World War II period is superstar characterised more by inflammatory statements made about nationals of n on-British blood and descent 11 rather than about citizens whose allegiance to British values and way of invigoration is questionable because of a different creed such(prenominal)(prenominal) as in case of entropy-Asians. Indicative of an increasingly racialised public discourse pertaining to immigrants and naturalised subjects isWhen individuals similar the Marquis of Salisbury spoke of agreeing the English way of life, they were not scarcely referring to economic or regional folk principles, entirely explicitly to the delivery of the racial character of the English great deal. We have developing here(predicate) a process of subjectification grounded in a racialised construction of the British Subject which excludes and includes people on the basis of be given/skin colour. 12Indeed, locomote remains a fundamental subtext of British hegemonic discourse during colonial era, in post-World War II period and beyond. For iodin, wiz staple justification for subjugation of na tions, groups and individuals is race. 13 Further, in case of a southward Asian minority, presumably British Subjects, race is invoked as a justification for inequalities at workplace, housing, education, let alone(predicate) political rights. 14In essence, race and racial discrimination essentialise subjects of racist acts. sympathetic to all hegemonic practices which maintain specific power relations within an overarching power structure, racism emphasises superior vs. Inferior duality in order not only to maintain existing power relations but to a fault to morally justify excesses of inequalities. 15In British context, South Asian workers predominantly from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh particularly during first mass immigration waves of 1940s, 1950s and 1960s were, like a gear fit into a larger wheel, brought in as props, imported, used, and returned. Initially, South Asians workers performed and acted as underdogs much to masters delight. Later, however, as familiarity o f British System and Administration developed amongst workers of non-British blood, riots and protests became noise (racist) masters needed to work on. Thus, successive legislations regulating immigrants status within U.K. borders were, evidently, meant to control influx of immigrants and to organize British Subjects along well-defined ethnic boundaries.16 As U.K.s ethnic composing diversified over time and across localities, states insistence on ethnic markers between and within ethnic groups grew by leaps and bounds.The racism formula, endorsed by laws and work brilliantly in a colonial era and slightly so within borders during early days of mass immigration, turned out problematic if not unstabilising given growing pressures of growing minorities in pocket cities, minorities straight capable of tipping vote balance.Ultimately, a multi-ethnic / multicultural society is not based on a good entrust, all-accommodating multiculturalism discourse one meant to ack presentlyledge ethnic / racial / cultural differences per se by way of minority rights but, rather, one emphasizing ethnic markers for get on state control. 17 In fact, state control, in so far as British Muslims are concerned, represents a clear instance not only of an ethnicity manipulated (at multiple layers of discourse in government, media, and education) but, further still, of an identity (i.e. BrMislim / BrAsian) manipulated (at just same layers) and hence fluidity of what constitutes Islam / Muslim and, probably in turn, Islamophobia. Understanding an emerging Islamophobia requires, however, an examination of evolution of race relations politics from one based on race to one based on faith.Race, faith, Islamophobia, and multiculturalismBy definition, political discourse is one characterised by manipulation and is, largely, subject to voters sway in democracies. 18 Political appropriateness (PC) is just one example of political machination. In essence, a politically correct expression i s a euphemism meant (and, for that matter, meaning) less to fulfil felicity conditions indispensable for an actionable statement and more as instrumental. Thus, British policies on race and ethnicity has marked a shift since installation of race relations acts of 1965 and 1968 19 from an emphasis on racial discrimination to an emphasis on religious extremism and bigotry as a basis for incrimination only selectively, excluding BrMuslims.Indeed, exhortation to hatred based on affiliation to Islam is one major legitimate anomaly scholars continue to point out to. 19, 20 Interestedly, given text file purposes, racial discrimination against BrAsians has not, in fact, been eliminated by virtue of progress in legislation on racial relations but only deviate to an opposite (unprotected by law) dimension, profound as is, of a BrAsian subjects identity. That is, being Muslim.That multilayered public discourse has, moreover, shifted from race to faith is indicative not of actionable (as argue to pronounced) change but of power structure(s) infix in race relations discourses in the U.K. Thus, in place of a racialised discourse based on BrAsian intrusion into Britishness, same racial group, now British Muslims, comes out as anti-British. Typical of a manipulative political discourse a impale of labelling and re-labelling underprivileged, underrepresented groups (except in prisons) is enacted such that power relations as engineered, largely but not always by, state are maintained within and between different ethnicities in a multicultural community which is, Britain. Unsurprisingly, a set of composite metrics has been developed in order to measure Britishness. 21 That such metrics combine gauges of loyalties at intra-national (i.e. Britain), national (i.e. England, Scotland, etc), or local (e.g. Bradford) levels is, indeed, indicative of an ethnic identity crisis, particularly so in case of BrAsians / BrMuslims. As a consequence, a group diverse as BrAsians / BrMu slims and frame in as inassimilable 22 into wider and mainstream community is bundled up altogether, labelled and made alien. Islamophobia is, one argues, an expression of an anxiety over ethnicity identity.Indeed, Islamophobic sentiments are, upon close examination, aimed not at Islam per se but at Muslims. 23 In fact, literature repeatedly points out that people, rather than faith, is phobes trajectory. 23, 24,25 A broad overview of British media is indicative of who is meant and labelledIf you incertitude whether Islamophobia exists in Britain, I Gordon Conway, Head of Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia educe you spend a week reading, as I have done, a range of national and local papers. If you look for articles which refer to Muslims or to Islam you will find prejudiced and antagonistic comments, mostly subtle but sometimes blatant and crude. Where the media lead, many will follow. British Muslims suffer discrimination in their education and in the workplace. Acts of harassment and violence against Muslims are common. 26Thus, Islamophobia, a label gaining currency in media and academia thanks to Runnymede intrusts much advertise report Islamophobia, a challenge for us all 27 has acquired such a canonical status as to render alternative neologisms atypical of responses to Islam / Muslims. According to Halliday,Islamophobia indulges conformism and authority within Muslim communities. One cannot parry the sense, in regard to work such as the Runnymede Report that the race relations world has yielded, for reasons of political emphasis added convenience, on this term. 28Moreover,The use of Islamophobia as well as challenges the possibility of duologue based on universal principles. It suggeststhat the solution lies in greater dialogue, bridge-building and respect for the other community, but this inevitably runs the risk of denying the right, or possibility, of criticisms of the practices of those with whom one is having the dialogue. Not only those who, on universal human rights grounds, object to elements in Moslem traditions and current rhetoric, but also those who challenge button-down readings from within, can more easily be classed as Islamophobes. 29Thus, Islamophobia is apply in such a politically correct fashion such as to silence criticisms, on one hand, and to maintain good neck of the woods relations, on another. The former stance is framed, in right-leaning perspective, as militant, jihadist, terrorist, uncivil, anti-modern and anti-Western. 30 The latter(prenominal) is framed, in Islamist perspective, as accommodating, assimilative and hegemonic. In between is media, an arena for meaning-making and shifting perceptions.Alternatively, Islamophobia can be employed not as a politically correct euphemism in order to silence internal criticisms or to maintain law and order but, rather, to militate against an other. This could take a shape of take down politeness courtesies essential not for a politica lly correct dialogue but for one based on critical questioning. Still, Islamophobia could be further employed such as a cover up for purportedly hidden hegemonic agendas. 31One peculiar shift for Islamophobia as contested within a U.K. context is how instead of imported aliens made citizens being instigators of hate, violence, unrest, and, ultimately terror an enemy within image is constructed and maintained such as to, apparently, pass Islamophobic sentiments, if any, from one generation onto another. 32 For some now increasingly most, credit to media rivers of actual blood running capital of the United Kingdom streets next capital of the United Kingdom 7/7 ( la 9/11 codification) attacks are reminiscent of symbolic blood as invoked by Enoch Powell in his Birmingham language in 1968As I look ahead, I am make full with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood. The sad and intractable phenomenon i.e. immigration which we emphasis adde d watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic, but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. 33Unsurprisingly, Powells xenophobic pronouncements just as all xenophobic pronouncements -gain further inertia as an apparently self-fulfilling prophecy comes true. Admittedly, most, if not all, reactionist politics tap into a well-rehearsed repertory of phobias not least Islamophobia. Moreover, whole political careers are created and enhanced based on precautions from an other now of colour, now of race, and now of different faith. crossways Europe, ballot boxes speak volumes of Islamophobia tapped into as a final recourse against an threatening green menace within. 34,35Islamophobia European contextPlaced in a wider context, Islamophobia is not exclusive to U.K. As a matter of fact, for Europe in which U.K. is situated and to which it is historically affiliated Islamophobia is a common currency. Indeed, each European country has a distinctive narrative to tell of Islam / Muslims. Yet, for all differences, European nations especially former colonial powers share common narratives of home-grown terrorists and phobias. 36 interestingly still is how European nation states follow a similar pattern of state controls over flow of (now particularly Muslim) immigrants as well as controls of modes of conducts of minorities within. 37In fact, U.K.s, and for that matter Europes, current immigration laws and policies cannot be full understood in isolation of European conception of nation-states.Historically, European nation-states evolved into elective polities in which upholding order and rule of law required consistent policies. 38 As European countries grew increasingly into political, economic and scientific powerhouses, an increasing influx of immigrants required subtler means of control. Typically, in major European countries such as U.K. enacting multicu lturalism policies meant, at least apparently in so far as actual practices are concerned, less room for truly diverse communities and more for accommodation, assimilation, and full integration of an increasing alien presence posing, allegedly, menaces to complete European Enlightenment canonical values of reason and secularism. 39 Probably understandably, far-right currents in European politics manipulated political machinery inciting violence and hatred at times creating, only in voters minds, all sorts of phobias.The case for Islamophobia is one, consequently, which can be understood primarily based on power relations established and maintained in a wider power structure of Europe. This is particularly significant if one is to grasp global (i.e. Western) war on Islam, which is not. For all long-established and ply power structures need a signifier, a marker, which, presumably , contains, defines, and tags an assumed other only to maintain law and order in an endless historica l power struggle over hearts and minds.In conclusion, Islamophobia is, ultimately, a (mis)label slapped onto bottled up power relations within a marked power structure. In U.K. context, Islamophobia is used, as has been demonstrated, not to mark a shift in meandering(a) practices towards a truly multicultural community but to maintain embedded power relations in which specific groups are assigned defined space within ethnic markers. Initially, race is used to maintain power structures but upon introduction of race acts and laws, subtler formers of control and manipulation are employed by which focus is shift from race per se to faith not as a creed but as another verge of control.Within (i.e. in BrMuslims community), Islamophobia is employed by Islamic leaders such as to appropriate an exclusive definition of Muslims and Islam, on one hand, and in order to silence internal power struggle over meaning-making of Islam and, probably, anything else. Finally, in a broader context, Isl amophobia is employed as a means of control and manipulation of Muslim communities within, multiculturalism policies aside.Notes1. Nasreen Ali, Virinder S. Karla, and S. Sayyid, eds. A post colonial people South Asians in Britain. London Hurst, 2006.2. Taher Abbas, ed. Muslim Britain Communities under pressure. London Zed, 2005.3. mother fucker Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington, eds. racial discrimination and antiracism Inequalities, opportunities, and politics. London SAGE, 1999.4. Afifa Hussain and William Miller. Multicultural nationalism Islamophobia, Anglophobia, and devolution. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2006.5. Ibid.6. Stephan May, Tariq Modood, and Judith Squires, eds. Ethnicity, nationalism, and minority rights. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2004.7. Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington, Racism and antiracism8. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed. Muslims in the West from sojourners to citizens (Oxford Oxford University Press, 2002), 19-369. I bid.10. Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington, eds. Racism and antiracism11. Ibid.12. Quoted in Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington, eds. Racism and antiracism, 12.13. Ernest Cashmore and Barry Troyna. Introduction to race relations. Basingstoke The Falmer Press, 1990.14. Ibid.15. Robert Miles. Racism after race relations. London Rutledge, 1993.16. Nasreen Ali, Virinder S. Karla, and S. Sayyid, eds. A post colonial people South Asians in Britain17. Ibid.18. Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington.19. Ibid.20. Stephan May, Tariq Modood, and Judith Squires, eds. Ethnicity, nationalism, and minority rights.21. Afifa Hussain and William Miller. Multicultural nationalism Islamophobia, Anglophobia, and devolution.22. Nasreen Ali, Virinder S. Karla, and S. Sayyid, eds. A post colonial people South Asians in Britain, 183.23. John E. Richardson. (Mis)representing Islam the racism and rhetoric of British circular newspapers. Amsterdam John Benjamins, 2004.24. Christopher Allen, The impact of the Runnymede Trust on Islamophobia in the UK, BOCE, no. 6 (2003) 51-69.25. Ali Mohammadi, ed. Islam encountering globalisation. refreshing York RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.26. Quoted in Abdul Gafoor Abdul Majeed Noorani. Islam jihad prejudice versus reality (Bangladesh The University Press, 2002), 41.27. Christopher Allen, The impact of the Runnymede Trust on Islamophobia in the UK.28. Quoted in Ali Mohammadi, ed. Islam encountering globalization, 24.29. Ibid.30. Robert Spencer. The politically incorrect guide to Islam (and the Crusades). Washington, DC Regnery, 2005.31. Ibid.32. Roger Ballard and Marcus Banks, eds. Desh Pardesh the South Asian presence in Britain. London Hurst, 1994.33. Quoted in Peter Braham, Ali Rattansi, and Richard Skillington, eds. Racism and antiracism, 18.34. Raphael Israeli. The Islamic challenge in Europe. New Jersey Transaction Publishers, 2008.35. Roger Ballard and Marcus Banks, eds. Desh Pardesh the South Asian p resence in Britain36. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, ed. Muslims in the West from sojourners to citizens. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2002.37. Ibid.38. Nasreen Ali, Virinder S. Karla, and S. Sayyid, eds. A post colonial people South Asians in Britain9. 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