Flashpoints in UK That May Feed Extremism

The recent racist attacks in Belfast, Ireland, on the Romanian immigrant community reminds once again how fragile the peace is in the present day UK. More than 100 Romanian families left the area to move back to their country from a place which they had started thinking as their own.

Many more who could not decide instantly are now living in an environment of constant fear risking their property and their life and the life of their loved ones. The current wave is said to be an aftermath of a previous incident involving Polish community and the back lash wrath has befallen upon the Romanians just for the reasons that they are also from East Europe like the Polish.

But it definitely is not so simple like I have described in the above paragraph and the cause and effect diagram is always very frightening. It takes years and incident upon incident to develop an outburst of such magnitude.

The unfolding events in Belfast highlight this danger and with the economy in tatters and jobs losses to the maximum, the locals are developing the feelings of being robbed of prospects by the immigrants.

Think tanks were hinting towards a backfire from the inhabitants who think their opportunities have been taken over by those who have flooded their country. The BNP recently winning seats in the European Parliament is a further indication to this rising feeling of deprivation.

UK has many flashpoints that can be a potential source of inter-racial tensions. Immigrants are concentrated in enclaves and communities by chance or by intent.

Such concentrations are natural to develop because it often is the case that a group of immigrants settle in a locality and then many others whom he or she knows also tend to follow and settle around him in due course of time.

LONDON is home to Britain’s largest immigrant communities, with a quarter of the population born abroad which is about 1.7 million. The biggest groups are Indian and Afro-Caribbean. Pakistani, Bangladeshi and the Sri Lankan are also a major part.

It goes that in and around Greater London there are pockets and concentrations of such communities in geographically scattered suburbs. Major Asian, Pakistani and Indian, population is abode in the areas of Tooting, Green Street, Ilford, Harrow, Uxbridge, South Hall, North London, Morden and Norbury.

Then there is the Afro Caribbean in Mitcham, Brixton, Croydon, Thornton Heath, South Norwood, Peckham, Lewisham and other areas.

More recently Eastern Europeans, particularly Polish nationals, have arrived in large numbers seeking work. But most European population concentrations keep changing with changing economic circumstances because they always have options to return when circumstances are favourable back home.

LUTON is another area which houses a sizeable Pakistani community, and Indian immigrants have settled in particularly high numbers in LEICESTER and DERBY as these areas attract textile and manufacturing jobs.

BRADFORD and LEEDS have such large Asian population that areas of them seem like one is living in Asia. BIRMINGHAM, in parts has more than a third of the population which was born abroad. Afro-Caribbean and Indians arrived in large numbers in the 1960s and 70s to settle in and around the area.

MANCHESTER and LIVERPOOL have a significant Afro-Caribbean, Asian and Irish population.

BRISTOL was home to a sizeable black population from the 1700s due to the city’s role in the slave trade. It also attracted waves of Afro-Caribbean immigrants from the 1950s.

CARDIFF is home to the largest immigrant communities in Wales. The black community is dominated by Somalis, who arrived in large numbers as refugees in the 1980s and 90s.

The government must read the mind of the people and resolve issues that have the capability to provoke tensions and event that inadvertently have the potential to damage the UK economy far worse than the current recession.

If the locals don’t want settlers from other countries to come and stay in UK, the government should respond to their voice and minimize their concerns. This will also help those who are lured into UK with big hopes and a seemingly welcoming government.