Posted on 05/17/2002 7:25:49 PM PDT by Clive
White working-class men are being offered help by the Commission for Racial Equality in dealing with what they regard as discrimination against them.
The commission, making the most significant change of emphasis in its 25-year history, believes that disaffection in that group has contributed to the rise of the far Right in politics.
"It is precisely those young people who are engaged in some of the appalling racial violence and harassment that we want to see," Gurbux Singh, the commission chairman, said in an interview with The Telegraph.
Mr Singh said the commission was repositioning itself to concentrate on representing white people as much as black and Asian populations. "I believe that if we are to create social cohesion, we have to be concerned about all communities.
"Unless society begins to tackle the problems of young, disaffected white men, we will not reduce race violence." The move has been prompted by the success of the British National Party in this month's local elections.
It also reflects concern about the race riots in several northern cities last year. The commission is sending workers into white working-class areas to identify issues concerning local people.
It has a full-time member of staff in Oldham, one of the towns hit by rioting, and is considering establishing representatives in Burnley and Bradford.
Guidance for the 90 racial equality councils, which encourage good race relations around the country, is being rewritten to make clear that they should deal with all groups.
Future funding will depend on their reaching out to white populations, particularly young working-class men, as well as ethnic minorities.
"I believe the commission should be actively engaged in reconnecting with all communities to establish bridges," Mr Singh said. "We need to begin to articulate the needs of those [white] communities to the powers that be."
The commission recently backed Janet Rowntree, a white woman who felt that she had been sacked from her petrol station job because of discrimination by her Asian employers. She won her case at an industrial tribunal.
Mr Singh said the BNP's success in Burnley, where it won three council seats, and last year's riots were a sign that the concerns of white working-class people were not being addressed.
"There are some deep divisions in our communities, often fuelled not just by race but by poverty, poor housing, poor education, no employment opportunities, by people feeling that the existing political system is not seriously responding to their need."
A Home Office report compiled after last year's riots found that white communities were often angry because they believed that their Asian neighbours received an unfair share of financial aid from the state.
Housing officers have also raised concerns that racial tension was being stoked by the priority given to asylum seekers who are homeless. Mr Singh said he wanted housing and education policies to be used to encourage an end to segregation.
He also stressed that individuals had to be more outward-looking. "Some communities, white as well as Asian and black, are inward-looking and insular," he said. "They need to change. They need to open up and become part of the wider community."
Mr Singh supported David Blunkett's proposals for an oath of allegiance and English language lessons for immigrants. "If people have created homes here, they have a responsibility," he said.
He also expressed concern about the influence of rap culture on young blacks. "It is very male, very macho," he said. "It is cool to be bad; indeed, some people may even say it is cool to be criminal.
"Well, that is not what we want to see. There are some serious issues around black crime, black youth culture - and the black community must face up to the reality." Mr Singh said he was particularly concerned about the under-achievement of some black boys at school.
The Government signalled this week that it wanted to abolish the commission and set up a body dealing with all areas of discrimination. Mr Singh said he was relaxed about the plan.
Which tells me that as soon as the treat has passed those young white men will be tossed back into the dustbin.
Which tells me that as soon as the threat has passed those young white men will be tossed back into the dustbin.
Imagine the humiliation of it. Men, in their own country. Descendants of those who fought in two world wars. Now a Mr Singh, holds forth (please and thank you) for the POSSIBLE exploration of the rights of war veterans grand sons and great grand sons. Good God almighty! No, not blasphemy.
Bad as it is in Canada in some cases, it hasn't got this bad. The up side, is that Americans can digest this and remember what the socialism of a nation brings it to.
Be scornful of socialists but do not be scornful of someone merely because his name is "Singh". From Flander's Fields to the jungles of Burma, Sikhs have laid down their lives for the British Crown by the tens of thousands.
"In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith."
General Sir Frank Messervy KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO
Source: Reuters AlertNet
18 May 2002 03:53
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Britain's Commission for Racial Equality, charged with fighting bias against ethnic minorities, is ready to take in disenfranchised whites as the resurgence of the far right sends political tremors across Europe.
"Unless society begins to tackle the problems of young, disaffected white men, we will not reduce race violence," CRE Chairman Gurbux Singh told Saturday's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"I believe that if we are to create social cohesion, we have to be concerned about all communities," he added.
His remarks showed how conditions have changed since the Commission was created, at a time when racial discrimination was seen as bias purely by whites against ethnic minorities during Britain's absorption of immigrants from former colonies.
"The Commission is shifting and repositioning itself," Singh said.
The far-right British National Party won three seats in local council elections in the central city of Burnley last month -- scene of race riots which struck several cities in the region less than a year ago.
That the white supremacist party won its first ever seats in local government shocked a political mainstream already reeling from the large minority vote for right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen in France's presidential elections.
A further shock this week was the huge vote in the Dutch elections that thrust the anti-immigration party of slain right-winger Pim Fortuyn from nowhere to second place and a probable role in government in that normally liberal country.
"There are some deep divisions in our communities, often fuelled not just by race but by poverty, poor housing, poor education, no employment opportunities, by people feeling that the existing political system is not seriously responding to their need," Singh said.
"Some communities, white as well as Asian and black, are inward-looking and insular. They need to change. They need to open up and become part of the wider community," he added.
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