Race, Racism and Immigration in Scotland

Mike Martin

Race, racism and immigration in Scotland are key issue facing the Left and will remain so for decades to come. This article is not exhaustive, rather, the intention is to initiate some debate and! or follow on articles.

It is well known that there are some striking differences between England and Scotland: The weight of ethnic minorities in Scotland is smaller (2%) compared with England (5%), but this may change over the next decades. In Scotland Muslims constitute a higher proportion of ethnic minorities than in England.
In some parts of England the BNP have developed a mass electoral base but not yet in Scotland. This may change due to the collapse of the Scottish Socialist Party (among other factors).

The last point in particular, may help to reinforce a view held by some that Scotland is a more politically advanced nation and therefore we don't need to think too hard about these questions. Hence there are insufficient resources and no clear analysis driving policy, for example, the Scottish Executive's "One Scotland, No Place for Racism" initiative carries no emergency help line in contrast to their anti-Domestic Abuse program.

This situation is exacerbated by the Commission for Racial Equality, which has discontinued or reduced core funding of the Race Equality Councils in recent years causing some, such as Tayside, to close and others to become financially unstable. CRE awards are also now disbursed annually on a competitive basis rather than on a three year cycle, thus Citizen Advice Bureaux can compete for CRE awards but RECs cannot compete for DTI funding for CABs. Whilst the track record of some RECs leaves much to be desired, their demise means that victims of race discrimination become prey to solicitors whose services are often poor. The reality is that state funding for fighting for the rights of ethnic minorities does not chime with public feelings as can be demonstrated by collecting for Guide Dogs for the Blind on one side of Buchanan Street, Glasgow and the struggling local REC on the other side.

The so-called "demographic deficit" in as Fraserburgh individuals claiming BNP membership have won some support using community councils as a platform to promote their divisive views. There is a need for the more extensive provision of English language lessons and for these nationalities to become organised so their interests can be effectively represented and issues resolved. Racist incidents across Scotland have

Scotland has lead to the Executive's Fresh Talent initiative which aims to encourage more people to come to Scotland to live, work or study. Moreover, accession to the EU of Eastern European states has lead to a substantial migration to Scotland bringing much needed skills, for example, dentistry, bus driving, train tea trolley attendants etc. Also, in the north of Scotland mainly male nationals such as Russians, Kurds, Iraqis and Angolans work in fish processing, food preparation and agriculture. Thus gaps in the labour market are being filled with consequent beneficial economic effects. However there is, typically, some friction arising from the restricted availability of affordable accommodation and other areas of competition. In some towns such increased by approximately 14% on last years figures although this may be in part due to improved reporting by the public agencies. There has also been an increase of attacks on Asian people in the wake of the London bombings. It remains the case that English people are sometimes the victims of racist incidents but if you are a Bengali or a Pakistani or an African you are hundreds of times more likely to be a victim -see chart. Analysis of racist incidents is vital in order to discern patterns and trends so that effective multi-agency responses can be devised, for example, in schools to combat racist bullying or in the street at night where alcohol is a factor. There is much which could be done to reduce these figures:

The Scottish Executive could be more pro-active in pressurizing agencies such as Health Services to report incidents!

The Scottish Executive could fund further initiatives to reach out to school children. Universities should stop the practice of providing accommodation for overseas students in (former) Council Estates in distressed communities.

The funding of RECs should be re-stabilised since they could playa vital role in facilitating a multi-agency approach to resolving persistent situations where racist crime takes place. Steps need to be taken to address the special difficulties faced by Travellers.

Local authorities should interpret law so as to find ways to proscribe "parades" or marches by far right organisations.

None of these measures will put paid to racism in our society since the media and the government fuel the prejudices which inform and engender racist views. The latest mythology pedalling consists of attempting to associate Islam with suicide bombing and bringing into question the UK's multi-cultural mode! of racial integration. Whilst taking the spot light of Britain's disastrous intervention into Iraq at best this gives rise to turgid speeches by David Blunkett on English identity at worse it helps rationalise violence against Asians.

The question of race and racism will pose tough questions for the left in the years ahead which will need more than the slogan "black and white unite" to answer.