What was the state of race relations in the early 1970s and before? Here are some first hand accounts by immigrants:
"Well I think when I was in Cornwall we were treated like guest because
they all knew there are students here, they are here for a year or six
months or twelve months or maybe two years and they go back. And because
people treat you like you are doing something for their economy because
the students were the main source of income in that area so, there were
not much prejudice there, they were very friendly, very, very
co-operative people. And here when I came to Reading, though I
personally have been very lucky, I've never been abused by anybody. I
have good friends, good English neighbours and all that, only a small
incident, one or two where you can see that it was not
right." http://theimmigrantsproject.org/people/malhotra/
This accords with my own memory of those times. People from overseas were not treated badly, in fact, in less cosmopolitan areas they were treated very well. However, it was an age of free speech and occasional comments and bad behaviour from even a tiny percentage of the population could seem frightening or harassing to the few foreigners in the midst of a fairly homogeneous population. Modern left wing histories exaggerate any racist events in the 1950s-1980s for their own, present day purposes. Here is another account:
"My younger brother, who lives locally, told me a year ago that Hackney is even more socially divided now, with rich whites - ‘the Wine Bar crowd’, he calls them and poor, predominantly black, on the estates. When I was growing up the social divide was less stark. The first person who defended me against racism was the father of one of my white friends on the estate, who had an altercation with a local shoe store manager, whom he believed had discriminated against me when his daughter and I responded to an advert for Saturday girls. The black population itself is now quite diverse – with Somalis, Nigerians, Congolese, and so on – different cultures and tensions. I can attest that the living conditions of those in private rented housing are often much worse than what my mother experienced in the 1960s.
...
Today, working class white people have nowhere to go, so their poverty and alienation have become even more pronounced. They are dismissed from mainstream society as ‘scum’ and ‘chavs’, in effect, to the white elite, they have become as de-humanised as black people." https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/patricia-daley/recalling-1970s-london-has-life-improved-since-for-young-poor-and-black
Knowing Croydon well, I can attest that things are indeed no better and possibly worse. The upper classes are now entirely detached from the reality of living in poverty. Their politics is all about "isms" and contain little sympathy for ordinary people. Here is another account:
"You find the human beings. There are wonderful human beings, there are worst ones, there are criminal, there are sick, there are saints. You know there are angels. So really you shouldn't form opinion until you have met the person and you have experienced the behaviour, you know, he is putting forward and presenting.'
Anyway I have never had a problem, you know, once the people came in. And as I said, now I have been councillor, I'm happy. My ward people have been wonderful and I was Mayor of Reading as you know just a week ago and it was a brilliant experience. I have enjoyed every moment of it. I was welcomed and never ever even once a single time I felt any discrimination or anything. And I really think so far as the system is concerned, as I said, there are individuals of every type, probably sometimes it's based on ignorance, you know lack of experience ... lack of exposure. But I can tell you that system is brilliant because otherwise I wouldn't have been mayor. " http://theimmigrantsproject.org/people/riaz/
There is currently a postmodern drive to portray the past of the UK as a dreadful, racist place. Politicans, academics and those who select scripts for TV dramas are keen to show what a lovely place Britain has become now it is postmodern. They are quite simply wrong. The UK would not be the place it is today if the past were as they say and it was not postmarxism but the tolerance of ordinary English people that made the country hospitable. As this testimonial points out:
"Among foreigners, English people are known for being very indifferent, or tolerant, to other people’s choices in life, be it how you are dressed or whether your partner is from a different ethnic origin. It is quite common to meet mixed race French couples in London: is it because the pressure of the society is less evident or is it just a coincidence? Nobody really speaks about it openly." http://www.britishfuture.org/blog/living-as-a-mixed-race-couple/
As the memories of life before the Race Relations Act show, the British do not need to have their freedom of speech removed to be tolerant and the modern British are less tolerant of poverty and underclasses than at any time since the 1930s. This is especially true of the Labour Party who have swapped their beliefs for Postmarxism and the divisive cult of "isms". Lying about the past to make the present appear "holy" is one of the hallmarks of Poststructuralist journalism. The majority of modern people have no basis for any moral actions or thoughts and posing as "holy" when you have no morality is a sickness - see Poststructuralism-Postmodernism-Postmarxism. Smearing the past with evil fantasies is a sign of this sickness, I can only fear for the future when the English have become so changed.
POLITICAL THOUGHTS click here to see the whole POLITICAL THOUGHTS magazine!
See Poststructuralism-Postmodernism-Postmarxism
This accords with my own memory of those times. People from overseas were not treated badly, in fact, in less cosmopolitan areas they were treated very well. However, it was an age of free speech and occasional comments and bad behaviour from even a tiny percentage of the population could seem frightening or harassing to the few foreigners in the midst of a fairly homogeneous population. Modern left wing histories exaggerate any racist events in the 1950s-1980s for their own, present day purposes. Here is another account:
"My younger brother, who lives locally, told me a year ago that Hackney is even more socially divided now, with rich whites - ‘the Wine Bar crowd’, he calls them and poor, predominantly black, on the estates. When I was growing up the social divide was less stark. The first person who defended me against racism was the father of one of my white friends on the estate, who had an altercation with a local shoe store manager, whom he believed had discriminated against me when his daughter and I responded to an advert for Saturday girls. The black population itself is now quite diverse – with Somalis, Nigerians, Congolese, and so on – different cultures and tensions. I can attest that the living conditions of those in private rented housing are often much worse than what my mother experienced in the 1960s.
...
Today, working class white people have nowhere to go, so their poverty and alienation have become even more pronounced. They are dismissed from mainstream society as ‘scum’ and ‘chavs’, in effect, to the white elite, they have become as de-humanised as black people." https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/patricia-daley/recalling-1970s-london-has-life-improved-since-for-young-poor-and-black
Knowing Croydon well, I can attest that things are indeed no better and possibly worse. The upper classes are now entirely detached from the reality of living in poverty. Their politics is all about "isms" and contain little sympathy for ordinary people. Here is another account:
"You find the human beings. There are wonderful human beings, there are worst ones, there are criminal, there are sick, there are saints. You know there are angels. So really you shouldn't form opinion until you have met the person and you have experienced the behaviour, you know, he is putting forward and presenting.'
Anyway I have never had a problem, you know, once the people came in. And as I said, now I have been councillor, I'm happy. My ward people have been wonderful and I was Mayor of Reading as you know just a week ago and it was a brilliant experience. I have enjoyed every moment of it. I was welcomed and never ever even once a single time I felt any discrimination or anything. And I really think so far as the system is concerned, as I said, there are individuals of every type, probably sometimes it's based on ignorance, you know lack of experience ... lack of exposure. But I can tell you that system is brilliant because otherwise I wouldn't have been mayor. " http://theimmigrantsproject.org/people/riaz/
There is currently a postmodern drive to portray the past of the UK as a dreadful, racist place. Politicans, academics and those who select scripts for TV dramas are keen to show what a lovely place Britain has become now it is postmodern. They are quite simply wrong. The UK would not be the place it is today if the past were as they say and it was not postmarxism but the tolerance of ordinary English people that made the country hospitable. As this testimonial points out:
"Among foreigners, English people are known for being very indifferent, or tolerant, to other people’s choices in life, be it how you are dressed or whether your partner is from a different ethnic origin. It is quite common to meet mixed race French couples in London: is it because the pressure of the society is less evident or is it just a coincidence? Nobody really speaks about it openly." http://www.britishfuture.org/blog/living-as-a-mixed-race-couple/
As the memories of life before the Race Relations Act show, the British do not need to have their freedom of speech removed to be tolerant and the modern British are less tolerant of poverty and underclasses than at any time since the 1930s. This is especially true of the Labour Party who have swapped their beliefs for Postmarxism and the divisive cult of "isms". Lying about the past to make the present appear "holy" is one of the hallmarks of Poststructuralist journalism. The majority of modern people have no basis for any moral actions or thoughts and posing as "holy" when you have no morality is a sickness - see Poststructuralism-Postmodernism-Postmarxism. Smearing the past with evil fantasies is a sign of this sickness, I can only fear for the future when the English have become so changed.
POLITICAL THOUGHTS click here to see the whole POLITICAL THOUGHTS magazine!
See Poststructuralism-Postmodernism-Postmarxism
Comments