Most conflicts between communities turn out to be domestic and small in scale, so they do not appear in police statistics. However, schools report that Eastern European students periodically refuse to sit next to Britons of Asian and African origin, and lessons are occasionally interrupted due to the use of offensive words by young Eastern Europeans. And Polish newspapers in Britain write that gangs of Britons of Asian origin conduct intimidation campaigns against Polish (and other Eastern European) families who dare to settle in traditionally Asian areas.
The cause of the growing wave of conflicts is the rise in tension between the two largest ethnic minorities of modern Britain – the Asian community that has developed over decades and the Eastern European one that has emerged only in recent years.
According to the latest official data from the UK Office for National Statistics, from May 1, 2004 to June 31, 2007, 656,000 labor migrants from Eastern European countries entered the country, primarily from Poland (about 65% of that number) and Lithuania (17%). However, according to the Polish embassy in London, approximately 1 million Poles currently live in the UK, about a quarter of them in London and its vicinity. In recent years, a noticeable Polish population has appeared throughout the country, including relatively small towns in Scotland, Wales, and northern England. Poles and other Eastern Europeans have, among other places, settled in old industrial cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leicester, Bradford, Sheffield, and Leeds, where a significant portion of the population consists of people of South Asian origin.
Migration from former British India began back in the late 1940s, when during the post-war boom in Britain there was a shortage of labor. As a result, by the mid-1960s, communities of British Indians (primarily from the states of Punjab and Gujarat), Pakistanis (mainly from Kashmir and Punjab), and Bangladeshis had formed in the United Kingdom. According to the last census in 2001, 2.3 million 'British Asians' lived in Britain (the term British Asians is used in Britain only for people of South Asian origin, not for those from Malaysia, China, or Korea). Of these, 1.05 million identified themselves as belonging to the Indian community, 747,000 to the Pakistani, and 283,000 to the Bangladeshi community. According to estimates by researchers at the University of Cambridge, in 2004 about 2.8 million people of South Asian origin and their descendants (including those born from mixed marriages with white Britons) lived in the UK.
'Migrants from Eastern Europe often settle in areas with a high share of ethnic minorities, particularly Asian, because in these areas rental rates for housing are usually lower and there are shops and cafes accessible to new migrants, as well as, often, jobs. However, the mechanism of competition comes into play here. Eastern Europeans compete with the minority already in Britain on many fronts – from jobs to places in schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, the private and public housing market. For a community that is not accustomed to competition, this comes as a shock, and consequently friction arises,' Danny Sriskandarajah, director of the migration research center at the London Institute for Public Policy Research, told Expert.
Indeed, the Indo-Pakistani community is one of the most socially disadvantaged in Britain. For example, among British Pakistanis, 11% of men and 19% of women are unemployed; among Bangladeshis this figure is even higher – 14% for men and 22% for women (the average unemployment rate in Britain is 5.5% of the labor force). Many members of the Asian community live in public housing and depend on social benefits and services provided by local authorities, which is especially common in former industrial cities of northern and central England. For this reason, they view new migrants as their competitors. Mohammed Ali, director of a research center in the northern city of Bradford in Yorkshire (where 40% of the population of 485,000 are Indo-Pakistanis), stated that 'EU enlargement has seriously affected the distribution of jobs among minorities – it is much easier to bring in foreigners who agree to work for less money, ignoring those already in the country.'
In the context of the emerging conflict, both communities construct their own mythology. British Indo-Pakistanis leave messages on internet forums claiming: 'Our fathers worked very hard, often two or three jobs, faced racism. And now Polish migrants have created a nightmare on the streets, are poorly familiar with traffic rules, spread drugs, alcohol, harass our women.' In response, Ewa Sadowska, coordinator of the Polish charity Bartka UK, writes in a press release that 'we regularly hear stories of intimidation of Poles by the Asian community in everyday life. There is a noticeable number of crimes against Poles.'
Representatives of Polish migrants claim that they came to Britain to work, not to receive social benefits (which Poles often accuse Indo-Pakistanis of, with their large families), and insist on the very strong work ethic of Polish workers. Most migrants from Eastern Europe are young people aged 18-34, who leave their children, pensioner parents and other dependents at home and indeed go to work. Many Poles or Lithuanians come to Britain temporarily, but about half, according to sociological surveys, plan to stay for a long period – 5 years or more. Their decision is primarily driven by earning opportunities. The average earnings of Poles in Britain is 1,500 pounds ($2,900) per month after taxes, which is several times more than at home. “In Britain, Poles can earn much more than at home, despite the acceleration of economic growth and reduction in unemployment in recent years. However, outside Warsaw and Krakow, opportunities for high-paying employment are very limited, leading to continued migration to Britain, Ireland and other EU countries,” Pyotr Yushchuk, an analyst at the sociological agency ARC Market and Opinion, told Expert.
While relations between the two communities remain tense, the British charitable foundation Joseph Rowntree Foundation has allocated a grant to study the causes of conflicts between Poles and Indo-Pakistanis. The study will be conducted in cities in northern England, where unemployment and social tension are higher than the national average.
Alexander KOKSHAROV.
Expert