BRITAIN: Rise of the Right Worries Immigrants

BRITAIN: Rise of the Right Worries Immigrants
Sanjay Suri - IPS 5/6/03

LONDON, May 5 (IPS) - Akhtar Ahmed thought he had moved into a stable and comfortable life when he migrated to Britain 20 years ago. Now he is becoming less and less sure.

The victories of the far-right British National Party (BNP) in the local elections have shaken him, and many like him. The BNP won a further five seats in Burnley town in the north, the scene of fierce rioting between Muslim youths and BNP supporters two years ago.

The BNP is now the second largest party in the council, with a total of eight councillors, and pushing the Liberal Democrats with seven to third place. Labour holds the majority.

"Last time we kicked the door open," BNP Spokesman Simon Bennett said at a press conference after the win in Burnley. "This time we have kicked through it."

For the first time the BNP won seats in the West Midlands and in the South-East of Britain as well. The BNP tally in councils in Britain is now 15. But until a couple of years back there was not a single BNP councillor.

And the elections to local councils this time were only an experiment for the BNP. It is preparing now for further elections in councils next year in relatively impoverished areas, where it is expected to draw considerable support.

Akhtar Ahmed and his two brothers share a business driving taxis and running a newsagents store. "But it is getting really bad," he says. "Now we look carefully at every passenger we pick up, and at every customer who walks into the store. It was never this bad in Pakistan." Racial abuse is just a part of daily life.

Given the clashes between Muslim and BNP supporters, and the strong anti- Muslim rhetoric of the BNP, Muslim communities in the north are particularly worried by the new developments. "It is obviously more worrying for the Muslims because they have been the prime targets," Ghiyasuddin Siddiqui from the Muslim Parliament, an independent pressure group, told IPS.

But Muslims themselves are partly to blame, he said. "Muslims need to build bridges across the political divide, and this has not happened." The developments are worrying, "but these fears have to lead to some kind of action," Siddiqui said. "Unless we go for a new alliance-building, the situation will remain the same, or get worse."

But Siddiqui, like other Muslim and immigrant group leaders, blames the government primarily for allowing this situation to develop. "The main political parties must realise that whatever this means for the minorities, they too will be the losers if they do not confront the BNP head on," he says.

"The lies must be corrected. The manufacturing industry collapsed during the Thatcher era, and nothing has come up to replace it. The BNP now blames immigrants for the unemployment that resulted, but the government must set the record straight."

A great deal of the segregation that is taking place in the north is the result of the policies of local councils, Siddiqui said. "This has to be recognised and tackled," he says. "And the government must explain that if people are poor, it is not due to the immigrants."

What the Labour government is doing is in effect quite the opposite, says Tauhid Pasha, spokesman for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).

"It is not just rhetoric, it is the new government policies against asylum-seekers and immigrants that is stoking up strong feelings against immigrants," he told IPS. "The government has to accept responsibility for the kind of support the BNP is getting."

The Labour government has promised that it will halve the number of asylum- seekers by the end of the year. New measures introduced in January make it much harder for asylum-seekers to find refuge in Britain.

"This anti-immigration feeling towards asylum-seekers is feeding support for the BNP," Pasha says. "The government must face up to its responsibilities towards asylum-seekers and immigrants, instead of making scapegoats of them for its own failures."

These government fears are feeding the media "which is adopting a very anti-asylum seekers agenda," Pasha says. "The government bears moral responsibility for what is happening because it can influence how the public feel."

The result in Burnley should "send alarm bells ringing in all the political parties," Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor Phillips said in a statement. "All mainstream political parties need to wake up and pay attention to this as unless they sort it out it will happen again and again."

Phillips said: "This can happen anywhere as we can see by the results in places such as Broxbourne, Sandwell and Stoke-on-Trent. Each time it will become easier - even one BNP councillor is too many - and we must guard against complacency."

With government policies in line with the rhetoric and the push of the far right, Akhtar Ahmed sees a difficult future ahead for his children. He is not alone in his fears.