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Twentieth-Century Britain, Immigration and racial politics, Week 10…
Twentieth-Century Britain, Immigration and racial politics, Week 10
Historiography
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David Feldman has looked into the problems involving the Sikh community, particularly in the midlands in the late 60s
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Primary Sources
Enoch Powell, 'Rivers of Blood' Speech 1968
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"in 15 years time the black man" would "have the whip hand over the white man,"
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Social context
People such as barristers and landlords were afraid to discriminate against people of different ethnicities as they would against any white person based on whether they were good enough tenants or were guilty enough to be sent to prison
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People Saw an increase in immigration and the acceptance of immigrants as a decline in an affluent and moral society
Rates of crime were on the increase, homosexuality, the abolition of the death penalty in the UK and the 'loosening up' of laws
Political context
The Working-class felt burdened with the problem of immigration and expressed their discontent profusely
People often wrote in their letters to Powell in response to his speech that they were glad that there was at least somebody listening to the concerns of British citizens (no matter the class)
The late 1960s to the 70s saw a decline in the working-class votes for Labour as they believed that the immigrants views were being listened to over theirs
"Formany working-class supporters, being "white" in immigrant neighbourhoods and workplaces reinforced their sense of social inequality and political neglect
Despite perceptions of the Conservatives and their campaigns as being harsh towards immigrants and the topic of immigration, Powell's speech was so strongly opinionated, that the leader of the Conservative party, William Hague, fired him.
Economic context
People's concerns about loss of jobs to immigrants is a historic concern which is echoed even in today's situation
A big part of why the majority of Britain voted to "leave" in the EU referendum was based around their fears of Immigration and particularly job-loss in accordance with immigration increase
the "leave" vote was appealing to those who had fears of increased immigration as politicians such as Nigel Farage, promise that immigration will be "tackled"