BARRIER of barbed wire has been built beA tween Europe and Africa along the Spanlish/Moroccan border at a cost of almost €200,000. Nothing could symbolise the meaning of the new Europe better.
The Schengen agreement is designed to close the bor.
ders around Europe to economic migrant.
The Bill now before the British parliament echoes leg. Islation which either exists or is currently being proposed in France, Italy, Spain and other European states.
Simon Deville IMMIGRATION controls are a relatively recent means through which to encourage racism. They became an essential part of re-defining the British national identity in the context of an imperialist power that could no longer rule the waves.
Throughout British history large numbers of migrant workers have come to Britain. This has been a result of both repression in their country of origin Up to the Second World War it was Irish, Jews, Poles, Ukrainians and Cypriots have made up the largest groups.
Of all these it was the Irish and Jewish immigrants who faced the most hostility from the "indigenous" population. Marx wrote in 1870 that "Every industrial and commercial centre in England now possesses a working class divided into two hostile camps. English proletarians and irish prole tarians. The ordinary English worker hates the inish worker as a competitor who lowers his standard of life.
There has been a small minority of black peopic in britain for centuries and a long history of racism against them. Vibeke Bach Madson of the Danish socialist paper Socialistisk Information reviews our THE BRITISH paper Socialist Outlook has published a small book on racism and fascism. It gives an excellent introduction and background infomation, both on what racism and fascism represent, and to the political reasons why racism and fascism raise their ugly heads. It also makes some suggestions on how to fight back.
It contains eleven chapters in three main parts, a historical section, which looks at the nature of fascism and its development in Italy, Germany and Spain along with a chapter on fascism and homosexuality.
There is another section on fascism France. The final part is concerned in pross.
At the end of the second world war there was a shortage of labour power. couraged people to come here.
In 19-48 The British Nationality Act guaranteed the right of all Commonwealth citizens to live and settle in BritFrom the war until the mid 1960s there were relatively high levels of immigration, particulariy from the Canbbean and the Indian sub-continent.
The lack of housing stock, particuceived competition between black and white workers.
Racism, and black resistance to racism. built up throughour this period. in Notting Hill and Nottingham.
A fight between some black and white people in Notting Hill was fol. lowed by a large angry mob of white people attacking any West Indians in This was portrayed as being a "race relations" problem rather than one of racism, and was used to generate a new political consensus between the main political parties based around limiting immigration and introducing race relations legislation.
Thus racism was to be dealt with with racism in Britain today.
For those of us who do not know a lot about the history it is a very good description of the most important events, going back to the start of fascism in 1919-39.
There is no doube that the question of racism and extreme rift-wing movements is centrally placed in political developments in Europe.
The economic crises which started in the 1970s and mass unemployment The Tories are always ready to play the race card if they think It will help their electoral fortunes. They hope the Asylum and Immigration Bill will win them votes.
But the moves in Britain must be seen as part of greater european integration.
Schengen highlights the growing economic differences between North and South-a situation in which West. ern European governments deal in arms and other commodities, propping up murderous and torturing regimes Co-operation between European bourgeoises to stop Anti-fascist fighter Charle Goodman arrested in East London Cable Street bottle, through a combination of restricting the rights of victims of racism and through state censorship. Both strategies ultimately promoted further raThe 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act restricted immigration from the commonwealth to those who already had jobs waiting for them. or who had essential skills Having just been elected in 1964 the Labour government brought in new laws setting limits on the numbers of immigrants In 1968 Enoch Powell delivered his infamous "rivers of blood" speech. In the context of a growing militant win over the social democrats. Another important element in the fight against fascism is the struggle against racism-a central part of our society and the state apparatus. whether it is racist asylum laws which keep refugees out, or the oppression of minorities. Here, the fight against the criminalisation of asylum seekers and for their demor atic rights are and sophisticated level. 1936 civil rights movement in the USA. • Powells speech was able to tap in to popular fears and to legitimise popular racism. British culture under threat from "alien" cultures was the theme.
Though the Conservatives formally distanced themselves from Powell. they recognised the potential of racism to win them votes.
In 1971 The Immigration Act effec tively reduced the status of non-white immigrants to that of "alien", unless they could prove that either they or their parents were born in Britain.
Thatcher consciously spoke about "foods of immigrants" coming into the country, even though this was important issues.
Fascism and racism have to be fought against-but racism cannot finally be eliminated without replacing capitalism with socialism.
I think the book has its strength as an introduction to certain issues/countries.
If I had to highlight a weakness it would be that the different contribueconomic migration, and to classify the vast number of asylum seekers as bogus, Is now at an unprecedented This Centre Stage looks at the history of state racism in Britain expressed in the Immigration and Asylum Bill, the battle for Immigrant rights in Germany and the struggle against the new legislation in Italy, arguing that we need an international socialist opposition to the captcalist European project—one that defends the right of free movement across all international borders.
*clearly not true. In 1988 the Tories introduced the further legislation that abolished the right of family reunion and made overstaying on a visa a criminal offence. The Schengen Agreement signed in 1985 paved the way for the development of a common set of racist laws throughout Europe. This is one piece of Schengen the British government is keen on. The 1993 Asylum and Immigration Act represented a move towards a common policy with the aim of restricting the right of entry of asylum seckers and the creation of detention centres to lock up asylum seckers. tions overlap with one another and do not always go into sufficient detail. The purpose of the book is of course political, to explore the problem of racism and fascism from the perspective of how to fight and eliminate it. People in Europe have an alterbative— mobilisation of the working class, mass organisations and collective action.
Ending the