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Race boss claims EU migrants are bigots
Last updated at 12:22pm on 23.10.06
Thousands of white immigrants from eastern Europe are deeply racist, the head of the race relations watchdog has warned.
Speaking about the tensions in British communities, Trevor Phillips said many arrivals from former Soviet countries displayed prejudice against black people.
Read more...
Debate over Muslim dress could trigger riots, race chief warns
"Some eastern European people have attitudes to black people that date back to the Fifties," he told BBC television. "And that is not acceptable."
His warning came as Home Secretary John Reid prepared to impose curbs on immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the two countries join the EU in January. The measures are expected to include a time limit on how long people who arrive looking for work can stay. Skilled workers will be favoured, with only a small number of unskilled labourers being allowed entry.
Ministers accept they made a mistake by not imposing similar controls when other countries including Poland joined the EU in 2004. The Government estimated that 13,000 would arrive but more than 330,000 actually flocked in.
The new stance reflects heightened concern about race relations in the wake of the Muslim veil row.
Representatives of all the major religions will meet Education Secretary-Alan Johnson today for an "inclusion summit", to discuss how schools can help improve community relations.
Mr Johnson will press his plan to empower local authorities to make all new faith schools admit up to a quarter of pupils from different religions.
But he will assure them he has no plans to backdate the power to cover existing schools.
Meanwhile, there were claims that the veil row could inflame inner city violence and risk a repeat of the riots in northern towns.
Dewsbury Labour MP Shahid Malik said: "If we don't take a grip of this debate now, it will have serious social consequences, and politicians and certain elementsof the media need to act more responsibly." He added: "The basic ingredients for conflict are out there. It takes only one spark to set things off."
The Muslim Council of Britain said the debate about integration had become "increasingly ugly and shrill" in recent weeks.
Secretary-general Muhammad Abdul Bari said: "We have seen veils being forcefully pulled off Muslim women, a number of mosques subjected to arson attacks, and Muslim individuals, including an imam in Glasgow, badly beaten up by thugs.
"This cannot be described as being merely a 'debate'."
Reader views (10)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I think Trevor Phillips should look at the race crimes commited by his own people on a daily basis before commenting on other immigrant communities. Pot calling the kettle black? Excuse the pun.
- Db, Croydon
Eastern Europe definitely has problems with racism. So does Britain. When did white British people become the poster boys for racial tolerance? Just because people don't throw bananas on football pitches doesn't mean racism isn't a deep rooted sickness in Britain. And it affects Eastern European people too. Romanian people or Bulgarian people look just as "foreign" as Turkish or Arabic people do. Isn't it racism when people expect you to work longer and harder for less money than everyone else? Isn't it racism when people try to block your access to a country because of the actions of some of your countrymen? Eastern European people coming here face enormous problems and should be welcomed, just as people from other countries should be welcomed. Telling newly arrived immigrants they don't fit in is a sure way to not solve race relations problems in your country.
- Simon, Stamford Hill, London
Too many people think that because the flood of E Europeans is "white" and Christian that they will integrate into multicultural Britain. Not so. Most of these people have NO experience of cultural diversity, and they come from countries where open racism and homophobia are the norm. Good on you Trevor Phillips for making this point.
- Will Apenga, London, UK
Everyone is entitled to an "attitude" so long as that is not accompanied by a law breaking act. Many indigenous people have an "attitude" towards certain ethnic groupings and prefer not to mix or deal with them. So long as Eastern Europeans, who are significantly contributing to the economy, remain within the law why should we be concerned about attitudes?
It may surprise members of the CRE that many members of ethnic minorities hav "attitudes" that some consider unacceptable.
- Roy Gilbert, Solihull, England
Trevor Phillips is right. I have family in Eastern Europe and a strong undercurrent of racism against black people exists in a lot of countries over there. It's important that we deal with this in the context of immigration before it becomes an issue. Otherwise we'll end up with a messy and difficult situation, just like the one we're in now with Muslims.
- Paul, London
The statement in itself is bigoted and this from the same guy who said Chinese people were black!
Its funny watching the race relations gurus implode without any help from the "far right"!
- Darren, London
I was born in Eastern European (Baltic) country and know full well that people from these countries are more often racist than not. Trevor Phillips is right, simple as that. If you follow football at all, for example, you would have seen how bad the problem really is.
Only skilled workers should come to Britain and they should be given an introduction pack to detail how to live here. This is not a zoo, therefore people will have to adhere to certain codes of conduct and decency and if they do not, there have to be penalties that are severe enough to deter bad behaviour.
Overall I think we should look for good examples from other European big cities, like Amsterdam. In Amsterdam the communities are very well integrated and the integration has been brought about with respecting everyone. In the UK, I think, people like Jack Straw should consult race relations advisers before speaking. Bull in a china shop and all that, the truth is that this government has allowed different communities to thrive inwards within themselves thus alienating the communities from the mainstream British life, this has been a very wrong policy and it will take some time to repair the damage this policy has done to the British Society. People from different ethnic communities enrich this contry enormously and should be embraced and encouraged to take part in politics and community so that they do not feel excluded but included.
- Anna, Central London
This is an incredibly dangerous attitude to express. What about the thousands of eastern european immigrants who arrive and are polite, helpful, and more aware of what means to be a citizen than the British?
- Nicola, Bristol
I don't know if thousands of white migrants coming from new EU countries are rascist, but I will share a personal experience. I came to the UK with my Lithuanian wife. First day in the UK in Totenham in the evening we got on a bus. The vast majority of the passengers were black, which is OK. Next thing, this guy comes to my wife and starts screaming at the whole bus how he hates white people. My wife was really scared and stressed from the experience. Racism is wrong and that goes for both black and white communities.
- Vall, London
What Trevor says is absolutely true. It could be the years of isolation and authoriatarian communist regimes meant that few East Europeans have ever met people of colour before. Their first encounter is when they come to cosmopolitan London.
- Dhanraj, Basildon, Essex
