To:
letters@guardian.co.uk |
Dear Sir/Madam, When David
Aaronovitch refers to
“anti-immigrants” in
his comments in Sunday's
Observer (Lies,
damned lies), he is
presumably also referring
to the likes of me, so
please allow me to make
the following points: Firstly, I’m
not “anti-immigrant”
or “anti-immigration”,
but
“anti-mass-immigration”.
There are many parts of
England where so-called
“ethnic minorities”
now form such a large
proportion of the
population it makes me and
many other “ethnic
Brits” feel like
foreigners in our own
country. With all due
respect, most of us
(“ethnic Brits, and
probably most immigrants
as well) don’t want to
live in a multiracial,
multicultural society, but
amongst our own kind,
surrounded by own familiar
culture (if Mr Aaronovitch
replies, too late, the
horse has already bolted,
I say that one or two have
bolted, which I can live
with, but the majority are
still in the stable). Secondly, in
respect to Mr
Aaronovitch's claim that
Bob Rowthorn’s
suggestion, “that mass
immigration necessarily
undermines a sense of
nationhood”, is
completely contradicted by
the experience of the
United States and
Australia, I suggest that
he speak with an
Australian aborigine or a
native American. Like most
people, he overlooks the
fact that in these
countries the overwhelming
majority, along with the
dominant culture, is
composed of relatively
recent immigrants. In most parts of
the world, where the
dominant culture is that
of the indigenous
population, the situation
is entirely different.
Their ability to
assimilate immigrants,
especially when the
differences in race,
culture and shared history
are great, is much more
restricted. National identity
is a complicated
phenomenon, but surely a
very major component of it
is identification with
shared history. And
British history, as the
BBC’s Greg Dyke might
put it, is “hideously
white”, as is European
history, of which it is
just a part.” And while
we can adapted the BBC to
reflect demographic
changes, we can hardly
adapt our history. Most people are
naturally much more
interested in their own
history (i.e. that of
their forebears) than in
the history of others. How
is a teacher supposed to
interest the black and
Asian children in his
class for the history of
Europeans? I suppose,
through the circumstance
of them living here, but
that still doesn’t make
up for the fact that it is
not their forebears they
will be learning about. In consequence, a
large proportion of
non-European immigrants
will never assimilate, as
they generally do in
America.
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