the history of an idea 2010

8/13/2019 The History of an Idea 2010

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The History of an

Idea: DEVOLUTION


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Throughout the 16 th century differences betweenEngland and Wales became minimal and a newamalgam of Norman, Welsh and English elementsfacilitated the incorporation of Wales into theEnglish political, legal and administrative system(Acts of Union 1536-1543).The emergence of the English Empire -an empirebased mainly on the predominance of the wealth,resources and population of southern Englandover the rest of the British Isles and later on overNorth America and the West Indies.Steady internal colonization: IRELANDScotland conquered by Cromwells armies Union

Act of 1707 (great contributor: John Knox, thefather of the KIRK, a process encouraged by theTudors and Stuarts)Reformation and the subsequent translation ofthe Bible into English: great instruments of

Anglicization


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The Legacy of the English REVOLUTION:

It generated new political and religious ideasThe Protectorate exerted a ruthless, colonialpower over the Celtic Fringe (the conquest ofScotland; the massacre of Irish Catholics)Its overall impact will be sanctioned with avengeance upon Restoration: Dissenters willbe rendered second-class citizens for the next

two centuries.HOSTILITY between the Establ.

Church and Dissent


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The Glorious RevolutionThe Protestant Ascendancy (once the Jacobite Rebellionis quashed in Ireland (at the Boyne in 1690) and in

Scotland in 1746 (Culloden); modern principles ofgovernmentLiberal principles enshrined in the constitution; religioustoleration (?!)

William III a fierce opponent of Catholicism Settlement Act (1701)
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DISSENT AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Large-scale movement of the population within the

British Isles: melting pot effect

Dissent numerically comparable to the Est. Church;Dissenting sects take advantage of the greatmodernising and urbanising effects ofIndustrialization

Reform Act of 1832 and the est. of the UniversityCollege London great strength of the Dissenters; thesetting up of the Liberal Party (the party of the Northagainst the South)
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10428170&wwwflag=2&imagepos=1


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From Home Rule to Devolution* Charles St. Parnell and the Home

Rule Movement in the 1880s * The Third Home Rule Bill passed by

the Commons

* James Connolly and the EasterRising of 1916* The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921


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By arranging chronologically the following events you will end up with the story ofthe Troubles in Northern Ireland:

30 January 1972 Blood Sunday when the customary water cannons were replacedby real guns and 13 demonstrators were shot dead by soldiers;

Stormont, the parliament of N Ireland unable to accept British interference,resigned; Attacked by Protestant extremists. Clashes with the police - serious tensionsbetween the communities;

August 1969 severe rioting broke out in Londonderry and Belfast;British troops sent in to restore order;1969 IRA moved in to protect Catholics from the gangs of protestant extremists;

British government decided to take over responsibility for law and order;In the late 60s many Catholics (who made up more than a third of Irelandspopulation) first organised peaceful demonstrations for civil rights;The role of the army changed from protecting the Catholics to fighting the IRAwho previously did not have much support in N Ireland;The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, and its provisions successfullypassed. A referendum organized in Ireland and N Ireland;The Province under direct rule from London;The agreement led to the reopening of Stormont and replacement of British ruleby a power-sharing government where all political parties were represented;They used all the methods of terrorism to try to achieve their aim to get theBritish army out and secure a united Ireland;In 2002, Stormont was once again suspended over mounting disagreements,especially the refusal of the IRA to decommission (give up weapons);Early 70s IRAs control of some urban areas was so great that they were called

no -go areas (e.g. Londonderry).


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DEVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN

Devolution put to referendum in 1979 failed (only 11. 8%in favour in Wales and only 33% voted in Scotland out ofthe mandatory 40%)The 1997 referenda a historic breakthrough, followed byparliamentary elections in May 6, 1999 huge reshuffle ofpolitical power

Acute fear of nationalist triumph in the May 2007 electionsin Scotland recent polls suggest that Alexander

Salmonds SNP is ahead of Labour October 2006 IMC concludes that IRA abandoned terrorismirreversibly, thus paving the road to a final settlement ofthe troubles in N Ireland St Andrews Agreement

Yet, Sinn Fein should recognize PSNI

26 March 2007 - the new deadline for devolution in NIreland and the appointment of a power-sharinggovernment (Ian Paisley of the DUP First Minister andMartin McGuiness of Sinn Fein as Deputy First Minister)


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At the base of the statue there were inscribed the opening wordsof the Scotland Act: There Shall Be A Scottish Parliament,

a phrase to which Dewar himself famously said I Like That!


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From Immigration to MulticulturalismNorman ConquestBeginnings of slave tradeGypsiesCeltsHuguenots and other persecutedprotestantsBlack community of London of about15.000RomansGerman Hansa merchants andFlemish weaversJewish community expelledFirst Jewish communityCaribbeans

First black people (the AfricanDivision of the Roman army) Anglo-SaxonsIrish workers fled starvationResettlement of Jews

Asians expelled from East AfricaJews fled pogroms in Russia andPoland and later the rise of Nazismin Germany.

Seafarers from India and Chinasettling in such ports as London,Liverpool and Cardiff.Immigrants from India, Pakistan andBangladeshLombard moneylendersHong Kong Chinese and refugeesfrom Vietnam

VikingsThe first group of 492 Jamaicansarrived on the MV Empire Windrush

17th century3rd century8th century5th century

106616561st millennium BC

AD4316th centuryafter 106619th and 20th century12901960s and 1980s mid 18th century19th century13th and 14th centurythe 1970s and 1980s22 June 1948throughout the 1950s and early 60s16th centurythe 1970smid 19th century


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Some statistical data:Compared to the majority population:

Ethnic minorities are YOUNGER: median age for Afro-Caribbeansis 33, for Indians 31, for Bangladeshi 18 (white population: 37)

Non-whites form the majority of residents in Newham andBrent, Southalls Sikhs, Leicesters Hindus and Brixtons blackslive in areas with white majority

In areas with large ethnic population like Rochdale, Oldham,Burnley high levels of internal ethnic segregation: in Rochdale,96 per cent of the Pakistani community and 89 per cent ofBangladeshis live in the five inner wards, among the mostdeprived areas in the North-West.

Pakistanis form the largest ethnic group in the North-West, Yorkshire and Scotland, while British Indians are the largestethnic group in both the West and East Midlands, as well as inmost of the predominantly white regions of England.

The Afro-Caribbean community is the most 'integrated', with thehighest levels of inter-racial marriages (eight times higher thanthose for blacks in the United States),

Two-thirds (67%) of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are living inpoverty according to latest statistics. it also found that a third ofIndians and Caribbeans and half of Black Africans are living inpoverty. This compares with less than a quarter of the British

population overall.


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How would you describe an inner city using the propsbelow:

he found three Englands. There was guide -bookEngland, of palaces and forests; 19th centuryindustrial England of factories and suburbs; andcontemporary England of by-passes and suburbs. Nowhalf a century later, there is another England as well:the inner city.

The inner city in question is in Bradford/ derelict houses/poverty/ unemployment/ most of the area an Asiandistrict/ pubs stayed open late/ heavily policed/diverse, disparate population, ethnically mixed/ noshared outlook, beliefs and an established form oflife.

(Hanif Kureishi, London Kills Me , Faber & Faber, 1991:128-130)


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In the mid -1960s Pakistanis were a risible subject inEngland, derided on television and exploited bypoliticians. They had the worst jobs, they wereuncomfortable in England, some of them haddifficulties with the language. They were despised andout of place. From the start I tried to deny myPakistani self. It was a curse and I wanted to be rid ofit. I wanted to be like everyone else. I read withunderstanding a story in a newspaper about a blackboy, who, when he noticed that burnt skin turnedwhite, jumped into a bath of boiling water. At schoolone teacher always spoke to me in a Peter SellersIndian accent. Another refused to call me by name,calling me Pakistani Pete instead

(Hanif Kureishi, London Kills Me , Faber & Faber,1991, 73-75, 100)


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The breeding of millions of half -caste children would merely produce ageneration of misfits and create national tensions (Duncan Sandys, 1967)

This country will not be worth living in for our childrenAs I look ahead Iam filled with foreboding. Like the Romans I seem to see the River Tiberfoaming with much blood (Enoch Powell, 1968).

"Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." (Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason , 2004)

Christianitys ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to

Islam... Current trends suggest Islamization will happen, for Europeansseem to find it too strenuous to have children, stop illegal immigration, oreven diversify their sources of immigrants. Instead, they prefer to settleunhappily into civilizational senility. (Daniel Pipes director of TheMiddle East Forum and author of Miniatures ).

We are a British nation with British characteristics. Every nation can takesome minorities and in many ways they add to the richness and variety ofthis country. But the moment a minority threatens to become a big one,

people get frightened. Some people have felt swamped by immigrants.Theyve seen the whole character of their neighbourhood change Ofcourse people can feel that they are swamped. Small minorities can beabsorbed but once a minority in a neighbourhood gets very large peopledo feel swamped. (Margaret Thatchers* speeches in Solomos, J. Race

and Racism in Britain . London: Macmillan. 1993)


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RACIAL RELATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY BRITAINImmigration legislation introduced in 1962, 1968 and 1971, and the 1981Nationality Act, brought in new restrictions to discourage immigration.During the 1990s the scale of immigration declined, consisting mainly ofspouses and dependents of those already in Britain. More recently, there has

been a growing number of refugees and asylum seekers.In 1971 the Heath government introduced an Immigration Act which had theeffect of treating Commonwealth citizens as aliens, except those born inBritain or who had a parent or grandparent born in Britain (patriality).The Race Relations Act of 1976 marked an important step forward incombating racial discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity in

employment, education, provision of goods and facilities. The Act alsodistinguishes between two main types of racial discrimination: directdiscrimination and indirect discrimination Public Order Act of 1986 incitement to racial hatred, circulation of racistmaterial: offencesThe Football (Offences) Act of 1991 makes racist chanting at football

matches an offenceCommission for Racial Equality CRE, set up under the 1976 Act.There are 87 Racial Equality councils funded jointly by the CRE and localauthorities.The Leadership Challenge 1997; Race in Media awards; A Race Relations Forum was set up by the Home Secretary Jack Straw in June 1998


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FACTfile : The Stephen LAWRENCE CaseI would like Stephen to be remembered as a young manwho had a future. He was well-loved and had he been

given the chance to survive maybe he would have beenthe one to bridge the gap between black and white.(Doreen Lawrence, the late Stephen Lawrences mother)

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