“the pressures driving modern migration are intense. The last five years of the 20th century saw the most intense movement of people towardsBritainin the nation’s history–nearly a million foreigners came to work inEngland,ScotlandandWales. We are living through a period of intense population turbulence, caused by all the things that fall under the umbrella term ‘globalisation’. New technology, cheap transport, liberal politics, ruthless economics and sudden wars have all sponsored a sharp increase in the number of mobile or displaced people” (Winder, 2004).
But not all is doom and gloom for proponents of multiculturalism and social integration, as the successful example of football teams inBritainshow. The football scene of today, certainly at the premier league level, stands out for its cosmopolitanism. The Arsenal football team, whose members come from diverse national, ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds, epitomizes the value and merit of multiculturalism. The policy makers can take heart from its success and implement a more inclusive approach toward immigrants. The government’s failure to take cue from such examples can lead to undesirable consequences, as “elsewhere, far away from Highbury, out on the streets of the more impoverished areas of London, in the ghettos of the old Lancashire mill towns, or in the small, introspective towns and villages of Middle England, one has little sense of truly cosmopolitan integration. Rather, one has a sense of people retreating into suspicious, self-contained communities” (Cowley, 2004).
References:
THE BIRMINGHAM POST: A Good Start to Opening Debate on UK Immigration. (2007, November 26). The Birmingham Post (England), p. 9.
Cohen, N. (2005, May 20). Let Them All Come: It’s Not a Soft Touch Welfare System That Makes Britain a Magnet for Immigrants; It’s Our Need for Cheap Labour. New Statesman, 131, 22+.
Cowley, J. (2004, March 29). ‘This Is Not the Country It Was When Labour Returned to Power in 1997’: What Do We Mean by Multiculturalism? in Britain, It Once Meant Embracing the Diverse Traditions of the Old Empire, but the Wider Migration of Recent Years Has Changed All That. Jason Cowley Explores the Implications and Canvasses the Views of Leading Thinkers. New Statesman, 133, 26+.
Favell, A. (2001). Philosophies of Integration: Immigration and the Idea of Citizenship in France and Britain. New York: Palgrave.
Four in Five Say Britain Is Facing a Crisis over Immigration; Not This Time: UK-Bound Migrants Are Arrested at Calais. (2008, April 5). The Daily Mail (London, England), p. 12.
O’Neill, B. (2007, June 4). How Migrants Really Live: Margaret Hodge Thinks Newcomers to Britain Take Housing Which Should Go to the Indigenous Population. but There Is No Privilege in the Life of Newly Arrived Immigrants. New Statesman, 136, 28+.
Winder, R. (2004, July). Labouring the Point: The Past Five Years Have Seen a Flurry of Immigration Activity in the UK, as Nearly a Million People Came to Work Here. Is There Cause for Concern?. Geographical, 76, 40+.