RESEARCH
Globalization and Modern Britain: Why is immigration such a controversial issue?
This essay is structured as follows: Firstly, it defines immigration; secondly, it highlights immigration as a controversial issue creating economic, political, cultural problems in the UK. Thirdly, it looks at the history of immigration from colonialism to the end of the Cold War; fourthly, it analyses the controversies coming as a result of people seeking asylum as a result of persecution suffered in their home countries and explains that politician and the media help to make immigration a controversial issue especially during elections in order to win votes. Lastly, it concludes that immigration is becoming controversial due to the British Government inability to control our borders because of the aspects related to globalisation that have made free movement people, money and services much more easier.
Immigration relates to the movement of peoples from one country into another, for residential rather than visiting purposes that may be for a number of reasons, i.e. economic, familial, social or personal. Sometimes migration can happen to escape persecution, political or otherwise and this is termed 'asylum' and should be distinguished from the wider concept of 'immigration'. However, the two terms are widely conflated in the UK at present. However, most of the people who migrate do so to look for better life particularly to the western world where they can work for better wages, education and look forward for better social life. For this reason, immigration has become a controversial issue creating economic, political, cultural problems for most host countries. Immigration is a hugely controversial and politically sensitive subject. The debate has switched in recent years from 'Commonwealth immigration' - largely a euphemism for Caribbean black and Asian people taking up their rights to settle in the UK - to asylum seekers coming to the UK from conflict zones or other areas where they are persecuted. But the issues at stake remain the same in the UK and elsewhere.
One aspect of immigration controversies is the inability of the British Government to be in total control of immigration since in today’s shrinking world the free movement of goods, people, money, services, information, international conflicts and wars have made British borders to become increasingly a ‘soft-touch’ to people of the Third World who are all looking for a way to better their lives. Another aspect is the arrival of immigrant from Africa and the Caribbean which fulfil economy role in taking low skill work despite some of them having good qualifications and carriers in their own country yet still there was considerable hostility towards them. They were over looked for promotion and cut off from the company of white. Despite anti-labour law, immigrant contributed more in taxes they receive from government welfare services. Most immigrants seem to come when they are in their most productive years.
The UK Home Office is responsible for immigration, administered through its Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Economically, immigration can create competition in the labour market which can sometimes lead to racism whereby immigrant sometimes denied equal opportunities in the labour market, because indifference deem immigrate as threat to their jobs in some areas. Modern-day immigration traces its roots back to the British Empire, which to varying degrees inculcated a sense of Britishness in local populations - a sense amplified by large-scale imperial participation in the Second World War, for the defence of the UK. The first wave of immigrants came from the Caribbean: a landmark moment was the 1958 arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica, bearing hundreds of immigrants who were able to travel to the UK at low cost for the first time. Also arriving during the 1950s were immigrants from Asia, principally India and Pakistan. Immigrants fulfilled an economic role in taking on low-paid, low-skill work, despite many immigrants having good qualifications and eminent careers in their home countries, but there was considerable hostility to them. They were frequently confined to the worst housing, overlooked for promotion and ostracised from the company of whites.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there has been an increase in immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War and the regimes of the communist and right wing dictators it allowed to survive, led to many outbreaks of regional strife that were previously kept below the surface. The loosening of international obstacles to migration have coincided with dramatic reductions in the price of travel. Since the collapse of communism and the splintering of the global order in the 1990s that asylum has emerged as a large-scale issue. In recent years, there have been people claiming asylum in the UK from amongst others, the Balkans, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq - all areas that have seen war and instability. In the first quarter of 2003 there were 16,000 asylum applications, 32 per cent less than the previous quarter, and 22 per cent lower than at the same time last year.[1]
Since September 11th 2001 and July 7th 2005 when terrorists attacked both the World Trade Center in the US and London transport system, immigration has once again become a controversial subject for both politicians and the media. In almost every election in the past 30 years, immigration has always been a controversial issue, as it is an issue talked about by all, but understood by very few. As the British National Party and the Conservative Party under Michael Howard have clearly shown in the last election, immigration is usually hijacked by the party doing least well in the election, usually with outrageous remarks to stir up racial tension and play on people's fears. It is an issue in which certain British people, especially nationalists, show their true colours. Unfortunately an election is not won on just one issue. Despite all these, racist attitude were express to these immigrant by the British ruling class as early as 1953 when the Home office committee was set upon 'coloured people' seeking employment to examine the possibilities of preventing further employment with regards to black people in the United Kingdom. Due to all these from 1960s the Conservative Government imposed control over immigration from the Commonwealth countries, which state that under the British Nationality Act 1981.
Who is to blame for the current mess in dealing with this issue? I have no doubt that it is both Labour and the Tories as a result of their past and present policies. It is sickening to see parties pandering to a small minority of their followers to win over cheap votes. Immigration in this context is not about who enters the country but what is the colour of their skin is. Although immigration needs to be controlled, this has to be done in a positive and sensitive manner, which is beneficial to all sections of the community and the country as a whole. The best way to do this is by deciding what skills shortage are needed and then try to fill those initially by retraining them.
Those receiving the brunt of criticism are the 'economic migrant' and the 'benefit tourist' - people seen as coming to the UK, not to escape persecution, but to find employment and enrich themselves or try to take advantage of the UK's benefit system. The extent to which these immigrants actually exist remains unclear, but they are frequently cited by some of the British media. There are also concerns about illegal immigration: the open internal borders of much of the EU, and its long borders with poorer countries in the east, have led to 'people trafficking' by organised criminals. Indeed, illegal immigrants are particularly vulnerable to involvement in criminal activity or exploitation in the black economy because of their poverty and lack of legal status to work or claim benefits. The media, worsening their image further, frequently highlights any involvement of immigrants in crime. Since the late 1990s, the Government has been tightening the law on immigration and asylum, responding to social alarm about illegal migrants entering the UK. Attempts were also made to speed up the asylum application and removal process, which was a major cause of public concern. The Government's response has been to pursue a tougher line against those seeking asylum, with a series of Acts being passed almost every year since 1999 until nowadays.
In conclusion, immigration is a controversial issue because the world has become a global village and the UK Government has been enable to control its borders due to the fact that globalisation makes free movement of people, money and services much more easier. It appears to be a controversial issue since immigration affects the UK economically, politically and culturally. Although immigrants often fulfil economy role in taking low skill work, most natives and nationalists who look at them as the 'economic migrant' and the 'benefit tourist' make considerable hostility towards them. Both the media and politicians follow suit make immigrant lives misery.
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