Multicultural Communities In Britain

3.1 Multicultural Communities in Britain

Many cities in the United Kingdom, such as Wolverhampton, Bradford, Blackburn and Leicester, as well as the provincial conurbations of Manchester and Birmingham, have been built upon and expanded largely due to international migration after the Second World War. (Panayi 92)

The city that epitomises the clear and remarkable influence of immigration - and is therefore exemplary for a multicultural community - is the British capital London, which is not only the most ethnically diverse city in the country, but additionally also one of the most multicultural metropolises worldwide. (3; 10)

In 2011, 36.7 per cent of its population, more than one in three London residents, were born outside of the UK. (Greater

(Panayi 288-289) Although there already were some Indian restaurants in Britain before World War II, they usually had a rather short life span. (Panayi 288) It was only in the post war period that Indian food, especially curry, which originates in the British control of India, became popular. (Panayi 288) The dishes served there, however, were vegetarian for the most part and since the Britons wanted to continue to eat meat, a whole new Anglo-Indian cuisine developed. (Panayi 288) This cuisine was brought to Britain by Bangladeshis who opened restaurants serving exactly what the British in India had eaten, making those dishes popular amongst the whole society, so that by 2000 the number of ‘Indian’ restaurants in Britain reached about 9,000. (Panayi 288) Another cuisine that became immensely well-known and –liked in the post war period, was Chinese food. (Panayi 289) This caused a stream of migration from Hong Kong, as people migrated specifically for the purpose of staffing Chinese restaurants. (Panayi

(Panayi 292) Around 1980, they moved into the competitive mainstream in sports such as boxing, athletics and in particular football; in 1997 Blacks alone made up 33 per cent of footballers in the premier league. (Panayi 292-293)

The way to this level of successful integration was full of racist obstacles, such as abuse, for instance direct insults or – more subtly - humour, amongst football fans. (Panayi 293) However, after 1990, this was made increasingly difficult because clubs started to threaten bans for anyone guilty of open racism. (Panayi 293) On the one hand, this development was promoted by governmental pressure; (Panayi 293) on the other hand it was caused by organisations like the Kick It Out campaign, which was started as the “Let’s Kick Racism out of Football campaign” by the Commission for Racial Equality, together with the Professional Footballer’s Association, in 1993. (Panayi 293; 11) This organisation has since tackled all forms of discrimination and championed ethnic minorities in football. (11)

By now, the premier league has become “one of the most cosmopolitan areas in British life.” (Panayi 294) In 2008, newcomers from 66 countries - in the European Union as well as beyond – constituted 60 per cent of the total. (Panayi 294)

3.2.2