Landeskunde ENG

• They found jobs quickly, worked hard and
regained their wealth and status
• Some bought corner shops and started
late-night and Sunday trading in the UK
• Many now hold high positions in the
community
• Their businesses have helped to transform
cities like Leicester 

When did they go to East Africa?
- Uganda Railway (UR): built 1896–1904
- 32,000 Indians (mainly Punjabis) employed by
- British as labourers, artisans and clerical staff
- 6,500 stayed in East Africa
- independent immigrants (mainly Gujaratis)
travelled inland and worked as shopkeepers,
artisans and professionals in East Africa
Kenya vs. Uganda
- in Kenya, EAAs were squeezed out slowly,
from 1963 onwards
- in Uganda, they had 90 days to leave, in 1972

• Muslims
• Part of the same country until 1971
(West Pakistan and East Pakistan)
• Mainly from one area in each country
• Mainly unskilled workers

• Timing of main wave of migration to Britain
• Distribution in UK

• From mid-17th century onwards as sailors
(many married British women)
• Other early migrants included scholars
(who then returned to pre-Partition India)
• Movement of families from ports to the
Midlands in WWII (munitions factories)
• In 1950s and 1960s, men arrive to fill jobs
in factories (especially steel and textile
industries) and as doctors (NHS recruited
doctors in 1960s) or in other professions

• Mirpur = an area in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir
(aka Little England and twinned with Bradford)
• In the early 1900s, Mirpuris started to sail to
Britain from the docks in Bombay, serving on
British Merchant Navy ships (as stokers in the
engine rooms)
• Some stayed, and chain migration began
• In the1960s, the Mangla Dam was built, and
5,000 Mirpuris emigrated to Britain, especially to
Bradford and the Midlands

• Poverty (today, for example, 20% live
below the poverty line of $1.25 a day)
• Growing population (1971 = 62.5m; 2011
= 170m): in farming areas like Mirpur =
increasing pressure on land
• 1962–1967: building of the Mangla Dam
in Mirpur area (loss of homes and land)
• Tradition of migrating for work or better job
opportunities

• Jobs
• Communities
• Mosques (now = 1,691 in the UK and
Ireland)
• Prejudice and racism

This varies, depending on the generation, level of skill,
part of the country
• Contribution of all migrant workers to the post-war
economy
• Transformation of northern mill towns like Bradford and
industrial centres like Birmingham (e.g. to include
mosques and Asian shops)
• Differences between Muslim and white British
communities: stimulus to address prejudice and embrace
equality
• Cultural issues/tensions within the Muslim community
(e.g. generational differences)
• Discussion re. moderate vs. radical Islam in recent
decades and whether multiculturalism is a good policy

• 17th to 20th century: lascars (sailors) and
small groups ex-seamen and ex-soldiers,
found in British seaports
• During World War II, opportunities to work
in industry
• Post-Partition migration/post-war boom in
UK
• 1970s

• Lascars recruited in Calcutta
• Many were from Sylhet (north-east corner
of Bangladesh) and were cooks on British
Merchant Navy ships
• With jobs in industry, they sent for others
from their villages (chain migration)
• Many now work in Indian restaurants
• In Tower Hamlets in London, a large % of
the population is Bangladeshi 

• Poverty (almost half of the people in
Bangladesh live on less than $1 a day)
• Growing population (1951 = 44m; 2011 =
150m+)
• Natural disasters
• Political unrest
• Tradition of working on ships
• Tradition of moving abroad to work (the
Indian diaspora)

• Contacts, colleagues, friends, family,
established communities
• Jobs in industry
• Jobs in restaurants (Indian restaurants are
a major source of employment for
Bangladeshi men)
• Exploitation
• Racial violence (1970s and Altab Ali)

• Traditions and festivals of the Bengal
region, e.g.:
- Bengali New Year (Baishaki Mela in
London = largest open air Asian event in
Europe – see NTV clip)
- Language Movement Day
(commemorates those who died in 1952)
• Traditions and festivals of Islam
- Eid

• Restaurants in Britain
• Curry and Balti houses in Brick Lane
• Tower Hamlets
• Banglatown (includes Brick Lane) in the
East End of London
(officially named Spitalfields and
Banglatown in 2001)

Economic migrants are:
• motivated by the desire to
improve their lives or
those of their children
• come (or are invited) to
do high-skill jobs or lowskill
jobs to fill gaps in the
British workforce
• subject to immigration
laws

Asylum seekers are:
• motivated by the desire to
escape from a dangerous
situation
• welcomed, tolerated or
resented, depending on a
variety of factors
• subject to national,
European and
international laws
covering refugees

“A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is
unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself
of the protection of that country; or who, not having a
nationality and being outside the country of his former
habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable
or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”
The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees

Asylum seeker
A person who has left
their country of origin and
formally applied for
asylum in another country
but whose application has
not yet been concluded.

Refugee
In the UK, a person is
officially a refugee when
they have their claim for
asylum accepted by the
government.

A refused/failed asylum seeker
A person whose asylum application has
been unsuccessful and who has no other
claim for protection that is awaiting a
decision. Some refused asylum seekers
return home voluntarily, others are forcibly
returned, and for some it is not safe or
practical for them to return until conditions
in their country change

Economic migrant
Someone who has
moved to another country
to work.
NB
Refugees are not
economic migrants.

Illegal immigrant
Someone whose entry
into or presence in a
country contravenes

Asylum or refuge in Britain =
since the Middle Ages, but no
legal category until 1951 (UN)
and no formalised asylum
system until 1993. The origin
of asylum seekers reflects
instabilities in the world.
• 1880-1914: Russian Jews
• 1914-1918: Belgians
• 1937: Basque children
• 1939-1950: Jews and other
war refugees
• 1939-1950: refugees from
Communism (Poles)
• 1945-1960: Refugees from
Eastern Europe
• 1956: Hungarians
• 1972: Ugandan Asians
• 1973-1979: Chileans
• 1975-1992: Vietnamese
• 1992-1996: Bosnians
• 1995-1999: Kosovans

Why do people seek asylum?
• Civil war
• Human rights abuses
• Persecution
• Torture

The UK did not opt into two EU asylum
directives, because these laws would
have:
• allowed asylum seekers to work after 9
months if a decision was pending or an
appeal had been made
• required all detention to be authorised by a
judge
• stopped some of the UK’s current asylum
processing methods

• Most asylum seekers are not allowed to work
• Asylum seekers are given housing
• Asylum seekers receive benefits amounting to £36.62 a week (£5.23
a day)
• Some asylum seekers (around 10%) are detained in detention
centres under the Detained Fast Track (DFT) system
Source: Home Office Asylum Data Tables January to March 2014
• Most people who are granted refugee status are only given
permission to stay in the UK for 5 years

• 17th century: the scholar Shen Fu Tsong visited the
court of King James II and later catalogued the Chinese
works in the Bodleian Library
• Early 19th century: seamen employed by the East India
Company and the Blue Funnel Line began to settle in
port areas, and the first Chinatown was established at
the docks in Limehouse, East London
• 1950s and 1960s: a wave of male agricultural workers
from Hong Kong arrived, many of whom were employed
in restaurants or laundries

• 1960s→ Chinese migration continued
despite restrictions on migrants from
former colonies (new migrants were
mainly relatives of settled Chinese and
those with skills)
• Mid-1980s → most significant migration,
coinciding with relaxation of Chinese laws
on emigration
• Many new arrivals nowadays are students
or irregular workers

The largest Chinese communities in the
UK are in:
1. London
2. Liverpool
3. Leeds
but there are also large communities in
Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle,
Sheffield, Belfast and Aberdeen

• Communities: lodgings and restaurants for
seamen
• Exploitation: lower wages
• Curiosity of the British: visits to Chinese
areas in London to see “exotic” lifestyle
• Myths: response to Sax Rohmer books
(1913) about Dr Fu Manchu and the
automatic assumption that Chinese areas
contained gambling and opium dens

• 1908: British seamen protested about
cheap Chinese crews and prevented them
from signing up on ships
• 1917: 100,000 Chinese employed in
France to unload munitions as part of
Allied war effort
• 1919: extension of Aliens Restriction Act
led to a decline in the Chinese population

• 1939–1945: Many Chinese seamen on
ships (they had to fight for the danger
bonus that white sailors received)
• 1,300 were forcibly repatriated after the
war (many left families in Britain, who they
would never see again)
• A memorial plaque was erected in
Liverpool in 2006

• More dispersed than other ethnic groups
• High rate of inter-ethnic marriages,
integration and academic performance
• Ethnic activities and networks
• Chinese festivities
• Chinese restaurants all over the country
(the first to open in London was in 1907)
• Chinese medicine, feng shui and martial
arts

• Politicians
(with their promises and hopes of re-election)
• Journalists
(with their reports, e.g. neutral vs. populist)
• The general public
(with their hopes and fears)
• Immigrants
(with their stories and their actions)

• 1962–1976: Three restrictive immigration laws
were introduced plus three antidiscrimination
laws; the official goal was “zero-migration”
• 1976–1996: Conservatives mainly in power;
continuation of existing policy but focus shifted to
asylum seekers
• 1997–2007: Tony Blair changed policy to
“managed migration” for economic gain plus
fighting unauthorised migration and reducing the
number of asylum seekers

Tier 1: highly skilled migrants, investors,
entrepreneurs and graduate students
Tier 2: skilled workers with a job offer
Tier 3: lower skill workers to fill temporary
shortages (this category has been suspended
in favour of EU migration)
Tier 4: students
Tier 5: youth mobility/working holidays

1. Reducing the number of migrants (mainly
new economic migrants)
2. Improving the integration of existing ethnic
communitiesinto British society
3. Dealing with applications made by asylum
seekers quickly and efficiently

• Net migration was 260,000 in June 2014 (in June
2013, it was 182,000)
To compare: the population of Geneva = 200,000
• The government has considerable power to
control non-EU nationals (with more control over
workers and students than over family members
or asylum seekers)
• The government cannot control the immigration
and emigration of British and other EU nationals

The four freedoms of the single market are the
free movement of:
1. goods
2. services
3. capital
4. people
(From 2004, the EU states have been able to
impose temporary restrictions on the free
movement of workers for up to seven years.)

• 14 May 2004: accession of the “A8” (plus
Cyprus and Malta). The A8 (now EU8) =
The Czech Republic Estonia
Hungary Latvia
Lithuania Poland
Slovakia Slovenia
• 1 January 2007: accession of Romania and
Bulgaria

• Cyprus and Malta immediately became full
members of the Free Movement of Workers
Agreement, and their nationals had the right
to reside in the UK
• The A8 countries were treated differently: A8
nationals could enter the UK, look for work
and take up work but were not automatically
entitled to reside in the UK