Channel 4, UK TV Station known mostly because of shows like “Friday Night Project”, “How to look Good Naked” or “Shameless” and running support websites like “Making babies the gay way” targeted ambitious aim to present a day-to-day and full picture of the immigration in the modern Britain… and I believe they failed miserably.
You can also watch the program using Channel 4 on demand – click here. (Requires a free, downloadabale application to be installed, provided by C4).
“Award-winning” Rageh Omaar (employee of Al Jazeera English) is a second generation Somali immigrant and the first thing you can see is that British education system provided him with nothing but a received BBC-style pronunciation.
It’s distinctive especially while speaking to a (white) snotty boy and his father having the St. Georges cross in the background of the conversation of “them Poles coming to get our jobs”. If not his black skin and proper English pronunciation you could have think it’s a friendly chat of the British National Front members.
The motif of Poles comes back a couple of times and always we are portrayed as half-literate and not speaking English at all. Owner of the curry restaurant is given good 5 minutes to explain why it’s only Bengali (and of course they need to be allowed to come and work here) and not Poles (do something!) are suitable to work in his kitchen. And it’s all based on his experience with literally one Polish person he has hired thus far. Prejudice? Here comes more.
A Brixton carpet cleaner (black and again second generation of immigrants) complains that he can only see Polish builders around and not British anymore. Poles are too much focused on work and don’t have sufficient English language skills to entertain him with a friendly chat.
“You don’t know who is who anymore” he says. Right. So, you black from Brixton accept only whities being British in the UK and no others? What to fuck is that if not a next ethnically biased remark aired in the national television?!
Some time later in the program we hear stories of white British working class vandals throwing stones at house in which a family of Poles lives, beating up landlord to get them evicted and even threating to burn it down if they don’t move. Where is the Police, so sensitive about “hate crimes” and antisocial behavior? Or maybe they are not coping with crime and yobs in particular and this is the very problem of modern Britain?
Hot spots
Funny to see that the program doesn’t show any problems like cultural isolation of Muslims (story of Bradford is really shallow picture based on one white prick his fears and his son’s crap talk). Why don’t you show Luton and how youths of Muslim origin would radicalize. Why bombing attacks of 07/07/2005 are not even mentioned, same as attempt to blow up an Atlantic airplane a year later after which the limitations on cosmetics and radical security checks on the airports were introduced. Costing the industry billions… Isn’t it important anymore that Asian immigrants attacked Glasgow airport last year? …or murder of a boy just because he was white.
True problem, or a witchhunt to divert attention
Instead of all that Rageh Omaar prefers to present made-up problems, namely Poles and people from the EU and it’s real shame, for presenting hotspots mentioned above you would open proper discussion.
- Why black and Asian second generation immigrants with British passports are so hostile towards white Europeans coming to work in the UK?
- Why hatred towards country that fed them and gave education is so big to have them blowing trains and airports?
- What makes them think (at leas some of them) that England will bend its knees and would accept their rule?
My vision of the problems is following…
Britain had a great luck to be overlooked by the Wheel of History and not participate in the nightmare of the German occupation of Europe during World War II and menace of communism, that after the WW2 was kept for years behind the Iron Curtain.
As a follow-up you have enormous amount of left-wing opinions expressed, being virtual communists especially in the academic circles. On the other side of the scale all the right-wing activists are not feeling ashamed at all to proclaim Hitler-like ideas…
On top of that unique mixture you have the natural British inclination towards toleration and dialog.
There is only one “but”. All the British principles, traditions and understanding of history deeply rooted in the UK as are those of Europe and most of newcomers after the WW2 were not.
These people were (generalizing) British Empire servants and supporters, or simply a workforce from former Empire provinces.
In majority, second generations attacking other immigrants (including Poles) now are descendants of opportunists of servile nature who could or would not find themselves comfortable in the independent countries they actually come from. Coming to England they become more British than native British themselves.
I fully understand that Poles with their strict anti-nazism and congenital hatred towards communism, now in numbers of approx. 400,000 in the UK present real threat to plans of yours, whatever they are. We are nation that proved that we can both work and fight hard for what we believe!
We, the Poles are coming here to work and live in peace.
DON’T YOU EVER DARE TO FUCK UP WITH US IF YOU CAN’T STAND GROUND.
Keep in mind you are talking of a nation that stopped soviets threat to Europe in 1920 when counterrevolution failed. In the World War II, though defeated by Wehrmacht in September 1939 we managed to gather the 6th biggest army, bigger than ones of France and Canada together – contributing to Hitler’s final defeat. We also got rid of communism in the Eastern Europe in 1989 and we are proud nation and one of very good memory!
Our place in Europe is indisputable and UK is part of Europe, even though you may not be aware or unable to accept it.
We want you to fuck off.
Especially you the second generation naturalized Europeans.
Full stop!
Tags: Dispatches, immigrants, racism, Polish, poles, channel 4, Rageh Omaar, racis, reverse racism, National Front, second generation
April 21, 2008 at 2:01 pm
This post starts interestingly but progresses to some completely insane conclusions. (Or no conclusions at all, just ranting without an aim)
When you diagnose anti-Polish sentiments it’s all fine, but when it comes to a home-made socio-historical analysis it all falls apart. There is no clear message, and there is a lot of crappy-crap that’s crap as fuck:) What is your point exactly?
What do you mean by communists being present at British universities? Do you mean leftist cultural critics? Have you been at a Polish university recently? Did you read Krytyka Polityczna?
What has the experience of WW2 got to do with nazi ideas being present in society? I faced a group of 60 Polish nazi skinheads in my Polish home town on a civil rights demo. Thats for your heroic nation.
You call former migrants as “opportunists of servile nature who could or would not find themselves comfortable in the independent countries they actually come from.” How would you call yourself then?
And what do you mean “especially if you are second generation of naturalised Europeans”?
Please THINK before you write something. Then wrote it, put it in the drawer, and read it again. Your style is a mess.