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Britain's new racial divide

Hasan Suroor

The Birmingham riots will remain a matter of shame for the Asian and African communities.

VIOLENT FALLING-OUT: Two burnt out cars in a Birmingham street after riots erupted on Saturday. — PHOTO: AP

BACK IN the 1950s and the 1960s, Asian and African immigrants joined hands to fight white racism, which they regarded as their common enemy. Fifty years later, their descendants, born and brought up in Britain, are fighting each other while the threat from their common "enemy" remains very real.

As Birmingham struggles to come to terms with the racial clashes between Asian and Afro-Caribbean youths at the weekend following an unsubstantiated allegation of rape of a teenaged Jamaican girl, there is concern that non-white immigrants are becoming victims of their own brand of racism.

What happened in Birmingham's Lozells Road area — a mixed but predominantly Pakistani/Bangladeshi enclave — was a classic race riot except that the perpetrators as well as its victims were non-whites. Indeed, it was hard to say who was the victim as rival Asian and African groups systematically targeted each other with the fury of sworn enemies.

The two sides traded accusations that they normally used to hurl at white racist groups in the era of Asian-African solidarity. While Africans — the second largest immigrant group in the area — complained of Asian "racism," Asians (read Pakistanis and Bangladeshis) alleged that the former were trying to "destabilise" their businesses because they were jealous of "our success."

It was ironical to hear that the same people who had been victims of "Paki-bashing" were now allegedly using similar tactics to "harass" African youths. "They don't give them enough respect. They don't employ black people in their shops, and it is about the way ... they look at them," Maxie Hayles, chairman of the Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Group, told a newspaper.

One African youth said that they were called "names" and had been "pushed around for too long." Asians retorted that the riots were "engineered" on the back of an "invented story of a rape" to "smash and grab our businesses." "This riot is about them getting hold of what we sell in our shops," one Pakistani sari shop-owner was reported as saying.

Planned attacks?

The rapidity with which the violence spread after a supposedly "sudden brawl" outside an Asian take-away on Saturday evening suggests a degree of planning. Within minutes, hundreds of youths, armed with baseball bats, sticks and iron bars, went on the rampage setting fire to vehicles, smashing shop windows, attacking properties and shooting rivals. One African youth was killed the same evening, and another man whose identity was not disclosed was shot dead on Sunday.

Tension over the rape allegation had been simmering for sometime. The claim was broadcast on a local African station with calls for a "boycott" of Asian businesses. There was angry chatter on an African website, which reportedly posted a message alleging that an "Asian shop owner and 18 other Asian men have raped a 14yr old black girl at the back of their ... shop because they thought she was trying to steal a wig."

Significantly, violence erupted even as community leaders and the police were holding a meeting to defuse the tension. So, was the so-called "sudden brawl" designed to pre-empt an agreement at the meeting?

A senior officer of West Midlands Police said: "It now becomes clear some people did not intend that to happen. People started the day with the intent to actually create mayhem."

Intriguingly, the alleged rape victim remains untraced despite repeated appeals by the police and both communities that she must come forward so that investigations can begin.

The police officer said he had not received a "shred of evidence" to substantiate the allegation and that unless the victim herself came forward it would not be possible to charge anyone.

Nobody seems to know who she is, and even those in the forefront of the campaign to get her justice admit that they have no first-hand knowledge of the incident. But they insist that since so many people are talking about it, it must have happened.

"Ninety nine and three-quarter per cent of the Afro-Caribbean community believe it (the rape) took place and that is why the passions are running so high. We believe the person involved has been traumatised and we are told it is not the first time that it has happened," said Mr. Hayles.

There is speculation that the girl is scared to come forward because of her uncertain immigration status, but authorities have assured that any immigration issue would not be held against her.

The Asian shop-owner, accused of the alleged rape, has reportedly said that he is being "framed" and is prepared to face any investigation.

He told a local newspaper that he was a victim of rival cosmetic companies who resented the fact that he sold African beauty products.

Whatever the truth and no matter how many socio-economic factors — poverty, deprivation, crime, unemployment — are cited to explain the Asian-African racial divide, the Birmingham riots would remain inexcusable and a matter of shame for both communities.

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