The History of an Idea: DEVOLUTION

1. The History of an Idea: DEVOLUTION

2. Throughout the 16th century differences between England and Wales became minimal and a new amalgam of Norman, Welsh and English elements facilitated the incorporation of Wales into the English political, legal and administrative system (Acts of Union 1536-1543). • The emergence of the English Empire -an empire based mainly on the predominance of the wealth, resources and population of southern England over the rest of the British Isles and later on over North America and the West Indies. • Steady internal colonization: IRELAND • Scotland conquered by Cromwell’s armies – Union Act of 1707 (great contributor: John Knox, the father of the KIRK, a process encouraged by the Tudors and Stuarts) • Reformation and the subsequent translation of the Bible into English: great instruments of Anglicization

4. The Legacy of the English REVOLUTION: • It generated new political and religious ideas • The Protectorate exerted a ruthless, colonial power over the ‘Celtic Fringe’ (the conquest of Scotland; the massacre of Irish Catholics) • Its overall impact will be sanctioned with a vengeance upon Restoration: Dissenters will be rendered second-class citizens for the next two centuries. • HOSTILITY between the Establ. Church and Dissent

5. The Glorious Revolution • The Protestant Ascendancy (once the Jacobite Rebellion is quashed in Ireland (at the Boyne in 1690) and in Scotland in 1746 (Culloden); modern principles of government • Liberal principles enshrined in the constitution; religious toleration (?!) • William III – a fierce opponent of Catholicism  Settlement Act (1701)

6. DISSENT AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION • Large-scale movement of the population within the British Isles: melting pot effect • Dissent numerically comparable to the Est. Church; Dissenting sects take advantage of the great modernising and urbanising effects of Industrialization • Reform Act of 1832 and the est. of the University College London great strength of the Dissenters; the setting up of the Liberal Party (the party of the North against the South)

7. From Home Rule to Devolution * Charles St. Parnell and the Home Rule Movement in the 1880’s * The Third Home Rule Bill passed by the Commons * James Connolly and the Easter Rising of 1916 * The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921

8. By arranging chronologically the following events you will end up with the story of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland: • 30 January 1972 Blood Sunday when the customary water cannons were replaced by real guns and 13 demonstrators were shot dead by soldiers; • Stormont, the parliament of N Ireland unable to accept British interference, resigned; • Attacked by Protestant extremists. Clashes with the police - serious tensions between the communities; • August 1969 severe rioting broke out in Londonderry and Belfast; • British troops sent in to restore order; • 1969 IRA moved in to protect Catholics from the gangs of protestant extremists; • British government decided to take over responsibility for law and order; • In the late 60’s many Catholics (who made up more than a third of Ireland’s population) first organised peaceful demonstrations for civil rights; • The role of the army changed from protecting the Catholics to fighting the IRA who previously did not have much support in N Ireland; • The Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998, and its provisions successfully passed. A referendum organized in Ireland and N Ireland; • The Province under direct rule from London; • The agreement led to the reopening of Stormont and replacement of British rule by a power-sharing government where all political parties were represented; • They used all the methods of terrorism to try to achieve their aim to get the British army out and secure a united Ireland; • In 2002, Stormont was once again suspended over mounting disagreements, especially the refusal of the IRA to decommission (give up weapons); • Early 70s IRA’s control of some urban areas was so great that they were called ‘no-go areas’ (e.g. Londonderry).

9. DEVOLUTION IN CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN • Devolution put to referendum in 1979 – failed (only 11. 8% in favour in Wales and only 33% voted in Scotland out of the mandatory 40%) • The 1997 referenda – a historic breakthrough, followed by parliamentary elections in May 6, 1999 – huge reshuffle of political power • Acute fear of nationalist triumph in the May 2007 elections in Scotland – recent polls suggest that Alexander Salmond’s SNP is ahead of Labour • October 2006 IMC concludes that IRA abandoned terrorism irreversibly, thus paving the road to a final settlement of the “troubles” in N Ireland – St Andrews Agreement • Yet, Sinn Fein should recognize PSNI • 26 March 2007 - the new deadline for devolution in N Ireland and the appointment of a power-sharing government (Ian Paisley of the DUP First Minister and Martin McGuiness of Sinn Fein as Deputy First Minister)

10. At the base of the statue there were inscribed the opening words of the Scotland Act: ‘There Shall Be A Scottish Parliament’, a phrase to which Dewar himself famously said ‘I Like That!’

11. 17th century 3rd century 8th century 5th century 1066 1656 1st millennium BC AD43 16th century after 1066 19th and 20th century 1290 1960’s and 1980s mid 18th century 19th century 13thand 14th century the 1970s and 1980s 22 June 1948 throughout the 1950s and early 60s 16th century the 1970s mid 19th century • Norman Conquest • Beginnings of slave trade • Gypsies • Celts • Huguenots and other persecuted protestants • Black community of London of about 15.000 • Romans • German Hansa merchants and Flemish weavers • Jewish community expelled • First Jewish community • Caribbeans • First black people (the African Division of the Roman army) • Anglo-Saxons • Irish workers fled starvation • Resettlement of Jews • Asians expelled from East Africa • Jews fled pogroms in Russia and Poland and later the rise of Nazism in Germany. • Seafarers from India and China settling in such ports as London, Liverpool and Cardiff. • Immigrants from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh • Lombard moneylenders • Hong Kong Chinese and refugees from Vietnam • Vikings • The first group of 492 Jamaicans arrived on the MV Empire Windrush • From Immigration to Multiculturalism

12. Some statistical data: • Compared to the majority population: • Ethnic minorities are YOUNGER: median age for Afro-Caribbeans is 33, for Indians 31, for Bangladeshi 18 (white population: 37) • Non-whites form the majority of residents in Newham and Brent, Southall’s Sikhs, Leicester’s Hindus and Brixton’s blacks live in areas with white majority • In areas with large ethnic population like Rochdale, Oldham, Burnley – high levels of internal ethnic segregation: in Rochdale, 96 per cent of the Pakistani community and 89 per cent of Bangladeshis live in the five inner wards, among the most deprived areas in the North-West. • Pakistanis form the largest ethnic group in the North-West, Yorkshire and Scotland, while British Indians are the largest ethnic group in both the West and East Midlands, as well as in most of the predominantly white regions of England. • The Afro-Caribbean community is the most 'integrated', with the highest levels of inter-racial marriages (eight times higher than those for blacks in the United States), • Two-thirds (67%) of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are living in poverty according to latest statistics. it also found that a third of Indians and Caribbeans and half of Black Africans are living in poverty. This compares with less than a quarter of the British population overall.

13. How would you describe an inner city using the props below: “…he found three Englands. There was guide-book England, of palaces and forests; 19th century industrial England of factories and suburbs; and contemporary England of by-passes and suburbs. Now half a century later, there is another England as well: the inner city.” The inner city in question is in Bradford/ derelict houses/ poverty/ unemployment/ most of the area an Asian district/ pubs stayed open late/ heavily policed/ “diverse, disparate population, ethnically mixed”/ “no shared outlook, beliefs and an established form of life.” (Hanif Kureishi,London Kills Me, Faber & Faber, 1991: 128-130)

14. “In the mid-1960s Pakistanis were a risible subject in England, derided on television and exploited by politicians. They had the worst jobs, they were uncomfortable in England, some of them had difficulties with the language. They were despised and out of place. From the start I tried to deny my Pakistani self. It was a curse and I wanted to be rid of it. I wanted to be like everyone else. I read with understanding a story in a newspaper about a black boy, who, when he noticed that burnt skin turned white, jumped into a bath of boiling water. At school one teacher always spoke to me in a ‘Peter Sellers’ Indian accent. Another refused to call me by name, calling me Pakistani Pete instead…” (Hanif Kureishi, London Kills Me, Faber & Faber, 1991, 73-75, 100)

15. “The breeding of millions of half-caste children would merely produce a generation of misfits and create national tensions” (Duncan Sandys, 1967) • “This country will not be worth living in for our children…As I look ahead I am filled with foreboding. Like the Romans I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood…” (Enoch Powell, 1968). • "Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam." (Oriana Fallaci, The Force of Reason, 2004) • “Christianity’s ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam... Current trends suggest Islamization will happen, for Europeans seem to find it too strenuous to have children, stop illegal immigration, or even diversify their sources of immigrants. Instead, they prefer to settle unhappily into civilizational senility…”. (Daniel Pipes director of The Middle East Forum and author of Miniatures). • “We are a British nation with British characteristics. Every nation can take some minorities and in many ways they add to the richness and variety of this country. But the moment a minority threatens to become a big one, people get frightened. Some people have felt swamped by immigrants. They’ve seen the whole character of their neighbourhood change… Of course people can feel that they are swamped. Small minorities can be absorbed but once a minority in a neighbourhood gets very large people do feel swamped.” (Margaret Thatcher’s* speeches in Solomos, J. Race and Racism in Britain. London: Macmillan. 1993)

16. RACIAL RELATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY BRITAIN • Immigration legislation introduced in 1962, 1968 and 1971, and the 1981 Nationality Act, brought in new restrictions to discourage immigration. • During the 1990s the scale of immigration declined, consisting mainly of spouses and dependents of those already in Britain. More recently, there has been a growing number of refugees and asylum seekers. • In 1971 the Heath government introduced an Immigration Act which had the effect of treating Commonwealth citizens as aliens, except those born in Britain or who had a parent or grandparent born in Britain (patriality). • The Race Relations Act of 1976 marked an important step forward in combating racial discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity in employment, education, provision of goods and facilities. The Act also distinguishes between two main types of racial discrimination: direct discrimination and indirect discrimination • Public Order Act of 1986 – incitement to racial hatred, circulation of racist material: offences • The Football (Offences) Act of 1991 makes racist chanting at football matches an offence • Commission for Racial Equality – CRE, set up under the 1976 Act. • There are 87 Racial Equality councils funded jointly by the CRE and local authorities. • The Leadership Challenge 1997; Race in Media awards; A Race RelationsForum was set up by the Home Secretary Jack Straw in June 1998

17. FACTfile: The Stephen LAWRENCE Case • “I would like Stephen to be remembered as a young man who had a future. He was well-loved and had he been given the chance to survive maybe he would have been the one to bridge the gap between black and white.” (Doreen Lawrence, the late Stephen Lawrence’s mother)