As a youngster, I lived and sporadically worked in Britain over four decades ago. Britain was different then. The colonial past was recent. South Asians in Britain were comparatively few. Indians there were broadly of two kinds. There was a minority of students and elite, and a majority of labour. The interaction of elite Indians with the Brits was devoid of racism. But the working class had problems that arose from a lack of cultural empathy. British workers muttered over their pints against their South Asian counterparts who crammed apartments like sardines, often ten to a room, and saved money to buy property. It was a clash of cultures. The rental value of localities often sank when Indians and Pakistanis moved into them.
There was of course also the problem of girls. Teddy boys ruled the roost then, long before the punks were born. The strongest hostility in a community is aroused when its women are stalked by strangers. The Teddies could go berserk when Indians or Pakistanis made a pass at one of their girls. For the rest, Teddies could threaten anyone on trains, in pubs or in soccer stadiums. They moved in packs. If no copper was in sight, they could target bankers or workers, white or coloured, whoever caught their fancy.
Racism surfaces after aliens descend in hordes. In those days a friend was in Stockholm. As a brown-skinned Aryan he was a novelty. The Swedes fawned over him. Rest assured that a hundred Indians would have changed their minds. Racism is a horrible epithet. But how is it different from casteism, communalism or linguistic parochialism? One excludes, of course, slavery, untouchables or segregation while considering these terms. When the ULFA kills Bihari workers, when Mumbai goons bully outsiders, when Hindus and Muslims clash, when Dalits are insulted, is any of this better than racist behaviour? Earlier, westerners disliked intrusion of foreign culture. Today, they are further threatened by shrinking employment. The problem of racism—whatever racism might signify—will therefore continue to haunt us until governments devise migration norms that reciprocally protect lifestyles and jobs among all nationalities and cultures.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
