Why is there so much more anti immigration sentiment NOW?

[GreyWasp]

Half my family are Indian and came over in the 50s. My British Indian dad (born here) said he has always been very lucky to have not experienced much hate and discrimination. He has a wide friendship network of people from all backgrounds. I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist. Not at all, just that the environments my dad was placed in outright racism was minimal. And he felt pretty much like a normal British lad going to school, uni, clubs, bars etc. My white grandparents had their concerns in the 90s when my parents married mostly in regards to potential bullying any future grandchildren would experience but really they were fine with their marrying. I have genuinely never had one negative experience (granted I have been in somewhat privileged situations in middle class areas in the South plus am white passing but do look ambiguous when tanned).

In recent years I have noticed a shift (for the worse) in terms of negative sentiment towards immigrants/poc. For me, it’s the worst it’s ever been. I certainly did not feel it 10/15 years ago. I see SO many racist comments on social media. Was not the case previously.

Im just interested in having a discussion why this could possibly be the case? People are definitely more woke now than they have ever been.

Is it the social media sites themselves? Less moderation? More political influencers?
More media attention?
People looking for an excuse to blame the economic decline (pandemic, brexit, col etc)?

Just curious what people’s thoughts are?

I am sorry you are experiencing this. Certainly from my interactions with people from both India and Pakistan, I find them to be genuine and nice people if you are genuine with them.

Who to blame for a rise in racism, I'd personally look back to consecutive governments from Blair onwards. We do have an issue with incoming migration, with lack of capacity within our public services.

We should be able to take in genuine refugees fleeing conflict. But our migration system is backed up with those from Vietnam, Romania & Albania claiming asylum where the intention is to work in the underground job market.

Oligarch political parties aligned with hyper-capitalism and Russian interests are using the issue to create a scapegoat for the failures of capitalism. The scapegoat is migrants and ethnic minorities (as well as other minorities), and the issue is presented in ways which appeal to emotions, not logic. They are amplifying this strongly through social media and propaganda news channels. It appeals to low-information / economically disadvantaged people primarily.

It enables oligarch parties to provide a “solution” to the confected problem, and that solution in reality benefits the oligarchy and not the population on general.

This is happening now in the US with “MAGA” and is being attempted in the UK with “Reform”.

I believe that Russia is likely “helping” to traffic illegal migrants across the channel to further reinforce the division and scapegoating, and enable them to isolate us further from allies and international organisations, as well as weaken support for Ukraine, and for renewable energy - both issues a threat to Russian interests.

Cost of housing. Lack of integration in certain communities. Boats in the channel. Perceived increased threat of terrorism. Child abuse rings in various towns. Take your pick. There are also huge differences in how certain groups are regarded. Have noticed the incredible work ethic and education standards amongst new arrivals from Hong Kong. There is much we could learn as a nation from them.

I went to a grammar school.
But i was only one of three non white kids in the school.

Imgkad he didn’t experience it. Although my dad never spoke about the racism he received.

Social media aided and abetted by the right is a shit show driven by the ignorant and the stupid.

People fail to realise the reasons for the increase in immigration and don't really care, only how it affects them negatively.

I live in an area of high levels of low-skilled immigration and people feel out of control. Their cultural and social communities change significantly, they struggle to get doctors appointments or school places and in their mind there is one clear reason. And one they never voted for or were consulted on. It’s simplistic and bigoted but I think that’s where the anger comes from.

I’m sorry you and your family are experiencing this. I can assure you that there are far more allies than loud bigots.

I think it’s a backlash. People feel they haven’t been able to express their opinions for the last few years at risk of being cancelled or called racist, especially those in poorer areas more affected by immigration, who are dealing daily with the extra strain on schools, doctors, dentists, other resources. This is just the pendulum swinging the other way as has always happened in politics and always will.

I think there have been a few cultural shifts.

1. Less integration. When my mother came here, she sought out friendship with British people, now it seems people stick more to associating with others from their own backgrounds.
2. More religious fundamentalism so that alarming sights, such as women being covered from head to foot in shapeless black fabric, are becoming commonplace.
3. Expressing discomfort with less integration or more fundamentalism is taboo. People are labelled racist if they voice it, so their unexpressed feelings are festering into resentment and anger.
4. Terrorism in the UK - homegrown extremists, rather than the IRA. People are scared.
5. Overstretched public services and the appearance of newcomers being prioritised in housing, for example, and it being difficult to get a dentist of GP appointment.

I think it’s a message encouraged by the last government. They needed a scapegoat to blame as they decimated the country by the fake austerity.

Because Britain is really over-full of people and it's affecting every area of life. Things are getting worse and worse. We can't keep cramming people on to this small island.

Definitely social media. Sweeping generalisation ahead but essentially it took the racist chatter that was usually confined to the back rooms of the pub right into the mainstream and all of a sudden you saw people saying these things out loud and it gave your racism validation.

Then you get the likes of Farage stirring the pot and getting away with it and that's it the genie is out of the bottle. Mainstream racism, but just veiled enough to deny it.

And now especially on here racism is just 'an opinion' and we have to give that opinion the respect it deserves apparently.

And you get people saying nonsense like this that isn't anywhere near true.

I am the daughter of a migrant and by heritage Indian. Racism is not as bad as it has ever been. In the 80s and 90s at least one of my family would get assaulted (no point in going to the police), and when at school kids used the N or P words a lot of the teachers just smirked. We have moved on from that, but there has been an increase in racism which is of concern. Family members have certainly remarked that this is the case recently. Some politicians cynically merge legal and illegal migration to mean the same thing, where is in reality most of the staff coming here are wither students or coming for skilled work for example in the NHS or IT.

Sorry should have said assaulted every week.

The EU expansion in the early 00s and freedom of movement caused massive migration from eastern Europe in only a couple of years. Which compared to your family and other Asian/afro Caribbean migration which occurred over 30-40 years. This rapid immigration effected a lot of communities. It also depressed wages, leading to wage rise stagnation. Coupled with the education policies of the time pushing a university route rather than a vocational training route has lead to some skills shortages.

Now immigration is from areas of the world which are economically poor and/or war zones...however, it doesn't appear to be refugees from war, but young men coming to the uk.

Therefore, we have a country which has been dramatically effected by unlimited migration for 20 years, now facing unprecedented levels of migration from areas without a direct link to the UK who potentially are a drain on the uk.

Initial figures show that many recent arrivals stay in benefits for considerable time. The immigrants from the 50s to 70s had a positive economic effect.on the uk. Post eu expansion arrivals were also productive in the economy, but put a strain on wages (as I have said), housing, education and health services.

Therefore, there is natural concern that such immigration cannot continue. Personally, I think we need a points type system to allow immigration that benefits the country. The fact that many recent arrivals stay on benefits is probably a short term issue as it most likely is due to their unfamiliarity with the uk.

You are lucky to not have been exposed to much racism. I'm mixed race and grew up in the north in the 80s and 90s and the racism was absolutely horrific and violent on a pretty much daily or weekly basis to the point where I immediately left the country as soon as I could. it always astounds me when I hear of other brown Brits say they're shocked to experience racism for the first time as an adult But yes the Internet has emboldened the racists to come out in full force especially as they know that right wing movements across Europe and the US have had a resurgence in recent years who's going to stop them?

But they're not a drain on the UK though. Unless you can point me to some evidence of that?

Because times are tough and people want someone to blame. Also, the rate of immigration and the speed of change seen in their local neighbourhood makes some people feel uneasy.

Actually I need to make an amendment. I do recall a lot of anti-Eastern European/Polish rhetoric growing up.

Generally speaking, any population increase is a drain on resources if infrastructure is not addressed - housing, transport, healthcare services, schooling, etc. As we are seeing now.

UK population increase- note the past 25 years.

https://closer.ac.uk/data/estimated-annual-population/

I completely blame government policy on not providing the instrastructure/resources for an increasing population.

That's one of the main reasons. It hasn't changed, it just changed target.

Then you always have more racism/xenophobia during periods of economic struggles. Very convenient scape goat.

Then you have dozens of tv channels, various media in print and online , plus social media. Everyone and anyone can have their little rant , make up stuff and state it as fact and find like minded people ,support and a "community "at the click of a button.

Where I grew up in the 70s and early 80s there was terrible National Front and skinhead-type racism. It seemed much more overt and nasty than anything now.

What has changed is the scale of immigration. The Windrush era of mass immigration meant 50-70 000 legal immigrants every year and a fairly negligible amount of illegal immigration. Now mass migration means almost a million legal immigrants per year and illegal immigration somewhere in the hundreds of thousands.

I live in a very multicultural area and would say the recent immigrants are in many ways an improvement on the regular population. However, the competition for jobs and housing has become immense, the pressure on services is incredible and everywhere is just so crowded. You can see it in the amount of traffic. I can't remember the last time I got on a bus that wasn't rammed with people and taking forever to get to it's destination. The greenbelt area around and the local villages are being ruined with horrible identikit housing developments but no additional services.

I know people who live in a nearby village where the local hotel has been turned into an asylum hotel. In a small place the hotel was a big local employer and was important to the local economy (e.g. the village florist supplied all its flowers and the flowers for a lot of the weddings and events there). Now virtually all of the staff have been made redundant, there are no guests using the local pubs and cafes and shops, and a minority of the young men housed in the hotel (but still about 30-40 of them) hang about the village drinking all day.

Islamist terrorism is another factor. As someone with an Irish parent I can say that IRA terrorism really did have an effect on the way the Irish in Britain were perceived and treated in the recent past. Islamism gives rise to the valid perception that there are immigrants who not only fail to integrate but who actively hate the West and who are acting on that hate. Of course there were acts of PLO-type terrorism in the past but nothing on British soil.

During most of the Blair years Murdoch's press was pro Labour.
Now it's right wing, the UK is much poorer and we're constantly told that men arriving in boats are to blame.

The Blair years felt more comfortable financially and everything seemed possible.

Yes the Migration observatory at Oxford university.