MLK: Still waiting for his dream

It’s 50 years this year since Dr Martin Luther King gave what is without doubt, probably the most famous speech ever recorded in human history. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC August 28th1963 during mass march and rally for Jobs and Justice King delivered his “I have a dream” speech and laid out his prophetic vision of a world without racism.

Black Activist Rising Against the Cuts (BARAC UK) is holding a series of events celebrating this important anniversary taking the opportunity to initiate a national discussion on race and race equality.

The key question we ask is “How long will it take to achieve equality in Britain?” As part of this national discussion, in partnership with Operation Black Vote, we are taking a long look at British parliamentary democracy and Black representation.

In a series of articles of which this is the first, I will be looking at each of the political parties in turn, assessing the extent to which the issues of black representation and race equality policy are real priorities for each of the parties. The first to be featured next week will be the Labour Party, followed by the Liberal Democrats and then finally the Conservative Party.

Democracy is both degraded and undermined if it is not representative of multicultural societies.

The quality of British democracy can be judged by the equality afforded all our citizens, regardless of colour, faith or culture, and in large part by the extent to which institutions and political parties represent all sections of British society. The principle of representative democracy is deeply enshrined in western culture. In a rapidly advancing multicultural democracy the question of whether and to what extent Britain can be considered a truly representative democracy cuts to the heart of both the credibility and authenticity of the state.

The Black communities of Britain remain largely invisible in many areas of British society. The phrase that comes to mind as best summing up our current condition is “over represented in areas where we don’t want to be, under represented in those areas where we need to be.” Whilst we are British in the legal sense of the word, in terms of our lived experience we very much remain ‘immigrants’. As Black British citizens suffering acute levels of racial disadvantage, we constitute nothing more than, third class citizens living in a first class democracy.

The timing could for this series of articles could not be better. These a feverish times within political parties as a series of elections approach over the next two year culminating in the General Election of 2015. As we speak the tortuous and murky process of the selection of Parliamentary, European and local authority Councillor candidates gets into full swing.

Each of the national leaderships of the main political parties wields enormous power in determining the chosen few. The enormous power of political patronage and the desperate ambition of those who aspire to high office can lead to an atmosphere that can often resemble that of the House of Borgia’s. Back stabbing, collusion with racism, enmities are created and hatreds formed as party member slice and dice each other in an effort to get selected and elected.

Nevertheless, this is a critical period to those of us whose concerns include the extent to which selections of mainstream party candidates will be reflective of British multicultural society.

Britain is changing: Black and Asian communities are growing in the UK. Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities in the UK now make up 14.4% of the population in England and Wales and constitute 8% of the voting electorate. According to research undertaken by the University of Leeds our communities are set grow to a huge 20% by 2051.

This should be seen as a representing a huge opportunity for the nation, instead it’s seen by many as deeply problematic. The mood music for Black Britons has become distinctly hostile of late. Reflecting this reality, the sustained political attack, led by the Prime Minister, alongside sections of the right wing press on the principle of multiculturalism, illuminates the powerful and dangerous narrative that determines cultural diversity as posing a threat to national cohesion. Such nonsense flies in the face of the facts.

A team of researchers at Manchester University’s Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research looked at the facts on the ground for much of the past decade. Using data drawn from the national census of 1991 and 2001 they concluded that levels of segregation in 48 out of 56 English cities were declining.

The real political objective here of course, is to excite the residual latent racism an public anxiety of some white Britons on the issues of race and immigration for nothing more than short-term electoral advantage, the very definition of ‘dog whistle politics’.

The axiomatic response of most politicians and sections of the media when challenged about this dangerous discourse is to say that talking about immigration concerns is not ‘racist’ and that ‘Britain is one of the most tolerant countries in the world’.

This later statement provides a precise and exact description of the position of British Black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities. The Oxford Dictionary defines the adjective tolerant as: “showing willingness to allow the existence of opinions or behaviour that one does not necessarily agree with.”

To be frank, I feel deeply insulted every time I hear that phrase. I am Black Briton whose ancestors were enslaved for 400 years, for which we have received neither apology nor compensation. Their blood, sweat and tears cemented the very foundations of Britain whilst colonialism provided the resource capital that built the great institutions of state and financed the modern infrastructure of schools, education, housing, roads and the NHS.

That I am now afforded the dubious privilege of being tolerated in my own country strikes me as perverse.

Racism and its effects continue to blight the life chances of many, in particular those that aspire to high political office. I also believe that the lens of austerity economics is hugely amplifying both racism and racial disadvantage. In the context of increasing levels of alienation, hate crimes, unemployment, poverty and homelessness, Black democratic representation becomes an issue of enormous importance. It is not multiculturalism that represents a threats to the future of Britain, on the contrary such diversity is literally the nations saving grace , it is the continued levels of discrimination, exclusion and the excruciating slow progress being made in blackening the text of British democracy that represents the real threat to British national cohesion.

The economic and political exclusion of Black and Asian communities who continue to suffer from racism, religious prejudice and demonisation constitute the nations gravest threat.

Whilst within the political classes in Britain, there is a veneer of high-level commitment and cross party consensus to increase the diversity of British democratic institutions, the brutal reality is that whilst we have seen some progress in the increase of representation of British Black and Asian people in Parliament and as local of Councillors, the rate of progress is small and proceeds with all the speed of a glacier.

In this series of articles I will be looking at each party record on race equality and their efforts to achieve diversity of membership and candidates.

Background.

There are currently 27 Black MPs in Parliament having increased from 14 prior to the 2010 election. However 2010 was an exceptional year and progress was largely due to David Cameron’s personal commitment increase the number of Conservative MP’s from our communities.

The first Black MP in British history was the Asian Liberal MP Dadabhai Naoroji elected for Finsbury Park 1892. Since then, only 42 Black and Asian MP’s have been elected in over 121 years of British parliamentary democracy.

This represents incremental and bone achingly slow progress. To demonstrate that I am now going to bore you know with a few facts and figures. I apologise in advance for this but it is necessary to accurately asses how far we have come and how far we have yet to go, to achieve a representative democracy.

The real and only question for me is can we achieve racial equality in our lifetime? Strip away the emotion that such as statement invokes and your left with set of objective questions.

What level of representation exists currently? What has been the rate of progress in that sector over the last 10 years? How long will it take to get to the promise land if we maintain our current rate of progress and finally what is the rate of progress required to achieve equality some time in our lifetime?

We can debate timescales and what should be an acceptable rate progress taking account of specific conditions in each sector. What should not be conceded is the principle that any policy or legislation endorsed by us must assist in achieving reasonable progress capable of delivering the goal of full equality within our lifetime. We cannot trade our children’s future for short-term tokenism paraded as real progress.

That for me is the laser like analysis that is required to correctly provide a precise and objective standard for progress

In most public debate on the issue of racial discrimination there is a stunning lack of awareness and an absence of any real analysis of detailed facts. Whilst on the other hand we are inundated with an almost daily assault of uniformed opinion.

I am always astounded at the extent to which individuals are willing to offer an opinion on the issue of black representation in political parties, most of whom know little or nothing of the detail, history or background to this issue, so for the purpose of raising the level of debate, please bear with me whilst we crunch some numbers.

Lets look at the Parliamentary performance of all of the political parties that elected a Black or Asian MP in Britain from 1892 to 2013.

Labour Party: Elected twenty-five MP’s of which sixteen are Asian and nine Black.

Conservative Party: Elected fourteen Black and Asian MP’s, ten of which are Asian and four of whom have been Black. 

Lib Dems (Liberal) Party:  Elected two Asian MP’s 

The Communist Party: Elected one Asian MP 

There are 646 members of Parliament. To achieve the numbers of Black and Asian MP’s necessary for a representative democracy we would need to see the an additional fifty MP’s at the next election.

That could be achieved however it would require both the Conservative and Labour Parties designating 25 safe seat each to Black and Asian candidates.

Or if we assume the election of say, an average of ten additional Black and Asian MPs at each subsequent general election starting in 2015 and assuming that all parties were to retain their current number of Black and Asian MP’s it could take until 2030 to achieve a representative democracy .

Of course if we don’t achieve a minimum of 10 new MP’s per general election then the figure could extend way of into the future. The likelihood of achieving these figures is remote and the conclusion must be that the attainment of the goal of a representative parliamentary democracy is not achievable in our lifetime, if things stay much the same as they are.

The implications of such failure in the context of an increasingly diverse nation are stark.

50 years after Dr King’s speech we need Britain’s main parties to set out proposals as to out how they can achieve a representative parliament in our lifetime. If Labour and the Conservatives could jointly agree of a target of an additional 50 Black and Asian MP’s they could radically transform British democracy during the 2015 election.

We could call it the 50/50 King Campaign for Representative Democracy: 50 year after Dr King’s speech we elect 50 Black and Asian MP’s. This sort of initiative would represent an audacious attempt to fundamentally reset the character of British democratic institutions in one single fell swoop.

And finally what does Local Authority Councillor representation look like today?

The figures outlined in the Local Government Association’s National census of local authority councillors 2010 showed that;

Today 96.3 per cent of local councilors are white and 3.7 per cent come from an ethnic minority background.

The three main political parties in England the details show: • Conservative Party has the smallest proportion of councilors from minority ethnic backgrounds (1.6 per cent) • The Lb Dems have 2.2% representation. • The Labour Party had the largest representation of councilors from minority ethnic backgrounds (10.7 per cent).

In England in pure numbers to give you more detailed perspective there are currently; 407 Asian Councilors, 118 Black councilors 76 of which are of Caribbean background and 42 African

The high point of English Black and Asian Councilor representation was achieved in 2006 when grand total of 764 Black and Asian local councillors were elected. Numbers have been declining since then and I believe that in the current political and economic climate these figures could precipitously decline further still.

To be truly representative of Britain at local authority level we would need to elect extra 2,300 Black Councillors This would require the adoption by each party of proportional targets that would reflect their number of safe wards that could be allocated to Black and Asian members. Spilt between the London and the rest of the UK these targets would reflect regional demographics.

Such a bold move would electrify local democracy making Britain one of the most diverse democracies in Europe. What’s required is a radical programme that would be transformative and place Britain in the forefront of the fight for genuine equality for all its citizens.

In relation to the UK regional assemblies similar targets could be set.

In the Greater London Authority there are five representatives three Asian and two Black the later being the only Conservative member.

In the Welsh Assembly there a two representatives Labour (Black) and Conservatives (Asian) .

In Scottish Parliament there are three Asian members all belonging to the Scottish National Party.

Conclusion.

50 Years after King we ask can we achieve equality in our lifetime? We believe that with real political will we could transform British democracy and levels of democratic engagement from Black Asian and ethnic minority communities. If Britain is to be considered a truly democratic and meritocratic society than we will need to take radical action in discreet areas to push forward in the attainment of dream of a society where Parliament has led the way in recasting Britain as a 21st Century mature, multicultural society.

Such an idea does not require legislation what it does require is for David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband to sit down and agree a plan that can deliver the objective of a Parliament that inspires and can offer a global standard of democratic inclusion that would make it the envy of the world.

It’s either that or we simply resign ourselves to be perpetually locked out on the periphery of British democracy. To move from the margins into the mainstream requires real commitment to a radical agenda for change. The only way that can be achieved is if our communities and organisations unify in placing this demand for the achievement of race equality in our lifetime on the political agenda. If we are to secure some kind of future for our children and the next generation, nothing else will suffice.

Lee Jasper

Lee-jasper@live.com

http://leejasper.blogspot.co.uk