When I grew up the national flag and St George’s flag were both synonymous with racism. They had both been hijacked by the racist party – the national front (note the lower case!).  Are things any different now?

On Saturday 12th June 2010 I was invited to join a group of friends to watch England’s first world-cup match against the USA. The event was televised on 4 screens, including a large projection wall display. We all decided to congregate at the Indian Gymkhana, first established in 1916. Click here for a full history of its inception.

Back to the match. The majority of those watching the match were of Indian decent – Representatives from all of Indian’s wide and varied community were present. Even my next door neighbour with his entire family attended.

Interestingly, there was one thing they all had in common. 80% wore an England football shirt and the atmosphere was electrified by the chants of ‘Come on England’!

I managed to catch some of the excitement, especially just after the first and only goal that was scored: See below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I found this new loyalty to the English flag amazing on many levels.

• Was this a demonstration that Norman Tebbit’s rules had been broken?
• Did Enoch Powell’s  rivers of blood speech now mean nothing as people felt comfortable with accepting England as their true home?

My mind tells me that we have a further journey to travel – for the general community to accept people from different backgrounds, many who have fathers and mothers that struggled since the 1950s to be accepted as equals and who laid the foundations for today’s youth and generally more comfortable life style.

Why do I still feel some cynicism regarding the flag ? Firstly, there is no acceptance from the media at large to acknowledge that the UK is varied in its cultural make-up. TV, radio and the majority of featured celebrities is orientated towards a sub-culture and the pretence that the average viewer or listener is from a ‘white’ background. What also does not help are shows like Britain’s Got Talent displaying a weekly / seasonal undertone of inequality and class distinction. The BBC are quick to chop the BBC Asian Network (Why call it Asian!) yet commitment to Radio 3 continues. Remember too that ‘ethnic’ programming is still late into the night!

Maybe, I was shocked due to my personal experiences of being bullied on race grounds at school. Maybe, I consider that today’s loyalty to the flag displayed by others is based on convenience. NB We do have a lot to the Thank the UK for.
Or, maybe I should be more optimistic that ‘times are a changing’ ?

One day he asked me to go to the Cubs with him. The history of the Cubs is that in 1908 Baden-Powell created the Scout Movement, it was designed as a programme for boys over the age of eleven. But very soon younger brothers wanted to be part of this Grand Adventure. In 1916, Baden-Powell published his own outlines for a scheme called Wolf Cubbing. These days both boys and girls can become Cubs and eventually Scouts.

Back to the story. Innocently, I went along to Alexandra Hall just no more that 200metres from our house. There was no Cub master present, instead approximately 20 boys all under the age of 11 kitted out in badge laden caps and green jumpers. My neighbour then joined up with one of his friends and collectively they rallied the rest of the boys together into a herd. They descended like a set of bees returning to their hive. They’re stings were in the form of kicks and random hands pulled at my turban. Eventually, they pulled my turban off and proceeded to wrap it around my body, kicking me and leading me out of the hall at the same time! Crying and alone in the dark I walked back to the house. I never forgave my neighbour for his dastardly deed.

The Cub Master also tried a turban on.

In January 2010 a friend of mine called me up asking if I would be interested in attending a Cub event. The Cubs have invented a new badge that requires them to learn about different faiths – consider it as a kind of global awareness educational accomplishment. The suggestion was that I could present a five minute overview of Sikhism and if I could get some people  together, the Cubs could each try on a turban.

Attached is the presentation and also a worksheet they used when we divided the 32 Cubs (boys and girls) into groups of 6. After trying on a turban each could also have a picture taken (NB In advance we obtained consent from the parents and Cub organisation for the taking and use of all pictures).

In all the excitement I only took a few pictures but the nicest comment was from a Cub master who said that at the end of the evening, one of the Cubs said to him, ‘Sikhs are cool’!

My Thanks to all my friends who took part.

I had a long conversation with a friend yesterday about the real causes of the world’s issues today.
For example, hunger, famine, destruction, disputes over territory, poverty, alcholism and the manifestation of drugs in all walks of life. Shall I go on?

Obama lead his successful campaign on a ticket that sells change – Sorry about that pun but money talks, even though much of it has been lost into a black-hole due to a combination of over zealous bankers and the publics cry for property acquistion.

What are the causes of today’s problems
Unless we stop the shipment of arms and both stop the production and transportation of drugs, these evil entities will make it more diffcult to keep our hopes for change to affect our lives for the better. In Gene Rodenberry’s world of Star Trek he established that the human race had resolved these issues. A world of plenty in terms of food and opportunity had been acomplished.

Solutions
I keep talking about the need for world harmonisation as a project for recovery. For example, developed countries helping under-developed countries. I sometimes feel that I’m shouting in the dark about the need for greater corporate responsibility and communities to weed out instigators of terror. I talk about the need for a second coming for a Marshal plan, just like the one that rebuilt Japan and German post WW2. The billions being spent on bailouts just show us that money can be made available – and I don’t care if people say that this is a nieve way of looking at the problem. Maybe we should take a % from Swiss bank accounts!

Obama’s hope…
It is good to see Obama take the stand. Yes he is black and we have come a long way to assure opportunities. I wish him the best but believe that it is people that make the change not just politicians.

Today we need hope and if Obama brings that to the US and the world that is great.

Will Obama’s momentum be the world’s gain ? It is up to us to take the initiative…

Either the person in question has been misquoted or has a misunderstanding of what the make-up and heritage situation / circumstances of the United Kingdom is today.

Times change, migrants become part of a culture and therefore, what is deemed to be British changes.
The UK has one of the highest number of curry houses outside of India.
At our nearest supermarket I can buy a variety of foods, from Polish Bread to Mexican tortilla wraps and also a packet of Bombay mix.

The recent outburst from a musician about his view of the UK cultural situation is not new.  It does however suggest a mockery of what these people attempt to believe in. It has sparked a debate about immigration, e.g.: The Tory’s have expressed a desire to impose quotas.

A quick history lesson.
During the very early settlement of the British East India Company employees in India, there was a acceptance of the Indian lifestyle.
Over time this situation reversed and a segregated attitude prevailed. Although the British left some infrastructure, e.g.: Buildings, bridges and railways, they did not attempt to understand or appreciate the richness of the culture. An apartied society resulted. A fascinating book and movie is The Far Pavilions. The movie depicts a superiority complex within the British institution of the time.

Today the UK has a wide variety of settlers, travelers, workers and they bring with them the desire to enrich the country they now adopt as their home – investing in housing, savings and both public and private employment. The settlers contribute heavily to the economy. In the case of migrant workers, they may enrich the UK and at the same time the UK is assisting them in building their own European countries in return.

Maybe there is something else going on? A sense of scare mongering. A suggestion that to ‘rock the boat’ is healthy rather than considering the optimistic perspective of communities living together and respecting each others customs.
NB There is a separate argument about the combination of ‘white flight’ and repeated poor investment in selective areas.

So what if you, ‘cannot hear a British accent’ on the streets of London. We live in a world where we need to enjoy the cultural mix.

In addition, we have too many issues to resolve, hunger, poverty and global warming. At a time like this we need to unite around common causes, for example: to harmonise the world from a trading perspective or missing children at home.

I have always considered that there is a hidden in danger in flying the flag to the extreme.

It is interesting that the musician that made the derogatory comments about the UK’s current cultural mix is no longer a British resident.
Singing songs of peace and hope is better than apparent discourses of negativity.

Already in the UK we have 3rd and 4th generation descendants from migrants that came, for example from India back in the 1950s. Many in the UK from the old British colonies.

I’m a second generation and I found the following video interesting. The video charts the progress of the only Sikh journalist/presenter in the UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE7xf89NuJE&NR=1

Click here to view the embedded video.

It raises some core points about today’s society, whatever country you may be in:

1. The factors associated with need for respect for each other.
2. The urgent need for role models and
3. The good thing that ITV has done by respecting diversity into their teams. NB Watch out for the fascinating comment in the final few seconds of the video where the gentleman is described as the fashion king of their office!
4. The misunderstanding about each other.

With regard to the latter the UK GCSE syllabus (15-16 year national qualification) in Religious studies suggests that students select a number of world religions and to study them in depth. Discussion questions range from views/approaches to environmentalism and also core beliefs.

This is great for up and coming generations as long as they practice what they preach. However, if society continues to use categories then the natural human reaction is to compartmentalise.
I personally am uncomfortable with the term British Asian. Jews do not call themselves British Israelites or Israelis..!

Disturbingly, Wikipedia defines British Asians as follows,

‘The term British Asian is used to denote a person of Southern Asian ancestry or origin, or sometimes Western Asian origin, who was born in or was an immigrant to the United Kingdom. Britain has a large Southern Asian population due to British India once being the most populous portion of the former British Empire.

The question is also not about acceptance or what is acceptable to call someone. People should be respected for their ability and we hope that each of us accepts each other as equal.

The segmentation definition shown above is confusing and misleading.

If the UK government are worried about integrating communities. Instead of celebrating a day for British ness, whatever that is, the first place to start would be to celebrate our collective heritage. Sure, in many situations this will reveal issues about the way the British Empire abused the people of its past colonies. NB The positive outcome of this activity would be assure ourselves about what part each of our ancestors played in developing the world today.

Our links to our heritage are what made us and this world today. Freedom came at a price. We do not need divisional tactics anymore.
Unfortunately, it is a control strategy and in many boardroom’s today it is still ‘in play’. Ever heard of the term, ‘glass ceiling’!?

By being more aware of this subtle strategy we can lobby for a reduction in these misleading definitions. Can someone please amend/moderate that wikipedia entry as a starter…