Rethinking Anti-Racisms

From Theory to Practice

Floya Anthias, Cathy Lloyd

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781134671687
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Discrimination & Race Relations
• Index: Social Sciences

This collection seeks to rethink anti-racism both in light of social changes, and also of new theoretical debates about citizenship, multiculturalism, hybridity, diaspora and social movements. As well as chapters on theoretical interventions, Rethinking Anti-Racisms has substantive chapters covering issues such as: * anti-deportation campaigns
* anti-fascism
* education
* the Southall Black Sisters
* the contradictory use of ethnicity as a way of tackling racism.

1 Introduction

Fighting racisms, defining the territory

Floya Anthias and Cathie Lloyd

This book aims to consider new ways of thinking about anti-racism and how they impact on anti-racist political practice. Our aim is to push the debate forward and to intervene in theoretical and political arguments that are of central importance today. We draw on new approaches and theoretical debates relating to, amongst others, citizenship, multiculturalism, hybridity, diaspora and social movements. In so doing, the book explores the extent to which these approaches can offer frameworks that provide some alternative conceptual bases for addressing the problems of racism and anti-racism in Western societies. The book also analyses how these approaches might help us to understand more fully contemporary forms of ethnic conflict and hatred, and how they can provide tools for addressing and combating racism and xenophobia at a broader, international level.

Widespread ethnic conflict has been one of the most significant developments since the end of the 1980s, and it has had an impact both on ideas and practices of racism and on the flows of people fleeing violence and persecution in many parts of the world. Our book aims to bring together issues of theory and practice. It contains a number of chapters on political culture and discourse and how they relate to racist and anti-racist politics. In addition, a number of chapters focus on specific arenas for anti-racist politics such as local political campaigns, women’s campaigns and higher education.

Some of the contributions focus on conceptual and theoretical ways which help us to rethink the anti-racist project away from the binaries constructed by the earlier discourse which set up anti-racism as the radical voice of the black disadvantaged and multiculturalism as the soft hand of liberal conscience. Others focus on more substantive or practical struggles. There are a variety of voices and views in this book and we do not necessarily agree with all of them. However, they all constitute important contributions to ongoing debates on racism and anti-racism. The theoretical debates are on recent developments, with the emphasis on issues of hybridity and diasporic processes (Anthias), citizenship (Yuval-Davis), social movement theory (Lloyd), the contradictory nature of using ethnicity as a way of tackling racism (Räthzel), and globalisation (Winant). The more practical or concrete aspects deal with anti-fascist campaigns (House), the important work of the Southall Black Sisters (Patel), anti-deportation campaigns (Bhattacharyya and Gabriel) and education (Jacobs with Hai).

It is our view that, along with other binaries, those set up by debates on ‘multi-culturalism versus anti-racism’ must be refused. The critique of multiculturalism for reifying and essentialising culture and the related critique of anti-racism for reifying and essentialising ‘race’ categories have set the parameters. In this chapter we will consider the impact of the rejection of these binaries, and ask: what type of politics and theory can help to transcend the vacuum that currently exists?

Transnationalism and globalisation

Any contemporary analyses of racism and anti-racism should be placed within the social context of increasing transnationalism. People are in movement all over the world. New forms of communication mean that their relations with their countries of origin are qualitatively different from those of earlier generations, and communications are not only faster, but even instantaneous with the use of the internet by some social groups. Transnationalism is, however, often accompanied by increased expressions of inequality, uncertainty, ethnic conflict and hostility (Bulmer and Solomos 1998).

Globalised networks now characterise modern societies at all social levels, including the cultural and the economic. Although this does not minimise the importance of ethnic and cultural ties, it does mean that these ties operate increasingly at a transnational rather than merely national level. Population movements of different kinds have gone hand in hand with a growing circulation of money, capital and information tied to a range of entrepreneurial activities. Groups involved are also at the leading edge of the emergence of hybrid cultural forms. However, we must be careful not to treat hybridity, as Floya Anthias argues in this book (Chapter 2), outside the parameters of unequal power relations that exist between and within cultures. Diasporic groups have been thought of as particularly adaptable to a globalised economic system (Cohen 1988). They draw their strength from advanced technologies of transport and information flows, and by being able to pool resources and exchange information and contacts. These enable them to operate successfully in emerging markets with the proviso that it is important to consider such groupings as neither essentially constituted in this way, nor as undifferentiated, as Anthias warns us.

The increasing importance of global networks has changed the context for political and economic policy and requires that we consider both formal and informal transnational networks. There is growing work (Cohen 1988) on the economic power of some diasporas (such as the overseas Chinese with a combined economic output close to $600 billion: see Financial Times, June 1996). Diaspora groups also have political influence as many countries that traditionally export migrants, such as the Philippines, Latin American countries and countries in South-East Asia, are heavily dependent on remittances. Moreover, those defined as classical diasporas, like the Greeks and the Jews, are powerful political lobbyists, particularly in America and the European Union (EU). Floya Anthias’s chapter critically interrogates some of the arguments about the implications of diasporic developments for ethnicity and racism and the potential these hold for the fight against racism. Cathie Lloyd discusses the impact of these changes on the mobilising capacity of social movements and anti-racist organising (Chapter 4).

Whatever the value of the arguments about the potential of diasporic developments, there is no doubt that policy decisions need to take account of the growth of transnational communities and networks as well as the increasing multi-layering of identity with the growing hybrid nature of culture, for young people in general, and second- and third-generation migrants in particular. Policy decisions on foreign investment, labour market regulation, immigration and citizenship all need to take into account the implications for transnational groupings and strategies. Regarding global economic networks, the patterns of investment and exchange, portable skills and unrecorded international trade must be seen in relation to the collective strategies of transnational groups within the international as well as national arenas.

Citizenship, civil society and social movements

Awareness of the broader international frameworks of international migration and the impact of new forms of ethnic conflict and globalisation have had a major influence on our understanding of civil society and of social movements as transnational in scope. These form an important part of the political and social context in which anti-racist struggle takes place. In recent years, for instance, many anti-racist mobilisations have broadened their concerns to include asylum-seekers and forced migrants. These developments have also encouraged writers to think about the broader application of anti-racist ideas. At the same time there have been theoretical and practical challenges to the claims of anti-racism to represent universal values. The Unesco initiatives against racism in the 1950s stemmed from a determination of the General Conference ‘to study and collect scientific materials concerning questions of race; to give wide diffusion to the scientific information collected; to prepare an educational campaign based on this information’ (Unesco 1951: 4). At this time Unesco sponsored debate which encouraged a pluralist anti-racism moving from a post-war focus on anti-Semitism to a broader focus on issues arising from decolonisation and immigration, closely linked to educational programmes (Unesco 1972, 1980, 1982a, 1982b).

International initiatives such as the United Nations (UN) Technical Symposium on International Migration and Development in 1998 have reviewed the potential for international co-operation in a new context. There have been significant advances such as the growth of understanding of the multiple dynamics involved: the role of social networks and ‘social and cultural capital’ in the migratory process and the need to reflect the complexity of migrant communities – such as the abuse of migrant women. This initiative emphasised the need for better public information and education about migration and settlement as a means of combating racial discrimination (Castles 1999). Concerns about ethnic conflict and human rights violations have given rise to new initiatives linked to anti-racism at the levels of international governance.

At the time of writing, these issues are being debated in the UN World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia. This aims to set an international agenda with important implications for anti-racist struggle. Key issues are the establishment of legal protection against racism and discrimination, the policies and practices at sub-national and national levels against racism and discrimination, education against racism and discrimination at different levels, and the role of information, communication and the media (United Nations 1997). As in earlier UN world conferences, there is recognition of the importance of non-governmental organisations’ (NGOs) participation, in order to keep the debate as inclusive as possible. The remit of the conference involves a broadening of our understanding of racism – understood as a tool to gain and maintain power, linking the origins of racism in colonialism and slavery to its contemporary forms within globalisation. Current important issues are the growth of inequality through globalisation, questions about the restriction of different forms of immigration, the growth of ethnic conflict and the rights of indigenous peoples (International Council on Human Rights Policy 2000; International Human Rights Law Group 2000).

There are also parallel developments at the European level (Council of Europe 2000). In Chapter 4, Cathie Lloyd explores the impact of European structures on grass-roots civil society mobilisations against racism. Other studies have considered the extent to which migrants in other European countries relate to these initiatives. The contextual factors that shape collective organisation are paramount. Writing in the French context, Olivier Filleule has analysed the ‘receptivity or vulnerability of a given political system to the action of a contesting group and the degree to which these actors enjoy formal access to institutions and resources’ (Fillieule 1993) while maintaining that their actions are still influenced by their original frameworks and know-how (Tarrow 1995). There is growing evidence of the cross-fertilisation of campaigns, such as those of the ‘sanspapiers’ across Europe (Lloyd 1997; Simeant 1998).

Compared with the mechanisms for the control of migration, the European space for anti-racist mobilisations remains fragile and under-exploited. This is despite the formation of organisations such as the EU Migrants Forum in 1991 to facilitate dialogue and exchange information. There was a relatively low response from migrant associations to funding opportunities during the European Year against Racism. One study concluded that the ability of groups to take these opportunities is defined by the interplay of opportunities at different national levels and arenas. These depend greatly on the national context and the use of informed gate-keepers to facilitate fundraising (Danese 1998). Recently arrived migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee groups suffer from social and economic insecurity and instability in their lives, and are forced to concentrate on their primary needs. Despite initiatives around ‘Social Europe’ and the European Mediterranean Policy following the Barcelona Declaration, which have aimed to enhance the role of NGOs in forms of decentralised co-operation, it has proved difficult to transcend national approaches, while ethnic minority groups have competed for leadership (Kastoryano 1994).

Jim House’s contribution to this book (Chapter 7) helps us explain the constraints of these national approaches within a historical perspective. Using the case of anti-racism in France, he shows how the various strands of anti-racism have appealed to but also challenged the ideologies of the republican nation-state. Thus anti-racists engaged with key political, social and cultural expressions of modernity. House shows how anti-racism has been re-worked at different times: during the Dreyfus affair at the turn of the nineteenth century, within an anti-fascist discourse in the 1930s, or later in the context of struggle for decolonisation. Rather than being easily categorised, anti-racism appears as a contradictory, sometimes ambivalent discourse which does not always fulfil its own promise. This theme is taken up in Nora Räthzel’s chapter (Chapter 5), which argues that ethnic identities can hold both a promise and a danger in terms of the achievement of anti-racism and social justice. The double-edged weapon of ethnicity is at the centre of much anti-racist discourse. Räthzel puts us on our guard against suggesting any blueprints for anti-racist struggle; she insists that this must be struggled for in terms of the complexity of particular contexts.

Several of the chapters offer an assessment of the way in which transformations are working their way through at national level in the UK. The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise and fall of local authority ‘race’ units, and some of the processes, difficulties and ambiguities are highlighted in different ways in this book in the chapters by Patel, Bhattacharrya and Gabriel, and Jacobs with Hai (Chapters 8, 9 and 10). Will the new London authority give rise to new practices in the same way as the Greater London Council (GLC) did in the 1980s? To what extent is the emergence of black-led national structures in the UK a response to the development of European structures or does it represent a new stage in anti-racism? Pragna Patel’s account of the work of the Southall Black Sisters offers some ways forward here. This perspective acknowledges the dilemmas, contradictions and tensions that arise from the experiences of black women. Southall Black Sisters have always challenged the orthodoxies of both the anti-racist movement and state social welfare policies. This is a perspective which offers a way out of the fragmentation of diversity through an approach to wider alliances.

Such rapid change also creates opportunities for an enhanced and more democratically informed citizenship. Nira Yuval-Davis (Chapter 3) relates to some of the major theories and debates on citizenship within political science in order to tease out the specific issues that are important for the construction of a citizenship-oriented anti-racist approach. Issues are raised in relation to the boundaries of collectivities, equality and difference, and the relationship between citizenship and human rights. For instance, citizenship is posed in a new way within Europe because the European framework offers an alternative to the usual assumption of an essentialised link between social rights and national membership. Some of the most important mobilisations in recent years have been for the recognition of rights which should accompany residence, but which are often denied migrants because of their status as foreigners. Migrant and refugee groups have considerable resources in their unique social networks, which often form part of transnational social and political networks. We would fully acknowledge that ethnic mobilisations have their own dynamic and cannot be subsumed into anti-racism (Anthias and Yuval Davis 1992; Gilroy 1992; Rex and Drury 1994). However, these networks and organisations provide important resources, which can be used in mobilisations which we might include under the anti-racist banner, such as movements that demand equal rights and recognition (Joppke 1996). One of the most striking movements in recent years, discussed in Cathie Lloyd’s chapter, is the undocumented or sanspapiers migrants’ movement in Europe and their use of internet communication and other forms of publication (Cisse 1996; Cisse 1999; Diop 1997; Fassin et al. 1997; Lloyd 1997).

There are many other important interfaces between anti-racism and other struggles, such as migrant women’s international networks of resistance against religious fundamentalism (Connolly 1991; Helie-Lucas 1993; Lloyd 1999a). Pragna Patel’s chapter, as noted earlier, focuses on the implications of women’s struggles, drawing on the experience of the Southall Black Sisters, for multiculturalism and anti-racism. Other examples of transnational mobilisations are those of indigenous peoples for land or environmental protection against development-induced displacement, which involves assertions of their rights to self-determination against multinationals which may ride roughshod over their interests and may be taken up in anti-racist struggle.

Debates on anti-racism and multiculturalism

These global dimensions of anti-racism may pose problems for earlier conceptualisations of anti-racism that often assumed the guise of a Eurocentric, Enlightenment-derived universalism (Lloyd 1994). We are increasingly aware of the transnational history of anti-racism with its origins in the international movement against slavery and the struggles for decolonisation, anti-apartheid and civil and human rights. Once these antecedents are admitted it is no longer possible to portray anti-racism as uniquely Western. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s we have seen tensions between anti-racism and multiculturalist valorisations of cultural difference. Discussions about the conceptual status of the category ‘race’ have heightened these tensions and given rise to much controversy (Anthias 1992a; Gilroy 1998). In his most recent writing Paul Gilroy has suggested that we may need to think outside the straitjacket of race and instead champion a new humanism which is global and cosmopolitan (Gilroy 2000).

The British anti-racist movement of the 1980s stressed structural racism rather than the targeting of individual prejudice, and was contrasted to different types of multiculturalism which promoted cultural tolerance and the celebration of cultural difference as modes of struggling against racism. To this end anti-racists stressed ‘race’ difference and awareness and a critique was launched against the colour blindness of liberalism as well as the culturalism of the emphasis on ethnicity found within multiculturalism.

The chapter by Howard Winant discusses the continuing importance of ‘race’ markers in both local and global spheres, and the uneasy co-existence of formal commitments to racial equality and the heritage of centuries of white supremacy. This is a challenging and important argument and there is no doubt that racialisation processes become amplified and transformed at the global level. Their impact in a wide range of different societies is discussed. Unlike Winant, however, we do not take the ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction: fighting racisms, defining the territory
• 2. Diasporic hybridity and transcending racisms: problems and potential
• 3. Some reflections on the questions of citizenship and anti-racism
• 4. Anti-racism, social movements and civil society
• 5. Germans into foreigners: how anti-nationalism turns into racism
• 6. The modern world racial system in transition
• 7. Anti-racism in France, 1898–1962: modernity and beyond
• 8. Back to the future: avoiding déjà vu in resisting racism
• 9. Anti-deportation campaigning in the West Midlands
• 10. Issues and dilemmas: ‘race’ in higher education teaching practices
• Bibliography
• Index