Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom

What is "multiculturalism"?
Multiculturalism is the presence of several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.
Decolonization caused a significant increase in internal cultural diversity in many democracies, which gave rise to multiculturalism. The dominant understanding of multiculturalism and political practice is in terms of the housing and integration of minority immigrants. Included are national minorities, indigenous peoples, and immigrants from all cultures of the world. The concept of multiculturalism in current theory and practice has been limited by decolonization, which affected countries differently depending on their national history and their position within the British Empire.
Multiculturalism in the UK has its roots in the early seventeenth century. The UK was once the biggest empire in the history of the world, called the British Empire. During the nineteenth century, the Empire covered roughly 25% of the world's land surface and ruled around 20% of its population. In the age of colonialism, the culture of all the colonies, like India, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, and many other countries collided together.
Today, there is still a strong connection between many of the old colonies and most of these nations are still part of the Commonwealth of Nations. Due to this history, immigrants from all over the world come to the UK and bring with them their food, religion, and music; this forms the multicultural society of the UK. This explains the presence of various shops and restaurants.
In fact, about one out of three people living in London were born in a country abroad leading to over 200 languages being spoken in this global city. In addition, many foreign students join cultural clubs every year and therefore move to London; there are about 250 different clubs in the capital.
History
In the 19th century, the United Kingdom welcomed new groups of people from all over the world. This expansion of its multicultural culture caused many debates in its parliament and media. Later, the British government struggled to maintain its diverse communities while maintaining a united nation.
From 1801 to 1881, the United Kingdom welcomed many immigrants thanks to its booming economy. In this period, over 2 million people from Ireland moved to Great Britain, and over 1.5 million from Germany, Ireland and other parts of Europe arrived as well. The government encouraged these new arrivals by offering low-cost land to those seeking a fresh start in a better country. In addition, healthcare and education were also widely available for free or at a low cost.
The government attempted to assimilate new groups into British culture by teaching them English and jobs that required little training. They also tried to get new ethnic groups to join the Conservative Party, which led to a surge in support for the war against Irish republicanism. In addition, public schools accepted non-British pupils for the first time in history, allowing children from different cultures to mix and learn together. This was called 'multiculturalism' at the time and was seen as a way to build a more unified society.
However, this seemed to work more in theory than in practice when some groups wanted more recognition and rights. One group that advocated for greater rights was the Scottish nationalist movement. They wanted Home Rule for Scotland; after all, Scotland was also an immigrant group coming from Ireland. The Home Rule movement aimed to give these groups greater autonomy so they could assimilate more easily into British culture. Ultimately, this led to greater political representation for ethnic minorities within the UK in both Great Britain and Ireland.
Although 'multiculturalism' initially seemed like a good idea on paper, it has proven difficult in practice given some new groups' desire for greater recognition and rights in recent years. The UK has increased its multicultural representation in recent years as well but is still struggling with issues related to 'multiculturalism'. Overall, it's important to understand and respect each cultural group without giving them preferential treatment- doing so can help create a more unified nation that is far richer from a cultural perspective.
Since the time of the British Empire, people have migrated to the UK. After World War II, the UK needed workers, so it motivated Commonwealth citizens to come to Britain. During the Great War, 250,000 Belgians migrated to escape the wrath of the war. During the 1930s before World War II, Jews started to migrate to the UK with the rise of the fascist leader 'Adolf Hitler' and 'Nazism'. During the 1940s to 1960s, Polish people were invited to come to stay in the United Kingdom with the promise of jobs and a house. Due to the massive migration of Polish people, the Polish community is deeply anchored in present society. From the 1950s to 1960s settlers from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh settled. In 1972, a group of Asians arrive in the United Kingdom as they have been expelled by the Ugandan government. Though the immigrants helped the UK by being workers, racism was a big problem. The main causes of 'multiculturalism' in the United Kingdom are a sum of economical and political problems present in the African, Asian and, South American continents.
In the 1960s, the UK made a change to its immigration policy. The immigration policy of Britain became more about tolerating immigrants, but not actively caring about integration. In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants bill was passed to restrict immigration. More immigration bills and anti-discrimination bills followed in order to ensure equal rights for all citizens.
The multicultural face of the UK
The following table shows that the UK is home to numerous ethnic minorities. Most immigrants come from India, Poland, Pakistan, and Ireland. Around 90% of immigrants who entered the UK went to England. They settled in English cities, giving England the largest number of cultural districts.
There are numerous cultural districts in which immigrants of a nation have settled and brought their culture with them to their new homeland. In Brick Lane, in London's East End, mainly people from Bangladesh have settled. There, for example, there are also street names that have been translated into Bengali under the respective English sign. The street is best known these days for its South Asian restaurants and street markets. Since the 19th century, the Richmond district has been shaped primarily by German immigrants. After a German school was founded there, the district became even more attractive as an emigration destination for Germans.
Multiculturalism can also be seen in food. Bunny chow is a fusion dish popular in the UK from South Africa and India. It is made with a half or a quarter loaf of bread, hollowed out, and filled with steaming Indian curry cooked with meat or beans. The dish originated in South Africa and is made with mutton, chicken, mince, lamb, or kidney beans.
From 2018 to 2019, there was a total of 103,379 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, and 8% of hate crimes were related to religion.
This multiculturalism is also caused by the increasing birth rate of other ethnic groups in England: in 2016, 90,500 births from other ethnic groups and in 2020, 158,000. 19
Percentage of the population of England and Wales that was foreign born, 1851-2011 - Information from the official cencus records 2011
Language plays another important part in the multicultural aspect of Britain. English is the main language for 92% of the UK (48.9M people). Less than 5% of the population aged 3 to 15 had a main language other than English in 2011. Foreign languages are concentrated in London, where 21% of people don't speak English, or at least not well. These are the top 5 languages spoken at home other than English: Polish, Indian dialect, Arabic, French, and all other Chinese. However, in the UK, 1.6% of the British population doesn't speak English at all and is not very well.
London; a multicultural area?
In London, we find over 200 languages spoken and nearly one-third of the population was born abroad. It is considered the most multicultural city in Europe for some. As seen in the table above, only 43.4% are white British. This is because most of them are moving to the countryside instead of the city, which is a rural migration. It is a city filled with culturally diverse areas, especially Chinatown with its Chinese bakeries, restaurants, and supermarkets/stores, Camden Town and Brixton that was declared as the unofficial capital of British, African, and Caribbean descent. It is also home to many religions because some of its population is formed by immigrants.
For centuries, London and the whole UK have welcomed people from all different countries and accepted their religion and culture as a part of Britain's history.