George Stobbart, PhD Candidate, provides some reflections on the Brexit aftermath and its implications:
Immediate conclusions provided by media analysts suggest the referendum result is a reflection of the anti-immigration views of older generation, or poor working class areas disenfranchisement with the political class. However, the reality of these post-Brexit arguments is speculative, given the lack of time and reflective space to embark on academic research. What existing evidence does find is the post-Brexit increase in the number of reported racially motivated hate crimes of ’celebratory racism’ 1.
Yougov’s analysis of the polls showed 73% of 18 – 24 year olds voted to remain in the EU2. Therefore, the notion that young people are more pro-immigration and less likely to be influenced by racist discourse is a view worthy of further investigation. However, what I seek to examine is how the mix of Brexit discourse alongside existing policy and practice adds further complexity for young people making sense of the world.
There is a powerful argument for the idea that ‘inclusive attitudes’ within our younger people are driven by two interlinking but different forces: full-on engagement with social media that has no regard for borders, and a wide choice of social media sources in which young people mostly exclude traditional news sites such as the tabloids and television news channels. Whilst political leaders seek the endorsement of Rupert Murdock, this has little relevance with young people who have a reduced exposure to the anti-immigration tabloid headlines compared to older people.
The day to day responsibility for promoting cohesion and anti-racism to young people, and challenging exclusionary attitudes, albeit in the classroom, rest’s firmly with education providers such as individual schools, colleges universities and informal education providers such as the youth service. The ethos of these providers is represented in their mission statements which are mostly underpinned by equality and diversity. I would also argue that this is driven by a profession that is firmly committed to this ethos through day to day practice.
The requirement of schools to promote British Values, reinforces an existing inclusive agenda, including values of: ‘mutual respect’ and ‘tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs’. Ironically, British Values, in the policy sense, is born out of the prevention of Muslims communities taking control of school governing bodies (The Trojan Horse effect <sup>3</sup>) a strategy that is arguably underpinned by Islamophobia. Meanwhile, the ‘Prevent Strategy’ brings tensions to education providers in which they have a duty under the Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) to prevent young people being drawn into terrorism, which in essence places Muslim young people under surveillance.
Outside the school gates, austerity economics and the demand to quantify unmeasurable outcomes has resulted in the near non-existent youth work provision in working class areas. Given that some working class areas rejected ‘remain’, perhaps due to disenfranchisement, anti-immigration sentiment and racism, we cannot dismiss racism exists within our young people. Nor can we dismiss family attitudes and values passed between generations, or dismiss the disenfranchisement between working class young people and the political class. The danger is that symbolic and physical racism within Brexit discourse may reinforce the concept of ‘parallel lives’ <sup>4</sup>, whereby we live beside each other but separately within the safety and values of our own diaspora, both in the physically and virtual worlds. Communities that feel under attack from outside, retreat into their own world. Self-segregation by choice.
No matter how hard the educational institutions promote inclusion and anti-racism, it is difficult to make an impact on exclusionary factors beyond education’s gates. There is a raft of literature that theorise how young people struggle to make sense of the world they live. Brexit provides further mixed and toxic messages that can only add uncertainty to young people of all races and ethnicities in an increasing self-segregated world.
About the author: “My research examines the integration of asylum seeker and refugee children and their contribution to community cohesion; based on an interest from 30 years as a practitioner in the youth service and in schools.”
References:
1. Institute of Race Relations. http://www.irr.org.uk/news/post-brexit-racism/ accessed 8/7/16.
2. BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36616028 accessed 4/07/16
3. Clark. P, (2014) Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the ‘Trojan Horse’, London, The Stationary Office. http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/20549/1/Report_into_allegations_concerning_Birmingham_schools_arising_from_the_Trojan_Horse_letter-web.pdf accessed 11/07/16
4. Cantle. T (2004) The End of Parallel Lives? Final Report of the Community Cohesion Panel, London, Home Office