By Jon Burnett

The new geographies of racism: By Jon Burnett Acknowledgements © Institute of Race Relations 2011 This publication is part of a project, Solidarity and the new geographies of racism, supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. The IRR's research on racial violence is also supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. We would like to thank all of the people we spoke to and interviewed about racial violence in Plymouth, without whom this report would not have been possible. We would also like to offer a special thank you to Jon McKenzie, of the Plymouth and District Racial Equality Council, for the statistical information he made available. Finally, we would like to offer our gratitude to Danny Reilly for his time, knowledge and commitment. I Institute of Race Relations 2-6 Leeke Street London WC1X 9HS Tel: 020 7837 0041 Fax: 020 7278 0623 Web: www.irr.org.uk Email: [email protected] The new geographies of racism: Plymouth 2 Introduction and methodology attacking people’s homes, work, or places of wor- ship; and others still have been part of concerted In 2010 the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) pub- attempts to force people to flee the city. lished Racial violence: the buried issue, a report analysing 660 racist attacks which took place The information contained in this briefing throughout the UK in 2009.1 The findings indicated draws on in-depth interviews with a cross-section that patterns of racial violence in the UK are shift- of those working working on issues relating to ing. Whereas previously, attacks were frequently con- racism and racial equality in Plymouth. Their expe- centrated in impoverished inner and outer areas in riences include work with asylum seekers, refugees, large conurbations, there is now a marked increase migrant workers, Gypsies and Travellers, students in racist incidents in rural areas, towns and smaller and victims of racial violence. Given that some cities. Such is the extent of violence in some of interviewees requested anonymity, a decision was these areas that it appears almost systematic. made to ensure anonymity for all for the sake of consistency. All of the interviews were recorded Over the last decade, the demography of the UK electronically or conducted by email. As well as has altered significantly and, put simply, as pat- these interviews, discussions were held with peo- terns of migration and settlement have changed so ple within Plymouth who were engaged in anti- too have patterns of racial violence. According to racist campaigning in the city. Where appropriate, successive governments this is symptomatic of issues raised in these discussions were followed up breakdowns in community cohesion, unsuccessful either in the formal interviews or through integration and even a failure of multiculturalism. researching key statistical sources. However, such explanations ignore and downplay the role of state policies and actions which set the Statistical information was gathered from offi- tone for popular racism and the context within cial sources such as recorded police data, central which such attacks take place. Vicious attacks government documents and from local authorities. against asylum seekers and migrant workers have Additional data was provided by the PDREC. Initial become a regular occurrence in some areas. Radical information about racial violence was gathered transformations in local economies, relying on de- from a database, continuously updated by the IRR, regulated, unprotected and flexible labour forces, upon which cases reported by local and national have pushed workers into jobs where they are iso- media are inputted and followed up by researchers. lated, vulnerable and exposed to a risk of violence. By setting out the background to the levels of As particular forms of popular racism have formed racial violence currently being experienced within nationally – such as anti-Muslim racism generated Plymouth, this briefing provides an overview which through the war on terror – localised racisms have incorporates recent demographic changes; economic gathered pace and manifested themselves in abuse, developments; indices of poverty and deprivation; harassment and brutality. Far-right organisations, localised histories of racism and anti-racism; pat- in such climates, have been able to draw on and terns of employment and labour force dynamics. It capitalise upon emerging hostilities. will be followed by investigations into two other Against this backdrop, the IRR is examining areas and, subsequently, a report which draws these new geographies of racism by conducting together these researches and incorporates cases detailed investigations into three of the areas from the IRR’s database on racial violence. It is which Racial violence: the buried issue identified as envisaged that this research will help to inform the experiencing particularly high levels of racist debates and tactics necessary in order to tackle attacks. The first of these investigations focuses on new and emerging geographies of racism. I Plymouth: dubbed by one journalist, because of the extent of some forms of racist violence, as the ‘city of hate’.2 Hate crimes in Plymouth have increased significantly in recent years and the number of racist incidents reported to the police rose by 60 per cent between 2004/05 and 2009/10: from 224 to 359 incidents.3 However, such is the extent of under-reporting that the Plymouth & District Racial Equality Council (PDREC) estimated that throughout the city there are, in reality, at least fifty racist or religiously aggravated incidents a day.4 Some of these incidents have left people seriously injured, permanently scarred and in need of continuous medical treatment; others have involved burning or The new geographies of racism: Plymouth 3 Demographic changes these figures do not include those who are housed in ‘Section 4’ accommodation, those who have been Plymouth, in the south-west of England, is the fif- granted leave to remain and have stayed in the teenth most populous city in the country with locality, or those whose claims have been refused approximately 257,000 residents. Located on the but still nonetheless live in the city. According to south coast of Devon, it is based in one of the Refugee Action, in 2005 there were approximately most homogenous areas in England and despite the 100-150 refused asylum seekers destitute in the number of people from Black and Minority Ethnic city and 200-300 refugees.11 (BME) communities in the region doubling between 1991 and 2001 to 2.4 per cent,5 this remained Although there are no detailed records, there is much lower than the average population of England also evidence that within Plymouth changes in the as a whole (at 9.1 per cent). Roughly 28 per cent local economy, tied to the expansion of the of those from BME communities in the south-west European Union in 2004 and 2007, have under- region are based within its capital, Bristol. And in pinned population changes through the employ- 2001, according to census data, about 1.6 per cent ment of migrant workers. In 2008, approximately of the population of Plymouth were from BME com- 2,270 foreign nationals applied for national insur- munities. ance numbers in the city and there is some indication that many of those obtaining this documenta- In the first decade of the twenty-first century, tion had moved to the UK from Eastern Europe.12 however, the demography of the city has rapidly Between 2003 and 2007 the largest number of changed. The city council stated that this figure school children in Plymouth ‘most likely to be had risen to 6 per cent by 20066 and, by 2009, the immigrants’ were Eastern European with an increase Office for National Statistics showed that of sixty-nine pupils. However, in what may be an Plymouth’s BME communities made up roughly 9.1 indication of the temporary work that their parents per cent of the city’s population. The largest BME or guardians were employed within, 3.6 per cent of group, in these statistics, were Asian communities these school children moved to another area of (at 2.6 per cent of the population); 2.4 per cent of England in this period.13 Further, according to the the population were ‘other white’; 1.3 per cent Plymouth Community Safety Partnership, there are classed as ‘mixed’; 1 per cent black and 0.4 per a ‘significant number’ of migrant workers from cent Chinese.7 South Asia employed in the NHS and a cohort from Plymouth has a small but long-standing BME South East Asia working in care and nursing presence, and ‘natural growth’ and movement with- homes.14 in the city has, in part, underpinned demographic It is estimated that the number of Gypsies and changes. However, at the same time, shifts in the Travellers living in the South West has grown over population are linked to inward migration. The the last decade with an increase in both authorised University of Plymouth, as one of the largest and unauthorised encampments. In the academic employers, has actively promoted an increased year 2004/05, the Traveller Education Service esti- intake of international students ‘from new and mated that there were 120 Traveller or Gypsy chil- existing markets in order to sustain a diverse and dren in Plymouth.15 And in 2006 there were twenty- multi-cultural student body’.8 This ‘internationalisa- one socially rented caravans in the unitary authori- tion strategy’, combined with attempts to increase ty. Although accurate numbers are not available, in the diversity of the (domestic) student population 2011, it was estimated that there were about 200 in the city, has led to the number of students from children from Gypsy or Traveller communities and BME communities more than doubling from 982 twenty unauthorised encampments.16 (4.1 per cent of the total) in the 2003/04 academic year to 2,077 (6.5 per cent) in 2008/09.9 Economic history, deprivation and inequality The demographic of the city has further altered as a result of the Labour government’s asylum dis- Plymouth’s local economy has historically been persal policies.

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