Sunday 15 January 2012

British Chinese Politics





This is an article dated July 2011 on the blog by Gordon Lyew:

http://gordonlyew.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/the-future-of-british-politics-and-chinese-community/

According to his blog, Mr. Lyew describes himself as the following:

I am a avid member of the Labour Party, and Cooperative party member, Anti Racist Campaigner and a Former Trade Unionist my name has been linked with the fight for civil rights, justice from racism, oppression, and to combat hate crimes. I have made remarkable contributions using my trade union status to ensure and promote free speech with effective strategies to instigate positive change within a number of fundamental institutions. Due to my involvement within the Black and Ethnic Minority communities, I gained first hand knowledge of the needs and shortcomings of many current fundamental infrastructures. I am committed to the regeneration of all communities. I will be offering a consultancy to a number of organisations locally, nationally, regionally, in due course. I have in the past been requested to attend various events like The TUC, Trade Unions Conferences to do workshops on Campaign Against Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related intolerances i.e. hate crimes.


If Mr. Lyew was ever presented with a serious role in representing Chinese in Britain/ British Chinese/ Chinese Britons/ British Born Chinese, and his principles reflect any of the points that this article talks about,  it would be a consideration to support him, as he actually seems to know what he is talking about.

Unfortunately  his email contact was not found on a google search, but if anyone cares to research,it may be worth contacting him via email to see what imminent plans he has on implementing change in the British Chinese Community.


Sound bites:

' One of the greatest flaws of research into the UK Chinese community was its failure to recognise it as a heterogeneous group. In 1996, the official census reported that of the 156,938 Chinese residing inBritain, 34% born in Hong Kong, 28% were born in theUKand 13% were fromSingaporeorMalaysia(Cheng, 1996: pp.170). In fact, a significant problem in the issue of unity within the British Chinese was its differences, whether of language, ethnicity or class. Historically, instead of forming groups with Chinese already residing inBritain, the evidence suggests that rarely would those of different origins gather together. Indeed, this segregation was made clear when the Hong Kong immigrants first began to arrive in the 50s, and very little contact was made between them and the Mainland Chinese already resident, “Intra-ethnic divisions were everywhere rife because of the diversity of the Chinese population in Britain” (Benton and Gomez, 2008: pp.18). More recently, thousands of mainland Chinese entered the UK and discovered that they could not communicate verbally with the Cantonese Hong Kong immigrants. There were parents arriving with their children only to discover that in all the Chinese schools available pupils were only taught in Cantonese (Chan et al., 2007a: pp.521).'

More soundbites:


'The Chinese community is still not as unified as it could be, and although some interviewees rejected the desire for unity, it has meant that the Chinese are easily ignored by the Government and political parties. However, there is evidence amongst the politicians I have spoken to that they are trying to change these circumstances. Dr  Kegang Wu recently set up the Liverpool Chinese Association which encouraged all Chinese of any language, any ethnicity and any political affiliation to enter and discuss matters and issues which affect them. Interviewing the Chairs of Chinese for Labour, Chinese Conservatives and Chinese Liberal Democrats, it was clear that they were determined to open politics up to the Chinese community and would often work together to organise forums to discuss British politics. These forms of venture will help assemble groups that the Government are forced to listen to. It will help turn the Chinese from a voiceless community as it has so often been described, into a powerful group.  Many emphasised the need for the Government to provide information and services that will elicit interest from the Chinese. The Government’s “lack of trying to engage the community” as one interviewee described it, is extremely detrimental to the concept of a multi-cultural democratic Britain. There is a necessity for strong links between the Government and the Chinese community which will assist communication and overall integration. As part of this cooperation, the racism which even today is prevalent must be more thoroughly investigated and Chinese victims encouraged to report the crimes. It is unacceptable that such a high level of racial abuse is still present in today’s society and the Chinese will only become voting British citizens if they feel they are part of mainstream society.'

 Full article here: http://gordonlyew.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/the-future-of-british-politics-and-chinese-community/

5 comments:

  1. Meh, again Chinese make up less than 1% of the population. Therefore our votes don't count. Its not as if votes do anything anyway.

    Also voting labor tory does nothing as they are exactly the same anyway as the same puppet masters pull their strings.


    In regards to the earlier money worship comment. Chinese people save because they save. The CCP semi socialised healthcare about 7 years ago via health insurance its £15 a year and the government pays 90% of it if you go to a local hospital.

    Welfare is also possible but there are restrictions, you have to move back to the place where your birth was registered. Pensions are also possible.

    Don't believe the western media hype, a lot of nonsense about China is just that nonsense. People think oh commies =100% tax rates. When pretty much 900million people pay no income tax.

    And here is a shocker for you. UK and US employees actually have LESS rights than those in China and Asia in general. It is more an issue of enforcement rather than codified laws. UK has appaulling workers rights and this is written INTO the LAW.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the info about the health insurance and the UK workers rights, intersting facts . Probably I wont qualify for the CHina welfare as I was born here, hence BBC. For my parents thats a different matter.

    Re: Gordon Lyew Ive messaged him via facebook so we shall see what he has to say, in regards to independent representation, detached from UK politics. If we had some kind of Chinese in Britain political organisation that would interact with the government but mainly operate as a separate entity focussing on creating a foundation for giving Chinese a community voice to speak out and be heard re racist and media incidents, and equally, support the development ( funding, organising, advertising) of an active British Chinese culture, I'd support that.

    And I wonder if Chinese tycoons in the UK could see such a venture as a tax break, aside from investing in the usual cambridge sponsored degrees/ ma's etc.

    It wouldnt take that much to invest, and it would be healthy and supportive of Chinese growing up in the UK and help younger gen deal with the usual racial crap that you would get in segregated areas, with volunteers from the bbc community who would volunteer purely on the basis of supporting each other online or in meetups or chatrooms. Dialogue is key.

    Independent British Chinese Political/ Cultural foundation. Its still not too late.

    ReplyDelete
  3. im not bbc im ASIAN!

    ReplyDelete
  4. ^ make us a curry then?

    ReplyDelete