Opinions and features

UK Apartheid? - No!

Prof. Thomas Blair Photo by E. Gallacher of Oxford

Britain becoming an apartheid state? Highly implausible, Prof Thomas L Blair told students at the venerable Oxford Union debating society.

The editor of the Chronicle - www.chronicleworld.org warned that describing current race relations as "virtual apartheid" is a misapplication of the term. It conjures up unsubstantiated images of legalised segregation and discrimination, he said in his talk delivered last month..

The best examples are the state sponsored apartheid policies of 20th century South African governments and the state-endorsed segregation laws of the former slave-holding southern states of the USA.

"Apartheid by law is not one of the afflictions of people of colour in Britain", said Prof. Blair. We are forced therefore to look at how through our own changed behaviour we can confront the de facto discrimination in our midst, he told his audience at Oxford University, widely acknowledged as a seedbed of national political, academic and entrepreneurial elites.

"De facto discrimination not only exists, it is often a defence of privileges by some groups in society against others," he said. Universities and the media are two institutions where customary exclusion practices still exist; and minority youth have gained support in challenging them.

Black and Asian students organised the Oxford University Access Scheme in the early 1990s to inform and recruit the best young scholars in deprived inner city schools. "I worked with them to gain the support of college tutors, school heads, charities and corporate sponsors. The result was a sharp increase in applications and success rates of candidates to Oxford colleges," said Prof Blair.

Positive action is also required to resolve thorny issues of race and the media, said Prof Blair, whose Internet publication is widely read at Oxford. "Started in 1997, The Chronicle was the first Internet magazine to systematically document the failure of the press to recruit minority journalists and to curb stereotyped images of Black Britain. Now, for the first time we are able to see some results," he said.

A new media consultancy of Black and Asian journalists, the Creative Collective, has carried these ideas forward. "The goal is to place hitherto ignored minority journalism students in the nation's newsrooms as part of a long-term media diversity strategy,"

Broadly, the search for solutions to racial polarisation is a valid social, economic and political goal, says Prof Blair. Black and Asian youth, and their supporters, are taking the lead. Society must rid itself of the prejudices and practices that infringe civil rights and devalue the contributions of people of colour to British life, he concluded.

Your response is welcome. Click Message Board on the Contents list to upload your views.

See the companion article, In this climate of controversy