Now That's Diversity!

MR MAYOR, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

Thank you for inviting me to say a few words. APNA News, I believe, was the first newspaper to be produced and delivered in Bolton aimed at the newly arrived minority communities, all of them. It all started in 1997, and issue 61 of APNA News has just been printed.

Of course, we now have several magazines aimed at those communities. 

Congratulations to APNA News on distributing over 250,000 copies of the magazine to date, and congratulations too on doing much more than producing a magazine. 

Bip Patel and his entrepreneurial skills has brought us entertaining dinners, such as tonight’s, fashion shows, graduation events, earthquake appeals, and diversity award evenings, all events that have brought the different cultures of Bolton together. Not only that, but he has allowed the host community, and particularly its leaders, to gain an understanding of the different faiths and cultures that exist today in Bolton.

I want to thank those who have sponsored these events including the sponsors of tonight’s event.

There was a memorable trip to visit what I will call the ‘Neasden Hindu Temple’, quite spectacular and well worth a detour to see, if you are en route to or from London. It’s just off the North Circular Road, close to Staple’s Corner and the beginning of the M1.

Bip has secured grants from a number of funding organisations, with the help of Bolton Council, but funding for the project ended in March. 

Bolton Council say that APNA News should by now have become self-funding - a fair point. There are similar projects to fund now, of course. But, I say to those leaders present here tonight that APNA is more than a magazine, as I have tried to illustrate briefly.

DIVERSITY

There is a great strength in diversity. Visit any major city, such as London, and see that for yourselves. 

But, let’s not beat about the bush. There are challenges too - exclusion and inequality, racism, extremism and even xenophobia, just to mention a few.

In May 2004, the Government launched its paper ‘Strength in Diversity’, which started a national debate.

Greater freedom to travel, the global nature of trade and communications, the increased wealth of some but, more importantly, the different conflicts around the world and the domination of English as an international language, not to mention the feeling that people in the Commonwealth have for British values, has lead to migrations of people to the British Isles.

Host communities faced with the facts have not always reacted appropriately. They have felt insecure as people from a different country challenge their space and values. 

The incoming communities take time to integrate with the host communities and are segregated from them, at least for a while. 

Those communities that arrived first have integrated well - the Polish, the Chinese, the Italians, the Ukrainians, the Irish and the West Indians, to name but a few. 

Today, those who came from South East Asia are also becoming more integrated, although there will always be a demand for clothes and food shops, and places of worship, which meet the needs of the different communities.

Can I be provocative and say that, although I can understand the demand for faith schools, we have to be careful that they do not lead to increased segregation. 

However, diversity does add value to the host community. We can now sample foods in Bolton from almost any region of the world. It’s a delight to walk into one of the shops on Derby St, Deane Road or St Helens Road to smell the spices of the world. I try myself to avoid Indian ‘sweet counters’, otherwise I would be twice my size.

I used to travel all the way to the ‘curry mile’ in Rusholme but, today, I can get a taxi to the streets of Bolton. For years I have been preaching that Bolton needs to challenge Rusholme and, slowly, I see signs that we are getting there.

There are other challenges too, far too many to mention in 5 minutes. We see the politics of the countries of origin of the immigrant communities becoming part of the British political scene, whether it be the tragic clashes between Muslims and Hindus in Gujarat, the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, or the friction between India and Pakistan over Kashmir.

In my long political career, which now stretches back almost 30 years, it has been difficult sometimes to provide a balance between the different communities in my very mixed Constituency. But, in the end, I represent all my Constituents, and I try to understand the different points of view that exist.

I have to say that community relations are better in Bolton than in most other towns and cities, but we have all worked hard to achieve that. We can’t afford, however, to be complacent. That’s why I try to make myself available in my Constituency to listen to the concerns of my Constituents from the minority communities. 

Thank you for all the hard work that many of you who are here tonight also do to keep Bolton a friendly and peaceful multicultural society.

It’s good to see a test cricketer in the England team now playing against Pakistan at Old Trafford, whose family has a strong connection both with Bolton and Pakistan, creating a strong English following, and a Boxer, whose family also originate from Pakistan, creating record crowds in all the stadia that he visits throughout the country, even in Wales.

Now, that’s what I call diversity.

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