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From: H-Net Discussion List on History and Study of West Africa [H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Charles Becker [beckerleschar@ORANGE.SN]
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2010 11:06 AM
To: H-WEST-AFRICA@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: leading "new Africans" in the UK parliament
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:01:52 -0600
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From: Abdul Alkalimat <mcworter@ILLINOIS.EDU>
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From: tb@thechronicle.demon.co.uk
NEW CENTURY BLACK BRITAIN: Despatches on the Black Experience from street protests, culture and politics to cyberpower.
Sancho's children --
This article offers portraits of leading "new Africans" in the UK parliament, their soft power attributes, buoyant London communities, and the prospects for Black people and Britain.
By Thomas L Blair © 22.11.10
First came the bitter disenchantment of post World War II Afro-Caribbean settlers; and their youth launched a "reggae roots" counter-attack on political and cultural racism in Britain. Controversially and outspoken, the first Black parliamentarians in modern times, Bernie Grant, Diane Abbott and Paul Boateng, of Guyanese, Jamaican and Ghanaian-Scottish heritage, raised the protest mantra in national politics. Now, the "new Africans" in Parliament and London's neighbourhoods are garnering a reputation as models for soft power, a radically different approach in a nation where "racism is still rife".
MEET THE NEW AFRICANS
The high-achievers won seats for their Conservative or Labour parties in the May 2010 national elections. Of the nine Black British parliamentarians, five are newbie's; and all are successful professionals, managers and entrepreneurs of continental African heritage.
Employment lawyer Chuka Umunna (Labour) is called "Britain's Barack Obama". Chineyelu Onwurah (Labour), once a student anti-apartheid campaigner, went on to become a well-paid new technology engineer. Helen Grant (Conservative) overcame "taunts for being black" to become a thriving family lawyer and "a reflection of modern Britain". They are British Nigerians.
Kwesi Kwarteng (Conservative), a Harvard University history scholar, is a widely consulted financial investment analyst. Sam Gyima (Conservative) is a graduate of top-class schools in Africa and UK universities and hailed by corporate business leaders as an "Entrepreneur of the Future". They are of British Ghanaian heritage.
SOFT POWER DIPLOMACY
Soft power diplomacy is the way new Black elites gain influence and representation in Britain. They won the endorsement of their party leaders. They garnered forty to sixty per cent of the votes cast. They were unusually victorious in the suburbs and leafy impenetrable domains of white majority Britons.
Furthermore, they are ideal 21st century candidates trained and anointed for success. They are young-ish, 30-45-year-olds, educated at the best, expensive schools. Their record of accomplishment in politics, business or public services is impeccable. Moreover, they have the ingrained manners of the British elites: inherently guarded in language with an acute sense of their place in the upper hierarchy of privilege. Hence, in all respects, they are of acceptable character and background, with the right political allegiances and patrons to be soft power diplomats.
BOOST OF THE NEW AFRICAN URBANISM
Their potential is far greater. The new legislators have a connection among the emergent urban African cultures re-shaping demographics and politics and culture in London. Africans born on the continent and in the UK, mainly Nigerians and Ghanaians, have outstripped the Afro-Caribbean population (They are 5.5 per cent and 4.3 percent of city's population, respectively, in the multi-cultural metropolis of 7.5 million people, according to research findings of the Greater London Authority, DMAG group).
Hence, the new African presence in parliament is matched and influenced by the "high-life" buoyancy on the main streets of deprived areas of south and east London - in Peckham, Hackney, Elephant & Castle, Tottenham, Lewisham and Leytonstone. Enterprising evangelical church leaders attract 20-30,000 donating parishioners. Furthermore, it will not be long before Yoruba esusu rotating savings clubs turn dreams of cultural survival, community development and wealth creation into reality. In this context, the arrival of the new African parliamentarian is a welcome sign -- as a Nigerian might say: "Ti Oluwa Ni Yio Se, God's willing has come to pass"
These unprecedented shifts in population and cultural forces must give the new Africans in parliament a boost. For instance, in the heart of Chuka Umanna's constituency in Streatham, London, 23% of the voters are African/Caribbean making it one of the largest Black populations in the country, according to the rights group Operation Black Vote.
Moreover, the boost has positive political and cultural implications for the new soft power parliamentarians. African communities are part of the one-third "minority ethnic population of colour" in London, the political capital of the nation. They share this status with people of African Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Vietnamese heritage. Highly visible and vocal, they are becoming a significant population group and voting public in key parliamentary districts.
PLANNING SOFT POWER INITIATIVES
Soft power new Africans are not without precedence in Black British political history. Indeed, it's origins are in the coping strategy of the pawns in the Great Game of Empire settled in Britain after centuries of exodus, migration and struggle.
Ignatio Sancho, the 18th century "extraordinary Negro", prosperous London grocer and pamphleteer, was the first African to vote in British elections. He championed the abolition of slavery in Africa and the rights of all Africans in the Diaspora.
And, now, like Sancho, the new Africans are in a unique position. Continuing race-based problems in a divided society will force the new legislators and their mentors into the equality debate. Government cuts will increase racial discrimination and could lead to unrest, said Lord Parekh in his sober report on the future of multi-cultural Britain.
In this context, Black anger and street protests carried over into Parliament have limited value apart from short-term solutions. Soft power, on the other hand, needs planning for transformative change. How, then, can soft power improve the condition of Black people and Britain's international image?
First, the new African parliamentarians must learn to value the wisdom and political actions of their antecedents. Speaking up for Blacks, one of the most maligned social groups, did not debar Sancho and the early rights activist from a rise to influence. Two notable successes in 2010 have proved this. Re-elected Diane Abbott survived 23 years in parliament and won nomination for leadership of the Labour Party. Paul Boateng, who famously declared, "We can never be free in Brent, London (his constituency) until South Africa is free, too", went on to become a cabinet minister and Lord Boateng of Akyem and Wembley).
Second, the new African parliamentarians have a range of soft power tools to call upon. They can be the vanguard for a vibrant, non-discriminatory citizen society. By attracting state-sponsored urban renewal funds and aid programmes, they can promote a living wage for low-income workers, introduce sports grounds and info-technology in schools to devise new ways of bringing public services to families and the elderly.
Third, they can create a soft power base that works for not only Black Britons but also wins friends across national, Commonwealth and international platforms of tolerance, social and economic mobility and cultural advancement. A cross-party Parliamentary Black Caucus might promote race equality solutions in Britain and development aid in Africa. (This is not as surprising as it sounds. Chuka Umunna has set a precedent as Vice Chair of the Nigeria All-Party Parliamentary Group "to help build dialogue between the two nations [Britain and Nigeria], and support development within Nigeria").
Launching these initiatives will be the hallmark of the new African parliamentarians. The distinct features are soft power strategies, quiet efficiency, cultural solidarity and strong links to Africa. Their political masters and middle-class white constituents have promised "to eradicate poverty, inequality and racism". They have pledged for African and Caribbean development. Now, the new Africans in parliament and Black British communities must create the political culture and power to hold them to it.
* Thomas L Blair is a Black scholar and independent commentator on Black urban affairs at http://www.Chronicleworld.org and http://chronicleworld.wordpress.com; and http://www.thomblair.org.uk His Wikipedia entries are Thomas L Blair and Chronicleworld. His series of articles on 'Black British culture in crisis' is hailed as essential reading for anyone who wants to chart the present failures and future prospects in the State of Black Britain. Titles include, variously, 1.Unshackling the Afro-British mind in history month, 2.Talented newcomers call for action to 'Save Black Britain', 3. Aspiring Black youth are the solution not the problem, 4. Jail or empowerment for Black youth? 5. Why aren't Black deaths in custody an election issue? 6. New African Caribbean faces in parliament are high-flyers 7. 'Play Mas' at carnival but challenge cultural racism, 8. Sancho's children.
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