International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

British society has frequently been convulsed by protests, riots, and other uprisings since the conclusion of World War II. Starting in the 1960s, protests became a fixture of British life, though these varied in significance and efficacy. In general, protests can be broken into two main categories: those centered around group identity protest and those that involve single issue protests. Following World War II, there were significant increases in immigration to Britain. From 1948, when the British Nationality Act was introduced, until the 1970s, residents of Britain's former colonies, as citizens of Commonwealth countries, were allowed to emigrate to Britain. Riots and political unrest greeted these new immigrants, many of whom came from the Caribbean, South Asia, and Africa, and the government responded by moving to restrict black immigration in 1972. Racial tensions largely smoldered in Britain until they erupted with riots in the 1980s. In 1981 a series of race riots convulsed Britain, revealing significant socioeconomic disparities between the white majority and recent immigrants from Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia. The rioting began in the Brixton area of London , where there was high unemployment, poor housing, and endemic crime. As a response to this crime, police began stop-and-search tactics, which ignited a two-day riot that resulted in significant property damage. ... log in or subscribe to read full text