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4
Parte Prima
Competenze disciplinari
Hostility to those who do not come openly to work is not new. Even in 2000,
before the asylum panic, just 12% believed that genuine refugees should be
accepted unreservedly — the lowest number in Europe. But Britons are more
blasé than other Europeans about the effect of immigration on national harmony.
Of those who reckon there are too many, only a quarter worry about racial
balance.
«
Britain has become a multicultural society; it just doesn’t want any
more people to come in,
»
says John Solomos, who follows the subject at City
University in London.
What seems to have happened over the past few years is that immigration has
become associated with refugees and illegal entrants rather than with migrant
workers. That is not surprising, given the rise in asylum claimants that began in the
late 1990s. Numbers are down, but it does not matter: perceptions have shifted.
A curious side-effect of this change is that the nation’s mental image of the
immigrant has taken on a different hue.
«
We traditionally thought of immigrants
as black and brown, and for 40 years they were,
»
says Mr Phillips. Unlike
America, where ethnic minorities and immigrants have always been viewed
as two different things, Britons regarded them as one and the same. Now
their attention has been drawn to paler arrivals who are often more disliked.
Romanians, who are often accused of living off the state, are less popular than
West Indians. Iraqis, who are not just refugees but also come from a country
where our boys are dying, are more loathed than either. Pakistanis (a well-
established but growing group) are disliked, too, probably because of fears of
domestic terrorism and memories of riots in 2001.
The fact that immigration has less to do with race only makes it easier to dislike.
Hostility used to connote racial prejudice, but no longer. That’s modern Britain:
multicultural, racially liberal and anti-immigrant to the core.
(
The Economist
, December 9th 2004)
1)
In the context of the article, the first paragraph:
A.
is a true picture of the British people’s attitude to immigration and
race relations
B.
is the opinion of the author of the article
C.
is how the world sees the British
D.
is a description of the British attitude to immigration and race rela-
tions which is difficult to defend
2)
According to the article, which one of the following statements
is TRUE?
A.
Londoners, young people and the middle classes have more liberal
views on immigration