Blackburn was facing the post-industrial decline long before most of the country. Since the 1930's it a town which has struggled with unemployment and poverty, with spells of relief in between.
In the late 50s thousands of South Asians were recruited to work the mills on night shifts. The mills were trying compete in production with international markets which required round the clock work. The people that arrived to work settled in Blackburn and it's not said to be the most segregated town in England. 'Parallel Lives' is a term often used to describe the living situation between the white and Asian populations.
When I say people were invited to the mother country to help rebuild the country, I do not mean to rebuild it physically and I am not talking about the Windrush generation, these people were not invited. However, in the 1950s the NHS was recruiting students and professionals from at least 16 of the former colonies and the commonwealth nations. Then there were the mills and factories that directly recruited from the commonwealth.
There was no formal invitations by government, but private and public organisations that employ thousands of people brought people to England.
You''ll also hear many peoples talk about how they were given passports to come here by British representatives in their nations. Yes, this is anecdotal, but having spoke to 10s of completely unrelated people about this both here and in Jamaica, I have no reason to doubt it.
I also complete disagree with the 'diversity built Britain' nonsense we are repeatedly fed, but this does not change the fact we did recruit (invite) people from across the empire to come here and work. "We weren't asked" is nonsense. When the governments acts, they are asking the public, "what are you going to put up with" if the public are passive or lose out politically then they have in fact been asked and accepted the Governments actions.
This is short video and I'll return in the future for a more thorough look at live in Blackburn.
29 мар 2024
