The Somali community in the UK: What we know and how we ... - ICAR

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Introduction The Somali community in the UK Somalis, an invisible community in crisis is the title of a Somali organisation’s pamphlet (Somali Relief Association, 1992). Another, authored by a Somali, is entitled Feeling exclusion? A survey of the Somali community in Lewisham; while an article deals with Somalis in limbo (Ditmars, 1995). 1 The launch event for a recent report on Somali housing (Cole and Robinson, 2003) was billed as Social exclusion – the Somali experience. These phrases reflect the marginalisation which Somalis claim to experience in the UK. Given the long association of Somalis with the United Kingdom, this obscurity seems paradoxical: Somalis have been in Britain since the mid-nineteenth century, arriving to work in dockyards and to man British ships. Twentieth century events in Somalia - once partly a British protectorate - have forced others to join them, and now Somalis constitute one of the largest ethnic minorities in the UK. Yet their presence remains largely unremarked by mainstream society. A trawl through newspapers from mid 2002 produces a clutch of reports that Southall’s Asian MP held Somali youths responsible for local crime, 2 and a few articles on the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) within the Somali community. 3 There is the occasional more sympathetic piece, such as the coverage of lone asylum children in the Independent on Sunday. 4 But mainly there is silence and disinterest. A media subgroup of the current Somali Community Meeting (convened in London by Jeremy Corbyn MP) calculated that there had been 741 articles in five of the main newspapers covering the murder of the young Nigerian Damilola Taylor. The killing of a Somali boy, Kayser Osman, merited just 21. In terms of the wider society, there is a general ignorance about the communities that make up a multicultural Britain. The majority of Britons 1. The same theme is echoed in the titles of British research e.g. Gregory (1992), Somalis: the invisible community. Griffiths (2000: 285) also comments on this characterisation of the Somali community in the UK. 2. Daily Mail 4.9.02; The Mail on Sunday 8.9.02. However, there were other reports on this story which also included dissenting voices i.e.: Evening are hard put to distinguish between Africans and African-Caribbeans, let alone to identify a Somali. Their country of origin is no longer in the public eye as it was during the height of the civil war and UN intervention in Somalia in the late 1980s and early 1990s (see below p.21). The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union reduced Somalia’s geopolitical significance, and western interest has waned. Simmering violence and parochial infighting are not headline material, and Somalia has been eclipsed in the news by conflicts elsewhere. The attention that Somalis may currently attract in the streets - an unwelcome visibility - is not so much for their nationality as their religion. Through their dress and religious practice, older Somalis are immediately identifiable as Muslims, as are many younger men and women who follow their parents’ tradition. The events of September 11th 2001, recent fundamentalist activity, and upheavals in the Middle East have activated a popular Islamophobia, an overlay on hostility towards refugees. The current profile of any refugee group affects the reception it receives in the country of asylum in terms of public sympathy, official acceptance, and charitable funding. In Liverpool, Somalis grumble that they are being upstaged by newer, more publicised, arrivals - such as refugees from the former Yugoslavia. 5 Another issue raised by Somalis to do with their public profile is the lack of official consultation and Somali involvement in projects directed at their communities in the UK. 6 As will become apparent, the existence of an enormous number of Somali community groups has not ensured their representation in local and national bodies concerned with their welfare, and there are no Somalis in the corridors of power. One official Standard 4.9.02; The Guardian 4.9.02; The Independent 4.9.02. 3. The Daily Telegraph 2.1.03; The Sunday Telegraph 23.6.02. For FGM, see p. 65 below. 4. The Independent on Sunday, 15.6.03. 6 The Somali community in the UK
esponse to this charge is that the Somali community keeps very much to itself; that it is not interested in ‘integrating’ or participating in civil society. It is true that the first generation of Somali seamen always set their sights on return to Somalia. They had not envisaged that events at home would frustrate their dreams. This voluntary isolation has contributed to the character of the community, with its strong sense of family and a common Muslim identity. The high rate of unemployment, coupled with problems of language, has also precluded a common route into the wider society. But times have changed, and younger generations, both those escaping violence at home and those born here, have a different relationship to the UK. Although often represented in policy documents as undifferentiated, Somalis do not form a single group defined by their predicaments. To begin with, there is the vexed question of the term ‘community’ - implying cohesion, uniformity, and a common consciousness. In a certain context its use is justifiable - not only do the majority of Somalis have a common language and all share an Islamic faith, but the problems they encounter as refugees, explored below, are widely shared despite diverse social characteristics. But if, in this report as in others, this problematic term is used as convenient shorthand, it must not obscure the fact that no ethnic minority - any more than a native population - is homogenous. The basic divisions are those in any community, although they will carry their own cultural load. Despite present unemployment among Somalis, and the popular perception of refugees as impoverished economic migrants, many Somalis come from the educated middle class who could afford to flee. 7 Somali class is a fluid concept - households both in Somalia and the UK often contain uneducated members alongside professionals who share much of the same lifestyle. Nevertheless, the experience of a functionally illiterate old seafarer or a recently arrived youth with no education is not identical to that of a university graduate. The implications of gender and the development of men’s and women’s roles are explored below, as is generation, which combines 5. Information on Liverpool is taken from sources in footnotes 10 and 11 and from interviews with the Community Resource Unit of Liverpool City Council; the Lodge Lane Somali Women’s Group; the Liverpool Asylum Seeker and Refugee Partnership, and the Merseyside Community Centre. in different patterns with the age of entry into the UK. The older settler communities, the refugees from the civil war of the late 1980s and 1990s, and the most recent arrivals via third countries, all have particular experiences of both Somalia and the UK. Some Somalis arrive as adults or elders, some are born in the UK. Generation and birthplace affect both the orientation towards the homeland, and life in the diaspora. Area of origin in Somalia is another key variable. A refugee from northern Somaliland will have had a different background and history from one escaping from the south. This combines with the factor of clan affiliation, a form of social identification highly significant in Somalia and with resonance in the UK (see below p. 78). Area of residence in the UK also impacts on the refugee experience. The density of the Somali presence, the character of the neighbourhood, the history of the community, and the availability of services differ between London boroughs as well as between British cities. Findings from Tower Hamlets may not be applicable to the newer communities of Harlesden. Somalis may also have different immigration statuses which in turn affect their relationship to state benefits and employment. Asylum seekers awaiting the outcome of appeals, or those unsure whether their limited leave to remain will be extended, live in a greater state of insecurity than those confirmed as refugees. And then there is the individual experience of war. Unless very young, few Somalis in the UK have escaped the horrors of armed anarchy, the repercussions of a collapsing civil society, or the grief of bereavement and family separation. But personal stories differ and particular traumas are carried to the UK, affecting experience of exile. In a condensed overview of Somalis in the UK, these nuances may become buried under an essentialised representation of the community. But it must be borne in mind that history, personal and collective, determines both identification and difference for Somalis in the diaspora. 6. Cf. Stokes, 2000: para. 14.4. 7. Farah (2000) provides an interesting insight into the different exit strategies of various sections of the middle class, and the comparative experience of the less fortunate. The Somali community in the UK 7
Page 1 and 2: The Somali community in the UK What
Page 3 and 4: Table of contents Foreword 4 Introd
Page 5: participate in their children’s s
Page 9 and 10: topics selected are those which Som
Page 11 and 12: Table A: Classification of sources
Page 13 and 14: since the late 1980s have come main
Page 15 and 16: Somali diaspora (2000) includes enc
Page 17 and 18: of accurate numerical data. This is
Page 19 and 20: A she-camel is a mother To him who
Page 21 and 22: - religious leaders, clan elders, i
Page 23 and 24: These men tended to form a separate
Page 25 and 26: Entry into the UK 8000 Figure A: As
Page 27 and 28: Figure B: Number of initial decisio
Page 29 and 30: Non-compliance Asylum applications
Page 31 and 32: (usually Addis Ababa or Nairobi). H
Page 33 and 34: Table F: Estimates of Somali popula
Page 35 and 36: Table H: Estimates of Somali popula
Page 37 and 38: The unreliability of statistics is
Page 39 and 40: London, Liverpool, and Manchester.
Page 41 and 42: industries. But here, too, even giv
Page 43 and 44: own community, potential workers si
Page 45 and 46: Youngster’s [sic] are behind in e
Page 47 and 48: Attitudes to girls’ education by
Page 49 and 50: It is the family that she identifie
Page 51 and 52: British peers. Writing of the “cu
Page 53 and 54: Health Despite the importance of th
Page 55 and 56: colleagues, in a study of Somali me
Page 57 and 58:
I have been here since 1983 and the
Page 59 and 60:
social parameters” is detrimental
Page 61 and 62:
such as those listed in the documen
Page 63 and 64:
autonomous control, divorce is not
Page 65 and 66:
together [of] their birth and their
Page 67 and 68:
purposes. The same might be said of
Page 69 and 70:
Although operating in a very differ
Page 71 and 72:
Conclusion Despite the seeming diff
Page 73 and 74:
Buxton, C. (n.d.), Somali children
Page 75 and 76:
women, Diverse Heritage Trust Ltd #
Page 77 and 78:
Smyth, K. and Mohamed, A. (1997), R
Page 79:
The Somali community in the UK 79
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