The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain by Arun Kundnani

About the book

Officials at the United Nations speak of ‘problems without passports’. European thinktanks write of ‘identity and security’ issues. Media commentators warn of the ‘dark side of globalisation’. Under all these headings, what is being referred to is a cluster of issues to do with immigration, integration and terrorism that have, since the end of the Cold War, come to dominate the political landscape of the West, from Europe to the US to Australia.

In all these countries, political leaders, policymakers and pundits ask themselves how ‘abusive’ asylum seekers and migrants can best be deterred; how minorities, particularly Muslims, whom they regard as being at odds with Western societies, can be integrated; and how Islamic terrorism, ‘extremism’ and ‘radicalisation’ can be prevented. These issues – commonly grouped together, albeit with differing emphases in different national contexts – are the new spectres haunting the West.

In Britain, a new racism, directed especially at Muslim and migrant communities, is driving the erosion of the rights of those whose cultures and values are perceived as ‘alien’. We urgently need a new understanding of how neoliberal globalisation and the ‘war on terror’ give rise to demonisation, fear and segregation. This book attempts to provide that new understanding, while pointing the way towards an open sense of citizenship, in which all who live in Britain can participate equally.

The End of Tolerance is unique in its attempt to make connections across a number of different subject areas and in its attempt to describe the roots of Britain’s new ‘refugee’ communities in their countries of origin. It attempts to bring a fresh and innovative analysis, written in a non-technical style, that reflects the large-scale transformations that have taken place in British race relations during the last decade. Combining journalistic-type accounts of individual cases and stories with theoretical insights, political analysis and trenchant attacks on conventional thinking, the book addresses issues that are right at the heart of contemporary political debates.






	About the book Officials at the United Nations speak of ‘problems without passports’. European thinktanks write of ‘identity and security’ issues. Media commentators warn of the ‘dark side of globalisation’. Under all these headings, what is being referred to is a cluster of issues to do with immigration, integration and terrorism that have, since the end of the Cold War, come to dominate the political landscape of the West, from Europe to the US to Australia. In all these countries, political leaders, policymakers and pundits ask themselves how ‘abusive’ asylum seekers and migrants can best be deterred; how minorities, particularly Muslims, whom they regard as being at odds with Western societies, can be integrated; and how Islamic terrorism, ‘extremism’ and ‘radicalisation’ can be prevented. These issues – commonly grouped together, albeit with differing emphases in different national contexts – are the new spectres haunting the West. In Britain, a new racism, directed especially at Muslim and migrant communities, is driving the erosion of the rights of those whose cultures and values are perceived as ‘alien’. We urgently need a new understanding of how neoliberal globalisation and the ‘war on terror’ give rise to demonisation, fear and segregation. This book attempts to provide that new understanding, while pointing the way towards an open sense of citizenship, in which all who live in Britain can participate equally. The End of Tolerance is unique in its attempt to make connections across a number of different subject areas and in its attempt to describe the roots of Britain’s new ‘refugee’ communities in their countries of origin. It attempts to bring a fresh and innovative analysis, written in a non-technical style, that reflects the large-scale transformations that have taken place in British race relations during the last decade. Combining journalistic-type accounts of individual cases and stories with theoretical insights, political analysis and trenchant attacks on conventional thinking, the book addresses issues that are right at the heart of contemporary political debates.	Chapter headings Foreword by A. Sivanandan Introduction 1 Echoes of Empire 2 From Dependency to Displacement 3 Seeds of Segregation 4 We Are Here Because You Are There 5 Asylum and the Welfare State 6 The Dialectics of Terror 7 The Halabja Generation 8 Integrationism: the Politics of Anti-Muslim Racism 9 Migration and the Market-State 10 Here to Stay 11 The New Leviathan 12 Community: Theirs and Ours


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‘Cutting through the media-hyped hysteria [this is] a highly accessible and valuable analysis.’ Ruhul Tarafder, 1990 Trust