60 Years On: Polish Migration to the UK Conference Polish Embassy 17th May 2006

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60 Years On Polish Migration to the
UKConferencePolish Embassy 17th May 2006

• Teresa Staniewicz, University of Warwick,
• The UK National Focal Point for the EUMC
• Email T.Staniewicz_at_warwick.ac.uk
• Website http//go.warwick.ac.uk/raxen

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• Throughout history (regional as well as national)
  Polish culture has been immersed in concepts of
  self sufficiency and social etiquette, to the
  point of honour. Such traits, although not
  exclusive to Poles, are seen to embody a sense of
  Polishness (Gorka, 1942 Braito, 1988 etc.).
• Polish Characteristics
• Fiercely Nationalistic
• Status competition very driven
• Proud very independent

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The Past Informs the
Future History informs us about the past, which
we are often seen to draw on, in order to
speculate about the future. Today, I shall draw
on the development of the post-WWII Polish
community (Polonia) as an appropriate springboard
for a more productive analysis of the many Poles,
and their respective experiences, who have
arrived to the UK since May 2004, and clearly
will continue to do so.
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Introduction

• Todays migrants from Europe appear to have
  unprecedented access and the freedom, as never
  before, to forge new lives, both temporary and
  permanent, in those countries willing to receive
  them.
• I will illustrate some of the varied experiences
  that post-Accession Polish migrants have been
  having, as their ethnicity intersects with the
  endemic nature of racism in British society.
  This raises the obvious question
• How successful are they in accessing routes
  towards equitable integration?

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Introduction2

• This presentation has two main strands.
• It draws on the developed nature of the
  established Polish community (or, Polonia) in the
  UK. Often forgotten as an ethnic minority, the
  result of the racially essentialist notion that
  White migrants are assumed to have assimilated
  totally into a British way of life and one
  which is embraced to the exclusion of all other
  (previous) ways of life or, cultural identities.

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Introduction3

• 2) It presents the underlying racisms in place in
  the UK (mirrored in other EU member-states),
  which directly impact on the lived experiences of
  post-Accession Poles in the UK. Such forms of
  discrimination feed directly into discourses
  surrounding freedom of movement, new forms of
  social / spatial mobility, may indeed impact on
  further changes in immigration policies.
• There are therefore, broad comparisons to be made
  between the experiences had by Poles arriving 60
  years ago, and those arriving here since 2004.

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• Data on 2nd generation Poles. The higher
  educational achievement for male female Poles,
  point towards the influence of the (Polish)
  parents view of education as a route to success
  underpinning extant literature (both in the UK
  and US) on the persistence of status competition
  as a cultural element in the make-up of being
  Polish. However, for some - regardless of their
  successes - their ethnicity was to be seen as a
  barrier to Britishness (by non-Poles) across a
  range of areas in their lives.

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Figure 1 O levels - 2nd
Generation Poles Total overall proportions with
O levels were 90 for UK Poles, and 48 for
comparable GHS data. Table 10.3, p.222, General
Household Survey, (GHS),1994
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FIGURE 2 A Levels 2nd
Generation Poles My UK samples figure for
overall A Level attainment was 73.5. and
16.75 for comparable GHS data. Table 10.1,
p.222, General Household Survey, (GHS) 1994
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FIGURE 3 Degree Levels 2nd
Generation Poles My UK samples figure for
overall Degree attainment was 41.3, and 15.25
for comparable GHS data GHS samples, 1991
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• Racial Discrimination Ongoing
• 1st Gen Poles overall figure for self-reported
  racism was 75,
• 2nd Gen Poles overall figure for self-reported
  racism was 43

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• Real Lived Experience of Racism from the WME
  Perspective 1
• 
  (WMEWhite Minority Ethnic)
• The following quotations are from a
  second-generation female respondent
• "It seems, because I am white, people don't
  believe that I can
• also be racially abused
• The respondent went on to say
• They - the English - go on about how fair they
  are, but it's all
• rubbish. They hate you for being different, they
  hate you for doing
• better than them at school, they hate you for
  working hard whilst all
• they do is go to the pub every night. They have
  made me conscious
• of myself as a Pole, and they have made me as
  racist as they are.
• ... I don't let on that I'm Polish when I go
  out, but at home, it's
• different I can be Polish without the need for
  public displays.
• 
  
• UK 2nd Gen No.22/BPP/F

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• Real Lived Experience of Racism the WME
  Perspective 2
• One male classified himself as a British Pole,
  yet did not
• Identify with the formal or public aspects of the
  community, just observed the dual matrix in
  terms of ethnic identity.
• "I know it's because of my being Polish that I am
• treated differently, you know, not like everyone
  else. I
• never get the shift I want, unless I change with
• someone else.My supervisor hates anyone who
  isn't
• English black or white.
  UK 2nd Gen
  No.27/BPP/M

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• The Integration of Poles into British
  Society (1)
• It is clear from these academic results, that
  Poles
• can be seen as having integrated successfully by
• the 2nd generation. After all, education is a
  central
• plank of the Governments attempts to create a
  more cohesive society. But at whom is this aimed?
• What is a lesser known fact, is that because of
  the nature of the construction of British
  identity, Poles (as well as all non-indigenous
  British, other 2nd/3rd generations), continue to
  be viewed as, the Other. Even though
  successful, far from being immune to the
  tentacles of racist rhetoric, Poles are found to
  be just as susceptible, but in contextually
  differing ways.

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• The Integration of Poles into British
  Society (2)
• The British Imperial legacy, has faithfully
  served to perpetuate racisms in everyday
  discourse, where the sedimentation of (our)
  racialised understandings of the Other
  (originally slaves form the Caribbean then, the
  Windrush generation, along with DPs and exiles
  post-Solidarity Poles and, more recently
  Kosovans).
• Lets not forget the Roma, the EU whipping boy,
  vilified by
• so many different so-called enlightened
  nation-states.
• All have individuals within their ethnic group
  who will find resonance with what is means to be
  discriminated against on the basis of cultural
  difference. Within these parameters therefore,
  decisions are made based on which elements of
  their ethnicity are to be maintained.

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• The Integration of Poles into British
  Society (3)
• Well before 4th May 2004, the media started the
  latest
• campaign. Newspapers instigated moral panics
  with the ferocity of their hardly impartial
  editorials Floods of migrants taking our jobs.
• The Sun claimed that it would be 'tens of
  thousands'. The Sunday Times predicted 100,000.
  The Express announced that 1.6 million are 'ready
  to flood in'. In the newspapers' numbers game, no
  amount of exaggeration is excessive - but any
  amount of immigration is too much. Before long,
  every story about imminent migration discussed
  Polish migrants.

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• The Integration of Poles into British
  Society (4)
• In Poland the run-up to Accession was no better
• The promise of better job and lives was projected
  beyond reason, by both the media and the pro EU
  politicians in Poland. A misleading headline in a
  leading Polish national daily paper, Gazeta
  Wyborcza, read Half a million jobs await Poles
  in the UK. This was published in April 2004, and
  with great certainty, such articles can be seen
  in some ways to be culprits in sending thousands
  of desperate Poles to the UK, and creating a
  brain-drain for Poland. News articles are
  already circulating about the invasion of non
  A8 migrants from Romania and Bulgaria.

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• Comparisons Between Past and Present Migrations
• I wish now to turn to the broad comparisons to be
  made between the experiences had by Poles
  arriving 60 years ago, and those arriving here
  since 2004.
• Todays migrants under discussion are generally
  not,
• to use Adrian Favells term - Eurostars. These
  Poles are not
• in a position to transfer their unique set of
  skills across
• borders within the EUs ever expanding
  transnational
• space, with a minimum of effort. The Poles being
• discussed here, are clearly not moving freely in
  the promised / anticipated way. There is need for
  an overarching framework which maps movement of
  migrants and their skills to better match them to
  the job opportunities in the UK.

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• Post-war These Polish males were in positions of
  disadvantage in the labour market, and were vying
  for jobs from a substantially weakened position.
  Often, the 1st generation suffered déclassment as
  a result of the Polish Diaspora, due to status
  incongruity. Culturally, it was very strongly
  felt to impact on how the family back home was
  perceived.
• Post 2004 stories indicate that Poles return to
  Poland and mislead family / friends about their
  alleged success, for fear of shame on families.
  This has led to more Poles arriving to the UK

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• Post-war The media of the day launched frequent
  xenophobic attacks on Poles in the newspapers,
  once in the UK. Also reports of racist attacks
  were recorded See Zubrzycki, 1956, Sword, 1989
• Post 2004 The Pole has become the de facto face
  of post-Accession migration. The Polish plumber
  has now entered the daily lexicon in conveying
  negative notions about foreigners Poles
  (taking local jobs, at much lower rates). Other
  recent examples
• 1) The Sunday Times, page 18, 14/05/2006
• Anthony Worrell Thompson, the celebrity chef,
  blamed poor restaurant service on eastern
  European (Poles) waiters, who struggle with the
  language.

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• Post 2004 racist media reporting, cont./
• AWT was subsequently forced to retract his
  defamatory statement re Polish workers
• 2) On the BBC 5Live phone-in (Sunday 14/0506),
  listeners complained that Poles were taking
  indigenous jobs, due to their willingness to take
  a much lower wage (such as in plumbing) even
  though their work was very shoddy. The British
  worker would lose out on payment for the whole
  job, but was often required to, finish the job,
  or certify the work carried out..

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There is a need for balance here

• This notwithstanding, these experiences are
  somewhat tempered by many positive supportive
  stories about new Polish migrants and serve to
  confirm, anecdotally, the high quality of labour
  Polish workers are exhibiting (across the UK) in
  undertaking any (new) kind of work even when
  over-qualified or new to the job and, the pride
  taken in its completion.

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• 3) Poles Targeted in Racist Attacks
• Regardless of highly publicised reports by the
  IPPR,
• the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and the TUC to
  name but a few, on the overall benefits of Polish
  ( other) migrants to the economy generally,
  there continues to be a noticeable rise in
  attacks on Polish post-Accession migrants, both
  in NI as well as on mainland UK.
• Media stories, and a lack of concerted effort by
  the Government to deal with these migratory
  flows, have again fed in to peoples fears about
  job losses, lower wages, and general xenophobia.

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•   There was none of that camaraderie that we had
  been led to believe the British would be showing
  us . Instead, we had to fight for everything,
  the right to be treated fairly, to live somewhere
  clean, the right to have work we wanted and were
  able to do, the right to practise our faith,
  every small right had to be fought for time and
  again.Yes, we were treated as an ausländer.
  (Respondents own emphasis) 1st Gen
• Polish man talking about 1948 treatment arriving
  in the UK
• I heard it would be different in England,
  everyone I meet seems hostile to me , I just want
  to be treated properly, and to get the right work
  clean honest work, I mean. Why should I have to
  justify why I am here, why I like to go to
  church, what my faith means to me. Everything I
  have tried to get is difficult. Post-Accession
  Polish man summer 2005

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• Concluding thoughts1
• Why is revisiting migratory discourse crucial
  in studying new migrant waves?
• because migration is about literal exclusion,
  and the exclusion of some, impacts, on those who
  have already been admitted
• it defines the nation (Britain), and raises
  questions about the legitimacy of migrants
  maintaining ethnic and sub-cultural identities
  (European identity building)
• it is often racialised
• Global movements will impact on im/migration
  policy in the EU.

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• Concluding thoughts2
• Such phenomenal movements globally are important
  to track, given that the impact will be felt at
  both ends of the migratory route. Some
  consideration therefore must also be given to the
  impact that the drain of skilled labour will have
  on Polands economy. There are anecdotal accounts
  of advertising campaigns which recruit en masse,
  and essentially strip whole workforce groups in a
  range of sectors (shipbuilding, dentists,
  doctors, etc.) Is this managed migration but
  for whom the UK

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• Concluding thoughts3
• As a 2nd Gen Pole, I find much resonance in
  Stuart Hall's (1992) explanation of the concept
  of ethnic hybridity, where new generations will
  necessarily fashion their own ethnic identity
  partly from a mixture of their parent's
  ethnicity, and partly from their environment,
  dependent upon the level of tolerance towards the
  practice of such customs, shown by members of the
  host society (Cohen,1994). These new Polish
  migrants may not be interested in making a home
  here. New migratory typologies are being formed
  as a result of globalisation, aided by
  technologies that enable them to maintain
  contact, and form transnational links at the same
  time. Research is urgently required to map these
  new migratory trends. Lets hope today stimulates
  the desire for such research.