“British Bangladeshi and Congolese young
people in London: do their experiences of
political participation differ and why?”
Dimitra Pachi & Martyn Barrett
University of Surrey, UK
Paper presented at the Bologna PIDOP Conference 2011, “Engaged Citizens?
Political Participation And Civic Engagement Among Youth, Women, Minorities And
Migrants”, May 11th-12th 2011, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

British Bangladeshi community:




well-established community (’60s)– came to the UK
for economical reasons
283,063 Bangladeshis live in England and 118,346
(estimate) live in greater London
60% of Bangladeshis have a low income, 20% suffer
from unemployment; 2nd generation young women
are doing better than their male equivalents
(Census, 2001)
Muslim group
Congolese community:





New community (’90s)- came to the UK for political
reasons
20,000 Congolese live in England, the majority of which
(15,000) live in the greater London area (Lukes, 2008;
International Organisation for Migration 2006)
Lingala and/or French speaking community
The majority subscribes to different Christian
denominations/traditions (Catholicism, Kimbanguism,
Charismatic) (Garbin & Pambu, 2009)
Low socio-economic level, high levels of unemployment in
comparison to other African groups
Introduction

Decline of political participation?
The answer: Yes and No
a shift from strictly
institutional and
traditional forms of
political participation
to voluntary and less
direct activities using
new means of
social/political
information and
communication
(Curtice, 2005; Zukin, Keeter, Andolina, Jenkins & Delli Carpini, 2006)
Also happening amongst ethnic minority youth (Stepick & Stepick, 2002;
Jensen, 2008)
Existing research has shown that girls get more engaged with ethnocultural
associations than boys (Dion & Dion, 2001)
Research questions
1. What is the role of discrimination in young people’s decision to
participate?
2. What other factors affect young people’s political/civic
participation?
Members of well-established vs new ethnic
communities?
(how they feel and how the society/state sees
them)?
Boys vs girls? within Bangladeshi and Congolese
traditional gender roles?
Young people below 18 years old vs above 18 years
old?
Method

The same procedure followed by all of the teams of the
project:
Snowball sampling method allowing us to move through
different youth organisations and people with the
characteristics of our target population.

9 focus groups with British Bangladeshi and Congolese
young people aged 16-18 years old and 20-26 years old living
in London.
Most groups were gender mixed although for cultural and
practical reasons some groups were gender specific
e.g. the youngest Bangladeshi groups were gender specific;
Bangladeshi youth centres have separate activity days for
boys and girls

Participants
Bangladeshi
participants
16-18
years old
Ratio
Females/Males
within
each
focus group
Congolese
participants
20-26
years old
16-18
years old
20-26
years old
1stFG
2dFG
1stFG
2ndFG
1stFG
2ndFG
1stFG
2ndFG
3rdFG
8M
7F
5F/2M
3F/4M
1F/5M
5F/1M
5M
3F/2M
3F/2M
Ratio
Females/Males
per age group
7F/8M
8F/6M
6F/6M
6F/9M
Total No per
age group
15
14
12
15
Total No per
ethnic group
29
27
Analytic strategy

Due to the exploratory aims of the present study
Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes (Joffe & Yardley,
2004; Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Both semantic and latent themes were identified in the data (Joffe
& Yardley, 2004) and analysed after repeated readings.

In this process, first categories were generated based on the
elements of the data relevant to the present study, and then these
were combined into themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Results- Summary of themes:

Common themes to both ethnic groups:






Very limited civic participation
Political and social discrimination in terms of age

Immaturity- Lack of knowledge
Lack of effectiveness of one’s political participation: political and
societal disinterest and unresponsiveness
Victimisation of young people – self-attribution

Lack of personal interest in other groups

Lack of knowledge of political/social issues
Local vs national opportunities for participation
Traditional gender roles: disempowered women confined in the
domestic space
Themes specific to each ethnic group:

Congolese young people:




Racial discrimination - Stereotypes against “black males” in the
justice system
Lack of “revolutionary” history in Britain (difference with France)
Lack of identification with Britain
Bangladeshi young people:





Discrimination in the contact with institutions such as the police –
Discrimination not a deterrent for political/civic participation
Importance of individual action
Divided attitudes
Depends on the topic and the age
Confusion between religious and cultural traditions: Islam
empowers women while Bangladeshi tradition disempowers
them
Political and social discrimination
in terms of age

“I don’t think there really is a way, I think like young people don’t have
opportunities to like express their views and yeah people don’t
really come to young people to ask their opinions, well now you
are, but I mean like large scale decisions, they wouldn’t come”
(Bangladeshi female, 20 years old) (Bangladeshi male, 16-18 years
old, p.6)

“Cos the older people think they know more than the younger
people…that’s what it is…you wouldn't listen to me if I was to tell
you what to do and you are ten years older, you wouldn't listen to me”
(Bangladeshi male, 17 years old) (PartB4.5, l. 514-516, p. 12)

“Congolese male 1
No… You talk to them and just ‘oh what are you saying, look he is a
little kid, what he is saying, we don’t need to care about all
that …..
Congolese male 2
Yeah, cos they think young people are immature…Not taken
seriously, we are taken as a joke” (Congolese males, 17 years
old) (Surma, p.18)
Lack of effectiveness of one’s actions
“PartB2
I don’t intend to register, I think it’s a waste of time, I think it doesn’t
matter who you vote for, it’s already done and dusted, they have
already picked who they are gonna pick, it’s, I think, but I believe
that the government doesn’t care about anything or anyone, they are
gonna do what they are gonna do regardless, they went to the war on
Iraq, that was one example, and as many examples, I personally feel
it doesn’t matter
Interviewer2
Ok, what about you?
PartB3
Yeah, I agree with the brother here, yeah
…
PartB2
No, they don’t care
PartB3
Yeah” (Bangladeshi males, 16-18 years old) (p.30)
Continued…

“I don’t think voting makes a difference… Cos in 2005,
Labour got 35.2% of the votes, 66% of people voted… 26% of
the whole population actually wanted labour… doesn’t make a
difference…. It’s really the tyranny of the minority if enough
people can come together and vote labour, then labour would
come in… but I don’t think politics works, I don’t think
governments work… I go there and really waste my time
voting… I don’t think anything really changes…”
(Congolese female, 20-26 years old, Barking, p. 45)
Political disinterest
Lack of effectiveness of the system
Lack of effectiveness of one’s participation in
the system
Young people’s fault

“I think it’s because we don’t voice it ourselves if you know
what I mean…If we did have an interest we’d just be saying
among ourselves… It’s probably our own fault…” (Congolese
female, 16-18 years old, p.14)

“Lets say like experience, we won’t know what to talk
about…you’ve got to research that stuff up for years years to
know what to say, what to do” (Bangladeshi male, 16-18 years
old p.14)

“I don’t think that there is that many young people that come
out and say look I want to do this about this and I want to do
that about that, cause I’ve never done anything like that,
anyone that I knew never done anything like that so that’s
why I am like, that’s why I am thinking to myself there are
some, …” (Bangladeshi female, 16-18 years old, p.11)
Young people’s fault
Lack of personal initiative
lack of knowledge
lack of personal experience
and
lack of peer influence
Local vs national opportunities

Both groups emphasised participation at a local level, at a
community level. They considered it to be more effective and
more accessible to young people

“Maybe a bond between young people here and there,
making more citizen-aware of what they do…even if they
don’t care about politics...but just doing something
locally, cleaning up the environment…if you want a job, just
create little communities where you can work together and just
try to earn money…but if you are waiting for politicians to do
something I am sorry but it’s a waste of time” (Congolese
male, 20-26 years old, l.1248-1263, p.32)

“When young people are informed, it’s mainly by the
borough, the council, random…you get leaflets through your
post or posters put up in youth …” (Bangladeshi male, 16-18
years old, l.656-660, p.16)
Traditional gender roles:

Disempowering women and confining them in the domestic
space

“Yeah…like Turkish they have their own women something,
something going on…in Hackney…we got this organisation for
women only….In Congo we don’t really have anything like that,
or maybe I don’t know about it…because I think women in a
society, especially like in Congo women are always treated like
‘you should be a certain way’…like respectful…Women in
Congo you should be a certain way…So I think there should
be in this country really like a place where Congolese women
can meet up and…Because of lot of us we came here when
we were young and a lot of the times we don’t know much
about our culture…Like we should show it to the youngsters
[50.10]….like for example…Muslims for example” (Congolese
female, 20-26 years old, l. 1075-1083, p.25-26)
Congolese young people:
Racial discrimination - Stereotypes against
“young black males” in the justice system
“Congolese female 1
But the thing is you see, cos he’s black, and he’s a boy and
he is youth… they didn’t even let him talk… they just put him
in (in jail) straight away… And there was no proof…
Congolese female 2
And the judges are so racist, cos his sentencing it has finished
already, but they stopping him to come out…” (16-18 years
old, Church, p.13)
History of the country

“The way… that way of expressing yourself through like… a
person, you know, representing you and going to a certain
path, you know… But, like in France, they are protesting, they
use violence, they use emotions…, you know…” (Congolese
male, 20-26 years old, l.438-440, p.11)

“It may be the culture, cos in France, when they had the
revolution, it was through…[Interviewer1: violence]…violence
and… I’m not saying violence is the way…but Malcom X said
there’s no revolution without blood. He’s not completely
wrong, but it’s not right at all, but there should be something”
(Congolese male, 20-26 years old)
History of the country
Comparison with another European
country- the country they know better
Reference to the culture of engagement in
the public sphere of each country; Britain not
identified as having a “revolutionary” past is
perceived to affect people’s participation
Lack of identification with Britain

“…very hmm like ‘well, this is not my country’,
[lingala] armo ya bandele tosa na biso no ngai …
they (young Congolese people) think like
that…”(Congolese female, 20-26 years old, l.489490, p.12)

Participation is associated with identification.
People who don’t identify with the country of
residence will not participate.
Bangladeshi young people:
Perceived discrimination:


16-18 years olds: In the everyday contact with the police
Young boys described in detail numerous incidents of their daily lives
where they are stopped, chased, arrested by the police, for no
“apparent reason”
 Distrust, perceived lack of responsiveness and lack of respect by
the representatives of this institution
20+ year olds talk about:
- Police raids in their houses; it brings shame to the family
- At the airport, they are stopped and searched due to their religious
symbols (beard, dressing style)


Across ages, female participants talk about personal/family
experiences of bullying - in the street, at work (Burka)

No relationship of discrimination with political/civic participation
Religious discrimination part of the “War on Terror”

Importance of individual action
“I think mostly at school, they are spoon-fed as well. So they
are literally giving everything to you and then when you get out
of edu…like school and go to university, which is just
independent. You think I’m not getting spoon-fed so you find it
really hard. I’m talking from experience, but I came out of
college and school where I was spoon-fed and I was given
everything to me. And when I went to university, you have to
do everything for yourself, so it’s quite difficult.
Interviewer1
Intimidating?
PartB4.4
It’s quite difficult as well, as in where to start, where to begin,
how to start as well.” (Bangladeshi male, 20-26 years old,
l.404-415, p.10)

Importance of individual action, but also no guidance by the
state how to take individual action
Expression vs Bringing change

“Interviewer1
Yeah, why did you say that you can’t see any
resources?
PartBG4.3
Well if I wanted to make a change I can’t come to
this youth centre, say I wanna do this and it is
gonna happen
PartBG5.3
Because it is usually adults that make the
decisions” (Bangladeshi males, 20-26 years old,
p.9)
Divided attitudes

Acknowledgement of existing opportunities and of participation
amongst youth. Opportunities exist but they are not enough…

“I think that personally, that young people is a funny subject,
because they are always, usually into two camps, either they
are well engaged or they are completely disconnected”
(Bangladeshi male, 20-26 years old, p.5)

“I think it’s 50/50 because you do have the youth mayor, and
you have young programs, like internships and placements
and stuff, for people who have been unemployed or people
who haven’t gone into education, who stopped education to go
in.” (Bangladeshi female, 20-26 years old, l. 137-144, p.4)

“Yeah, but not enough, but yeah they do (the officials give
young people opportunities) ” (Bangladeshi male, 16-18 years
old, p4)
Depends on the age and the topic

Depends on the age: voting age is a pivotal time

“….But there’s another side like, the voting is 18+ and youth and
young people start from the age of 16 or probably even under, now
they are more advanced. So sixteen year olds and under probably
missing out on the whole voting system and understanding because
they can’t vote or they’re not allowed to vote, they think this issue,
politics isn’t important for me now, they don’t look into it anymore.”
(PartB4.4, l. 137-144, p.4)

Depends on the topic, they have a say for issues affecting
them directly

“I think topics that affect our life, the youths, the young people’s lives
and their lifestyle and stuff. Those are the topics that we are allowed
to sort of have a say in. I don think they can sort of decide for
us…they think they know what’s right for us. They don’t think we
have a right in saying, in what we think is right for us.” (PartB1.4, l.
466-469, p.11)
Confusion between religion and culture

“I chose women's rights ‘we can do it’ because it definitely combines
my personality very well and I think that me coming from Islamic
background, that people confuse culture and religion together…a
woman has rights and I think that religiously, like people say a
woman can’t do this and woman can’t do this…women should be at
home…well they can do a lot of things actually… it’s just you just get
confused with the culture…and the religion.” (Bangladeshi female,
20-26 years old, l.38-42, p.1)

“Yes, exactly what you just said, interpret their own religion because
they mix Islam and they mix Bengali culture whatever culture
you know, put it together with Islamic culture…which I think it’s
stupid and ridiculous because in Islam it clearly says that
women have all rights as men, as long as women are covered up
and they wear the headscarf at school…that’s fine…who says
Islam or Muslim, or Islamic culture that women can't work… it’s in
Bengali culture…most families ‘no I don't want my woman to
work’…it’s stupid!” (Bangladeshifemale, 20-26 years old, l. 824-830,
p.19-20)
Conclusions



Racial discrimination at an official level e.g. judicial system,
police is still a problem only for young male Congolese
Religious discrimination is a problem for Bangladeshi
participants.
Only age discrimination is related to political participation: a
very important factor of official, social and political
discrimination and exclusion; it discourages young people to
participate when they have the right to vote and get more
involved officially
Other important conclusions:

Points of reference: not only the country of origin, but also the
former colonial power (i.e. Belgium), other countries of
destination (e.g. France) vs the country of residence (history of
each country) – Diaspora identity

Bangladeshi young people acknowledge the existing
opportunities and they participate more using the official routes
General conclusion

Different issues need to be addressed when trying
to encourage young people’s participation
depending on the ethnic background of young
people (integration levels, traditional gender roles)
and the age of young people.
Acknowledgements
The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant received
from the European Commission 7th Framework Programme, FP7SSH-2007-1, Grant Agreement no: 225282, Processes Influencing
Democratic Ownership and Participation (PIDOP) awarded to the
University of Surrey (UK), University of Liège (Belgium), Masaryk
University (Czech Republic), University of Jena (Germany),
University of Bologna (Italy), University of Porto (Portugal), Örebro
University (Sweden), Ankara University (Turkey) and Queen’s
University Belfast (UK)