Segregation is definitely a worrying trend, with self-generating segregation even where shared spaces exist, such as culturally mixed schools, where if you look at who is playing with who, you can see that the problem is not just solved by physically putting people together.

I'm not sure how we deal with this, but working together on social and economic issues, with people from all backgrounds who are equally concerned about the issue, has to be a start.

The issues are so redolent of my bit of South Wales (though we haven't had
the riots) - and your point about the importance of 'interculturalism' is one
which I've pondered a lot since I've lived here.  

Half our street is of S. Asian background and half is White. The general mood is one of cautious co-
existence (tolerance, I suppose) rather than active participation in the community, or mutual
dialogue of any substance.  The trouble here is that any intercultural initiative would be hard to present as genuinely so: it would likely be treated as having some ulterior cultural-imperialist element.  

And though they're well-meaning, the parties of the far left here (as I'm sure is so elsewhere) actually tend to fuel this perception with their current opportunistic pro-Islam manoeuvrings.

Gideon, South Wales

3/6/04

Segregation is taking place around the Heaton area on a massive scale. In the last ten years a large number of streets have seen 50% of the white households being replaced by Asian housholds. In some cases the changes have been far more marked with up to 95% of the white households being replaced by Asian households.

This replacement is always in one direction leading to areas becoming exclusively Asian.

The worst aspect of this migration is that it is officially denied by the council.