This is a cross-post by Ibn Khaldun
Last week, The Times carried a piece on its front page that discussed the seemingly growing phenomenon of Asian gangs, of predominantly Pakistani heritage, sexually exploiting young and vulnerable white girls in the Midlands and the North. The BNP have been openly using this issue for propaganda purposes for a number of years and have aimed at transforming it into an ‘Islam’ issue. The Times, however, have been much more balanced and focused on the importance of discussing the issue out in the open whilst simultaneously challenging the culture of silence that pervades such sensitive issues in this country.
The startling facts of this phenomenon are: There have been 17 court cases across 13 different towns and cities in the UK, predominantly northern towns with strong Northern Pakistani populations. In total, 56 men with an average age of 28 have been found guilty of crimes ranging from abduction to sex with a minor. Three of the 56 were white, 53 were Asian and 50 were Muslims of Pakistani heritage.
So what the hell is going on? I know from personal experience that this does happen and the scale of the problem is much larger than the above statistics would have you believe. I have seen this taking place in the Midlands and heard young men talking about it. Young Asian gangs drive around in flashy cars, they pick up young girls who are hanging around, they offer them cigarettes, alcohol, food and in some cases jewellery and before long sexual abuse is taking place. Many of the young women involved do go along voluntarily up until a certain stage and assume that they are just having fun with new friends. But they are simply too young and immature to see how they are being abused and often it’s too late before they realise what is going on.
I don’t think this has much to do with faith in a direct way nor should it be discussed as a ‘Muslim’ issue. But it has everything to do with a British Pakistani sub-culture that has developed in many decaying northern towns and cities in this country. In these places, certain young Asian men are disconnected from mainstream society; they develop their own lingo, their own traditions and sub-culture. This sub-culture is often an amalgamation of rural Punjabi values and US hip-hop culture. This sub-culture, in turn, has a deviant offshoot, a sub-culture of a sub-culture if you like, that is anti-establishment, rebellious, crime-prone and deeply ignorant. Petty crime, racism, sexism and homophobia are standard.
These are the kind of people that wouldn’t feel comfortable meeting women of their own age group in normal settings. They simply don’t have the social skills or manners to engage with members of the opposite sex in that way. So they prefer to exploit younger and much more vulnerable white women, who they view as easy targets with fewer repercussions for their actions. If they targeted young Asian girls in this way, they would have brothers and uncles chasing them out of town.
In some cases, their Pakistani heritage and their socio-economic conditions contribute to the problem. They are raised in communities that are quite monocultural and ignorant stereotypes about other people are promoted, distrust between different ethnic groups is the norm and positive social interaction is not facilitated. This allows a macho Asian street gang culture to flourish which views white women as ‘loose’ or ‘easy’, hence to be used and abused by any means necessary.
In order to combat this behaviour much more needs to be done at a community level. Community activists need to be working to challenge negative stereotypes of other ethnic groups and discouraging young men from participating in such criminal gangs. This should involve facilitating positive interaction between different communities. The Police also need to be monitoring this type of behaviour much more closely and keeping tabs on known offenders and their accomplices. Young and vulnerable teenagers also need to educated about the risks of associating with gangs of men who are seeking to exploit them after plying them with cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. But all of the above is not possible unless people feel comfortable discussing the issue openly. But this also needs to be done sensitively and all the necessary caveats, as Jack Straw recently learned to his cost. We need to challenge the culture of silence around sensitive topics in this country in order to allow a mature debate to take place. If we don’t then such issues become fodder for extremists.