Why Bangladeshi's are not having as big an impact on society as the Indians or Paki's

[heesham]

Is it because we insist on wearing Longi's and trainers to meetings?
any answers?

heesham
(a more thorough answer to follow)

[Locky]

I think it's because we are few in numbers. I mean u need a big community to have some impact. I am sure the Bangladeshi's in Bricklane are offering a lot to the society.

[butterfly_s]

yes that was for along time my concern..

and i agree with ya. becaz we are very few.

thas why i was inviting all the bangladeshis to come over to canada as well.

also i think bangladeshis are coward in a sense that they take very little risk in term of migrating.

laterz guy gotta go



[This message has been edited by butterfly.s (edited 05 April 2000).]

[aff]

Yes Locky u are right, Bangladeshi's in Bricklane have made an inpact on their society..(i have cousins that live there)..
THE BRICKLANE MOSQUE FOR EXAMPLE.

So, in away, bangladeshi's have had an impact on their communities. Numbers are also an important factor, bangladeshi's in Bricklane are the majority.
But many Bangladeshi's these days (in the uk) are more concerned about money (many, not all)..or more concerned about how to get their relative over from bangladeh to the UK, this is usaully done by arrange marriages!
I think Bangladesh's in the Uk just want to get on with life rather then concentrate on having an impact.

more to be said.

takecare.
aff

[heesham]

You mean to say we will have to saturate the whole of UK (like Brick Lane) before we can have an impact. Bangladeshi's are no smaller in number than the Indians'.

The Brick Lane Mosque - headquarters of the Awami League.

heesham

[butterfly_s]

atleast here in uk u have. but here in canada while living in waterloo we found only 12 bangladeshies.

imagine!!!!

[Ahad]

What type of Imapact are we talking about? If its cultural preservation (ie wearing Longi) we are doing very well.

Bangladesgi's are a group of people (especially Sylheti's living in the UK) who are traditionally used to a subsistence lifestyle.

If you trace the roots of most bangladeshi families living in the UK, majority of them are from rural areas of Bangladesh. They used to be subsistebce farmers (growing enough for the families to live on).

If you look at the history of bangladeshi's coming to the UK, they are the last group of all large ethnic minority communities settling in Britain. Initially bangladeshi's thought that they were here on short term migration and so the primary purpose was to earn and save enough money to send back to families and relatives in bangladesh so that their standard of living can be improved.

The result of this can be seen when one visits bangladesh and travels the district of Sylhet, you will see lots of new developments and urbanisation of Sylhet city as well as the formation of "Londoni" villages. That is investment made from savings, and unlike other investments , in these there are little annual returns except being a status symbol.

Back to the question of self sufficiency, lets take the Indian restaurant and Take-aways for example, people are happy to open a new restaurant and take-away if they can break even. The thinking behind this is that at least we are creating jobs for ourselves and being self sufficient, any profit is an added bonus.

We have done extremely well in this field.

No other ethnic minority communities can boast to have sosuch a large percentage of entrepreneurs. This is a huge achievement.

Further more it is only in the last few years that people have accepted that they are here to stay for good and as a result are sending their children to universities.

The Indians took advantage of that in the eighties, we are doing it in the late 90's.

The Indian Community when they settled in the 1970's, being deprted from East Africa were already very well educated and as a result knew the importance of education and so took advantage of the education system which led to professional jobs.

To cut it short as I dont have much time.

The indian Community has also assimmilated with the host community as they can go to pubs and clubs, they can have a drink and the Indians dont mind free mixing as their religion does not stop them. They are therfore more accepted by the Wider community than bangladeshi's and Pakistani's.

I have every confidence that the next generation of bangladeshi's will do very well and will have a much stronger voice in society. The trend is already set, and in Greater Manchester we now see more and more bangladeshi boys and girls going to universities. Ten years ago you could count them on the fingers of your two hands.

The future is bright for bangladeshi's and the future is education and not Restaurant.

Good luck to all you young people, you can make a difference.

Ashid.
Any feedback welcome.
PS, I have written a 15,000 word dissertation on this topic and this is just a very vague summary.