The new migration of the late 20th century and early 21st century has changed Britain’s racial landscape again. New migrants have arrived – often from within Europe, from regions formerly designated as “white”. In the late 1990s, the “scientific racism” of the nineteenth century and “cultural racism” of the post-war era was supplemented by renewed hostility towards first refugees and then migrants in general.
In 2015 the language of slavery is being introduced to policy debates to justify efforts to prevent the willing movement Africans into Europe. The debate forum provides an opportunity to consider what “race” actually means in the politics of migration and citizenship.