They're good questions, but this is all too recent to tell. So far I would say that these are people who are marked out by their cultural characteristics (and it is surprising to hear Russian talked on the underground these days). In many ways the prejudices against East Europeans are extensions of the horror-stories about the warring ex- Yugoslavs and filthy Rumanian orphanages. Listen closely and you can hear a lot of re-styled Cold War anti-Slav prejudice in there.
Most recently the spasm of public hostility to begging Gypsies summarised the whole mess of prejudice. Many Roma from Slovakia have sought exceptional leave to remain on the basis that they will be persecuted in their own country. That, of course, plays on the Foreign Office prejudice that the Slovaks are intolerant and oppressive. But without any other means of support, the Gypsies did indeed beg on the underground and door to door, provoking howls of 'intimidation' from 'Middle England'. Hypocritically, the press persecuted the Gypsies on the grounds that they were abusing their children by making them beg.
It was this outburst that led the Home Secretary to have himself filmed ousting East European stowaways from a truck at Dover. To avoid being so readily uncovered, 35 Chinese immigrants were sealed in a container and died. (The police acted by raiding Chinese 'Triad' gangs.)
Economically, you can see the impact of the dislocation of the East European working class in their growing contribution to the re-emerging domestic service market (four million, by one estimate, out of a workforce of 37m), their presence on building sites, in prostitution, barbering and other menial jobs.
-- James Heartfield
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