Monday, January 09, 2012

Plymouth (UK) Considers Curbs on Foreign Students in City Centre Shops

The Guardian
Steven Morris
January 9, 2012.

Proposal would limit number of students allowed in a shop at one time to tackle rise in shoplifting and antisocial behaviour

Plymouth city centre is proposing to limit the number of foreign students who can enter shops at one time because of a rise in shoplifting and antisocial behaviour.

Teenagers who are visiting the city to study English could find their movements restricted by the Operation Drake project.

Shops would display stickers stipulating that only a certain number of students could be inside at a time. Posters would also be sent to language schools explaining the scheme.

Operation Drake is being discussed by city councillors on Monday but the project has already attracted criticism from some local people who believe it could be seen as racist.

The proposals are set out in a report to the council's growth and prosperity overview and scrutiny panel (pdf).

It says Operation Drake has been worked on by Plymouth Against Retail Crime and a police community support officer.

The report says: "Over the past five years we have seen in Plymouth, especially the city centre area, a large influx of foreign students. Feedback received from retailers has been that they have experienced an increase in shoplifting and antisocial behaviour from foreign students, incurring large financial losses."

It adds that the action plan includes:

• Special cards for foreign students to carry with them at all times with useful contact numbers.
• Stickers to be displayed in retail premises bearing Operation Drake logo limiting the number of students allowed in at any one time.
• Posters displayed in all language schools explaining Operation Drake.

The plan was greeted with concern on the Plymouth Herald website. "Shocked at how racist this report is. What sort of city are we living in?" said one commentator. "And will we be sewing some symbol on to their clothes just so we know who the 'different' people are?" asked another.

*****
Comment: So we can safely assume that a large proportion of these foreign students are not considered white hence the fingering for theft and social dysfunction.

And the gist of the proposal is to thin the herd and subject foreign students to apartheid style pass books!

Why not just get them to wear a sign or symbol on their sleeves like the Nazis did to Jews?  Would make it easier to spot the degenerates and it would learn them their place among the superior race, no?

This proposal is unbelievable.  Do these students not contribute to the economy of Plymouth?  Is their presence not tied to local jobs?

The proposal seems almost to suggest that these misfits from another country should be happy to be learning English in Plymouth.

How dumb are these folks?

Onward!

3 comments:

cosmicyoruba said...

These folks must be very dumb, I wonder how they reached the conclusion that foreign students are to blame for shoplifting.

On a different note, I can across this article Of Foolish Black Middle Class and Race and was curious to know your thoughts on it. I couldn't make it through the first couple of paragraphs though.

Ridwan said...

Slm eccentricyoruba:

Thank you kindly for your comment.

I read Prince Mashele’s drivel and like you it was hard to get through the first couple of paragraphs.

There is irony in his critique. The most apparent is that he is hardly a relevant voice unless white media print his stereotypical nonsense.

Like all stereotypes there is truisms to be found in some of the observations.

For example, the anti-intellectual fervor among the political class, etc. And the metaphor of the bus and citizens is telling of how politicians think in general.

I am reminded that just recently a high level politician asked me if I was basing my book on research or the "real truth as known by politicians".

Her comment supports some of what he is saying.

But his analysis is paper thin. The relationship between the old order and the new slips through his thinking.

I think for example how De Beers has bought out the politicos with shares in Anglo American (their holding company).

De Beers is perhaps the most corrupt company in South Africa - and a historical cauldron of whiteness.

In effect, the political state has existed to keep the functions and interests of companies like De Beers intact - it is not peculiar to black states or Africans.

In effect, Prince Mashele’s thinking reminds me of the nonsense that Booker T. Washington peddled in the US - the notion that blacks must produce to be respected by whites.

It is the racial otherization thesis - blacks exist to live up to white achievement.

I don't think the Chinese or Japanese produce to win the respect of whites.

There is a distinct self-hatred apparent in his misguided bloat.

And bloat is what it is - there is hardly anything intellectual in what he is saying.

Strip the writing style and this is the usual kind of race-induced pessimism you will hear from any armchair across South Africa.

A further irony is that many whites of the old mentality will support his nonsense.

Peace to you my sista - by the way I have been reading your posts.

Very interesting and an entirely new area of thinking for me.

Thanks for writing.

Ridwan

cosmicyoruba said...

Wasalam Ridwan,

In effect, Prince Mashele’s thinking reminds me of the nonsense that Booker T. Washington peddled in the US - the notion that blacks must produce to be respected by whites.

This was what truly annoyed me about his piece. Why should we have to do something only so that white people can respect us? I wonder at his assertion that Chinese have gained respect from white people as well. Has he never heard of 'yellow peril'?