Shilpa
Shetty will be long remembered for doing what the Commission for
Racial Equality and other institutions have been struggling to do -
put racism on top of Britain's public agenda.
The issue has been lurking around for some time but not under such
blinding media torchlight that "Celebrity Big Brother" show has come
under. The last time racism hit the headlines - but not to this
extent - was in 1999 when the inquiry into Afro-Caribbean teenager
Stephen Lawrence's murder called the police force "institutionally
racist".
For nearly two weeks now, old and new media - print, radio,
television, chatrooms, blogs - have been clogged with debates around
Jade Goody's unseemly conduct towards Bollywood actor Shilpa touched
a raw nerve in Britain's large non-white minority.
But large numbers of the white community have also voiced revulsion
over Goody's 'colorful' comments. Driven by political correctness or
not, almost everyone has rushed to proclaim their stand against
racism, right from Prime Minister Tony Blair downwards.
As the strong reaction shows, the Asian community in Britain is
remarkably networked. The many fissures within the community are
pushed into the background when faced with the curse of racism. The
vast majority of Asians who have born and brought up in Britain (and
new migrants) have at some point faced racism - overt or covert.
Of course, nobody believes that the Goody-Shilpa spat will overnight
change attitudes, despite the overwhelming majority voting to evict
Goody from the Big Brother house. But the show has indeed brought to
the surface how much remains to be done to weed out racism from
British society.
The Shilpa show also highlighted the economic strength of Britain's
Asian community - not only as consumers but also as wealth creators.
The strength of what is called the 'brown pound' has become more
important at a time when Indian investment has been flooding into
Britain and creating jobs.
Apart from the main sponsor Carphone Warehouse, companies whose
food, furniture and electrical goods are used in the Big Brother
house have asked for their products to be removed from the show.
These include Indian origin entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria's Cobra
Beer and United Biscuits.
There are already signs that the row is hastening ongoing official
measures to further strengthen Britain's multicultural mosaic.
Education secretary Alan Johnson has promised to overhaul
citizenship lessons in schools to dispel racist and ignorant
attitudes. Johnson's plans include discussions of core national
values such as fairness and mutual respect and debate about what "Britishness"
means. Children will also learn about the way immigrant groups
throughout history have forged the shape of the nation.
Johnson said: "The current debate over Big Brother has highlighted
the need to make sure our schools focus on the core British values
of justice and tolerance. We want the world to be talking about the
respect and understanding we give all cultures, not the ignorance
and bigotry shown on our TV screens.
"Britain is a nation built from and by people from other countries,
from the Romans and William the Conqueror right through modern
history. We owe a debt of gratitude to all the people that make up
Britain today: immigrants from Pakistan, India and the West Indies
have helped build our new welfare system and our public services,
particularly the NHS."
John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, said the row had exposed "an
ugly underbelly in society" and added that the furor had highlighted
how people "are only too ready to point the finger at the foreigner,
or those who might not fit in".
Meanwhile, Vanni Treves, a former chairman of Channel 4, has
expressed outrage at the Big Brother show, calling it a "grotesque
travesty" of what Channel 4 is supposed to be. He wants the show to
be taken off the air for good. Under the terms of the 2003
Communications Act, Channel 4 is expected to "demonstrate
innovation, experimentation and creativity, appeal to the tastes and
interests of a culturally diverse society and to include programmes
of an educational nature".
Although it is state-owned, the channel is self-financing. However,
because of its public service remit, it does not pay for access to
the analogue system through which it broadcasts. Rival channels,
including ITV and Five, do have to pay.
The row comes at a bad time for Channel 4, which wants government
money to help it fill a black hole caused by an expected drop in
advertising revenue.
Launched in 2000, Big Brother has been Channel 4's biggest
money-spinner, accounting for around seven percent of its 800
million pounds advertising income. The loss of the show would
deliver a major blow to the station whose profits slumped by two
thirds to 20 million pounds last year as a result of falling
advertising revenues and rising costs. Reports say that Channel 4
executives have already frozen their £600 million programme budget.
According to latest statistics, viewing figures for the show rose
sharply with audiences peaked at 8.8 million when host Davina McCall
interviewed Goody Friday night. Around 7.4 million watched Goody
leave the house earlier that evening - 40 percent of the total TV
audience.
(Prasun Sonwalkar is the Europe
Editor of IANS. He can be reached at
sprasun@yahoo.co.uk)
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Shilpa
Shetty will be long remembered for doing what the Commission for
Racial Equality and other institutions have been struggling to do -
put racism on top of Britain's public agenda.