The Latin American community in Tottenham Hale. London.
Cultural identity, multiculturalism
The Latin American Visibility
London is a city with an indelible immigration and multicultural history based on ethnic minorities and on a very marked tradition of social assistance and public health.
The "equality form", is the document used by London administration to identify the different ethnic minorities and implement the necessary actions, either in social assistance, infrastructure, education or health in accordance with the distribution and presence of these minorities in the different areas of the capital. This process is called the official recognition of ethnic minorities.
The equality forms are used in various sectors such as the job market, as an attachment to the CV (although it has created fervent debates on the issue of the positive discrimination) and also in healthcare sectors, among others.
Although gradually the Latin American community is beginning to be recognised, as is the case in Elephant & Castle, or through studies like the research of Cathy McIlwaine, Juan Camilo Cock and Brian Linneker by the university "Queen Mary": "No Longer Invisible ", the issue of recognition of the Latino presence in London is still a latent topic.
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The Latin American immigration, mostly economic, moves through a strong network of Latino residents in England, such as family or friends.
According to data collected in 2008 by the research "No Longer Invisible" (NLI), the first and only official compilation of existing data on the London Latino community, an estimated 113,500 Latin Americans are currently living in London, including regular and irregular immigrants and the so-called second generation. However the regulation of immigration status still remains an important issue for the community as it is estimated that 19% of London's Latin American population is undocumented.
The Latin American community also suffers one of the most pronounced problems of the capital: the overpopulation. Due to the high prices of houses, shared housing is a very common situation among this community that actually emphasizes the stereotype of the recent immigrant to the capital's style of life.
According to data from the NLI, the Latin American population is the migratory group that has grown the most since 2011 in the capital, with an estimated 61% of the 186 500 Latinos of UK, living in London.
Access to social and health services are another major issue of the Latin American community, only a fifth of the community has access to social care, in the same way that a fifth of the Latin American population has never been to public health.
Probably the lack of knowledge of English language influences greatly on those barriers that impact the Latino community, as is the case of irregular contracts in which basic rights to employees are denied.
As it is a rather a well established community in London since the seventies and eighties, the phenomenon of the second-generation immigrants, i_e the children of immigrants born in England, has increased considerably in recent years. Most of them, known as "British Latinos" have greatly improved the living standards of their predecessors and have British nationality, speak English and study, hoping to get away in the future of the vicious circle of basic and underpaid work.
However, as the NLI study denotes, a large percentage of the second generation's community has experienced some kind of racist discrimination which has pushed them closer to family and cultural ties.
The issue of the Latin American visibility in London is certainly slowly gathering more supporters, as is the case of Gordon Peters, candidate to the Green Party for Haringey's council elections in May 2014. He attended election hustings for the Green Party on issues of the Latin American community and agreed to press for inclusion on ethnic minorities register and for more and better translation services being accesible to people.
Peters acknowledges that " visibility is lacking in terms of recognition and awareness from authorities, service providers and media".
He adds that the resources offered by the Council have a great competition from the already recognised groups and it is the strongest local voices that are getting access to those services.
Although Peters does not believe that a strong cultural identity could cause maladjustment "as English society, certainly in London and urban areas, is very pluralist now and arguably has always been influenced by different incoming groups and voices."
In that sense, CLAUK, the Latin American coalition in the UK, highlighted to the candidates for Haringey's elections, the main needs of the Latino community in the area.
The inclusion of Latin American organisations as stakeholders in councils’ communication and engagement strategies was one of the main points of vindication regarding the council's administration.
Interview about the Latin American visibility with Carolina Velasquez, coordinator of LAWRS ( Latin Amerin Women Rights Services)
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While the official recognition of the Latin American community in north London by the authorities would entail an open access to a variety of social services for this community, is the community itself through its close cultural ties and due to the lack of facilities that encloses itself in a dynamic in which the identity and maintenance of their culture acts as a preservation mechanism to English society.
Perhaps the answer lies in expanding both perspectives, starting by processing the recognition of Latin American presence in north London and expanding and sharing, on the other hand, the contributions of the Latino community with the other local communities.
In that sense, a hopeful example is the district of Elephant & Castle in south London. A neighborhood with a very marked Latin character that has managed recently to be officially recognised and obtain funding from the council to undertake a process of urban regeneration in which they aim to emphasise the yards' Latino image transforming it into "Latin Elephant".
On the other hand the "Carnaval del Pueblo", considered one of the largest Latin American festivals in Europe, held in London each year during the first week of August in the vicinity of Elephant & Castle, shows undoubtedly the ability of the Latin American community in London to demonstrate that they still have much more to share.