Not long ago Britain was proud to proclaim itself a multicultural society in which all cultures were welcome and celebrated in their diversity. Whilst Britain might not be a perfect society, it felt it was managing its diversity a lot better than most other places. Then a series of seismic events came along - the northern milltown riots of 2001, 9/11, 7/7 – and Britain started to ask itself what multiculturalism really meant. The mood of skepticism was even voiced by the Commission for Racial Equality whose Chairman, Trevor Phillips proclaimed “We are sleepwalking our way to segregation. Britain must scrap multiculturalism”.
The talk now is of building greater integration and cohesion rather than in highlighting people’s difference. Does this mean that multiculturalism is a discredited failure or can it make a comeback as an idea? Is integration simply another word for assimilation? Is government trying to create a one-size-fits-all model of British citizenship under the pretext that diversity is a threat to our security? Are their any emerging alternative models which might take us beyond the current dispute?
Speakers
Munira Mirza will argue that multiculturalism is dead
Someone from the Respect Trust will make a defence of multiculturalism
Phil Wood will make the case for Interculturalism as a new model.
Munira Mirza is a writer and researcher on issues related to cultural policy and identity. She is co-author of the report Living Apart Together: British Muslims and the Paradox of Multiculturalism. She also edited the book Culture Vultures: Is UK arts policy damaging the arts? and in 2005 she presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary series, The Business of Race. She is a founding member of the Manifesto Club, a new organisation that aims to champion humanist politics in the 21st century. Originally from Oldham she is now based in east London.
Phil Wood has been a partner in Comedia since 2000. Prior to that he worked for Kirklees Council variously as a community development worker, assistant head of culture and director of the Creative Town Initiative. He is now directs Comedia’s Intercultural City project and is the co-author (with Charles Landry) of The Intercultural City: Planning for Diversity Advantage, to be published in December 2007. He has been an advisor to the government’s Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Council of Europe and British Council on cultural diversity issues.
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You might be interested, Munira Mirza has just published an article on Spiked:
Is modern art a left-wing conspiracy?
Munira Mirza picks apart the idea that all of Britain's arts bodies are stacked with pinkos generating propaganda for liberal causes.
You can find it at http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/4105/
I extracted the following text for Common Purpose participants on the Kirklees 2000 programme in advance of a day looking at Race and Culture. It comes from an article in the Daily Telegraph on 23 May 2000 by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, journalist and broadcaster, who was instrumental in opening up an honest debate in this country. She gave a moderately well attended lecture on the subject, at the University of Huddersfield in October 2003, where she was joined by Khalid Hussein, the then Chief Executive of Kirklees Race Equality Council and Professor Jim McAuley. In a way, it's refreshing to see that, on re-reading, it almost seems a little dated as a polemic, but equally worrying to reflect that the aspirations of her final sentence seem even more elusive than they were then - Victoria Minton
Why multiculturalism has failed
“We urgently need ties that bind – and multiculturalism isn’t delivering them. It risks building barriers between the different tribes that make up Britain today, rather than helping to create a new shared sense of Britishness…The English are understandably disgruntled that their ethnicity is denied while all other identities – Welsh, Scottish, Hindu, Caribbean and the rest – are celebrated. Young white kids celebrate Diwali in schools without any sense of how it links to their own identity.
…Talking to teenagers who have grown up with multiculturalism, I found that many young people – black, Asian, white and mixed race – are impatient with the whole ideology. They reject the traditional categories which multiculturalism tries to shoe-horn them into…Others felt that multiculturalism merely has pernicious effects. Some community leaders use it to justify human rights abuses in their own backyard. Police and social workers are often reluctant to intervene where they suspect domestic violence in case they are accused of racism.
…More than ever we need a national conversation about our collective identity. Diversity is an inescapable condition of modern life and respect for this is essential. That respect will have to apply to everyone, black and white. But respect for different ways of life cannot be allowed to destroy any sense that we live in the same country.
Once multiculturalism has been laid to rest, we can concentrate on developing a strong, diverse British identity rather than retreating into ever-smaller tribes.”
After Multicuturalism (Paperback)
by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (Author)
ISBN: 0953559882
This is a brilliant little book and ought to be compulsory reading for everyone engaged in the 'race relations industry' and promoting social integration. It challenges and provokes thought about many of the shibboleths that have built up around inter-community relations over the past 40-50 years. Hopefully it will help break through the stiffling barrier that 'political correctness' has created and which has prevented full, frank and proper consultation about how to create a socially cohesive, productive and happy British community. (Amazon review)
NB: if you search for this on Amazon, you have to key in the mis-spelt title as shown above, otherwise you won't find it - better to use the ISBN number
I am very interested in this topic. I lived in Malaysia for 22 years before returning to the UK this year. Malaysia is a multicultural society where all races live side by side. It has taken a lot of work by the government to encourage inter-racial mixing, but from what I can see you will never be able to have a truly multicultural society however hard you try....the mixing of the different cultures is difficult because some of them are based on religion and for some religions they frown upon even taking part or even attending something that they deem to be "not right"....if we can learn to live together and respect each others diversity we are doing a good job.
hi plz telme sum books on multiculturalism............i m doin a research on: is muticulturalism dead?......so any advice wud be appreciated.......!
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