tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post7664680809135703469..comments2023-10-27T07:50:27.411+01:00Comments on Next Left: Sorry, but it can't be multiculturalism that failed in France, NicolasTom Hampsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05917325958130851128noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-7214506251472893432011-02-11T11:50:27.668+00:002011-02-11T11:50:27.668+00:00This is a very good article. Thanks for writing i...This is a very good article. Thanks for writing it.<br /><br />From my point of view Multi-culturalism has been a clear improvement on the defensive, agressive monoculturalism we had before and which France to a degree still champions.<br /><br />However, that does not mean the multiculturalism we have had up until now cannot be improved on. You are right, we are mongrel nation as the phrase goes and that is important.<br /><br />The problem with multiculturalism comes when it reaches the point of effectively just setting up many little static monocultures next to each other. What we need is a multi-cultural acceptance of different cultures and backgrounds while simultaneously having a constant steady encouragement and pull towards integration and core liberal values. <br /><br />With the constant ebb and flow of people and society integration is not a state we reach but a process that must be constantly undergoing. And that means it must be an assumption in favour of that process occurring and integration.<br /><br />This requires simultaneously making space for people's on cultures and cultural institutions, whether language, food, awareness of ethnicity, religion etc, in the public sphere while also requiring those institutions to be gently promoting integration and those values.<br /><br />This integration can then happen naturally and at people's own pace, and with the knowledge they will always have institutions of their culture accessible, thus acting as half-way houses between full integration and cultural ghettoes.<br /><br />It is these two elements together at the same time, and a relaxation with that occurring, that will allow us to continue the successful process of integration that you have correctly identified as at the core of British identity.<br /><br />I am a Tory and a Conservative and I am happy to be a British patriot and Nationalist precisely because it is not a narrow ethnic/religious/cultural/linguistic notion. It is by definition a unionist identity of different peoples joining together to be greater together, but still with a natural and organic identity. First English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, Hugenots,Dutch, Germans, and then many others.Stephen Wigmorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15604582974059809054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-41367888359465754342011-02-11T09:35:12.340+00:002011-02-11T09:35:12.340+00:00I confess to being rather sad after reading your b...I confess to being rather sad after reading your blog entry. Your comment "... I am quite open to the argument that it is time to move on from multiculturalism. There has long been an important and sympathetic critique of the limits of multiculturalism, which has been crowded out of discussion as the mood darkened after 9/11 and 2005, even though it provides some of the foundations around which we could construct common ground, rather than argue over the meaning of words." leaves the door open to the accusation of racism.<br /><br />Now, I am not accusing you of being racist, but I do accuse you of naivete. If you truly believe that multiculturalism is on its last legs then you should think again. <br /><br />The world has grown smaller courtesy of faster travel and the internet. Muslims are no longer strange people who live miles away, but neighbours, colleagues and friends.<br /><br />Far from being extremists, nearly all are ordinary people, trying to scrape a living in tough times. <br /><br />Perhaps instead of decrying multiculturalism - a source of richness to all our communites, you should look as to how we should broaden our horizons to include all cultures.<br /><br />Read my blog at http://bit.ly/eLwJ9pTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04662388248618213315noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-25990798565680833202011-02-11T08:55:51.020+00:002011-02-11T08:55:51.020+00:00I think your absolutely right...maybe France and B...I think your absolutely right...maybe France and Britain should learn mandarin as there is no word for racist in China...then they will feel more multicultural!!CTFOAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13530178145464409531noreply@blogger.com