British PM: Multiculturalism has failed

David Cameron’s remarks on West's policy draw fire from Muslim community

 

                                     

 

MUNICH, Germany — Prime Minister David Cameron, in a speech attended by world leaders, on Saturday criticized his country’s longstanding policy of multiculturalism, saying it was an outright failure and partly to blame for fostering Islamist extremism.

 

He said the U.K. needs a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to extremism.

 

"If we are to defeat this threat, I believe it's time to turn the page on the failed policies of the past," he told an international conference in Munich.

 

 “Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream,” Cameron said during a panel discussion attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong.”

 

He said the “hands-off tolerance” in Britain and other European nations has encouraged Muslims and other immigrant groups “to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream.”

 

Muslim groups in the U.K. quickly condemned the remarks. Among them was the Muslim Council of Britain, which receives government money for projects intended to combat extremism. The council said that the Muslim community was still being treated "as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution."

 

Many also criticized the timing of the speech, which took place on the day that members of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) held a rally in the ethnically mixed city of Luton to protest the spread of Islam in Britain.

 

Cameron did not mention the EDL, but a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, Sadiq Khan, accused him of "writing propaganda for the EDL," AFP reported.

 

Cameron’s remarks echoed statements made last year by Merkel last year, when she also called multiculturalism a failure.

 

© 2011 msnbc.com Reprints\


 

CAMERON’S THESIS: MULTICULTURALISM IS A FAILED POLICY è IT HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE A VISION OF SOCIETY TO WHICH THEY FEEL THEY WANT TO BELONG è THEREFORE IT IS PARTLY TO BLAME FOR FOSTERING ISLAMIST EXTREMISM. {{?}}

 

QUESTIONS:

 

1)      HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THE CLAIM THAT DEMOCRACY IS A FAILED POLICY  {?}è IT HAS FAILED BECAUSE PERSISTENT PATTERNS OF POVERTY ATTEST TO THE FACT THAT WESTERN SOCIETIES ARE BREEDING GROUNDS FOR ECONOMIC DISPARITY è THEREFORE IS PARTLY TO BLAME FOR FOSTERING ALL MANNER OF SOCIAL ILLS LIKE CRIME AND MENTAL ILLNESS.

 

è SO, WHILE CANADA IS PORTRAYED AND CHERISHES AN IMAGE AS A REMARKABLY EGALITARIAN “MIDDLE CLASS” SOCIETY THAT IS INTOLERANT OF EXTREMES IN POVERTY OR WEALTH è  ON CLOSER INSPECTION, CANADA’S REPUTATION AS EGALITARIAN AND TOLERANT IS TARNISHED BY GAPING LEVELS OF “INEQUALITY” BETWEEN THE “HAVES” AND THE “HAVE-NOTS.

 

2)      IF THIS IS A NORMAL UNDERSTANDING TO SEE DEMOCRACY AS A WORLD VIEW, WHY DO YOU THINK IT IS NOT FOR MULTICULURALISM?

 

[PEOPLE DO NOT TEND TO SAY “DEMOCRACY HAS FAILED IN SOCIETY” – RATHER – “A SOCIETY IS A FAILED DEMOCRACY”]

 

3)      IN ANALYSIS, HOW CAN WE DISTINGUISH POLITICS AND POLICY FROM  STRATEGIC PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION.

 

FOSTER ON STRATEGIC (HOLISTIC) 

AND OPERATIONAL (OR TACTICAL) PLANNING.

 

è STRATEGIC PLANNING  SHOULD DELINEATE  AND IMPLEMENT SOCIETY’S VISION AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES .

 

è OPERATIONAL PLANNING SHOULD PROVIDE TACTICAL, INSTITUTIONALLY SPECIFIC WAYS OF ACHIEVING MILESTONES – SHOULD ESTABLISH THE ACTIVITIES AND BUDGETS FOR EACH PART OF THE INSTITUTIONAL COORDINATES OF SOCIETY TO FULFILLTHE VISION

 

FOSTER’S THESIS: MULTICULTURALISM –  LIKE DEMOCRACY – IS A NAME FOR SOCIETY’S WORLDVIEW OR COLLECTIVE VISION, AND IT CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED THROUGH STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING.

 

THERE SHOULD BE A RECOGNIZED DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRITICIZING MULTICULTUALISM, AND CRITICIZING THE LEVEL OF COMPREHENSIVENESS, COHERENCE AND COMMITMENT TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION

 

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GERMANY/ UK VS. CANADA?

 

ANSWER: FOR US MULTICULTURALISM IS NOT SIMPLY A POLICY IT IS A HOLISTIC VISION (OF INCLUSIVENESS) è I.E., A FACT (OF LIFE), IDEOLOGY, POLICY, PRACTICE, A CRITICAL DISCOURSE, A SOCIAL MOVEMENT

 

LEVELS OF MEANING OF MULTICULTURALISM

As Fact

As Ideology

As Policy

As Practice

As Critical Discourse

Descriptive and empirical statement of what is [descriptive reality]

Prescriptive and projective statement of what ought to be in terms of ideas and ideals

Explicit government initiatives to foster social equality, cultural diversity, and national interests

Putting multicultural-ism into practice at two levels:

1) political

2) minority women and men

Challenge, resist, and transform the distribution of cultural power in society [institutional power-sharing between ethnoracial groups]

 

THESE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MULTICULTURALISM ALSO IMPLY DIFFERENT NOTIONS OF “INCLUSION”

1)               DESCRIPTIVE è INCLUDE CULTURES CONCRETELY/ PHYSICALLY [USUALLY THROUGH IMMIGRATION].

2)               PRESCRIPTIVE è INCLUDE CULTURES IDEOLOGICALLY AS AN OUGHT [USUALLY THROUGH BELIEF SYSTEMS]

3)               POLICY è INCLUDE CULTURES THROUGH LEGISLATED INITIATIVES

4)               PRACTICAL è INCLUDE DIVERSE MARGINALIZED AND MINORITY CULTURES IN THE STRUCTURES AND PRACTICES OF SOCIETY

5)               CRITICALLY è INCLUDE CULTURES BY TRANSFORMING THE ENTIRE SOCIETY ALONG POWER-SHARING LINES

 

 

CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM

CRITICAL MULTICULTUALISM EMPHASIZES THE PRINCIPLE THAT PEOPLE ARE FUNDAMENTALLY EQUAL, AND MAKES THIS THE BASIS FOR CHALLENGING HOW POWER AND PRIVILEGE ARE DISTRIBUTED AND HOW HISTORY AND LITERATURE ARE TAUGHT.

IS A COUNTER-HEGEMONIC PROJECT THAT SEEKS TO CHALLENGE SOCIAL AUTHORITY, RESIST WHITE HEGEMONY, AND TRANSFORM SOCIETY BY CREATING SPACE FOR OTHER CULTURES.

[LIFE COMPLEX == FINDING UNITY IN OUR DIFFERENCE]

[*IN ORDER TO DO THE ABOVE, “THE MULTICULTUALIST” HAS TO “INTERVENE IN THE STATUS QUO”]