'The hundreds of cars that have now been burnt in French streets are pyres that mark the passing of a French delusion - that the incantation of “liberté, egalité, fraternité” would somehow mask the realité of life for non-white French men and women: repression, discrimination, segregation.'
That's the verdict of Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, on the recent disturbances in France. The 'delusion' he refers to is that their model of citizenship is adequate to the challenging task of building a cohesive society. France has had an uncompromising policy on assimilation. It has never had any time for Britain's multi-cultural approach. Indeed, it is illegal in France to gather or hold any statistics on ethnicity or religion. Their concept of citizenship ignores both cultural origins and religious orientation. The result is that social fragmentation and segregation have been largely hidden - until now.
The vexed question of how best to bring together communities with multiple identities into one harmonious (though also, hopefully, challenging) society, with common values and commitments, is one that we've been asking ourselves here in Britain with a new urgency since July 7th. Before the Paris riots, some commentators had even voiced the opinion that France has got the answer and Britain has missed a trick.
But to assume the opposite would be dangerously complacent. What we really need to do is to turn the spotlight elsewhere. In a recent article Gary Younge said, 'the value of integration is contingent upon whom you are asking to integrate, what you are asking them to integrate into and on what basis you are asking them to do so.' He follows this up with the observation that, 'the racial group in Britain that has the hardest time integrating is white people'. A YouGov poll last year showed, apparently, that 83% of whites have no friends who are practising Muslims, while only 48% of non-white people do. It revealed that 94% of whites, compared with 47% of people from ethnic minorities, say most or all of their friends are white. As Younge concludes, 'There is no good reason why white people should go out of their way to befriend ethnic minorities. But the truth is some go out of their way not to.'
We have not done nearly enough to combat the racism and Islamophobia that hinder the appropriate integration of members of minority ethnic communities into mainstream British life. It's no good now blaming members of those communities for that. Instead, we need to look at what the powerful white majority are doing to promote inclusive citizenship - where diversity enriches, but commonality builds a sense that we need one another and belong together.
Alison Webster is Social Responsibility Adviser to the Diocese of Oxford
 |
Leave your comments on this item
More website comments