Multiculturalism

The belief that English is a “foreign” language, throttling India’s native languages, is dated and parochial.

The immediate concern of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain was narrow and practical, namely, how to deal with the discrimination and disadvantages to which ethnic minorities are subject in British society. The Commission was, however, led to ask large questions about the nature of British society, the best way to read its history, how to deepen its collective self-understanding so as to make it hospitable to the presence of ethnic minorities, the appropriate language to describe the contemporary state of race relations, the nature of racism, how to balance the demands of social cohesion with those of cultural differences and the limits of permissible diversity.

After the summer of recurring racial violence in Britain's northern towns there is a need to rethink the whole idea of multiculturalism as it has evolved over the past two decades. Of particular interest is the relationship between multiculturalism and economic neo-liberalism and a pressing issue is the plight of industrial underclass and the urban blight that ravages Britain's inner city areas.