Can interculturalism succeed where multiculturalism has failed?
Comments from German Chancellor Merkel, British Prime Minister Cameron and former French President Sarkozy pointing to the failures of multiculturalism, were high-profile testimonies to native worries about the existence of parallel communities, the rejection by some minorities of ‘European values’ and the presence of “home-grown” terrorists
In a new Council of Europe video, Oxford University’s Professor of European Studies Timothy Garton-Ash, adds his voice to the criticism of multiculturalism.
“In some British cities, multiculturalism meant a retreat from the basic fundamental principles of a free and open society,” he says.
The British writer and broadcaster Keenan Malik goes further.
He describes multi-culturalism as a political process “the aim of which is to manage and institutionalize diversity by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes, defining individual needs and rights by virtue of the boxes into which people are put, and using those boxes to shape public policy.
“It is a case, not for open borders and minds, but for the policing of borders, whether physical, cultural or imaginative.”
With multiculturalism in the political crosshairs, the way is now open for a new approach to the integration of people from different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. Full article
Source: New Europe
Tags: city, Europe, intercultural, Multiculturalism
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