European Multiculturalism Revisited

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. European Multiculturalism RevisitedBy Alessandro SiljZed Books LtdCopyright © 2010 EthnobarometerAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-84813-561-1ContentsAcknowledgements, vii, Introduction Alessandro Silj, 1, 1 Progressive multiculturalism: the British experience Maleiha Malik, 11, 2 Crisis and new challenges? French republicanism featuring multiculturalism Valérie Amiraux, 65, 3 The German Sonderweg: multiculturalism as 'racism with a distance' Stephan Lanz, 105, 4 Multiculturalism in Italy: the missing model Stefano Allievi, 147, 5 'Making room': encompassing diversity in Denmark Tina Gudrun Jensen, 181, 6 Assimilation by conviction or by coercion? Integration policies in the Netherlands Thijl Sunier, 214, Conclusion Mistaken models of integration? A critical perspective on the crisis of multiculturalism in Europe Christophe Bertossi, 235, About the contributors, 252, Index, 255, CHAPTER 1Progressive multiculturalism: the British experienceMaleiha MalikIt is precisely because the 'multiculturalism' debate touches on issues that are of profound importance to all British citizens, and not only a small group of minorities, that it is often so heated and politically charged. The public debate about multiculturalism acts as a form of 'symptomatic politics'. As well as raising issues about minority integration, it frequently masks anxieties and confusion about the public identity of all British citizens. Within this form of 'symptomatic politics' controversy over historical events such as slavery takes on a particular significance because acts of 'national remembrance' are not solely about the past; they are also a vital public discourse in the present that allows individuals to form their identity as public citizens in the here and now. This chapter sets out an overview of the British model of multiculturalism. In the first section I set out some of the distinctive features of the 'multiculturalism' as compared with other models for integrating minorities. In the second section I set out a historical overview of the British response to the challenge of integrating minorities. I then move on to an evaluation of British multiculturalism: why is it perceived to have failed; has it failed or succeeded; what risks does it pose; what are its weaknesses?Multiculturalism as a model for minority integrationWhat are British values? What are the norms into which minorities are being asked to integrate? These issues are often neglected in an analysis of multiculturalism in favour of a focus on the beliefs and conduct of minorities. This issue is often a hidden assumption in debates about minority integration but it becomes more prominent where multiculturalism is proposed as a model for integration. In addition, a number of other criteria are relevant to issues of minority integration. One broad categorization is the contrast between separation, assimilation and integration. More specifically, other 'markers' of integration include, inter alia: social and economic mobility, geographical dispersal, social assimilation and cultural distinctiveness. Racism in the form of anti-Semitism against British Jews and anti-Catholic discrimination is relevant to understanding the treatment of British minorities before the twentieth century.Different models of integration give weight to different aspects of these criteria. For example, models of integration that assume that assimilation is an appropriate goal will problematize cultural distinctiveness, unlike more pluralist models that seek some accommodation of cultural difference. However, there are dangers in describing the debate in terms of a clash of models, such as 'British multiculturalism' versus 'French integration'. Such a reductionist analysis underestimates the complexity of terms such as 'multiculturalism', which have, as set out below, a variety of different meanings. This stark contrast also distorts the way in which a model that has