Has Multicultualism Worked In The Uk?

[anotheoldgit]

Since the dawn of time multiculturalism has not worked in any country, how can Britain be any different?

[Samjenko]

No.

[andy-hughes]

I think the problem lies with politicians who love a buzz phrase, and then try and build a concept around it.

People will or will not live together if they can get on and accommodate each other - that has been the way the human race co-exists since there has been a human race.

What has happened with 'multi-culturalism' is that New Labour sniffed a right-on buzz phrase to make them look all fluffy and nice and inclusive, so they set about trying to build their utopia, and trumpet about results that simply did not exist.

If you have two people living in proximity who have different cultures, then you have 'multi-culturism' right there - calling it a fancy name and pouring money into nonsensical schemes and trying to force growth in something that is fundamentally organic, was always doomed to failure.

Cultures can co-exist, but that is of their choosing - you cannot force it on people and then say it works, when clearly, it doesn't.

[New Judge]

No it has not worked and no the UK cannot be any different.

Even that arch-leopard of the support of multiculturalism, one Trevor Phillips, has changed his spots. Unfortunately far too late; the damage is done and cannot be reversed.

[Khandro]

The word should be abolished because it doesn't exist. what we have is a creaking multi-racialism and that barely works either.
Some fools believe that because they have and Indian take-away in the high street that they are living a multi cultural existence, there's a bit more to it than that.

[Bigbad]

No.
The UK is a mess because of it, and even if the drawbridge was pulled up now, there are so many people with cultures, beliefs and attitudes so far removed from ours, I doubt we will ever recover.

[B00]

No- it's not working here in the UK anyway.

[Jackdaw33]

Some societies are monocultural and make no bones about. Imagine moving to Saudi, nipping down to the pub on a Friday night and chatting up the local talent. Then to atone you go to church on Sunday.

[anotheoldgit]

Well it seems that so far the answer is no, taking this into account, how can we see the UK of the future, will we see it divided into different into different zones (for want of a better word)?

[emmie]

as per my post on this subject, i believe we are heading for a fall some time in the future. I have worked alongside many people from all backgrounds and faiths, and we all got along mostly because of work. However once away from the work place there was little or no camaraderie, no invitations to each others homes, sad to say. I can't say whether multiculturalism has worked, but i see divisions now that weren't there 10 or 20 years ago.

[anotheoldgit]

allen

/// Look at the ancient civilisations like Rome, Athens, the Mediterranean ports - teeming, from all contemporary accounts, with peoples of many nations, many colours, all rubbing along together. ///

And didn't those ancient civilisations crumble in the end?

And take London which you also mentioned, like most of the UK's large cities, it is divided into separate ghettos.

[emmie]

London is at mixed as its possible to get, yes there are enclaves where there are high levels of immigrants, and maybe one day they will be assimilated into the society, who knows.

[andy-hughes]

I think 'ghetto' is seriously distorting the situation.

It is natural for people of cultures and languages other than the culture and language of the country they have moved to, to move into an area where others they understand live - with attendant advantages like food shops, entertainment, worship and so on.

That simply makes them areas where that culture has a present, that is not the same as making the area a 'ghetto'.

Where I live in Stoke, the area of Shelton has probably the largest concentration of ethnic minorities in the city. It also houses the majority of the huge student population in the city because the Staffordshire University campus is right in the middle of the area.

It is certainly not a 'ghetto' by any stretch of the imagination.

[Bigbad]

AOG you ask ”how can we see the UK of the future?”

Well, I’ll be wearing a niqab, you’ll be kneeling on a mat with your bum in the air, and we’ll all be pooing in a hole in the ground!

[mikey4444]

Bigbad....this rather spurious question rather depends on what you mean by multiculturalism. For most of us, Britain has changed, but what country in the world hasn't changed ?

For my part, I am glad that we have a mixture of cultures, and I believe Britain is a more vibrant nation as a result.

[mushroom25]

the UK isn't really "multicultural". if it was then a number of cultural aspects we find distasteful wouldn't be illegal (for that would be "culturalist" in a truly multicultural society).

if we are multicultural, why is FGM illegal? if we are multicultural, why is it that west african smokies and bushmeat are illegal? if we are multicultural, why isn't blasphemy (and the death penalty) legal?

[andy-hughes]

mushroom - I think the answer refers back to my initial post - the notion that 'multiculturlism' is a buzz word with a failed concept pegged to it.

in New Labour's pointless imaginings, multi-culturalism included all the bits of other cultures that we enjoy and appreciate - Caribbean food, Jamaican music, Indian fashions, Polish plumbing skills, and so on, but none of the 'inconvenient' bits that you mentioned.

That is why the concept was a joke from its inception to today - because it was dreamed up in the cloud cuckoo land of Westminster numpties who don't live in 'multicultural' areas, or even drive through them on the way to (white middle class) suburbia.

[kvalidir]

Yes multiculturalism has worked in the UK since Roman times and more lately since the huge influx of Europeans during the 19th century. If you look at the demographic you will see that for example in 1800 there were 6,000 Jews in the UK, just before the 2nd world war there were 400,000. People of a particular culture always initially live and work together for at least the first and often the second generation, that's normal, look at all the British immigrants ( sorry they call themselves expats don't they) in Spain and Portugal- they generally make zero effort to learn Spanish or Portuguese and club together so they can communicate easily and the same is often true of 1st generation immigrants here. There's no need to get hysterical about it at all, it's just normal human nature and it's gone on for centuries, here and abroad, and yes I like it, I have friends of all religions, races, creeds and colours, and we manage every week not to harm or insult each other, because being a violent moron is nothing to do with colour or ethnicity and everything to do with being a decent human being, so yes multi-culturalism works and will continue to do so. What does worry me is the right wing elements on our streets who appear to want it not to.

[mikey4444]

kvalidir...I think the rot set in when Julius Caesar popped over the channel in 55BC.....bloody foreigners with their dreadful foreign food !

What did the Romans ever do for us ?