20.12.2001
Multiculturalism
Fighting for assimilation
Last week the à¢â¬Ëcommunity cohesion reviewà¢â¬â¢ team, led by the former Nottingham city council chief executive, Ted Cantle, published its investigation into the so-called à¢â¬Ërace riotsà¢â¬â¢ which erupted last summer in Burnley, Oldham and Bradford.
This 79-page document, which was published simultaneously with two separate reports into the disturbances in Burnley and Oldham, makes 67 recommendations and in many ways could be viewed as an inchoate semi-critique of the dominant bourgeois, liberal ideology of multiculturalism - though never straying, of course, outside the safe parameters of bourgeois anti-racism. Indeed, this report ultimately aims to strengthen the official ideology, by highlighting some of the more obvious failures in its implementation.
So, in relatively frank language, the Cantle report of December 11 slams the police, central government, local media, à¢â¬Åinept councillorsà¢â¬Â and à¢â¬Åinward-looking Asian communitiesà¢â¬Â. Its overall conclusion is that separate places of worship, employment, housing and schooling means many communities à¢â¬Åoperate on the basis of parallel livesà¢â¬Â. In other words, multiculturalism is not working. The report calls for a à¢â¬Ånational debateà¢â¬Â on the whole concept of citizenship and what it means to be British in 2001.
No tiptoeing this time around sensitive subjects - that appears to be the central ethos of the Cantle report. More or less the same approach adopted recently by David Blunkett - who stirred up controversy with his comments lamenting the (supposed) inability of sections of the British-Asian community, particularly women, to speak English. Blunkett also condemned the practice of forced marriages and female circumcision (ie, female genital mutilation), demanding a national debate on à¢â¬Ëraceà¢â¬â¢.
Official society, it seems, is looking in the mirror and is not particularly happy with what it sees - hence the increasing tensions and strains amongst its supporters and ideologues. So Lady Uddin, a Labour peer who is one of the 10-strong Cantle review team, attacked Blunkett for his concentration on the need for British-Asians to speak better English, saying: à¢â¬ÅHis remarks sanction extremist rightwing groups to blame the riots on women who were not learning English or going into forced marriages.à¢â¬Â In a similar vein, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, Bill Morris, compared Blunkettà¢â¬â¢s comment to the views of far right politicians in Austria and Germany, stating: à¢â¬ÅThe BNP has taken comfort from Blunkettà¢â¬â¢s remarksà¢â¬Â - while The Socialist condemned à¢â¬ÅBlunkettà¢â¬â¢s à¢â¬Åcrass, racist comments about Britainà¢â¬â¢s ethnic minoritiesà¢â¬Â, which aim à¢â¬Åto blame the people forced to live in Britainà¢â¬â¢s poorest areas for the problems this causesà¢â¬Â (December 14).
True, emotive hyperbole aside, it is absurd to believe that the riots were somehow caused poor English language skills. Yes, some of Blunkettà¢â¬â¢s remarks were ignorant. But it is to seriously misunderstand the nature of bourgeois ideology to think - as Socialist Worker does - that his comments à¢â¬Åoozed a saloon bar racist à¢â¬Ëus and themà¢â¬â¢ attitudeà¢â¬Â (December 22). More like saloon bar anti-racism if anything.
Vikram Dodd in The Guardian of was also far from happy with Blunkett - perhaps concerned that the hard won consensus based around liberal anti-racism/multiculturalism was beginning to break down, if not come under threat à¢â¬Â¦ from the enemy within, as opposed to the enemy outside (ie, the British National Party). Hence Dodd writes: à¢â¬ÅThe Macpherson report into the Stephen Lawrence case identifies the need for a radical change across the whole of society to root out racism. That process of reform and of changing hearts and minds has been consistently undermined - deliberately and by stealth. While the Macpherson report was a wake-up call to white Britain to tackle its racism, Mr Blunkettà¢â¬â¢s contribution has, two-and-a-half years later, brought the wheel round full circle. Now for him the victimised are the problemà¢â¬Â (December 12).
It cannot be denied, however, that some aspects of the Cantle report touch upon the truth. Thus, it rightly attacks à¢â¬Åarea-based initiativesà¢â¬Â, in which councillors too often à¢â¬Ågive sweetheart deals with self-appointed and often unrepresentative community figuresà¢â¬Â - ie, the à¢â¬Ëcommunity centre syndromeà¢â¬â¢. First you start with the Bengali centre. Then you get the north Bengali centre - so that means of course that there has to be a south Bengali one, and so on. In the name of promoting multiculturalism, pluralism, diversity, etc you see the institutionalisation of à¢â¬Ëracialà¢â¬â¢ difference. Apartheid revisited.
That is why Socialist Worker is way off the mark when it claims that à¢â¬Åthe resultà¢â¬Â of multiculturalism has been à¢â¬Åoverwhelmingly positiveà¢â¬Â (December 22).
In general, according to the report, central government policy - going back decades - of pumping money into inner-city revival projects has only helped to exacerbate the problem. The system of area-based regeneration grants too often actually reinforced the separation of communities.
Not unwisely, the report worries about educational segregrationalism - one result of which is the growth of à¢â¬Åmonocultural schoolsà¢â¬Â and schools which still à¢â¬Årun a Eurocentric curriculum and offer pervasive christian worshipà¢â¬Â. Instead, all schools should be promoting and fostering an understanding of other cultures, beliefs, etc. From this we can see that it would be mistaken to describe the Cantle report as anti-multiculturalist à¢â¬Â¦ rather uneasy with its current direction.
Understandably, the report expresses anxiety about the role of faith schools, mooting the idea that at least 25% of their pupils should be taken from à¢â¬Åoutside the local dominant ethnic group of communityà¢â¬Â. This clearly sits uneasily with the Blairite line of recent years, which has been to push faith schools in the name of à¢â¬Ëpromoting excellenceà¢â¬â¢, with Estelle Morris, the schools minister, arguing that it is wrong to deny parents of non-christian religions the opportunity to send their children to a faith school in the state system (though - paradoxically - she also said faith schools should à¢â¬Åpromote inclusivenessà¢â¬Â. Talk about having your cake and eating it).
In the state sector, there are now 6,384 primary schools and 589 secondary schools which are denominational: 4,716 Anglican; 2110 catholic; 27 Methodist; 32 jewish; four muslim; two sikh, one Greek Orthodox and one Seventh Day Adventist. The muslim, sikh, Greek Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventist and five of the jewish schools have joined the state sector since 1997. Only four of them are new schools - the rest have joined from the independent sector.
In fact faith schools constitute another form of selection - their à¢â¬Ësuccessà¢â¬â¢ is mainly down to the fact that they take on fewer children with à¢â¬Ëspecial needsà¢â¬â¢. There is certainly a class bias. Figures show 17.6% of all primary school age children are entitled to free school meals; but only 16.1% in catholic schools, 11.5% in Anglican schools, 5.6% in Sikh schools and 4% in jewish schools.
However, all these things said, the overall thrust of the Cantle report is deeply reactionary (which is why it is rather unfortunate that Burnley SA has issued a statement welcoming it - see right). Indeed, its proposed à¢â¬Ëcuresà¢â¬â¢ are in the main worse than the disease. Take its recommendation that all faith schools should have at least a 25% intake of pupils from outside the à¢â¬Ëdominantà¢â¬â¢ ethnic-religious groups. That is, the Cantle report is calling for quotas. Any such system would be a bureaucratic nightmare - make no mistake. Would this mean that a school deep in the heart of middle England or the home counties would have to bus in, for example, British-Asian or Scottish kids in order to fulfil the quota? It surely does not take much imagination to envisage how this would actively create tensions and divisions, not alleviate them. So-called à¢â¬Ëracialà¢â¬â¢ identity would become supreme - for the anti-racist state bureaucrats and the children themselves.
More objectionable is the reportà¢â¬â¢s intended crusade to impart a new feeling of national belonging - we all need to learn to love queen and country. The report states that à¢â¬Åa meaningful concept of à¢â¬Ëcitizenshipà¢â¬â¢ needs establishing and championingà¢â¬Â - which is to be à¢â¬Åbased on a few common principles that are shared and observed by all sections of the communityà¢â¬Â. Suggestions for à¢â¬Åcommon elements of nationhoodà¢â¬Â include respect for the law, support for womenà¢â¬â¢s rights, respect for religious differences, etc.
Worst of all, in the opinion of the report, à¢â¬Åimmigrants should adopt norms of British life and speak better Englishà¢â¬Â. This logic leads directly to its prime recommendation - that a à¢â¬Ëloyalty testà¢â¬â¢ is required. This should take the form of a clear à¢â¬Åstatement of allegianceà¢â¬Â (or a US-style à¢â¬Åoath of allegianceà¢â¬Â) to the UK state. In order to get your British passport, you will have to demonstrate à¢â¬Åa clear primary loyalty to this nationà¢â¬Â.
What exactly are British à¢â¬Ånormsà¢â¬Â and values? The answer is obvious: the authors of the Cantle report want us to sign up to (and look up to) the à¢â¬Ëvaluesà¢â¬â¢ and ideology of official-establishment Britain - with its boundless myths and inventions. There is no room for our proletarian, progressive Britain - held together by the bond of class commonality. For Cantle, and others, it seems that the British-Asians in Oldham, Burnley, Bradford and elsewhere are not yet regarded as à¢â¬Ëproperlyà¢â¬â¢ British - not quite up to scratch, but with a nod - or kick - in the right direction, then maybe à¢â¬Â¦
What rot. If anything, the summer riots - or insurrection - by the British-Asian youth was an explosive reaffirmation of à¢â¬ËBritishnessà¢â¬â¢ against the combined forces of the National Front, British National Party, the Oldham Chronicle, Daily Telegraph, etc - which treat them as à¢â¬Ëoutsidersà¢â¬â¢. The British-Asian youth in these towns and cities, with their broad and distinctive accents, sound, and are, as British as Yorkshire pudding, and deeply resent being told that they are not. Quite right.
Cantle, Blunkett and co want forced assimilation from above. We communists, by contrast, want voluntary assimilation from below - with the eventually merging of all the peoples and nationalities of the world.
Eddie Ford