MUMBAI

Has multiculturalism failed Britain and other western nations?

Editor’s Choice Has multiculturalism failed Britain and other western nations?

By Nitin Mehta

October 8, 2023

There is a need for a uniform code of law, which overrides the outdated regressive cultural practices of any immigrant group.

LONDON

In a recent speech given in Washington, the British Home Secretary Suella Braverman made an unprecedented attack on multiculturalism. Let us first look at the definition of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is a concept by which all the different cultural or racial groups in a society have equal rights and opportunities, and none is ignored or regarded as unimportant. There is no compulsion to adapt to the ways of the country one has emigrated to. It makes no demands of the immigrant to integrate. According to Braverman, it is this dogma that has created a toxic environment that has caused huge problems in the Western countries. From the UK to France to Sweden, gang wars, drug trade, crime and riots are attributed to illegal immigrants or to people whom these countries welcomed. According to President Emmanuel Macron of France, half of all crimes are committed by illegal migrants. Sweden, a model Socialist nation where every citizen gets all the facilities to live life happily, is now rocked by gang violence made up of different immigrant groups. Italy too has similar problems. Braverman expressed the fear that the current level and pace of immigration can pose an existential threat to Britain. Net migration hit a record 606,000 in 2022. One in five babies were born to mothers born abroad. According to Braverman, 109,000 people have entered the UK on small boats crossing the Channel since 2018. It has cost the government £4 billion so far in taking care of these refugees. In 2022, 45,755 people entered the country on small boats. The government spends £8 million a day in accommodating these migrants. The UK will need an extra 213,000 secondary school places by 2026 to accommodate the additional number of children. Half of the demand for new housing in England is due to immigration. There are millions of people waiting to leave their countries and in an opinion poll around 40 million people have chosen Britain as a place where they would like to settle. How many Liberals who champion the cause of illegal migrants would take in any refugee in their home?

It is indeed brave of Braverman to speak out on this deeply sensitive issue. Her father came from Kenya and her mother from Mauritius. Braverman has been attacked by both the left and right wing media. How dare an immigrant child speak of curbing immigration they ask. The answer to that question is, why not? An English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish politician would not have spoken out on this issue for fear of being called a racist. There indeed is a need for a uniform code of law, which overrides the outdated regressive cultural practices of any immigrant group. The National Anthem should be sung in schools and other institutions. There should be a clampdown on politics of the countries from where the immigrants have come. The Western countries should have the right to deport individuals who organise violent protests and plan terrorist activities in the very country that has welcomed them. Immigrants and ethnic minorities can be unreasonable and violent and yet the left wing media and so called liberals find excuses for their behaviour. Unemployment, lack of opportunities and racism and in India›s case “Hindu nationalism” is used as an excuse for every misdeed of the minorities. Canada is a very good example of how Liberal policies which accommodate every wish of a minority can leave the country humiliated on the international stage.

The UK and other Western countries have given the migrants every opportunity to excel and our Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Braverman are a very good example of that. It is time to give back to the country which has given so much to the newcomers. We are entering a post Liberal era which is more realistic and practical. You cannot be in the society but not of the society. Any immigrant community or a minority must be loyal to the country that they have made their home.

Braverman rightly warns that unless these issues are resolved there is a danger of far right parties coming to power and that would be a catastrophe for migrants. The Indian diaspora generally and from East Africa particularly have an excellent record in integrating well in Western countries. They are high achievers, the most law abiding and loyal citizens. Like in so many things India provides an answer to, the best way of living in a new country. When the Parsi community arrived on the shores of India their leader was offered a glass of milk. The Parsi leader added sugar to it implying that they will mix just like milk mixes with sugar. The rest is history.

Nitin Mehta