British Prime Minister David Cameron has opened the door on what is going to be one of the most heated international discussions into the future, that being constructing a British society with a strong national identity as opposed to the multicultural state it has been at least over the post-World War II period. "State multiculturalism has failed," said PM Cameron. In his statement on the weekend to a security conference in Munich, Germany, the British Prime Minister focused on radical and extremist Islamic groups in Britain which are alleged to be carrying out extremist activities. "We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our lues ... Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," said the British Prime Minister, clearly pointing fingers to the so-called "radical Islamic" groups said to be responsible for the perpetration of serious terrorist activities in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.
Mr Cameron then moved in one sweeping flow from what was clearly anti-terrorist condemnation and proposed solutions to a different kind of problem, social multiculturalism, some would say real multiculturalism, that being how should the United Kingdom construct a national identity out of the many peoples who now comprise that society. Perhaps the best response so far to the statement of Prime Minister Cameron came from chair of Britain's Equal and Human Rights Council, Trevor Phillips, who said the Prime Minister mixed up anti-terrorist statements with multiculturalism and integration aspirations.And that seems like a very fair and insightful comment. No one can, outside of those who have formed themselves to perpetrate terrorist activities on innocent people, in all honesty be against policies and actions which seek to guard against the very violent insurgency of such groups.
However, when it comes to building a multicultural society into a cohesive whole, the association with anti-terrorist activities is most inappropriate and a different matter all together and the real challenge for countries such as Britain.Increasingly over the last 40 years and more, the movement of peoples from their native countries to locations wide and far has grown with great intensity. Europe, North America, even traditionally homogenous societies in Asia, are being infiltrated with workers and migrants from under-developed parts of the world. Even certain societies in Africa have been host to migrant groups of business people pursuing investment opportunities. In equally enclosed oil-rich Arab states, seasonal and short-term contract workers are moving there in search of financial benefit. Former colonial powers such as France, Spain, Portugal and Germany have attracted workers from their former colonial outposts.In many of these countries, second and third generation children have grown up and are now asserting their place in the societies of their birth. In Britain, the oldest and perhaps most entrenched of colonial powers, the problems of integration and the achievement of a national identity are probably at their most acute.
And this is where the British Prime Minister's comment about creating a strong national identity out of the many cultures and peoples that exist in the UK is going to be a very challenging matter and one that is facing all the societies referred to above because of the movement of peoples.With regard to the national identity to be strived for in the UK, what is to be that identity? Will there be an attempt to revive some ancient, original British culture? Or will there be a careful consideration of the acculturation that has gone on in British society over the last five decades and from there will these social characteristic be fused into this new emergent culture? This is going to be the challenge for Britain and all of the societies and more mentioned above into the future.