Later today, in London, Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland will outline his view that Europe must embrace diversity as a key aspect of its deep security.
The concept is underlined in the Council of Europe’s report on diversity and freedom published last month.
In this podcast, a range of commentators, critics and experts discuss the current thinking on diversity and how to improve the relationship between Europe’s majority communities and ethnic and religious minorities.
The subject has been given added significance this year by declarations from Britain, France and Germany that multiculturalism has failed.
Author and journalist Gary Younge, social commentator Sunny Hundal and Pernille Kjeldgård, head of diversity at Copenhagen municipal authority, join the European Commission / Council of Europe Intercultural Cities project chief Irena Guidikova, to identify and discuss the challenges of Europe’s ‘post-multicultural’ future.
Attention focusses on the weaknesses of multiculturalism, the “dark faces in high places” pitfall of diversity and the prospect of interculturalism replacing multiculturalism as the dominant mindset for managing diversity.
Podcast: The Challenge Of Diversity
The Essential
Information: Intercultural Dialogue
Information: Governance and policies for diverse communities
Video: Minority Report
Podcast: The Last Rites For Multiculturalism?
Podcast: Europe’s Identity Crisis
News: Extremism On Rise In Italy
News: Group Of Eminent Persons publishes community relations report
I am a minority white person in a majority ethnic community who cannot afford to “white-fly” but if I could, I would. I live in Brent, where we have festivals in our local parks every summer for the various ethnic groups in our borough.
Having heard the “interculturalism” debates here, coloured with a so-called new wholistic language my view is that it is just “more of the same” – People are not food items…i.e: “curry” and “chinese” – what a silly comment to make!
As a white person, I get fithy stares from my neighbours when I show up to their festivals; I get pushed off the entrance of the bus and I get elbowed when I try to pass people in our narrow pavements. If I were to behave like that, I would be called a racist – why cannot we deal with the real issue here – the “ghetto” culture is just as much about the racism and prejudices of the local immigrant themselves.
Tackle the issue of prejudice and intolerance in the settled immigrant’s own mindset, and people generally can start to all feel better about themselves and their surrounding community.
Spreading immigrants more widely won’t solve anything, because it is just a more of the same solution. Ensuring mixed race public spaces … how can local councils ensure that there is a more even spread of ‘interculturalism’ in an area that is already a ‘ghetto’ and therefore it has values that are foreign to mine?
However well intended it all sounds, this still sounds to me as yet “more of the same plus better PR” not about real solutions to real people in real situations.
Multiculturalism cannot truly exist if nationalism constitutes the roots of the societies.This is very much the situation in Europe.Stereotypes and identifications were present in the pas as much as are today.I wish one day Europe would be a continent in which people doesn’t care where i come from.
Multiculturalism in Europe isnt dead because it never really existed. Paying lip service does not constitute multiculturalism. I would suggest looking at places like Australia where they have to a very large extent succeeded in making multiculturalism work – especially when you consider there are over 160 different cultures living in peace with each other.
@James
The indigenous of Australia live often very ‘problematic’ lives, do you want the same to happen to the indigenous people of countries like Germany, Poland or Italy?