Like it or not, global travel is breaking down human demes. Races are no longer separated by mountain, sea or desert into homogenous groups. The world has become a small place and travel is easy. Societies are now increasingly multiethnic. This is a trend that I can see progressing.
This displeases a number of people who worry about their ‘racial purity’ and culture. Their fear is that they will lose their identity in a sea of immigration.
They want to stem this tide and hold back the future.
I see this as rather Canuteish. You can’t hold back the tides of history. Change is what there is.
We either fight it or embrace it.
I would like to see a country establishing its overall identity as an umbrella ethos – a kind of mission statement – and embracing the many diverse cultures under that ethos, valuing the positive cultural attributes they bring with them and going forward as an enriched nation.
So, under British values, I would say that if you choose to come to live in this country you speak English, accept the rule of law, value tolerance, freedom and democracy and divorce religion from politics.
We then afford you, as citizens, the freedom to believe in what you like and live how you like within the law of the land.
I would like the society to value the differences and recognise them while still maintaining our own dominant customs, beliefs and practices.
That to me is a positive way forward and something to work towards. It is an enrichment and a path to future harmony.
I fail to see the alternative. I can understand the fears of those who see mass immigration as a real threat. But realistically you can build all the walls you like but you are never going to hold back the tide of history. The future is not homogenous cultures, it is multiethnic societies. To attempt to separate, segregate and subdue merely causes racial tension, radicalisation, violence, hatred and division – precisely what we are seeing.
Simply – it is too late. The populations of our countries are already multiethnic. We either adopt integration and multicultural approaches or we vainly try for exclusion, segregation, suppression, racism, xenophobia and division.
I’m for embracing the future and integrating.