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When We Dreamt up the Idea of Soliciting a Wide Foreword Jonathan Dimbleby hen we dreamt up the idea of soliciting a wide national and international scale that they have man- Wrange of essays to promote VSO’s Cultural aged to achieve in their own lives. Again and again, in Breakthrough campaign, I was enthusiastic but niggled different ways, they demonstrate the important truth by doubts. Would any of our wish-list of contributors that, while no culture can claim ‘superiority’ over any really find the time to respond to my entreaties, other, human rights are indivisible. let alone the energy to deliver? Would they find it They also illuminate the frustrating paradox that, as in themselves to share intensely personal experiences communications have made the world smaller and and insights? Would they be tempted to offer more accessible, mutual understanding and tolerance f o rmulaic homilies – well-meaning but term i n a l l y is in alarming decline. Yet, they also remind us that with bland? Alternatively, would they be tempted to use a little imagination and curiosity it is remarkably easy our platform to indulge a public rant about what David and very rewarding to break through the barriers to Blunkett, in his contribution, refers to as “the real make this vital contact. challenge of the new century”? For me three things shine through what they have As it was, to my relief and delight, our wish-list written: the glorious, if often ludicrous, complexity of became the real list. And not only have our contribu- our species, which has to discover better ways of tors delivered, they have done so in a manner and with sharing this fragile and crowded planet to mutual a commitment that went way beyond what we might advantage; that pessimism need have no place in the have hoped or expected. I am hugely grateful to them dialogue that this vital adventure in human relations for demonstrating that it is invariably the busiest entails; and that honesty and generosity must replace people who somehow manage to make the space fear and rage in this mortal challenge, for Auden’s stark for something that matters – and do so for no financial comment is as true now as it was in 1939: “We must gain either. love one another or die.” If I am right, then you will They come from a variety of backgrounds, cultures share my gratitude to our contributors for the time and and races, which infuse their differing perspectives the trouble they have taken in this cause. and priorities. The combined effect is to pinpoint, th r ough their own defining moments, the urgent need Jonathan Dimbleby, Broadcaster and for the kind of cultural brea k t h r oughs on the communal, President of VSO. Cherishing diversity Bhikhu Parek h ike all other Western countries, Britain today is a and even banned. Forced or pressurised assimilation, Lmulticultural society. It includes several culturally however, is an altogether different matter. It is oppres- self-conscious and more or less well-organised sive and illiberal and violates a community’s right to communities, which entertain and live by divergent preserve its cultural identity within acceptable moral systems of values, beliefs and practices. These limits. It is also counterproductive. As we know from communities include post-war Asian and Afro - experience and re s e a rch, when a community is Caribbean immigrants, long-established but dispersed subjected to assimilationist pressure, it develops moral communities such as the Jews and the Irish, and panic, builds up a siege mentality, turns inwards, territorially concentrated communities such as the discourages dissent, and arrests the inescapable Scots and the Welsh. The fact that British people like process of internal change. to choose their own lifestyles, experiment with different The assimilationist pres s u r e is also self-contradictory. cultural practices, and thereby give rise to different By and large its advocates have commended the Asian subcultures also adds to Britain’s cultural diversity. community for its enterprise, hard work, family life, This cultural diversity is unlikely to disappear in the respect for law, the will to succeed, the spirit of self- fo r eseeable future – indeed, the opposite is the case. The help, and peaceful conduct – all made possible by its co u n t r y will continue to need new immigrants for years to cultural resources, cohesiveness and the communal come, about a quarter of a million during the next five spirit. One cannot cherish its strengths and undermine years alone according to the latest estimate. It will also the very conditions that make these possible. Once its have to admit asylum seekers because of its interna t i o n - distinctive identity and communal basis are under- al obligations, albeit at a reduced rate. Thanks to the free mined or rudely shaken, as they would be under the movement of people within the European Union, new assimilationist pressure, its widely admired virtues gr oups of people will continue to arrive. And there is no could easily evaporate. Indeed, there is ample saying what new choices of lifestyles and subcultures evidence to show that many Asian children growing up our own people will make in the future. in non-Asian areas, or taught in overzealous assimila- Some people resent this cultural diversity. They find tionist schools, are deeply confused, insecure, tense, it morally and emotionally troubling and a threat to their anxious, ashamed of their past – including their identity. They do not know how to cope with it, and p a rents, lack resilience and self-confidence, and seek ways of reducing and even eliminating it. They display disturbing patterns of thought, feeling and argue that gays, lesbians, and others of ‘unusual’ behaviour. Many of them show poor academic results, sexual orientation should be suitably re-educated; or pay an unacceptably high moral and emotional price young people should be taught to follow traditional for their achievements. Indeed if we are not careful, the values and forms of behaviour; and immigrants Asian bubble might soon burst. and other cultural communities should be vigorously Su p p r essing cultural diversity is not only unworkable, assimilated into the national culture. This is a illiberal and counterproductive, it is also undesirable misconceived response to cultural diversity. It is both morally and culturally. Cultural diversity is a great simply not workable in a liberal society that rightly human good. Since human capacities and values cherishes individual freedom. Traditional values cannot conflict, every culture realises a limited range of them be revived in the vastly different world of today, and and neglects, marginalises and suppresses others. many of them, such as gender inequality, deference to However rich it might be, no culture embodies all that authority and unquestioned conformity with traditions, is valuable in human life and develops the full range of are not worth reviving anyway. human possibilities. Different cultures thus correct and As for assimilating different cultures, individuals complement each other, expand each other’s horizon should of course be free to break away from their of thought, and alert each other to new forms of human communities and embrace the majority culture if they fulfilment. Cultural diversity is also an important condi- choose to do so. And practices that violate basic tion of human freedom. Unless human beings are able human values and those deeply cherished by British to step out of their culture, they remain imprisoned society, such as forced marriages, polygamy and within it and tend to absolutise it, imagining it to be the female circumcision, should certainly be discouraged only natural and self-evident way to understand and organise human life. And they cannot step out of their deepest tensions – its capacity for self-deception, its culture unless they have access to others. vulnerability, its tenderness and toughness, and the The diversity of cultures also alerts us to that within fascinating interplay between its kind and cruel, and our own. Used to seeing differences between cultures, generous and mean impulses. As an outsider, he sees we tend to look for them within our own and learn things in the English character and society that the to do them justice. We appreciate that our culture is English cannot, and deepens their self-understanding. a product of different influences, contains different What creative writers do at a sophisticated level, strands of thought, and is open to different interpreta- ord i n a r y men and women do in their daily encounters. An tions. This makes us suspicious of all attempts to Indian colleague who was taking invasive pictures at a homogenise and impose on it a simplified and singular religious ceremony was gently asked by an English friend identity. It also encourages an internal dialogue within if that was a common practice in India and did not offe n d the culture, creates a space for critical and independ- the feelings of the gathering. The Indian and his friends ent thought, and nurtures its experimental vitality. got the message and behaved better on future A multicultural society creates a climate in which occasions. When a white colleague died, an Afro- different cultures can engage in a mutually beneficial Caribbean asked their common white friend to join him dialogue. In Britain a creative interplay between differ- in calling on the widow. His friend reluctantly agreed, and ent musical, culinary, literary and artistic traditions has was pleasantly surprised by her welcome and warmt h , resulted in several exciting developments and opened ap p r eciating that the common and largely unquestioned up many new areas of exploration and research. Take, English practice of leaving the bereaved alone could do for example, the English language.
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