Multiculturalism

The word multiculturalism seems to come up in politics a bit at the minute. And I find it interesting because at the moment we’re constantly being told that it doesn’t work. Let’s start with a definition:

The presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.

Oxford languages

Now this mix of cultures or ethnic groups within a society has been going on for centuries and centuries. We’ve all been mixing for as long history has been recorded and nowadays we have more opportunity because our travel is quicker and easier and opportunities more plentiful. And just as in the olden days as now, the people who move from elsewhere and then to ‘our lands’ are sometimes welcomed and sometimes disgustingly labelled as ‘invaders.’ And this blog post isn’t really here to espouse the yays and the nays of immigration or multiculturalism, it’s really just about my confusion around the fact that there are some in politics who think it hasn’t worked. My examples of multiculturalism:

• Rishi Sunak – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom – the son to parents of Indian descent who immigrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s.
• Humza Yousaf – First Minister of Scotland – the son to parents of Pakistani descent who immigrated to Scotland in the 1960s.
• Vaughan Gething – First Minister of Wales – the son to a Welsh father and a Zambian mother. He was born in Zambia and moved to Wales when he was two years old.
• Sadiq Khan – Mayor of London – the son to parents of Pakistani descent who immigrated to Britain in the 1960s.

I’m not worried about the politics of the above gentlemen at this point, but you cannot tell me that multiculturalism doesn’t work when the four top politicians in Britain descend from immigrants who moved to Britain. There is no way that these gentlemen and their families and communities are not accepted AND they are then elected to these positions of power. It just doesn’t work.

What I can’t work out though is, why isn’t this celebrated more? Why aren’t we shouting this from the rooftops and using this as a way to infuse our politics and policies? Look at where you can end up, literally running the fucking country. Isn’t that marvellous? Why are we using those from other countries as boogey men? Multiculturalism has worked in the UK, can work in the UK and sees us all thrive. So please, the next time you’re encouraged to hate immigrants or told that cultures mixing doesn’t work, just stop and think and remember some of the high profile examples.

And on a side note and to break up the sausage fest, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly are women! It’s nothing to do with multiculturalism but I just thought I’d mention these ladies as the gents got a shout out.

PS – I try and get my news from multiple different sources and I try to find news outlets which include levity in their output because sometimes the news feels like wading through shit without any wellies on. One source is a daily email which takes about five minutes to read and tries to give a balanced outlook and includes something more light-hearted as well. I think it’s great. You can sign up here: https://www.theknowledge.com/

The Knowledge recently included a little nugget about retiring MP and former Prime Minister Theresa May that tickled me. When she was promoted to the Conservative front bench in 1999, she began receiving letters from enamoured young men who wrote that they had been watching her ‘on television for years, congratulations, good to see someone from that background getting into Parliament!’ It transpires that these rambunctious youngsters were confusing our Maidenhead field runner with Teresa May… a popular adult film star. Later on that year, both Mays went on GMTV together for a joint interview and enjoyed it so much, they went out for coffee after.