‘Crude racism’ fueled by conservative rejection of multiculturalism, says Lord Parekh | Race

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The rejection of multiculturalism by successive governments has helped fuel “vulgar racism” of Azeem Rafiq’s genre, according to the lead author of a founding report.

Bhikhu Parekh, the former chairman of the Commission on the Future of Multiethnic Britain, said he was deeply disturbed by the testimony of the former cricketer. Lord Parekh’s report, released in 2000 as part of a commission established by the Runnymede Trust, shaped much of New Labor’s policy on multiculturalism, then Home Secretary Jack Straw , presenting it as “the most important contribution to the national debate on discrimination for many years”.

On Tuesday, Rafiq told the digital, culture, media and sport select committee that phrases like the P-word, “elephant washers” and “you a lot” were common and that players of color were commonplace. called “Kevin”. He added that at the age of 15 at Barnsley Cricket Club he had wine spilled down his throat, despite it going against his Muslim faith.

The testimony plunged English cricket into crisis.

Parekh, a Labor peer who served as president of the Academy of Social Sciences from 2003 to 2008, said: “What we are seeing is the crudest form of racism you can imagine. “

He added: “England has changed a lot because of the Asian presence and the black presence. Look at the music, the theater, the theater, the late-opening local shops, the family values, all of these things have changed British culture. And likewise, Asians have changed due to British culture. Those who do not want to accept it resort to this kind of vulgar racism.

Parekh was speaking 10 years after David Cameron’s first major speech as Prime Minister in 2011, in which he denounced multiculturalism. Her sentiments were echoed by Angela Merkel and other political leaders of the time, and constituted a major shift from the new Labor approach to diversity.

When asked if there was a link between people rejecting multiculturalism and theracist abuses of the kind suffered by Rafiq, Parekh replied that he thought so, but “not a direct link, because I can imagining that people are one but not the other I can easily see how easy it is to slip from one way of thinking to the other.

He said people attack multiculturalism without understanding what it means. “They took it in a very crude way to mean that every culture is self-sufficient. It cannot be criticized by standards drawn from another culture and each culture is therefore sacrosanct and beyond criticism; it therefore has certain rights which the State must give it. No one in their right mind has ever argued for this.

Parekh, who has written extensively on rethinking multiculturalism, added: “What we mean by multiculturalism is that no culture is perfect. Every culture is flawed, it has to learn from others and that is why we want to encourage dialogue between different cultures, where each can learn to be critical of itself and also learn from the treasures of other cultures. It is the process of mutual learning.

He criticized the government for failing to issue a strong statement attacking racism. “No firm lead was given in the race. You need a clear policy on promoting equality, combating discrimination and disadvantage. I do not see such a policy.

He said the government’s report on racial disparities in the UK, released earlier this year, was disappointing because it failed to address the root of many of the problems ethnic minorities face today. hui.

Parekh said that although he was a little surprised that racism continues to run rampant in different sections of society, “at the same time… the changes that have taken place over the past 20 years have been absolutely remarkable. Look at the number of MPs, not only from different ethnic minority groups, but also Muslims, Hindus and others.

He would not call Britain a racist society, he said, but a society trying to fight and conquer, with uneven success, the legacy of its imperial past.

On racial equality, he didn’t think the UK had backed down, “but it took a step and then stopped.” “I would say this country has made progress. But let us remember that this is a country that has been slowly, slowly drawn into the new world. And so you shouldn’t be too impatient.

The national conversation about the breed has grown tremendously over the past two decades, he said. “I think I will say that on the issue of race it is more widely recognized that it hurts people deeply, it is the worst form of treatment you can inflict on a human being.” It exists in Britain and it should be eliminated. I think it’s accepted. This was only accepted “reluctantly” 20 years ago, he added.

“This change is largely possible thanks to testimonies like that of Rafiq,” Parekh said. “For an issue to be the subject of public debate, there must be courageous actors who are willing to step out and talk about it.”

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