Editorial
Identities and multiculturalism
During the second half of the 20th century, liberal democracies of Western Europe became multicultural societies. In a way, they chose to become that: they called immigrant workers when they needed them, took in political refugees of all kinds and from all types of countries (partly because they had a guilty conscience). But these democracies never doubted that immigrants would naturally and spontaneously adapt to them. Tolerance would breed tolerance, natural harmony would install itself naturally, and in less than two generations, the people that had newly arrived would have become “common” citizens. The philosophy of the Lumières, on which all liberal democracies rely, believed in universal human rights and in human rationality. A Dutch citizen, a French one, or a British one had rights and obligations as citizens, whatever their colour, their religion or their gender. With such a philosophy in mind, European societies could accept successive wave of migrants coming from all over the world without fear.
The wake-up call was hard. The attacks in New-York, Madrid and London were partly carried out by citizens of Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, and America. Theo Van Gogh’s murderer, Mohamed Baiyeri, was a Dutch citizen. The model of spontaneous integration appeared to be flawed, at least for Muslim populations.
Unfortunately, this integration model is the only one there is. There could be marginal ameliorations, but they would raise questions such as: should the wives of immigrants be forced to take language lessons? Should candidates for naturalisation have to take history and public-spiritedness lessons? Should religious people who cannot speak the country’s national language be refused? Basically, liberal democracies cannot change their integration model for their Muslim population unless they start ignoring centuries of their past history.
Nevertheless, tribal identities remain strong. Try asking an English hooligan what he thinks of the philosophy of the Lumières! If the Lumières were a big step for civilisation, they are quite a recent ideal compared to more ancient systems, which are more tribal and instinctive. Actually, the world we live in is far from being a utopia of tolerance, equality and humanism. Although banished by the humanist ideal and condemned by law, racism remains a reality which causes discrimination and uneasiness amongst immigrated populations.
Therefore the challenge is huge. The fact that all immigrants possess two identities (that of their homeland, and that of the land that welcomes them) does not simplify matters. When both countries are in peace, the immigrant does not suffer from an identity conflict. But when they have antagonistic relations, the immigrant can feel distraught. European Muslims are particularly vulnerable in this regard, since most of the time they have a treble or even a quadruple identity: for example, they can be French, Algerian, Arab and Muslim at the same time. That is a lot.
All the same, a person with multiple identities is not necessarily bad-off (i.e. the Swiss) as long as the citizen does not forget its individuality, and that of others. Confusion is what causes conflict.
-- Victoria Curzon Price
President of Cermam
Translated into English by Marguerite Cornu, Research Assistant trainee
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/editorial/identities_and_multiculturalis_1/
- Publié le 29 May 2007