Is European Multiculturalism in Crisis?

International Debate

Samuel Alexander Theatre

University of Manchester

4-6pm, March 23rd, 2012

 

Speakers include: Nicolas Bancel (Université de Lausanne), Mary Dejevsky (The Independent), Jon Gower Davies (author and academic), Kenan Malik (writer, broadcaster), Tariq Modood (Bristol University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship) and Erik van Ree (University of Amsterdam) (see below for details)

Across Europe, public figures are questioning whether multiculturalism has a future as a policy for ensuring inter-ethnic cohesion. It has been criticized for encouraging separatist extremism, for undermining core national values, and for preventing immigrant cultures from integrating into their host communities. British Prime Minister, David Cameron, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy have all recently spoken out against the ‘damage’ that multiculturalism is doing to the social fabric of European nations. Recent controversies over religious symbols in public spaces, the deportation of gypsy communities, and the influx of refugees from North Africa seem to offer support for such a view. Moreover, the riots which took place in France in 2005, in Britain in August 2011, and in Russia in December 2010, have been attributed in part to failed state policies on inter-ethnic cohesion. Others argue that the assault on multiculturalism is driven by covert racism, that assimilationism (the French approach) has had no more success, that it is a crisis in neoliberalism which is the true cause of the conflicts, and that multicultural difference is here to stay. Each nation has interpreted multiculturalism differently (raising questions about the very meaning of the term) and each national context is distinct, but there has been little opportunity to compare, to distinguish and to learn from, the plurality of experiences, and to debate the issues on a trans-European basis. With a selection of prominent proponents of both sides of the argument from Europe’s Eastern and Western peripheries (Russia and the UK) this event makes space for just such a debate, and will thereby contribute to a better understanding of the various scenarios facing European societies, and of their likely consequences.

Nicolas Bancel is a historian and Professor at the University of Lausanne (on secondment from the University of Strasbourg). He has worked on the history of decolonisation in West Africa, the history of the colonial imaginary and of colonial practices in France, and the postcolonial status of contemporary France. He is currently working on the genesis of the scientific concept of ‘race’. His most recent publications and collaborations include: Ruptures postcoloniales. Les nouveaux visages de la société française (2010); Human Zoos. Science and Spectacle in the Age of Empire (2009), De l’Indochine à l’Algérie. La jeunesse en mouvement des deux côtés du miroir colonial, 1940-1962, (2009), and Culture coloniale en France. De la révolution française à nos jours, (2008).

Mary Dejevsky is a columnist and editorial writer at The Independent of London. A past correspondent in Moscow, Paris and Washington, and special correspondent in Germany, she contributes to several specialist and online publications, and broadcasts regularly on British and US radio and television. She writes many of the main editorials at The Independent and columns on a wide range of subjects, including foreign affairs, British politics, and the media. A Russia specialist by training, Mary is a member of the Valdai Group (invited since 2004 to meet Russian leaders each autumn), an honorary fellow at the University of Buckingham, and a member of Chatham House, the leading British foreign affairs think-tank.

Jon Gower Davies was born in North Wales, educated in Kenya, England and the USA and, on retirement, was Head of Religious Studies at the University of Newcastle. For twenty years an elected member of Newcastle City Council, he is the author of (most recently) four books on multiculturalism: Bonfires on the Ice: the multicultural harrying of Britain (2007); In Search of the Moderate Muslim (2009); A New Inquisition: religious persecution in Britain today (2010): and Small Corroding Words; the slighting of Great Britain by the EHRC (2011). “‘Multi’ culturalist is precisely what 'multi' culturalists are not. They are faction-philiacs, existing to promote themselves and their small imported cultures in an atmosphere of hostility to the host nation. While, since the end of World War Two, peoples have located their political life in nation-states, ‘multi’ culturalists busy themselves with corroding that system in precisely the nation-state in which they operate.”

Tariq Madood is Director of the Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol, UK. He is a regular contributor to the media and policy debates in Britain, was awarded an MBE for services to social sciences and ethnic relations in 2001 and was elected a member of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2004. His recent publications include Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea (2007) and Still Not Easy Being British: Struggles for a Multicultural Citizenship (2010); and as co-editor, Secularism, Religion and Multicultural Citizenship, (2009) Global Migration, Ethnicity and Britishness (2011) and European Multiculturalisms: Cultural, Religious and Ethnic Challenges (2011).

Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster. His main academic interests are in the history of ideas, moral and political philosophy, and the history and sociology of race and immigration. His last book, From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and its Legacy, was shortlisted for the 2010 Orwell Book Prize. Other books include Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate (2007), Man, Beast and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell us about Human Nature (2000), and The Meaning of Race (1996). His new book, on the history of moral thought, will be published next year. He is a writer and presenter on BBC Radio 4’s Analysis programme, and a panellist on The Moral Maze. An archive of his work can be found at www.kenanmalik.com.

Erik van Ree is assistant-professor at the East European department of the Institute for European Studies at the University of Amsterdam. His research interests mainly concern the history of Stalinism, communism and Marxism. He is author of numerous articles in academic journals and of several books, including The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin (RoutledgeCurzon 2002). He is a regular participant in debates in the Netherlands about issues concerning freedom (such as freedom of speech and the drug issue) and multiculturalism, liberalism and Islam. His articles on these issues have mainly appeared in the left-wing weekly De Groene Amsterdammer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS

• Official Project Launch

Thank-you to all of those who came to the official launch of the project, which took place on Tuesday May 17th from 4pm to 6pm at University Place, room 4.204.

As well as introducing the project aims and objectives, each memeber of the project team also spoke about how the work is going, and presented a few preliminary observations.

We were delighted to be able to welcome our specially invited guest Dr Elizabeth Teague, a Senior Analyst at the Russian Desk of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Elizabeth spoke about her work and her interest in the topics investigated by the project, particularly contemporary manifestations of nationalism in Russia.

The launch was open to the public and, after a brief question and answer session, discussions continued during the wine reception. Thanks to all who expressed such interest in the project

 

• Visit to BBC Monitoring

On Wednesday 20 April 2011 we travelled to Reading to visit the team of Russian media monitors and analysts working at BBC Monitoring, Caversham Park. We were made most welcome and spent a very enjoyable and productive day taking a tour of the site and speaking with people about their work. During the lunch hour, we gave a brief presentation outlining our research project, including some very preliminary observations made from our quantitative analysis of Russian daily news programmes and from our case study material on the December 2010 street violence in Manezhnaia Square, Moscow. Our audience was interested and knowledgable and the question and answer session provided some very useful feedback.