“In theory…..”

In practice, multiculturalism is entirely different, and now, event he instigators of the ridiculous policy are having second thoughts, including the Polish immigrant who was the big cheese initially.

Why this piece, saying nothing we don’t already know, but merely rehashing stuff we have had forced on us for far too long, was written, is anyone’s guess. Probably essay writing practice for the student author. A good essay, certainly, but the subject is passé

We do celebrate our diversity; we do it on Harmony Day and money to promote and celebrate that particular day seems to be plundered from the dental care budget. For the other 364 days we are asked to smile widely at our own broadmindedness while some migrants tell us why our culture is so offensive. If we have any doubts about how vile we are we can read the hate literature being distributed at an Auburn bookstore. (An interesting question arises at this point: if we are so vile why do migrants come to our shores?) If we express concerns our REPRESENTATIVES tell us that little can be done about such material. The minister responsible is wheeled out and he palliates our concerns with his oleaginous charm and his speech is sure to contain a liberal use of the word tolerance.

If multiculturalism is such a winning policy why are some countries slow to implement it? For instance some African countries look very monocultural to the casual observer. As amateur historian Muammar Gaddafi tells us some African cultures pre-date Christ by 3000 years. Having made all the mistakes possible by now, wouldn’t a 3000-year-old culture have discovered the winning formula of multiculturalism? Do they know something we don’t?

We shouldn't just tolerate diversity, we should embrace it.

Anybody who has studied biology, ecololgy or agricultural science knows that monocultures are vulnerable. Lacking diversity they lack the checks and balances that a diverse culture will contribute. Thus, in agriculture, monocultural crops can only be supported via huge inputs of chemicals, for instance.

The parallel with human society should be obvious.

Inevitably, in nature as in society and in capitalism, one species or organism will try to become dominant, to serve their own interests. But their interest is blinkered, and inevitably unstable and short-lived if they do succeed.

The debate going on now about Muslims in Australia is a rather boring repeat of similar debates we had over immigration of Italians, Greeks and others in the 1960s and Asians in the 1980s and 90s.

Multiculturalism is a very vexed issue. As the UK has shown, large numbers of migrants tend to form separate communities and remain apart. Assimilation is a dirty word but it will need to be re-examined, carefully and probably painfully. Globalisation has accelerated population movement and my question is: "To what extent can a country persist encouraging migrants whose beliefs and practices are inimical to our own?" It is a counter-terrorism nightmare.

Lastly, "don't dare to be different" is about right. For over 40 years, I've suffered racial epithets which would be illegal and actionable had I come from anywhere than England!

Georgina, unfortunately the current leaders of most nation-states believe more in free trade than free people.

In the status quo, a shipload of wheat has more right to enter Iraq than does a boatload of refugees to leave it.

As long as our governments continue to belive that chattels have greater rights of movement than people, multiculturalism will continue to be viewed as a threat to society, not an enrichment of it.

What is really perplexing about the arguments against multiculturalism is that some go so far as to suggest that multiculuralism leads to the phenomenon of home-grown terrorism. Yet terrorists all share in common a dogmatically monocultural worldview, be they Al Qaeda, the IRA, Marxist revolutionaries, Hezbollah, Maoists, ETA or whatever...

...Not all monoculturalists are terrorists, but all terrorists are monoculturalists.

Leigh,

I'm intrigued! Who is the "Polish immigrant" who was the "big cheese" initially? You can't mean Kosciusko - wrong place, he helped out during the US War of Independence. Strzlecki? Wrong century. Can't have been Karol Wjotyla, can it? He was only here ever so briefly, and then as a visitor, not as a migrant. The early onset Oldtimer's disease must be getting at me, because I'm battling to think of anyone identifiably Polish in origin in Australian public life who was prominent in the bequeathing of 'multiculturalism' upon our body politic. Who do you mean?