The multicultural society has failed

Those words from the title were made by some important European politicians, including Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, and were welcomed with a lot of controversy. Rightly so? I don't know, I hope to analyze this in the coming post.

What is a multicultural society?
I think it's important to first define what a multicultural society is, before we start judging it. I was looking around online for some definitions, and here are some interesting ones I found.

"A country where anyone is free to express their language, dress, food, religion, customs, etc without persecution - while at the same time learning the dominant language and living by the rule of law of the chosen country including the freedoms given to women and children as opposed to their culture."

and

"A multicultural society is a society, Group, school or organization where people of different races, cultures and religions live, work and communicate with each other in peace."  

and another one

"A society in which an observer can recognise several distinctive subcultures characterised by differences in some or all of dress, language, religion or spirituality, norms and values, prevalent sports, games and pastimes, family structure etc ~ with borders between the subcultures sufficiently porous for the observer to also be aware of transcultural activity, for example people from one group practising some of the choices and customs of another, and of metacultural activity i.e. the emergence of new forms and patterns arising from the blending of the prior subcultures (e.g. "Indie" music; e.g. English-language Tibetan Buddhism). 

Communication is essential for each group to understand the others, and the more substantial and accurate the communication the more likely inter-group relationships are to be characterised by harmony and co-operation rather than fear and suspicion."

So, if I take those definitions as a starting point, maybe I can try to make an analysis about how I see it.


Freedom to express their language, dress, food, religion,... without persecution
If this is one of the criteria for a multicultural society, I think we can already see some of the shortcomings. We hear so many prejudices that are based on racial matters every day:

• All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists
• All Americans are dumb, lazy and obese
• Al Jews are greedy
• All Irish are drunks
• ...

I think this aspect of the multicultural society has failed. Cultures, both native and foreign, are often judged and offended based on race, religion, etc...


A society in which you can observe and recognize distinctive subcultures
Here's one we succeeded I think. If you go to Antwerp for example, you could easily spot some orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, an Asian neighborhood, a Moroccan neighborhood, etc...



Being able to spot transcultural activity
We often go and eat some Italian pizza, Turkish kebab, Chinese nasi goreng, Japanese Sushi, etc... 
In our spare time we practice some Yoga which is part of the Hindu culture or do karate or judo. Smoking a middle-eastern hookah is gaining popularity around here, and so on...



Learning the dominant language of the chosen country
This one is up for discussion I think. Most immigrants I know know and/or learn Dutch or French, but I still think this is up for improvement.

Why is it so important to learn the language of a chosen country? The better we can communicate with each other, the better we can understand each other. If we understand each other better, it's easier to harmonize and co-operate.


Living by the rule of law by a chosen country
In some cultures, the law is based on religion while in some countries, Belgium for example, religion and the law is completely separated from each other.

For my, the latter is way better; it's more clear, more recent and not up for interpretation.
Religious laws are often based on very old texts, which often can be interpret in multiple ways. Extremist groups, like Sharia4Belgium for example, often abuse those religious laws for their own cause. Also, in some cultures, women don't have the same rights or earn the same respect as men do. This clashes with human rights.



I think this is a difficult one, but to me, if you choose to live in a specific country, you have to live by the rule of law in that country. Even if it clashes with your religious beliefs.
I know a lot of people from other cultures who don't have a problem with that, but unfortunately, extremists often drag the name of a whole religion or culture through the mud by disagreeing with it.

Not sure if the multicultural society failed or succeeded on this one. In general, I think it succeeded, though it's up for improvement.


Conclusion
Just the fact that the multicultural society causes so much discussion, is a bit of an indicator it has failed somewhat. I mean, if 'Living and working together in peace' is a criteria for a successful multicultural society, all the discussion and rising popularity for right-wing political parties indicate that a large group of people can't live in peace with those other cultures.

There are positive points where we can build on though, but there is work to do. I like the theory by David Pinto about this matter. I do agree immigrants are somewhat cuddled to death and think support should be a bit more limited, along with more citizenship courses. That way, people are forced to get integrated in the Flemish society which could only benefit both parties. Too often, you see other cultures sticking together very much, and closing themselves a bit towards other cultures because they can get all what they need within their own culture.
Grouping together and keeping hold of your own culture isn't a bad thing in itself, but if everyone, Flemish people and other cultures, open themselves a bit more towards each other, I think the society can greatly improve.

So, to conclude. I personally think the multicultural society hasn't succeeded (yet). By saying this, I don't claim it has failed though. You can only talk about success or failure if you see a finished product, and I think it's currently still a work in progress and could go either way.