Multiculturalism: a failure or an expensive sociopolitical phenomenon for the 21 Century?

[Bonnie Urciuoli]

My personal response is they're talking to their voters.  Given that they
are all politicians, why would we assume they have any form of nuanced
understanding of the various historical and social inequalities that lead to
the complexities that they blithely refer to as multiculturalism?

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 1:24 AM, Balosa, David <balosa at lasalle.edu> wrote:

>                              Multiculturalism: a failure or an expensive
> sociopolitical phenomenon for the 21 Century?
>
>
> The French president Nicolas Sarkozy declares multiculturalism "a failure".
> Also some world leaders such as the German Chancellor, The British Prime
> minister, former Spanish prime minister, and the Australia's former prime
> minister share President Sarkozy's opinion. As a response to these  world
> leaders' assessment of  multiculturalism, no matter what your stand on
>  multiculturalism is, would you agree with them or not?  I would rather make
> an assumption that the international community may have miscalculated the
> cost of multiculturalism accommodation rather than calling it  a failure.
> Here goes their expressions on multiculturalism as reported by French 24 TV
> channel news on February 10, 2011.
>
> AFP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday declared that
> multiculturalism had failed, joining a growing number of world leaders or
> ex-leaders who have condemned it.
>
> "We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was
> arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving
> him," he said in a television interview in which he declared the concept a
> "failure."
>
> British Prime Minister David Cameron last month pronounced his country's
> long-standing policy of multiculturalism a failure, calling for better
> integration of young Muslims to combat home-grown extremism.
>
> German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Australia's former prime minister John
> Howard and former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar have also in
> recent months said multicultural policies have not successfully integrated
> immigrants.
>
> Cultures contact as a phenomenon cannot be assessed in terms of failure or
> success,  but in terms of resources to accommodates all entities and
> identities involved.  Now, if these world leaders feel that multiculturalism
> has been a failure, do they think that globalization will be a success?
>
> I would like to read your reaction on these world leaders' assessment of
> multiculturalism.
>
> Please read the full story in the link bellow.
>
>
> http://mobile.france24.com/en/20110210-multiculturalism-failed-immigration-sarkozy-live-broadcast-tf1-france-public-questions
>
> David Balosa
> ESL & Literacy Instructor
> LaSalle University
> University Ministry & Service
> 215-224-1189
> 5218 N. Carlisle Street, Philadelphia, PA 19141
> balosa at lasalle.edu