Australia, Wake up Australia, Multiculturalism Is A Failure

Wake up Australia,  Multiculturalism Is A Failure...

Over an extraordinary nine months, the leaders of Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany and France have declared that multiculturalism is a failure.

Countries in Europe are finding different ways to deal with the explosive issue of multiculturalism and assimilation.

The author of Immigrant Nations, Paul Scheffer is a professor of urban sociology at the University of Amsterdam. Scheffer supports ethnic diversity, but not multiculturalism.

Asked if Australia should abandon multiculturalism, Scheffer is clear in his position.

“Absolutely. I think it is the wrong the philosophy. It is the philosophy of avoidance.”

According to Scheffer "multiculturalism always talks about the discriminations of the majority, and they're there, in the discrimination of the labour market, and so on. But there is also plenty of prejudice within the minority communities."

For Scheffer, the problem with multiculturalism is that he feels it does not address the issue of practicality. "How are we going to live together? That's exactly the question multiculturalism doesn't ask, because multiculturalism is the anti-philosophy of avoidance, of living next to each other but not with each other."

On the other end of the spectrum is Greg Sheridan, a senior journalist at the Australian newspaper. Sheridan has visited Europe and written on multiculturalism, and says he supports large and diverse immigration.

"I think the word ‘multicultural’ has become divisive, useless, and more trouble than it's worth. Most of the reference we've had to multiculturalism now comes out of the European experience, which has been catastrophic."

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that "under the doctrine of ‘state multiculturalism’, we've encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other, and apart from the mainstream."

England’s Prime Minister has joined the chorus of condemnation, alongside Germany’s Angela Merkel, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Dutch leaders.

"The multicultural approach - living side by side, and being happy with each other - this approach has failed utterly," said Angela Merkel.

Among the options being considered and put in place are: tying welfare to language skills; making it tougher to bring out family members; restricting welfare entitlements; and points testing on culture and integration. France has also banned the Burqa, and Holland’s planned ban comes into force on January 1, 2013.

"It's hard to generalise about these measures, but a number of them I think are quite reasonable,” said Sheridan.

“I think the actions the French have taken are quite reasonable. I wouldn't remove benefits from someone because they can't speak the language, but I would encourage people to learn the language."

Alp Mehmet is a former diplomat, who was born in Cyprus and immigrated to England with his parents when he was eight years old. According to him "multiculturalism can't possibly be a device for integrating people. It has the opposite effect.

“If you're encouraging people to retain their own language, their own background, without actually becoming a part of a society that they've joined, of course you're keeping them separate to what is going on around them. And that's where the difficulty lies."

Alp Mehmet is now co-chairman of Migration Watch UK, a not-for-profit research group calling for Britain to slow down immigration before its economy stalls.

"Looking at it from a British point of view, of course it's a statement of fact that there are a lot of cultures and people from different ethnic backgrounds in this country. A lot of them have come here quite properly, legally, and they have a right to be here. No one's questioning that.

“What we're questioning is the rate and the numbers, the pace at which it's happening. That is what is a problem at the moment."

Why multiculturalism and why now? Critics say it's a diversion from the real, financial crisis that Europe is facing. After the second €100 billion bailout of Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland are all teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and the Euro zone is in danger of collapse.

This has led Britons, like many Australians, to ask the questions:

-  'who are we?
And -  ‘where do we draw the line?'