Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory [Paperback]

Multicultural societies face a formidable political task to turn racial, religious and tribal differences into strength. The problems in Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, the former USSR, problems with immigrants, in France, the UK are well known. Even the USA and Canada have serious discrimination problems. According to Parekh no country has been totally successful in establishing a harmonious multi-cultural society.

This book is by far the best I have read on examining the causes of this failure and what to do about it. The book deals with this issue from a country point of view. It is also relevant for business as failure greatly slows down or even makes economic progress impossible e.g. Iraq and Nigeria.

One very important positive development is that several successful global companies, like IBM, GE and Unilever, are seeing cultural diversity as one of their most important success factors, for two reasons, first, the world is diverse and only if the company employees mirror this diversity can the company understand the needs of present and potential customers, second, business success in the future depends more than ever on innovation. A diverse company will be richer in innovative ideas and perspectives than a monocultural company. Companies have had few problems, as compared to nations, to transform multi-culturalism into wealth. Parekh's conclusion is that the best and only method to make multiculturalism work is through dialogues between the different groups.

The problem of establishing a successful multi-cultural society is not new. Two of the most prominent rulers and leaders that were already applying the dialogue recommendation of Parekh were King Ashoka (Asoka) that ruled India from 273BC to 232 BC and the Mogul emperor Akbar that ruled about he same area from 1542 AD to 1605 AD. King Ashoka saw public discussions as a means of making social progress. He issued "policies" that public discussions should take pace without animosity or violence and that there should be no extolment of one's own sect or disparagement of other sects. King Ashoka became a Buddhist and "exported" Buddhist ideas as far as Greece, Sri Lanka and Japan. Its influence in Japan can be seen from the Japanese constitution of 604 AD stating " Decisions on important matters should not be made by a person alone. They should be discussed by many. Nor let us be resentful when others differ from us. For all men have hearts and each heart has different leanings". Akbar, a Muslim, also encouraged and organised dialogues between adherents of different faiths, that is Muslims, Hindus, Sufis, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jains, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Baha's, Parsees and Atheists The Vatican sent Jesuits to participate in these dialogues. Akbar's belief was that the pursuit of reason rather than reliance on tradition was the way to address difficult problems of social harmony and that harmonious dialogues were the best method. He also ruled that no one should be interfered with on account of religion. When Akbar was busy to arrange dialogues, Giordano Bruno was being burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome.

Parekh presents useful guidance on how these dialogues should be organised. The end result to be achieved is mutual respect. One of the great obstacles is solving conflicts about "unacceptable" traditions. Parekh presents a model of how to think when trying to find a solution and demonstrates the application of the model to the following issues in great detail, female circumcision, polygamy, Muslim and Jewish methods of slaughtering animals, arranged marriages, scarring of children's cheeks, Muslim practice of withdrawing their school-going girls from sports that expose parts of their bodies, Muslim girls wearing the heap or headscarf in schools, Sikh refusal to wear helmets rather than their traditional turbans when driving motor cycles, requests by Hindus to cremate their deceased on a funeral pyre and the subordinate status of women including the denial of opportunities for their personal development (chapter 9). Free speech and the issues about the Satanic verses are covered in a separate chapter (number 10). When you read these chapters you start to understand the difficulty and importance of finding acceptable solutions. The final chapter (11) presents an excellent summary. The first eight chapters are easier to read if you read the last three first.

King Ashoka and Emperor Akbar had the right ideas, but the challenge to make them work is still with us to day.