Identifying with multicultures

The issue of identity and allegiance is often raised in Australia with respect to minorities and their Australian born children.

Often, any signs of their original culture are portrayed as mixed allegiance at best, or in some instances, as acts of betrayal to their adopted culture.

The debate belies or ignores historical phenomena that dictated migration and flight from persecution throughout history.

It is rare to blame interventionism, invasions, sanctions or foreign occupation for the arrival of migrants.  More often than not, the message is that these people ruined their country and now they are trying to ruin our island/continent paradise which we made ourselves with our Christian European culture and values.  Hardly a syllable is remembered about how we acquired this paradise and how we treated and how we continue to treat its indigenous population.

It is also rare to see the voice of reason receiving prominence, but rather we find the blame for all or most of our social woes being directed at migrants (usually the most recent migrants and it is that much easier if they also observe a different faith), implying that if these minorities were not here, we would not have crime, or we would not have serious crime.  This certainly was the overwhelming message in NSW from the mid nineties right up to the last few years especially with the continued existence of a Middle Eastern Crime Squad and the incessant ethnicising of crime.

The great irony is in the fact that we demonise the latest minority to the point that some of them become self-loathing and parrot the words of their accusers: yes, we must reign in our children, yes, we must arrest our troublemakers, yes, sir, just tell us what to do sir! Just stop hitting us with claims, accusations and viewer/listener/reader backlash.

Our children have been told for more than a decade that they don’t fit in, or don’t belong and when they find solace in equally persecuted members of their community, the process of Othering becomes complete and ostensibly proved.

Dignity is one of the most sought after intangible, it should be an inalienable right of every human being, but in our quick search for someone to blame, we trampled and continue to trample on the dignity of the most vulnerable.

Yes, minorities also include a criminal element, after all, they are part and parcel of the society in which they live.  If broader society has a crime element, then it is inconceivable for some members of the minority not to partake, usually, to the horror of their parents and their community.  In reality, every parent wants his children to have good jobs, to be successful and to contribute to the society in which they live.  Every parent is horrified when any of their children engage in antisocial or criminal behaviour.  We have reluctantly acknowledged that crime and unemployment are symbiotic.  In fact, crime is symptomatic of high unemployment, we can do the maths and check the ratios.  The complex formula of marginalization, unemployment and comparative poverty will create a rate of criminality despite the best efforts of parents and community elders.

Every parent also wants his/her children to appreciate their original culture, because they know that this will help enrich their children’s understanding, outlook, tolerance for others and very importantly, opportunities that will eventually, not only benefit their child, but also benefit and enrich the society in which they live.  By choosing to live in an adopted culture, these minorities are clearly acknowledging that life in that culture is more suitable for them than living in their original culture.  It is not wrong to have a love in one’s heart for several different cultures.  It is not wrong to fondly reminisce on the good times they had before they were compelled by “circumstances” to migrate or seek asylum.

It is also not wrong to insist on retaining one’s dignity, even if you are part of a minority.  We should not be so insecure that we feel threatened when someone makes a positive remark about their original culture.

Any proper objective observation on those “multicultural” individuals in our multicultural society will reveal the enriching value of being able to travel across cultural mores without being threatened by “difference”.  We even see it in ourselves, especially when we travel and try to absorb some “fun” aspects of the cultures we visit.  George Negus captured this rather well in his best-selling “The World From Islam”.

But other cultures are not just amusing sideshows to be read about in books.  They are the collective accumulation of life-experience of a section of humanity, no different to us.  They developed aspects of their lives that we didn’t develop and we develop aspects that they did not.  They explored certain areas and we explored others.  When we respect and appreciate each other, we can pool this accumulated experience and produce a super culture that takes in the best of everything.  This is what multicultural children bring and this is a salient benefit of the exposure to other cultures in our schools, workplace, neighbourhoods, parks, meets and other interactions.

Often, what we appreciate the most about other cultures is the food, the rich palate, the taste sensations, the countless variety of culinary delights, as if the most celebrated human contribution is that which fills the stomach.  We are happy to accept or tolerate them when they serve us food or transport us in taxis to our chosen destinations, we are even willing to accept them as security guards, but rarely as equals.

When we refuse to accept minorities as equals, we in fact compel them to find equality and self-esteem in groups from their own cultural backgrounds.  We limit their ability to integrate by reducing their opportunities to access jobs and accommodation and yet, we complain that they are unemployed or live in close proximity with each other.

Yet Australia is fortunate in that it has no exclusive ghettos for minorities, even those areas that have the highest concentration of the latest arriving minority can still boast of a diversity that clearly outlines the open nature of our society.

This all means that we have painted a pretty good big picture, even if from time to time, parts of that picture appear a little glum because a self-appointed self-righteous social engineer attempts to splash the canvas with unrealistic fears.

It is perhaps the fight for dignity by those minorities that keeps us focused on our main purpose in life which must be to live and work in harmony with each other and to manage our differences in such a way as to ensure that we benefit from them as a nation and that the basic human rights are not usurped from any individual within our fair land.

Pragmatically, an understanding of different cultures is very enriching for our nation, it opens up more markets for us and as a result, provides a boost to our economy.  It also contributes to our collective knowledge and lays claim to what we must begin to see as a human heritage and this is the accumulated wisdom of every nation.  This accumulated wisdom was developed through their own unique experiences, just like we developed ours.  Sharing it and appreciating its enriching qualities just makes it that much better.

I am not afraid from our Aussie children who exhibit appreciation of other cultures, rather, I am enriched by them and I will do my utmost to boost their ability to find harmony with all their various layers of identity.  The society that allows them to find that harmony is the society that will harness its benefits.  The society that seeks to suppress or strip away those layers of identity is the society that divides and marginalizes its members to its own detriment.  It certainly makes a great deal of sense to treat multiculturalism as an enriching asset for which we should be very grateful and which we must protect and whose virtues we must extoll to the rest of the human family.