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Ian Buruma the 61 year old Dutch Professor of Democracy, Human Rights, and Journalism having  authored numerous books, including ‘Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh’ and the ‘Limits of Tolerance and Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents’, has published an article on the Project Syndicate titled ‘Does Europe Need Britain?’. Buruma states “Many people in the United Kingdom believe that their country can do perfectly well outside the European Union. Members of the UK Independence Party even think that Britain would do better, as do a considerable number of Conservative “Euro-skeptics.” They dream of Britain as a kind of Singapore of the West, a commercial powerhouse ruled from the City of London. That is why Prime Minister David Cameron felt obliged to offer the British people a referendum on a simple question: in or out. …In the meantime, there is another question to be considered: how many Europeans want Britain to stay in the EU? The answer depends partly on nationality. …it would be wrong simply to dismiss British doubts about the European drive toward greater unity. It is not just a nationalist reaction. Many Europeans now resent the expanding powers of EU bureaucracy. British resistance to grand European plans is the democratic grit in an enterprise that could become authoritarian, despite having the best intentions, and should serve as a necessary corrective to the utopianism of the technocrats. Those who favor European unification should take criticisms of its political flaws very seriously. Doing so is the only chance to ensure that a united Europe, whatever form it takes, will be democratic, as well as economically beneficial. That is why Europe needs Britain: not as an offshore center of banking and commerce, but as a difficult, questioning, stubbornly democratic partner.” Inspired by Ian Buruma, Project Syndicate ow.ly/hLPmO Image source Larry D. Moore ow.ly/hLPfa Does Europe Need Britain? (February 19 2013)

 

Ian Buruma the 61 year old Dutch Professor of Democracy, Human Rights, and Journalism having  authored numerous books, including ‘Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh’ and the ‘Limits of Tolerance and Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents’, has published an article on the Project Syndicate titled ‘Does Europe Need Britain?’. Buruma states “Many people in the United Kingdom believe that their country can do perfectly well outside the European Union. Members of the UK Independence Party even think that Britain would do better, as do a considerable number of Conservative “Euro-skeptics.” They dream of Britain as a kind of Singapore of the West, a commercial powerhouse ruled from the City of London. That is why Prime Minister David Cameron felt obliged to offer the British people a referendum on a simple question: in or out. …In the meantime, there is another question to be considered: how many Europeans want Britain to stay in the EU? The answer depends partly on nationality. …it would be wrong simply to dismiss British doubts about the European drive toward greater unity. It is not just a nationalist reaction. Many Europeans now resent the expanding powers of EU bureaucracy. British resistance to grand European plans is the democratic grit in an enterprise that could become authoritarian, despite having the best intentions, and should serve as a necessary corrective to the utopianism of the technocrats. Those who favor European unification should take criticisms of its political flaws very seriously. Doing so is the only chance to ensure that a united Europe, whatever form it takes, will be democratic, as well as economically beneficial. That is why Europe needs Britain: not as an offshore center of banking and commerce, but as a difficult, questioning, stubbornly democratic partner.”

 

Inspired by Ian Buruma, Project Syndicate ow.ly/hLPmO Image source Larry D. Moore ow.ly/hLPfa

A truly liberal society is a multicultural society (August 19 2012) A truly liberal society is a multicultural society (August 19 2012)

Mehdi Hasan the British television current affairs journalist with a philosophy politics and economics background has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘In defence of Britain’s multiculturalism’, in which he questions if  multiculturalism is really dead in the UK as the political, media and theological establishments seem to suggest. In the article Hasan states “Multiculturalism is dead in the UK …. seems to be the depressing verdict of senior members of the British political, media and even theological establishments. In recent years, they have lined up to deliver the last rites for multiculturalism, their condemnation and critiques cutting across party and ideological lines. …attacks on “the British multicultural model” continue and intensify – and Islamophobia is on the rise. Multicultural cities such as Bradford, in the north of England, with big Muslim populations, are denounced as failures, smeared as ghettoised societies. Structural factors such as racism, poverty and industrial decline are ignored. …But I for one can’t help but be a defender of the UK’s multiculturalism …I am, after all, a product of multiculturalism; I consider myself to be British, English, Asian and Muslim. I see no contradiction between these ethnic, national, cultural and religious identities. …Britain has come a long way from the nativist and assimilationist 1960s; opinion polls suggest this is a nation at relative ease with its racial, religious and cultural diversity in all walks of life. It is now 2012, not 1965. In this age of globalisation and devolution, Britain cannot return to some fantasy of a halcyon mono-cultural past. In the 21st century, identity isn’t finite; loyalties do not have to compete. And the truth is that a truly liberal society is a multicultural society.”

 

Inspired by Aljazeera ow.ly/cQRQU image source ow.ly/cQRMP ow.ly/cQRMP

Richard Sennett the 69 year old US Professor of Sociology renowned for his studies of the effects of urban living on individuals in the modern world, speaks on the trouble with multiculturalism in an interview with Andrew Anthony. In the interview Sennett states “The increase in inequality means the distance between social classes is growing greater. I’d say the issue for Britain is the same for a lot of ethnically layered societies. What you get is indifference as a way of managing difference. People keep to their own turf, not a complex social tapestry that mixes people together… it’s like a chemical separation – no longer speaking to people with different colour and accents. When they have to deal with each other they are at a loss… in Britain when people talk about community action they’re talking about an old-fashioned idea of where people have their homes. But the most important thing is the workplace. Workplace communities are getting weaker and weaker. Modern capitalism doesn’t encourage much interaction because it’s highly stratifying. Once you stop thinking about where you sleep, the whole issue of community takes on a different kind of character.”

 

Inspired by Andrew Anthony http://ow.ly/96vmw image source Ars Electronica http://ow.ly/96vJO

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