The following is the transcript of a presentation on the Questioning the European ‘Crisis of Multiculturalism’ project given at the Edge Hill University Centre for Local Policy Studies Summer School on July 1 2009.
What exemplifies the ‘crisis’?
The last few days have provided us several neatly packaged examples of the type of thing that passes as emblematic of the by-now almost undisputed ‘fact’ that multiculturalism in Europe is in crisis.
In the UK, Gordon Brown has announced what was quickly dubbed as a ‘British homes for British workers’ scheme. Under this, what have been described as ‘local’ British people waiting for local social housing will be given preference over ‘outsiders’ .The terms of this proposal pit the ‘deserving’ over the ‘undeserving’ in the barely veiled implication that the divide between the two is culturally defined.