We should not be complacent about Britain’s multicultural democracy

Sunny Hundal is a TV presenter and author

With typical understatement, Britain’s first non-white and Hindu prime minister has arrived to little fanfare. Most Conservatives welcomed him however mentioned his background was irrelevant. Many on the left cautiously celebrated the damaged glass ceiling, however mentioned he was too wealthy to be consultant.

Nonetheless, there is a vital international context lacking from this debate. Rishi Sunak has been tasked with main the nation, regardless of his brown pores and skin and Hindu beliefs, as a result of Britain is more and more snug with being a multicultural democracy. We have gotten a nation the place totally different races, faiths and gender identities are embraced. We nonetheless argue over our variations and there are lots of biases to be tackled however our range is more and more, and rightly, thought to be a power.

Some on the left see this as unremarkable, but it surely actually isn’t. Most of our ideological brethren throughout Europe and East Asia pay lip-service to range however resist fiercely it in observe. Worse, about 70 per cent of individuals worldwide reside beneath dictatorships. Multicultural democracies are a minority inside a minority.

A lot of the world is, the truth is, rejecting these beliefs. They see us arguing over our variations and are repelled. They suppose social range results in political paralysis and decay. Furthermore, they resent us for pushing our values on them.

One of many leaders of this motion is Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has been open about his emotions for years. “In lots of [western] nations right now, ethical and moral norms are being reconsidered; nationwide traditions, variations in nation and tradition are being erased,” he informed a journalist just a few years in the past, including that extra individuals are coming round to Russia’s “defence of conventional values”. 

When passing Russia’s anti-gay legislation just a few years in the past, he mentioned the nation’s “conventional household values” have been the muse of its greatness and a bulwark towards “so-called tolerance — genderless and infertile”.

Putin’s campaign towards social liberalism has earned him followers the world over. “Time to get up from blind religion within the western system,” mentioned a 2020 commentary within the state-run China Training Information. “Vicious partisan combating has worsened in sure western nations, social fissures have deepened, and a extreme social disaster is brewing.” One other outstanding US conservative requested: has Russia turn out to be the world’s new ethical chief?

Fashionable authoritarians consider range results in battle and decay. They need nations that put their very own tribes first. For Putin this implies white heterosexual Russians, for the Chinese language Communist social gathering it means defending and implementing Han tradition and language. For Muslim-majority nations it means placing Muslims first, whereas for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata social gathering it means placing Hindus first.

Multicultural democracies are a novel social experiment and it’s in our curiosity to make them work. Sooner or later, Individuals should finish the vicious spiral of polarisation of their nation. Canada and Britain have thus far averted that destiny however we are able to’t assume our venture will succeed or that the presence of 1 minority chief represents a broader fact about society.

It’s necessary we settle for that multiculturalism isn’t straightforward. Sustaining social cohesion is difficult work and simply derailed. Our social media-driven surroundings — which rewards exaggerating variations and dunking on small dissimilarities — makes it much more tough.

There isn’t any cause why multicultural democracies must be the norm. However that is the world I wish to reside in and battle for. So sure, Sunak’s premiership is vastly symbolic in a world context. Someday, we could look again and see it because the signal of a nation assured in its personal pores and skin. Or we could lament it as a failed experiment. I very a lot hope it’s the previous.