Integreat!

Is it just me or has anyone noticed that there is a little bit of a frisson in the air over Islamo-Western relations at the moment (by Western I mean so-called advanced countries, UK, USA, France, Australia etc)?

In the UK Jack Straw recently made comments about Muslim women covering their faces and how it impedes communication (The French have an outright ban, of sorts!). Prime Minister Howard in Australia has commented on how a Muslim cleric’s comments were “so out of line with … mainstream Australian opinion” following that cleric’s misjudged comments about women.

I think it’s fair to say that most Western people agree with cultural integration, but with some caveats. It’s these caveats that are the problem. There are a number of Muslims, for example, who want to integrate, but also to maintain their complete religious structure and beliefs (beliefs which have developed and evolved in a completely different environment from bucolic Britannia). Complete maintenance and integration are incompatible and I think we are beginning to see the problems emerge.

What does integration mean anyway? Does it mean that the incoming culture should assume the practices of the incumbent one and in effect lose their own heritage? Or does it mean that simply by being tolerated a culture has been integrated? Obviously the true answer should be somewhere in-between. But where? Should women be allowed to wear what they like, even if it hampers communication (the story of the Muslim teacher suspended for refusing to take off her face-covering comes to mind). Perhaps the issue is how a society deals with practices which are viewed as wrong by the majority? Could they be made law? Wouldn’t Europe have something to say about that?!

I think that society can often be viewed (simplistically) as a microcosm of the family home. Certainly in the UK this is apt and leads to common questions like “You wouldn’t let a visitor tell you what to do in your own home, would you?”. I think that these beliefs and comments are valid (in my culture anyway and only to a certain extent). If you agree with this analogy then any incoming group should have a great respect for the host’s beliefs and culture. I don’t think this is always evident in the UK.

To what extent does an incumbent society tolerate an integrating culture’s (apparent) wrong beliefs? The Muslim woman view is a good example. It is considered wrong to treat women any less equally than men in The West. Therefore a culture or society that doesn’t agree with this must be considered wrong. Does this mean than some forms of Islam are wrong in the eyes of the “advanced” West?

I guess the only thing to say is that time will tell. Over the next 50 years these little disagreements will be ironed out and at some point a cohesive, integrated society should emerge. One in which cockney-speaking Asians and sari-wearing Caucasians live harmoniously. Or there will be a war. Oh hang on… there is a war…