Is it the outsiders who hold a mirror up to our society?

Rashid Razaq

E’RE all the same. It’s often meant as an expression of a shared humanity, as a riposte t o xe n o p h o b e s and racists or to anyone who seeks to spew hatred or cause division.

But what does the person saying it really mean? Usually it’s that, despite our differences, deep down you are like me. Not, I am like you.

So you may be a recently arrived immigrant but given time you will come to think like me, whether it is on female genital mutilation (FGM) or same-sex marriage.

It’s a belief in the superiority of your world view but without the confidence to say it, perhaps out of fear of causing offence but perhaps also because you have a hard time defining exactly what you believe in or stand for.

Differing approaches to integration and assimilation across Europe are under the spotlight again following the recent spate of terror attacks. The French consider a tougher crackdown, the Germans plough on with tolerance and stoicism, while here it is probably only luck that has given us respite.

Britain got a head-start on mass immigration and multiculturalism thanks to the Empire, which was primarily about plunder and trade but also a transfer of British culture from language to railways. And it wasn’t all one-way.

There were black and Asian people living in Britain before the 20th century, but because of their relatively small numbers and the dominance of the host culture they assimilated — in other words, they blended.

In the modern, globalised world of cheap transit, digital connections and far greater numbers of immigrants, it is much harder to achieve assimilation so we have to settle for integration, which is an acceptance of difference. The question is how much difference can we tolerate?

Integration also requires give and take. The minority community must adapt or give up some of its customs but the majority must change as well. This is a negotiation that no European country has successfully resolved yet. And the minority that Europe seems to have the biggest difficulty integrating is Muslims.

Despite religion’s many failings, you know what it stands for and why it has enduring appeal. As an organising principle it offers a sense of purpose, shared identity and community. By way of contrast, what do we believe in the West today? It’s rather nebulous. It’s been referred to as neo-liberalism, in essence a belief in market forces and a heightened sense of individualism.

All ideologies are flawed. Neoliberalism lets down the economic ally di s posable, re l i gi on oppresses individuals, usually women. British voters decided that the EU was another failed idea.

Perhaps Brexit will give us an opportunity for some necessary self-examination. And perhaps it will be an out s i der in t he t r a di t i on of Hans Holbein, Joseph Conrad or V S Naipaul who will hold up the mirror for us to see who we really are.

It’s only when we know what our negotiating position is that we can decide what kind of integration we really want.

THE capital’s newest cultural quarter is rising in Stratford, east London, in the form of the £1 billion Olympicopolis quarter, but critics are already saying it is a poor rival to the Albertopolis area in South Kensington.

There is always a degree of snobbery from west to east but surely we need to give it a while before we can compare the two. The 150-year head start is a slight advantage.