A Short Discuss of Multiculturalism in the UK

江楠

From the article–Identities： Global Studies in Culture and Power，the film–East is East，and the documentary of Powells speech，it is not hard for us to find that multiculturalism does exist in the UK.What is more，the questions and problems caused by it need people to pay attention to.

In East is East，the father of the family is an immigrant from Pakistan.Although he has the British identity，he still believes in Islam and follows the Arabic culture.He still insists that everyone in the house should follow his words without rebellion.From his perspective，it is the Pakistani tradition and all his children should follow Pakistani rules，for example，children ought to follow the fathers direction to engage with and marry to another person.But all his children have their own view of the world and even some of them cannot speak Pakistani.This is one typical example of the multiculturalism in the UK.There are two types of people from different ethnicity live in the UK.The first genre is just like the father，he lives in the UK while still following the previous rules and tradition of his hometown.The other genre is like the children，they born in the UK； they accept the British education.To some degree，they do not belong to the original ethnic group because although they have the same appearance with people from the original ethnic group，they do not share the same value of world with those people.They are actually a British from their bottom of heart due to the British environment where they are brought up.

From the documentary we can see，Powell gained support once.But later，he was criticised no matter where.He rejected to acknowledge that he was a racist.The documentary reflects a kind of fear towards immigrants from the original people living in the UK.People formed a thought that diversity may lead to violence.The family condition of immigrants was not favorable.People did not feel safe.The economic policy also added to a sense of anger.In the UK，where multiculturalism was prevalent，however，The immigrants began to see that they had no future.Anyway，living in the multicultural society，all the people should struggle for universal human rights.If there are ethnic groups，all people become ethnic groups.

The article written by Gilroy is about multiculturalism in the aspect of racism.It seems that people have an incorrect attitude about it.In addition，the conflict between different races still exists and does not disappear in the UK.Thus，people cannot ignore it.Instead，people should analyse it from more and deeper angles.It is argued that there are some connections between gender and racist when talking about multiculturalism in the UK.It says that caught in the eternal frame of YouTube，the bizarre exchanges between the women about stock cubes，cooking and shopping； who was stuck up，who was a liar and who could speak English properly，can easily be read for the way that they illuminate the contemporary recomposition of class inequality registered in changing cultural habits，language and tribal affiliation.Gilroy，（2012）.From the passage，it is reckoned that the multiculturalism in the UK is not invariable.It is affected by the appearance of different kinds of social media，and the topics discussed by women.

When this compare to my home country-China.The situation is quite different.In China，there are 56 ethnic groups.People from Han nationality occupies the largest number.Other 55 ethnic groups are called minority nationalities.All the nationalities live with each other harmoniously，although they have different gods to believe in，and they have different oral and writing language，and they get different living habits.It could attribute to the unitive education system and legislation.Nowadays，nearly all the people from minority group have the ability to speak and write Mandarin fluently.What is more，with the help of nationwide nine years of compulsory education.It is，now，very common for people to have patriotism and Chinese self-identity.What is more，the legislation that provides some minor ethnic groups with some help and preferential policies which improve their capability to develop is also helpful to make cultures varying from each other to exist in the same country in harmony.