আজকের ডেইলি স্টারে প্রকাশিত আমার নিবন্ধ Multiculturalism পড়ার আমন্ত্রণ -

Multiculturalism
With the integration of different immigrant groups, the UK has already transformed itself into a multicultural society. A multicultural society does not stress on assimilation, rather it gives emphasis on integration. Integration encourages the immigrants to preserve their own identity.

The British view is so liberal that the UK is considering incorporating Muslim Sharia, especially those applicable to Muslim family law. So, in the UK, we find different communities like African, Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and many others visibly practicing their own cultural heritages without barriers -- at least at the policy level.

In the UK, among the ethnic minorities, the Bengali-speaking people are the fourth largest group, and among the immigrant South Asian groups, the Bangladeshi community is ranked third. According to 2001 census, the number of UK Bangladeshis is about 300,000. More than 95% of this community comes from Sylhet.

The kinship among the Sylheti people is very strong, and even in the UK they have preserved their own Sylheti dialect. Understanding the importance of the Sylheti dialect among the community, the various organisations in the UK translate their official documents into both standard Bangla and Sylheti dialect.

Multiculturalism prompts immigrant communities to practice two cultures -- the culture of the host society and that of their countries of origin. This, indeed, is a blessing, as it instills a sense of global citizenship in the psyche of the immigrant community. The sense of global citizenship intermingled with the growth of globalisation has created the concept of diaspora.

UK-Bangladeshis are now the major constituent of the Bangladeshi diaspora. Although the second generation of the UK Bangladeshi is leading the community and the third generation is coming up, they feel close affinity with their counter part in Sylhet for obvious reasons. This does not imply that they are failing to integrate with the mainstream British society.

A survey carried out by the UK's Department for Communities and Local Government has revealed that:

-88% of people of Bangladeshi origin in the UK felt that they belonged to Britain. This compares with 84% of white people;

-78% of people of Bangladeshi origin in the UK felt that they belonged to their local community. This compares with 75% of white people;

-50% of people of Bangladeshi origin in the UK believe they can influence decisions that affect their local area. This compares with 37% of white people;

The above findings confirm that UK Bangladeshis are on the right track in the process of social integration. The UK Bangladeshis are advancing in the realm of education too. Bangladeshi children have overtaken Pakistanis at school; they have even narrowed the gap with Indians, the most successful south Asian group. Not only in education, the share of this community in the mainstream job market has also increased dramatically.

UK-Bangladeshis -- Sylhetis in particular -- are very keen to keep their ties with Sylhet, where the root of their cultural heritage is to be traced. So, it is imperative on part of the British government to pay special attention to the development of Sylhet with a view to speeding up the integration process of the UK Bangladeshi community.

The British High Commission has many things to do beyond diplomacy. This is not because we still follow the British legacy in many aspects of our lives. Rather this should be for promoting our own community -- the UK Bangladeshis. As both Bangladesh and the UK have conferred this community with the dual citizenship, both the governments have a responsibility to look after its proper development.

What the British High Commission in Bangladesh can do in this respect is to initiate some special programmes focussing on Sylhet, which may help Bangladeshi settlers in the UK a lot. Some programmes are stated below:

-Setting up an English language learning centre: The migration from Sylhet to the UK is a continuous process. Through matrimonial relationship, every year a large number of Sylhetis migrate to the UK. Besides, many other migrate following the process of chain migration. In most cases, these people, after getting to the UK, face a communication barrier as they know little or no English at all. The proposed English learning centre will train such aspirant migrants in communicative English prior to their migration.

-Setting up a catering training institute: The majority of Bangladeshis in the UK are either directly or indirectly dependent on the catering business. This industry generates more than £3.5 billion a year and creates employment. However, recently, the Bangladeshi restaurants in the UK have been facing severe labour crisis. The Bangladesh Caterers Association has estimated that at present there are 27,500 vacancies in UK-Bangladeshi restaurants. To save this industry, new migration from Bangladesh is a must. Setting up a catering training institute in Sylhet will help much to resolve the ongoing crisis in the UK Bangladeshi restaurants. After receiving proper training in the proposed institute, the new migrants will be able to resolve the present crisis.

-Establishing an advocacy centre: Many expatriates from the UK come to Sylhet and want to invest money in some income generating projects. The proposed advocacy centre may encourage and guide them in this regard.

-Setting up a migration research institute: The population migration in Sylhet is the highest among all regions in Bangladesh. It will be easier to get the empirical data on migration in Sylhet. The proposed research institute will help the policy makers and academics (both national and international) to understand the nature, process, extent of the population migration and its impacts on the society.

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