Issue 422 of New Internationalist

Reader-owned global journalism

May 2009

May 2009

It was all about equality and respect – values few would have a problem with. So just when did multiculturalism become a dirty word? Was it about the same time as the ideas of respecting difference and embracing diversity began to be overtaken in the public mind by shrill religious fundamentalism and hectoring traditionalists?

This month’s NI sees a vibrant selection of contributors tackling these questions: British and Canadian cultural commentators Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Haroon Siddiqui; Indian journalist Shoma Chaudhury who has met the country’s leading hate-mongers; and the Mauritian novelist Lindsey Collen, who looks behind her island nation’s image as a multicultural haven.

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In this issue

  • Members of citizens’ groups for peace that attempt to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide talk with *Hadani Ditmars* about why working together brings its own rewards.
  • With Dinyar Godrej, whose personal journey as an immigrant reveals some of the faultlines of multiculturalism, making the case for looking beneath the smokescreen of ‘culture clash’.
  • Class or culture – which has caused Mauritius the most upset? *Lindsey Collen* looks back.