In praise of Peter Tatchell

I never really expected to write this post. You have to have a certain grudging respect for veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, but that rarely extends to agreeing with him. He is normally known for putting out the kind of gay supremacist demands which fuel the worst form of political correctness (ie anyone who disagrees should be silenced or removed, by force if necessary).

But writing in The Big Issue recently, even Peter is now acknowledging that multiculturalism is a flawed and failed project. As he puts it: "by asserting and celebrating cultural difference, multi-culturalism can also divide people on racial, religious, and other grounds; emphasising divergences between communities that may later evolve into rivalries and antagonisms... These tensions undermine social cohesion and exemplify a new tribalism, where societies are fragmented into myriad communities, each loyal primarily to themselves and with little interest in the common good. This is dangerous and damaging."

Too right. If Peter is interested in imagining what a post-multicultural society could like like, we may yet even end up working together. Multicuturalism is dead; long live the multi-ethnic British culture.