Minority Ethnic and Religious Communities: Cultural and Economic Contribution

Lord Griffiths of Burry Port Excerpts

Thursday 24th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Griffiths of Burry Port]

My Lords, this was a brilliant idea for a debate, and I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, conveys the congratulations of this House to those shouldering responsibility for the Zoroastrian Trust Funds as they go on to their next 150 years.

I came to the House this morning after counting 40 flags that we have just bought in the church of which I am a minister—they will be hanging out for the jubilee next week. There are people from 40 different nationalities in my congregation. John Wesley said that he looked on the world as his parish; the world has taken him seriously, and has come to live in his parish, and a very brilliant thing it is, too.

I say 40 nationalities, but out in the community it is more than that. In the school of which I am a governor, there is more than twice that number, because you can throw in faiths and other differences, in a diversity that is truly mind-boggling. Why do people think that this is a problem? Why do they not see it as a challenge and—if they have the stomach for it—something that will open their eyes to a dimension of life and human living that they have not known before? It is absolutely wonderful to live in a diverse country. When I go back to my native Wales now and see the same tired old faces, I want an injection from the ethnic minority groups to be liberally applied to the community that I grew up in. So this should not be a problem and, if the press portrays it that way, everybody in our Parliament should be working hard and recommitting themselves to changing the attitudes that prevail out there.

Writers from Edward Said to Homi Bhabha have shown how the British majority population has dealt with the minority peoples who have come our way—first as those who bring quaint, lovely and interesting things for us to look at, smell, see and taste. But it cannot stay there. We go on to intellectualise the matter, to catalogue the things that distinguish us from them. It is a way of othering the other and keeping them objectified, which is certainly what Edward Said said in spades. We cannot leave the matter there; we must know more about each other, but that is not what living together is all about. The vocabulary that has been generated by post-colonial literatures has been about hybridity, overlap, third space, in-betweenness, where we actually live an integrated life alongside each other, stimulating each other and enjoying each other’s company, celebrating diversity.

One thing about this debate is that I wish that every single member of a minority group who was a Member of this House were present today and sitting down and not making a speech so that they could give the opportunity to those from the majority ethnic population to congratulate them on their contribution to British life and assure them that together we can make Britain an even greater place than it has been. I certainly want my voice to be raised this morning in that sense.

As I come to the end of this gruesome, tiny 240 seconds that is afforded me, let me just say that when we process the flags, as eventually we will, we will ensure that people do not carry the flag of their own country. Our people will carry flags for each other to suggest that we belong to a multicultural country, are proud to do so and want to parade that fact for everybody to see.