Page 27 [27]
OCR
MULTICULTURALISM AS A DISCOURSE OF DISGUISE: A POSSIBLE CANADIAN SOLUTION agencies to establish universal rights. Ihe belief that we need a discourse of concepts such as rights, equality and justice, freedom, self-determination and autonomy has led to the creation of innumerable agencies proposing to level the cultural playing field a little bit more. But Kymlika also acknowledges that we have not made much progress. No one has a shared understanding of what an indigenous or minority group is. They do not share a similar understanding of multicultural, nor do people have shared criteria for identifying minorities. The discourse of multiculturalism has had to navigate, “diversity politics, liberal pluralism, pluralist constitutionalism, plural-culturalism and more.” Where people seem to exhibit a motive to be part of developing missions that would direct change, resistance to change is considerable. Cultures with power fear losing it. Cultures with massive support from members do not want competition. The trade-off between justice and security undermines whatever fancy words philosophers invent. Kymlika also acknowledges that the categories of multiculturalism, with words such as minorities and rights, provide no suggestions for penetrating entrenched political orders. “There has been no serious attempt to codify cultural rights for immigrants at the international level.”# In short, the multicultural movement will only have universal relevance and generate change if we recognize “generic minority rights as the floor of a larger framework of liberal multiculturalism that relies on a complex set of targets and conditions.” Kymlika concludes: “... that the long term prognosis for the global diffusion of liberal multiculturalism is poor indeed.”** One can only conclude that Canada’s international public persona, which is being flaunted energetically at home, is not regarded by other nations as a model to follow. Few believe that such a policy can become an inspiring idea for others in the changing world. Colin Mooers: Disguising the Controls of Capital Success Perhaps marketing a multicultural persona opens the door for other aspirations associated with liberal societies, i.e., a participation in market economies. According to Colin Mooers, the culture of those seeking profits — the market culture — have found opportunities by exploiting the slogans and promises of multicultural discourse. In “Multiculturalism and the Fetishism of Difference”, Colin Mooers observed: “There were very few voices in the immigrant communities that called on the government to initiate a policy of multiculturalism. Their main concerns 10 Will Kymlika, Multicultural Odysseys, Oxford, Oxford University, 2007, 17-18. 1 Tbid., 123. ® Ibid., 315. 43 Tbid., 316.
