Interculturalism and Multiculturalism in France

and the UK
Linterculturalisme en France et au Royaume-Uni

Population
Combien y-a-til dhabitants en
France? Quelle est la population de la
France?
What is the population of France?
How many people live in France?
What is the population of the UK?
Quelle est la population du RoyaumeUni?

 Est-ce que jai le droit de porter une

grande croix, un voile, une kippa
dans un espace public (cole,
administration, etc) en France?
Et au Royaume-Uni?
And what about in Russia?

 Lacit en France (secularity in

France)
In the UK?

 France: en 1905: sparation de lglise et de lEtat(labore depuis avant la

Rvolution franaise de 1789):
Trois grands principes:
la libert de conscience
la sparation des pouvoirs politique et religieux, et donc des organisations
religieuses et de lEtat,
lgalit de tous les citoyens quelles que soient leurs croyances et leurs convictions.
1. Toute personne a droit la libert de pense, de conscience et de religion; ce
droit implique la libert de changer de religion ou de conviction, ainsi que la libert de
manifester sa religion ou sa conviction individuellement ou collectivement, en public
ou en priv, par le culte, lenseignement, les pratiques et laccomplissement des
rites.
2. La libert de manifester sa religion ou ses convictions ne peut faire lobjet dautres
restrictions que celles qui, prvues par la loi, constituent des mesures ncessaires
dans une socit dmocratique, la scurit publique, la protection de lordre, de la
sant ou de la morale publiques, ou la protection des droits et liberts dautrui.

 La loi du 15 mars 2004 sur le port de signes ou

de tenues manifestant une appartenance religieuse
dans les coles, collges et lyces publics, qui y
interdit le port des signes religieux ostensibles tels que
le foulard islamique, une grande croix chrtienne, la
kippa et le turban sikh, a t justifie par la volont
garantir la neutralit de lcole, la ncessit de
prserver les enfants de pressions quils subiraient
pour porter un tel signe, le souci dviter, lcole,
les conflits entre ceux qui le porteraient et ceux qui
ne le porteraient pas ainsi que le proslytisme qui
pourrait natre de
cette expression de conviction
religieuse.

 La
loi
du
11 octobre 2010
interdisant la dissimulation du visage
dans lespace public nest pas une loi
de lacit mais une loi dordre public.

 le Royaume-Uni nest pas un pays lac.

En effet, depuis la rforme du XVIe sicle, le
souverain Britannique est aussi le chef
spirituel de la nation, gouverneur de lglise
suprme dAngleterre et dfenseur de la foi.
The UK is not a secular country. Indeed,
since the reform in the XVIth century, the
British sovereign is also the spiritual head of
the nation, the Supreme governor of the
church and faith.

 The British Nationality Act 1948:

British if you are born in Britain
British Nationality Act 1981: lex soli:
by birth in the UK to a parent who is
British or who is settled in the UK

Lex sanguinis: by birth abroad to a

parent who is British

 Nationalit franaise:
Lex sanguinis: si lun des parents est
franais, quel que soit le pays o on
est n
si lenfant est n en France, si un des
parents est franais. Sinon doit
attendre lge de 13 ans pour faire
une demande

 Lord Bikhu Parekh:Commission

on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain
Multiculturalism is best understood neither as a political
doctrine with a programmatic content nor a
philosophical school with a distinct theory of mans
place in the world but as a perspective on or a way
of viewing human life. Its central insights are three:
First, human beings are culturally embedded in the
sense that they grow up and live within a culturally
structured world and organize their lives and social
relations in terms of a culturally derived system of
meaning and significance.

 This does not mean that they are

determined by their culture in the
sense of being unable to rise above
its categories of thought and
critically evaluate its values and
system of meaning, but rather that
they are deeply shaped by it.

 Second, different cultures represent different

systems of meaning and visions of the good
life. Since each realises a limited range of
human capacities and emotions and grasps
only a part of the totality of human existence,
it needs other cultures to help it understand
itself better, expand its intellectual and moral
horizon, stretch its imagination, save it from
narcissism to guard it against the obvious
temptation to absolutise itself, and so on.

 All but the most primitive cultures are internally

plural and represent a continuing conversation
between their different traditions and strands
of thought. This does not mean that they are
devoid of coherence and identity, but that their
identity is plural, fluid and open. Cultures grow
out of conscious and unconscious interactions
with each other, define their identity in terms of
what they take to be their significant other, and
are at least partially multicultural in their
origins and constitution.

 What I might call a multiculturalist

perspective is composed of the
creative interplay of these three
important and complementary
insights namely the cultural
embeddedness of human beings, the
inescapability and desirability of
cultural plurality, and the plural and
multicultural constitution of each
culture.

 A multicultural society cannot be

stable and last long without
developing a common sense of
belonging among its citizens. The
sense of belonging cannot be ethnic
and based on shared cultural, ethnic
and other characteristics, for a
multicultural society is too diverse
for that, but must be political and
based on a shared commitment to

 This is why, although they might

personally loathe some of their
fellow-members or find their
lifestyles, views and values
unacceptable, their mutual
commitment and concern as
members of a shared community
remain unaffected.