Opinion: We need to colonise our common ground

All this brought to mind the many initiatives that have been tried over the years, ever since the integration/acceptance debates of the 60s. Although recent emphasis has been on respecting difference, my experience with young people from many backgrounds has usually been more about the elements of modern life they shared. Indeed, Les Back, in his important book New Ethnicities and Urban Culture (UCL Press 1996), points to the hybridisation of youth culture, whereby young people pick and mix from a variety of cultural traditions.

We must, of course, recognise and respect difference. But perhaps our starting point should be more upfront about what young people have in common. Indeed, this is the position of a superb video produced some years ago by the Anne Frank Foundation and used as part of the Here We Are intercultural teaching kit for primary schools in the Netherlands. The video, Finer than any colour: Here we are, is concerned with enabling children to learn about cultural, religious and ethnic diversity. It shows teachers, parents and pupils how a multi-ethnic sixth-form class works. They live in the same neighbourhood, have similar musical tastes, often wear similar clothes, attend the same school and engage in similar leisure pursuits. This is the platform and foundation for moving on to difference. The young people paint self-portraits and tend to exaggerate their colour. So on the wall are very white, very yellow and very black faces. In discussion, they discover that while some have grandparents around the corner or in another Dutch town, others have grandparents in Surinam or Vietnam. This takes the agenda towards the different food they eat and their different religious beliefs. The children learn everything about each other - what they share and what they do not.