Rudyard Kipling on Multiculturalism

The Mother-Lodge

There was Rundle, Station Master,
An' Beazeley of the Rail,
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat,
An' Donkin' o' the Jail;
An' Blake, Conductor-Sargent,
Our Master twice was 'e,
With 'im that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.

Outside -- "Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!"
Inside -- "Brother", an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!

We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,
An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,
The Roman Catholick!

We 'adn't good regalia,
An' our Lodge was old an' bare,
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,
An' we kep' 'em to a hair;
An' lookin' on it backwards
It often strikes me thus,
There ain't such things as infidels,
Excep', per'aps, it's us.

For monthly, after Labour,
We'd all sit down and smoke
(We dursn't give no banquits,
Lest a Brother's caste were broke),
An' man on man got talkin'
Religion an' the rest,
An' every man comparin'
Of the God 'e knew the best.

So man on man got talkin',
An' not a Brother stirred
Till mornin' waked the parrots
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird;
We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed,
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.

Full oft on Guv'ment service
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed,
An' bore fraternal greetin's
To the Lodges east an' west,
Accordin' as commanded
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!

I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
An' the hog-darn passin' down;
An' the old khansamah snorin'
On the bottle-khana floor,
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more!

Outside -- "Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!"
Inside -- "Brother", an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!

Talking sense on the threat within

There is a remarkably sensible (considering) article in today's Guardian by Maleiha Malik on the Islamic terrorism problem. What I really like about it is not the analogy it draws (between Islam today and anti-semiticism a hundred years ago) but rather the way it focuses on outcomes rather than ideology. She points out that the issue is how best to deal with this threat to civil society, and that the process of doing this is hindered, not helped, by the dialogues of 'multiculturism' and 'the war on terror', and so on. Being clear about how you will measure outcomes really does help here.

The Veiled Rules of this Game called Society

The current furore over the niqab is an interesting test for the methodology suggested in the last post.

Let's start with the facts. There are a significant number of British muslims, some of whom live in communities in our major cities. Relations between these communities and their neighbours are not without issues, with some misunderstanding and hostility on both sides.

Jack Straw suggests that the wearing of the niqab (the full veil for women) is bad for community relations. It is difficult to see how this statement can raise much controversy. While one might argue about whether it is right for some people to be troubled by the niqab, it is certainly the case that they are.

Now for the opinion. Straw goes on to suggest that, for this reason, he asks women to remove their veils during meetings. Clearly here we have to balance a person's right to wear what they choose, their religious sensibilities and so on,--against the impact of such a separate form of dress on community relations. Whatever you think about the answer to that question, it is difficult to argue that there is nothing to debate here. Of course it might be bad for society to have that debate - that's a different question. But at least this way of thinking concentrates on the metric - how we measure the value of the different outcomes - rather than other, less pertinent parts of the debate.