In the aftermath of the horrific and immoral terrorist attacks in Paris it’s incredibly easy to lose faith in humanity. If we’re not seeing destruction closer to home it’s still happening further afield in Beirut, Iraq and Syria. But while I was reading through the responses to the attacks on Paris, Jeremy Corbyn’s statement stood out to me the most. Instead of getting angry he reminded us of the beauty of living in a “multicultural and multi-faith society”, something that felt close to me from growing up in the diversely cultured city of Birmingham.
My education was filled with the importance of teaching us about many different cultures. While other primary schools were either split by religion or wealth, I went to a school that allowed anyone from any background. We didn’t have a uniform meaning people felt safe to wear a head scarf if they chose too. We interacted with each other, irrespective of colour, class or gender and we learnt about backgrounds different to our own. School is meant to educate us on how to interact with other people from all types of backgrounds rather than one’s family – if we start to split children by class or culture or teach pupils about one kind of culture we encourage prejudice.
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The other day my friend was discussing his plans for celebrating Diwali with his family. We were all familiar with the festival, having studied it and even celebrated it at our respective schools. However, my mention of the Islamic holiday of Eid brought on puzzled faces. Having gone to a predominately Muslim secondary school, where classes would be near to empty during the festivities, it was shocking to know that some people were unaware of the important religious holiday. After living in a place where it was just as normal to say “Eid Mubarak” as it was to say “Merry Christmas” and having friends that had calendars for Eid like others have advent calendars for Christmas, it upset me that some didn’t get the beauty of living in a multicultural and multi-faith community.
This is especially important at times like this when the right-wing media scare the ignorant into blaming a whole religion for what a very small amount believe. Because of this we have seen an increase in xenophobic groups made on Facebook and 140 character tweets filled with racist, Islamophobic slurs. One salon in Bicester refused to even serve anyone of the Islamic faith after the attacks, claiming they were now putting their “country first”. As terrifying as it is, this is exactly what members of ISIS want: the complete eradication of multicultural and multi-faith societies. In turn, this irony targets refugees that are fleeing the ISIS terror that we have become so scared of.
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We are all human beings and we should be proud of our diverse society, not scared of it. As an influential part of our society and an important part of our socialisation, we must use the education system to teach all values, not just “British values” (whatever they are). Surely this will encourage a far more harmonious and knowledgeable society, something that benefits everyone. If we keep the people of Paris in our thoughts, we must also do the same for all over the world. Bombs are not the answer, this is what they expect. Unity is far more effective as this is what ISIS fear the most.
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