Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 158
158 T HE F U T U R E Ever since the mass migration to the western countries of peo- ple from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean in the late 1960’s, there has been great upheaval in the lives of both the immigrants and the natives whose lands had been ‘invaded’. Most of the immigrants were familiar with the Western way of life as their countries had been subjected to imperialist and colonial rule. But for the majority of the West the influx of so many diverse cultures and faiths was too much to handle at one go. Without going too much in depth on this subject, it can be safely accepted that there was a lot of tension and that racism reared its ugly head. It has also to be said that over a period of time, after hard work by parties from both sides, a ‘tolerance zone’ had been created in which people were beginning to live together in some sort of har- mony, appreciating and respecting each others’ cultures and beliefs. Most of the people had begun to realise that the Western world, especially, had become a haven for a multi-cultural and multi-racial society, and that in the safe interests of all concerned, it was better to live in harmony acknowledging each other’s differences, rather than by forcing the ethnic minorities to behave totally like their ‘hosts’. Even despite the fact that Muslims provided the biggest chal- lenge to the West in that they would not compromise their faith, there was still a great deal of dialogue to try and ensure compatibil- ity. The Pope, too, in a much broader, global manner had stretched his hand in friendship to Islam and there was certainly an air of expectancy. But, sadly, and almost unforgivably, all this has been undone in a single swoop by Salman Rushdie and whoever else is responsible for the piece of work that has set race relations and religious toler- ance back almost a century.