Annual Diversity Lecture discusses equality, diversity and commonality

Thought provoking lecture given by journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown - News

Thursday 6 March 2008
By Naomi Weston

The balance between equality, diversity and commonality was discussed by journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in this year’s annual Diversity Lecture, held at Imperial College on Tuesday 26 February.

Ms Alibhai-Brown asked the question: diversity, equality and commonality – are they mutually exclusive? “Not necessarily but they can be. If we want to change society and make it more at ease with itself equality and commonality have to take precedent over certain sorts of diversity,” she said.

“We live in a world of niches. The ideal I strive to promote is that we need to have a connection with others whatever their background and that has to surmount all other differences.”

Giving an example of improved commonality she added: “In the UK we have the highest rate of mixed race relationships in the world and the Iraq war protests which attracted people from every level of society to participate.”

Ms Alibhai-Brown has written for The Guardian, The Observer, The New York Times, the Daily Mail and is a regular columnist on The Independent and London’s Evening Standard. From 1996 to 2001 she was a research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. She is also a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Centre and advises institutions on race matters.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial, chaired the event, which was organised by the College’s Equality and Diversity Unit. He introduced Ms Alibhai-Brown by saying: “Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is something of a unique voice in the UK media. She describes herself as a modern British Muslim woman, and writes thoughtfully and honestly about each of those identities. She is able to describe different cultures and communities to each other and also, just as importantly, to themselves.”

Imperial’s Equality and Diversity Unit organises lectures and events throughout the year aiming to embed equality and diversity issues into College activities. For more information please visit www3.imperial.ac.uk/hr/equality

Watch the Realplayer stream of the Diversity lecture