North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has said today at North Wales based NWAMI’s International Integration Day Celebration, which he Chaired, that “Integration can only happen when tolerance in the form of mutual respect and acceptance occurs”.
Speaking online as the Honorary President of NWAMI, “Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration”, Mr Isherwood outlined the aims of the organisation and referred to previous celebrations of International Integration Day, to Her late Majesty the Queen’s contribution to the Commonwealth, and to National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2022, which started on Saturday.
He said:
“NWAMI promotes Community Cohesion and Social Integration through education and cultural engagement globally and aims to reduce hate crime throughout society by building tolerance and understanding, along with a mutual respect for diverse culture for all.
“Exactly four years ago today, on 9th October 2018, NWAMI launched the Annual ‘Celebration of International Integration Day’ through their event, 'Integration through Learning and Cultural Exchange', held at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff. This event was well attended and highly appreciated by the audience.
“I closed the event, thanking performers and speakers, and emphasising the importance of integration by celebrating our glorious diversity together, building community cohesion and a tolerant society through cultural engagement. Exactly three years ago, on 9th October 2019, I sponsored and spoke at NWAMI’s second Annual Celebration of International Integration Day, held in the Senedd’s Pierhead Building. This again integrated short speeches with performances of music from Welsh and other cultures. I referred to NWAMI events I had attended and spoken at during the previous year.
“Exactly two year ago, on 9th October 2020, I spoke online at NWAMIs third Annual ‘Celebration of International Integration Day, when I formally launched NWAMI’s Booklet, NWAMI, Wales and our Story”, which refers to both NWAMI’s origins as the ‘North Wales Association for Multicultural Integration’, and to its rebranded name and role ‘Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration’.
“Speaking at this event, Dr Sibani Roy said: "NWAMI's mission has been to integrate newcomers with local people through cultural exchange and education, to reduce hate crime, and has successfully staged numerous cultural events, interfaith seminars, debates, language classes, cookery demonstrations and so on.
“Exactly one year ago today, I spoke at NWAMI’s International Integration Day Virtual Event, where I focussed on the situation in Afghanistan and the support we can and must provide for its victims, whilst also noting that National Hate Crime Awareness Week started on the same day.
“National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2022 started yesterday, a week of action that takes place in the UK to encourage local authorities and Police, key partners and communities affected by hate crime to work together to tackle local hate crime.
“This tallies with the aims of NWAMI I outlined earlier, ‘building Cultural Engagement and Community Cohesion by sharing the diverse cultural achievements of mankind’.
Quoting from his tribute to Her Late Majesty the Queen in the Senedd a few days after her death, Mr Isherwood said:
“Eight countries came together in 1949 to form the modern Commonwealth. Her Majesty became Head of the Commonwealth after being chosen for this role by Commonwealth member countries when she became Queen three years later. Since then, the Commonwealth has grown to become a free association not of eight countries, but of 56 independent and equal member countries. I thank Her Majesty for her service”.
He added:
“As the Cambridge Dictionary states, Integration is ‘the action or process of successfully joining or mixing with a different group of people’. Integration is also sometimes referred as a multicultural concept that denotes the removal of barriers that segregate human beings, where integration can only happen when tolerance in the form of mutual respect and acceptance occurs on the part of racially and ethnically different groups of human beings - accepting, recognizing, valuing and celebrating as well as giving equal rights for participation. This exemplifies the purpose of NWAMI’s annual International Integration Day.”