ABSTRACT
'Multiculturalists' often advocate the value of cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, intercultural learning and policies of multiculturalism like teaching children about a polity's multicultural nature. Bhikhu Parekh's texts relating to national identities began to appear in the 1970s when membership of the European Economic Community, mass immigration and Scottish and Welsh nationalism led him to ask who 'the British' were any longer. This is because Parekh's various works relating to the nature and worth of national identities from the 1970s onwards can be found among his less well-known book chapters, review articles and published lectures. The Commission for Multi-Ethnic Britain (CMEB) claimed that people's national identities had value for two reasons. The CMEB thus note how such communities contain individuals and groups who do not exhibit 'blind loyalty' to the community. Parekh and the CMEB's report outline or sketch for us how people can begin to think about the importance of national identities without nations, nationalism and without being nationalists.
