Prince Charles warns that monoculturalism is killing rural communities
March 15th, 2011 - 5:57 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 15 (ANI): Prince Charles has warned that the British countryside risks being ruined by monoculturalism, and that if society continues to spurn village pubs and traditional crafts, it will end up “pulling threads” from the “delicate tapestry” of rural life.
Charles, 62, used a verbose speech to tourism bosses to drill home his views on the importance of harmony and eco-living - and the paralysing peril of monoculturalism.
He told a conference in Lode, near Cambridge, that visitors to the countryside should be asked to make a voluntary contribution to support its farmers and local businesses.
He also sang the praises of a hotel surcharge scheme in Rome to raise funds for the upkeep of its historic monuments, though he did not suggest introducing it in the UK.
And he revealed that he - and presumably Camilla - have “very happily fallen into the familiar pattern of returning year after year to stay in a particularly fine bed and breakfast in the Fells of Cumbria”.
“All these things attract and maintain tourism in an age of otherwise stultifying monoculturalism - it is the things that make us so different that is so attractive to people,” the Daily Mail quoted Charles as saying.
“But without assistance we will lose a national asset of incalculable value and one that, once lost, can never be recreated,” he stated.
He claimed that farmers are the tourist industry’s “greatest ally” because they preserve the landscape, which is a “living, breathing” place.
“The delicately woven tapestry that is our countryside is facing unprecedented challenges. Start pulling out the threads and the rest unravels very rapidly indeed,” he said.
“No farmers, no beautiful landscapes with stone walls; no thriving rural communities, no villages with at their heart the famous British pub so rightly beloved by our tourists; no sustainable agriculture, no distinctive local foods - no unique local story to tell and to experience.
“In other words, no cultural continuity to give life its meaning and people a sense of belonging,” he added. (ANI)
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