Tokenistic' DEI falls short as policies face critics from all sides

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have come under fire on both sides of the Atlantic.

- Aamna Mohdin

They were defunded by the Trump administration and in Britain Reform UK vowed to scrap them in the nine councils it won control of in the local elections.

But criticism of the initiatives, which are designed to promote equality of opportunity and representation within organisations, has not been exclusive to the right.

Leftwing academics, writers and organisers say they have become shallow corporate exercises.

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR), a UK-based thinktank, has been making these arguments since the early 1980s, when the government commissioned the Scarman report to look at education and policing in response to the 1981 riots across England.

Twelve reports on racial inequalities have been commissioned by ministers since 1981, often in response to scandals and unrest. Guardian analysis found that of the nearly 600 recommendations - less than a third had been fully implemented.

But some were. Unconscious bias training, as well as attempts to increase representation of the workforce, became cornerstones of corporate and public sector DEI strategies (sometimes referred to as EDI - equality, diversity and inclusion) in the UK.

John Narayan, the new chair of the IRR, argues that this was intentional. The anti-racism movement in the UK from the 1960s to 1980s was making radical demands on a range of issues from citizenship and how the UK border is managed to access to decent housing and education.

"So you had these radical demands, and then normally what the state gives you is a co-option," he said. "We can all do saris, steelbands and samosas... But the radical response was taken out.

So the exploitation continues, the bordering regime continues, the everyday racism continues, and the racist policing continues."