With all respect, I do not think the USA is an appropriate model to be applied to Cyprus. Belgium would be a much more appropriate model.
Firstly, it is not generally accepted as fact that the USA is a multi-cultural society or melting pot as you put it. Most of the 50 states are nearly all white, British (mostly Anglo-Saxon, and Celtic).
it is only in certain states such as California (which has always had a Spanish presence-it was a part of Mexico back in the time of Jefferson), New York (traditional entry point for many future Americans), Florida (significant Hispanic population), Pennsylvania (huge German population) that people of many different backrounds make up a large portion,a quarter, half or even a majority of the population.
And as for the states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, Indiana and Texas, Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, it is only the Cities that one can really call multi-cultural. In rural Massachusetts, people are nearly all of English Puritan descent and are proud of their Pilgrim Fathers.
In the other states such as Dakotas, Carolinas, Wisconsin, Montana, Idaho, Alaska, New Mexico, Nebraska, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Oregon, Wyoming, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Tennesee, Mississippi, Louisiana (except in Lafayette where the Cajuns live), Alabama, Kentucky, Nevada (not Las Vegas), and Most of Georgia, and Missouri they are populated by whites primarily of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic descent, in other words British and Irish.
The British culture and influence is without a doubt the dominant one in the United States, except it is not called British nowadays, it is called American. You only have to look at the surnames of US congressmen on the US Congress website to realise how many English, Scottish and Irish surnames dominate both houses of congress. Even the African-Americans who in their own right form a nation have more British influences than of any other culture. They were after all shipped cruelly across the Atlantic to the East Coast by British seamen of entreprise.
People were NOT free in the days of Jefferson, or Lincoln or Washington to be who they liked. Civil Liberties were some what of a rarerity back then. American republicanism was imposed on the population after the defeat of the British colonialists and it was drilled into every Child in every school in a very bias way, thats why America of the English colonies grew into America. People did not call themselves Americans out of choice. Indoctrination played a pivotal role in forming future generations of Americans. American Kids till this very day sing their national anthem at School and houses in many middle-class areas play the US flag on their front lawn.
Even German immigrants to the US in the 18th, 19th and 20th century had to anglicize their names to sound more American! I read in a book on the history of the United States that one guy was compelled to change his surname shortly after arrival from Schmidt to Smith in order to improve "his standing" in his adopted society. More recently I have a good Armenian friend who lives in California who changed his name from Hagopian to Harris when he first arrived in the US.
You just cannot say that the US does not atleast try to impose in a bias way an American (formerly British) way of life to its current and future citizens. I have seen immigrants to the USA have to sing the National Anthem and swear an oath. America especially today under Bush junior is more patriotic than ever before.
As for the African Americans, they are not as different in culture, religion and language as their white American neighbours. Their mother-tongue is English (not including Haitians, Dominicans and francophone Blacks and Mulattos from Louisiana), they are Christian (mostly protestant) and their culture is not a million miles away from their white neighbours.
Cyprus on the other hand is a bi-ethnic state, it is not a melting pot (integration is difficult enough, as for assimilation it is and always has been rare), nor is it a melting pot of cultures, there is only one dominant culture on the island, a Cypriot culture. A culture where hellim / halloumi eating nouveau riche serve high in calories preserved fruits drenched in syrop to their guests and where any medical condition can be cured with Zivania.
What is interesting is that despite 30 years of division and where ever they are in the World, Greek and Turkish Cypriots seem to manifest very similar traditions (not just cuisine but also drahoma, attitudes, values and a love of black colored clothes for the ladies) they seem to share many idiosyncraties.
Belgium is the only other EU state is bi-ethnic (in other words it has two main ethnic groups). Because Belgium is firmly within the EU, it has been for some time, it is very useful to us to examine the Belgian model, as it will help us to draw lessons on how a bi-ethnic state and a federation (which we have been negotiating toward with the famous Annan plan) functions in the EU. For those of us who work or study law, examining the BElgian model also helps us to regard the competency of EU law versus member state law (in Cyprus` case) Federal and state law.
Happy New Year! Yeni Yilliniz Kutlu olsun! or as we say here in Quebec, Bonne année Merveilleus por tous!
