My claim to fame has never really been my claim at all.
Back in 1983, I found myself chaperoning my little brother and his close friend Ant McPartlin to the cinema to watch Return of the Jedi. Yes, that Ant McPartlin. Long before prime time television and catchphrases, we were just a bunch of kids from the North East heading to the pictures, buzzing with excitement and popcorn.
By then, I was already hooked. I had seen the first two Star Wars films and I felt the Force before I even knew how to describe it. There was something about that galaxy far far away that grabbed you. Not just the spaceships and lightsabres, but the bigger story underneath it all. Choice. Power. Responsibility. And the fine line between doing what is easy and doing what is right.
Rewatching Return of the Jedi now, it feels uncannily current. Maybe more so than ever. At its heart, Star Wars has always been about the struggle between the light and the dark. Fear versus hope. Control versus compassion. And if we are honest with ourselves, that same battle is playing out daily in our society and our communities right now.
The Jedi were never just warriors. They were meant to be guardians of balance. Disciplined, thoughtful, grounded in service rather than ego. Which is why the JEDI framing feels so important today. Justice. Equality. Diversity. Inclusion. All of them matter. But they only work if they are truly for everyone, not selectively applied or weaponised.
Here is the uncomfortable bit, and I have never been one to shy away from it. One of the biggest challenges with inclusion is that, in practice, it can become exclusionary. When one group is constantly prioritised or elevated above another, even with the best of intentions, it can create resentment rather than repair. It can deepen divides rather than heal them. That is not progress. That is how the dark side quietly creeps in.
True inclusion is not about picking sides. It is about bringing people with you. Star Wars shows us this brilliantly. The Rebel Alliance only succeeds because wildly different people, species and backgrounds come together around a shared purpose. When one group needs focus or protection, the others are not shut out. They are engaged. They understand the why. They feel part of the journey.
For over two decades, I have been raising a difficult conversation that many would rather avoid. The alienation of white men and boys. Not as a counter argument to inclusion, but as a warning sign. When people feel unheard, unseen or blamed for things they did not personally do, they disengage. And disengagement has consequences. We are living with many of them now. Polarisation. Anger. A sense that community is something you watch, not something you belong to.
History tells us something important if we are willing to listen. It has almost always been the majority who have stood up for the minority. Men supporting women to gain the vote and equal opportunity. White English people standing alongside Black, Irish and Asian communities. Progress has never come from exclusion. It has come from alliance.
Now is the moment to support those who feel isolated and left behind. But not at the expense of everyone else. We need the courage to say that inclusion means all of us. That justice is not a limited supply. That equality does not require new hierarchies. And that diversity only works when it strengthens the whole rather than fractures it.
If we allow our communities to splinter beyond repair, nobody wins. But if we choose empathy over accusation, dialogue over dogma and shared responsibility over blame, there is still time to restore balance.
In Return of the Jedi, redemption comes when someone chooses the light, even at the very last moment. That choice is always there.
The Force belongs to all of us. The real question is whether we have the courage to use it to bring people together, rather than push them further apart.
Ammar Mirza CBE is Chair & Founder of Asian Business Connexions, Executive Chair of the AmmarM Group, Honorary Colonel of 101 Regiment RA and holds various positions across the public and private sectors with a deep interest in Inclusion, Innovation and Internationalisation.
