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Multicultural policies have effectively divided the population  into ethnic and faith 'communities'.

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DON'T TALK ABOUT DIFFERENCES-TALK ABOUT COMMUNITY.

by

Munira Mirza

(writer and researcher)

Daily Mail- Monday, January 29 ,2007.

WHEN my colleagues and I began researching the attitudes of young British Muslims, we already suspected that some had become more religiously and politically committed over the past decade.

BUT our findings surprised us. While most Muslims feel a sense of belonging to Britain and are reasonably well integrated, there is a definite shift away from the mainstream among a growing number of younger Muslims.

[ At this point we would draw a parallel with many English children and others of other ages in our schools who complain that everyone else has a country whether from Poland or India or China or from any number of the 190 plus countries in the world today. Identity is important to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty to one's home whether adopted or not. Britishness an over used term introduced by newspaper proprietors  to replace the word ENGLAND which was in vogue for much of our past but particularly after the Second World War it did not fit in with those who decided British was Best!. This was strange as the term British is a geographical expression and NOT political -of course over 1500 years ago it was political but the English and their neighbours changed THAT!. It has been and still is a travesty that the word ENGLISH has been in decline for decades whereas the individual nation state whether Wales or Scotland in our island home has become the norm.]

They are more likely to prioritise allegiance to their religious community and be assertive about expressing their cultural difference. An increasing number express support for faith schools; say they would prefer to live under Muslim law, known as Sharia, and have become less tolerant about women's rights and homosexuality.

WHY? Are Muslims simply unable to adjust  to life in the West?

The answer to that is a firm No. After all, the first generation of Muslim immigrants largely adapted their religion and culture to suit life in Britain.

It is their children and grandchildren who are more strident about criticising British society and asserting their religious identity.  Many younger girls in Muslim communities will now wear the headscarf -the hijab-although many of their mothers do not. Slowly but surely, sections of the Muslim community are separating from the rest of Britain.

Instead of looking abroad to the influence of the Muslim world or the conflicts in the Middle East for an explanation, our research suggests that it lies closer to home. In particular, the

RISE OF MULTICULTURALISM.

Over the past two decades, with its stress on 'difference' and downgrading of Britishness has led many young Muslims to see themselves as separate from society.

Multicultural policies have effectively divided the population into ethnic and faith 'communities', each demanding its own identity as well as separate funding and resources.

This divisive approach has encouraged a kind of tribal thinking, where each group is encouraged to look after 'their own' In such a climate, younger have grown up believing that they have more in common with other Muslims than the wider population.

The weakening of collective identities through attacks on British traditions and history and the decline in old-style working class politics has led to a vacuum in which many young Muslims have turned to religion to seek a sense of belonging.

This emphasis on difference has also cultivated a powerful sense of victim hood. Instead of demanding equality anti-racist groups since the 1980's have been demanding the right to be different and 'respect' for cultural identities.

Muslim lobby groups have been particularly successful at claiming that Muslims need special protection by exaggerating the problem of Islamophobia and demanding curbs on free speech.

But instead of making Muslims safer and more included, these demands have only made younger Muslims feel more alienated.

Paradoxically telling Muslims that they are vulnerable and need to be listened to has only made them feel more like outsiders who cannot be expected to handle criticism like everyone else. Although younger Muslims are far less likely than their parents to be victims of racist abuse, they are more sensitive about the slightest criticism or attack.

EVEN WORSE, by trying to engage with Muslims through 'community leaders' (who are considered by most Muslims to be largely unrepresentative), the Government is sending the message:

'You lot are so different, we just do not know how to talk to you ourselves.'

This has meant that many younger Muslims who feel unrepresented by their community leaders feel even more ignored and excluded, because the Government is listening to them in the WRONG WAY.

The Government must stop emphasising difference and engage Muslims as citizens, not through their religious identity. The 'Muslim community' is not homogeneous. People should be entitled to equal treatment as citizens in the public realm, with the freedom to enjoy their religious identities in the private sphere

THE negative effects of MULTICULTURALISM are also experienced by many other groups, including white people who have been encouraged to feel ashamed of

THEIR COUNTRY.

We need to revive a sense of shared purpose and confidence in British society. Islamism is only one expression of a wider cultural problem of self-loathing and confusion in the West. There are signs that people in general feel alienated and are increasingly retreating to their cultural or ethnic backgrounds. This is the driving force behind a rising interest in regional identities among the Scottish, Welsh and English.

We need to bring to an end to the institutional attacks on NATIONAL IDENTITY

-the cancellation of Christian festivities, the bans on displays of national symbols and the sometimes crude anti-western bias of history lessons -which can create feelings of defensiveness and resentment.

We should allow people to express their identity freely in a climate of genuine toleration. Society needs to work together to assert our shared British identity and Western values in a way that will inspire the younger generation -from all backgrounds.

[Shortly before the 1997 General Election a BBC reporter arrived to question us and the first question was what did we think of MULTICULTURALISM.  Our reply was that we believed in each individual from wherever they came form and that when people arrived in England their first breath of English air was of FREEDOM which was a statement made by the Chief Justice of England to the case of a captured slave in a ship in English waters.  So it is that when anyone arrives in our country they have FULL RIGHTS secured by the Rights and Liberties which have been fought for in England for over 1500 years. The curse of multiculturalism was known as a community wreaking policy years ago but was a useful instrument of many politicians to ingratiate themselves with newcomers to secure their votes- need we say more. ]

Except:

'The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.'

John Stuart Mill

(1806-73)

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