LONDON, 9 December 2006 — British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a hard-hitting lecture on religious tolerance and cultural assimilation to a specially invited audience at No. 10 Downing Street yesterday called on British Muslims to integrate into British society and to espouse British values of belief in democracy, rule of law and tolerance. He warned that British values take precedence over any cultural traditions or faiths.
Blair was rekindling the debate on multiculturalism, which effectively took a battering in the aftermath of the 7/7 terrorist attacks on the London transport system in July 2005 in which over 50 people died. Although the speech was not aimed at the Muslim community per se, there is no doubt that the prime minister was targeting his comments at radical Muslim groups who seemingly favor separatism and extremism to the point of justifying violence for their cause.
Recent cases related to the banning of the wearing of the niqab in schools and public buildings such as courts; the issue of forced marriages especially among the South Asian community; and the radicalization of a minority of British Muslim youth, have sparked a vigorous debate on the whole question of multiculturalism, social cohesion and diversity.
“Integration,” he stressed, “is not about culture or lifestyle. It is about values. It is about integrating at the point of shared, common unifying British values. It isn’t about what defines us as people, but as citizens, the rights and duties that go with being a member of our society. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other faiths have a perfect right to their own identity and religion, to practice their faith and to conform to their culture. This is what multicultural, multi-faith Britain is about.”
However, when it comes to “our essential values — belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage — then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common; it is what gives us the right to call ourselves British. At that point no distinctive culture or religion supercedes our duty to be part of an integrated United Kingdom.”
Dominic Grieve, the opposition Conservative Party spokesman for community cohesion, said the speech was a “remarkable turnaround.”
“Many of the problems in relation to the issues he (Blair) addresses are at least in part the consequence of a philosophy of divisive multiculturalism and political correctness that has been actively promoted by the Labour Party over many years at both national and local government levels.”
Blair said friends warned him not to discuss integration in the context of 7/7, of terrorism, and of the British Muslim community. “It is true there are extremists in other communities. But the reason we are having this debate is not generalized extremism. It is a new and virulent form of ideology associated with a minority of our Muslim community. It is not a problem with Britons of Hindu, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese or Polish origin,” he said.
“Nor is it a problem with the majority of the Muslim community. Most Muslims are proud to be British and Muslim and are thoroughly decent law-abiding citizens,” he explained.
There is grounds for optimism, though. Integrating people while preserving their distinctive cultures, is not impossible, but the norm. “The failure of one part of one community to do so, is not a function of a flawed theory of a multicultural society. It is a function of a particular ideology that arises within one religion at this one time,” said Blair.
Multiculturalism, the prime minister argued, was never supposed to be a celebration of division; but of diversity. The purpose was to allow people to live harmoniously together, despite their difference; not to make their difference an encouragement to discord. But, the right to a multicultural society is always balanced by a duty to integrate. “Those whites who support the British National Party’s policy of separate races and those Muslims who shun integration into British society both contradict the fundamental values that define Britain today: tolerance, solidarity across the racial and religious divide, equality for all and between all,” said Blair.
Instead of dispensing the idea of a multicultural society, Britain, he maintained, should continue celebrating it. London is perhaps the most popular capital city in the world today partly because it is hospitable to so many different nationalities, mixing, working, conversing with each other.
The prime minister warned those entering the UK that they must be prepared to be tolerant. “If you come here lawfully, we welcome you. If you are permitted to stay here permanently, you become an equal member of our community and become one of us. Then you, and all of us, who want to, can worship God in our own way, take pride in our different cultures after our own fashion, respect our distinctive histories according to our own traditions; but do so within a shared space of shared values in which we take no less pride and show no less respect. The right to be different. The duty to integrate. That is what being British means. And neither racists nor extremists should be allowed to destroy it.”
Blair outlined six ways multiculturalism and integration can be promoted by his government. Grants given by the government to community and other groups will only be given to those who promote integration as well as help the building of a distinctive cultural identity.
The government is keen to promote equality of respect and treatment of all citizens. Muslim women in Britain have been campaigning against forced marriages and the refusal of some mosques to allow women to worship there and to participate in the affairs of the mosque. The Home Office has already set up a Forced Marriage Unit, which investigates such cases. The government is also looking at the Equal Opportunities Act to see whether the mosque committees are breaking the law when they bar women from entering.
The government is also demanding allegiance to the rule of law, and warns that nobody can legitimately ask to stand outside the law of the nation.
The government is also cracking down on foreign preachers (imams) coming to the UK. The clear preference is to train home-grown preachers who are familiar with the language and the society. Those foreign preachers who are allowed to come in for whatever reason must have a proper command of English and must meet the pre-entry requirements.
The values and rights that constitute citizenship must be celebrated and promoted. As such these are now incorporated in the national curriculum in schools and are compulsory for all students. Finally, the government is now promoting the vale of a shared common language.
