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Cameron joins multiculture debate
Edward Davie
With alienation of some parts of society leading to an increased risk of homegrown terrorism, political leaders are thinking about how to build a more cohesive society.
The fact that David Cameron tackled the thorny issue of extremism on the day that "Osama Bin London" and his gang were found guilty of recruiting young British Muslims for terrorism underlined the pertinence of his subject.
The Conservative leader's main target was "state multiculturalism" that he claims encourages division by fostering difference and gives disproportionate weight to the most extreme.
In a speech entitled "Extremism, individual rights and the rule of law in Britain", David Cameron said that "state multiculturalism" – the idea that we should respect different cultures to the point of encouraging them to live separate lives – has weakened, not strengthened, our collective identity.
He drew attention to the level of integration in the UK, or rather lack of it, compared with America.
"In America, 47 per cent of Muslims think of themselves of Muslim first, American second. In Britain, it's nearly twice that - with 81 percent of Muslims thinking of themselves as Muslim first and British second," Cameron said.
Cameron said that the Archbishop of Canterbury's view that the adoption of some aspects of sharia law in the UK was inevitable was wrong, not only wrong, but that it would fail to address alienation.
He did not repeat the archbishop's "unclarity" and "clumsiness" but countered it by suggesting that such a move would in fact lead to a "legal apartheid."
The government is already insisting that immigrants learn English so as to encourage communication and the tone of the debate does seem to have shifted from respecting discrete cultures and instead encouraging a more cohesive, unified society on the American model.
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Published: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:54:18 GMT+00
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