State multiculturalism has failed, says (UK Prime Minister) David Cameron

[pampango]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994

In the speech in Munich, Mr Cameron drew a clear distinction between Islam the religion and what he described as "Islamist extremism" - a political ideology he said attracted people who feel "rootless" within their own countries.

"We need to be clear: Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing," he said. Building a stronger sense of national and local identity holds "the key to achieving true cohesion" by allowing people to say "I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner... too", he said.

But the Islamic Society of Britain said the prime minister did not appreciate the nature of the problem. Ajmal Masroor from the group told BBC Radio 5 live: "I think he's confusing a couple of issues: national identity and multiculturalism along with extremism are not connected. Extremism comes about as a result of several other factors."

Muslim youth group The Ramadhan Foundation said that, by singling out Muslims, Mr Cameron had fed "hysteria and paranoia". Chief executive Mohammed Shafiq said: "British Muslims abhor terrorism and extremism and we have worked hard to eradicate this evil from our country. "But to suggest that we do not sign up to the values of tolerance, respect and freedom is deeply offensive and incorrect. "Multiculturalism is about understanding each others faiths and cultures whilst being proud of our British citizenship."
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Interesting that Cameron made this statement in Germany where conservative like Prime Minister Merkel and Thilo Sarrazin (former member of the German Central Bank) have recently made similar statements about Muslim immigrants. (When in Rome ...?)

Cameron seems to differentiate between British Muslims and Islamic terrorists, but then states that multiculturalism has failed due to the existence of the latter. Does he also blame multiculturalism for the existence of terrorists in Northern Ireland? Funny how conservative politicians like to blame "others" for problems in their country rather than looking in the mirror.

[dipsydoodle]

1. It has

.

[pampango]

4. Whether it's in Germany, the UK or the US, conservative politicians are better at figuring this out

than liberals are? Just once I would like to see a liberal politician proclaim that it is the failure of multiculturalism that has let to x, y or z national problem.

Perhaps liberals are just not as analytical as conservatives? Or are they just more afraid to speak the truth than conservatives?

[Cassandra]

7. Multiculturalism is not the problem.

The authoritarian mind-set is.

[xchrom]

2. creating the state of feeling threatened in the population.

divide and conquer.

are there bad guys? yes. few in number and not threatening enough ramp up ooodles of the nations money to spend on phony security.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Its not quite like that.

Its partly age related and associated with the experience of earleir events. Some, in fact quite a lot of us , are old enough to remember that we had no such issues with either the bulk assisted passage immigration scheme from Jamaica etc back in the late '50s nor with the Asians who came over when Idi Amin effectively kicked them all out in the '70s and equally importantly with their subsequent off spring. Both groups , in volume ,assimilated themselves into our society without issues : what's the big fucking deal with the Muslims ?

In other words if they want to part of us then great and if not then.............back to where they or their families came from.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I'd blame state religious sect schools for part of the NI troubles; I wonder if Cameron

will take the logical step from saying "state multiculturalism has failed", and take steps to end the segregation of people by state faith schools?

On edit: I won't hold my breath - he said much the same thing abour 3 years ago, but has consistently called for more faith schools since then.

Joined-up thinking - it's just too difficult for Cameron. :banghead:

[dipsydoodle]

6. It was a lot deeper than that

Jobs and housing for example - preference given to Protestants.

With the independant state aided faith schools isn't their support based on taking in a percentage of other faiths ? Used to be that way. I've got a Jewish pal who went to Catholic school based on that back in '50s / 60's.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It's a voluntary agreement; an attempt to make it compulsory was voted against in 2006

Former education secretary Lord (Kenneth) Baker proposed a 25% quota for faith schools as part of a current bill. Education Secretary Alan Johnson signed up to the idea but then dropped it. He said a voluntary agreement with both Church of England and Catholic state-funded schools made it unnecessary. Lord Baker didn't take that down. He tabled an amendment in the House of Lords to reintroduce the proposal.

Lord Baker's plan was defeated. Instead, peers backed a government proposal to allow Ofsted, the schools watchdog, to monitor how well schools are doing at promoting "community cohesion" - jargon for how much contact they build with different groups or schools in their wider communities.

Lord Baker said he believed faith schools were separating children at the ages of five and 11 rather than helping them to integrate with each other in an increasingly diverse society. "We've only got the example in Northern Ireland to see where that leads," he said.

He was primarily concerned about Muslim state schools, saying he could not see how these children would be effectively integrated if they did not come into contact with children from other backgrounds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6091280.stm

So there's a voluntary agreement to take some children from outside the denomination; but when it was proposed to force it to be at least the modest figure of 25%, the churches (the Catholics in particular, it seems) screamed blue murder, and got it dropped. They really, really like segregation.

Yes, there are other policies in Northern Ireland that have encouraged segregation as well - I did say "part of". But I think that, in England, state-funded faith schools are the biggest part of 'state multiculturalism' that there is. Cameron's actual policies run directly counter to his speech.