Q-News Nov 2005 Issue 364

Four months after the tragic events of 7/7, it is time for introspection. Hopefully the media and political circuses are now behind us. As headline writers rest their tired clichés, politicians lower their shrill cries and civil servants take a breather, we must not forget that these are days of destiny. The reinforced new image of Islam as a ‘threat’ to society combined with both the introduction of new legislation and a new official mindset are developments likely to stay with us for years to come.

Everywhere change is being forced. The government’s indifference to the issues and concerns of British Muslims is no longer acceptable. Lethargic civil servants, doctrinaire social workers and analysts together with bumptious anti-racist activists have been pushed to re-evaluate the situation. But with Birmingham burning, jihadists still on the prowl all over the place and ‘our boys’ still in Basra, is it a matter of too little too late?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. It is neither a ‘yes’ nor a ‘no'.

Here, we must remember, we are talking about processes. The Home Office Task Force was a necessary but insufficient condition. Some of us enjoyed the spectacle of civil servants who - despite all the signals - lived in a make-believe world of red herrings. When Home Office Minister Hazel Blears left Whitehall to ‘engage with the community’ it was within the dynamic matrix of interfacing with people identified ‘useful’ in dealing with the most earth-shattering issue confronting British Muslims - as identified by the Faith and Diversity Unit: that of forced marriage and honour killing.

Despite the effort of New Labour control freaks, a few did make it to the consulting table but the vast majority remained trusted party apparatchiks and those addicted to Home Office crumbs. When the one hundred or so members of the Task Force finally met in Windsor in mid-September it was obvious that some bells were ringing: The consultation was the most diverse ever by the government, a big improvement from the pre-7/7 days when the issue of engagement had become a simple matter of talking to an umbrella body.

In a few weeks time the final report of the Task Force will be published. My advice is not to expect miracles. But do expect a shibboleth: the suggestion of setting up a National Advisory Council of Imams is as likely to contribute towards fighting terrorism as the new draconian anti-terrorism laws. Under-paid and under-trained imams working under the diktats of ignorant mosque committees and rash and harsh laws are not the best of weapons in fighting a metaphor - what the war against terrorism really is.

The proposal aimed at engaging with young people (especially university students) intellectually is much more sensible. But any such engagement needs to be broader than just one restricted by a political or sociological analysis. It needs to be deeper in order to expose the religious underpinnings of the aberration of terrorism and violence. The only acceptable counter-argument, for instance, to those sold on the idea of suicide-terror has to be primarily rooted in the theological, moral and ethical understanding of Islam.

But other things have been happening too. Nothing, however, has been more ill-advised and sinister than comments by Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). His attacks on multiculturalism and “warning” that Britain was “sleepwalking our way to segregation” smacks of hypocrisy, shallowness and Islamophobia. Phillips comments would have been just another peccadillo from a New Labour darling if it was not for the fact that he heads a public body funded by tax money that is taken seriously on matters of community affairs.

Over the years the CRE has not been renowned to champion the causes or interests of British Muslims. But since Mr Phillips took over the CRE’s anti-Muslim crusade has attained new unacceptable levels. Behind his sugar-coated speeches is a discernible streak of contempt for Muslims and Islam. His castigation of multiculturalism - with all the pomposity of a Guyanese Fukuyama - is preposterous, particularly to Muslims. Though the primary victims of the multicultural experiment - headed and supported by the CRE all these years - Muslims have never really been allowed to be part of the debate.

It has been claimed that the disbanding of the CRE would not be good for the anti-racist movement. That is bad news. But few British Muslims would shed a tear for an organisation that has betrayed so much Islamophobia over the years. The CRE - in its present condition - is a liability to Britain’s dynamic and vibrant visible minorities: a white elephant belonging to another age.

The troubles in Birmingham are, unfortunately, a signal of the difficult future that awaits us. Time has come to roll up our sleeves and deal with real issues: one of racism within the British Muslim community and of Islamophobia within the anti-racist movement. It is time for honest and courageous warriors of change to go to battle and for spinmeisters and cronies to look for new pastures.

Fuad Nahdi

Publisher