Posted on 08/02/2005 5:28:44 PM PDT by blam
Multicultural Britain is not working, says Tory chief
By George Jones, Political Editor
(Filed: 03/08/2005)
Muslims must start integrating into mainstream British society, says David Davis, the shadow home secretary and front-runner to take over the Conservative leadership.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Mr Davis signalled a significant shift away from the policy of multi-culturalism, which allows people of different faiths and cultures to settle without expecting them to integrate.
David Davis: ‘Muslims in turn have obligations not simply to condemn terror, but to confront it’
"Often, the authorities have seemed more concerned with encouraging distinctive identities rather than promoting the common values of nationhood," Mr Davis writes.
His call for a rethink of the approach to immigrant communities came as Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister, sought to reassure British Muslims that they were not being deliberately targeted by the Government's anti-terrorism powers.
After meeting Muslim leaders in Oldham, Miss Blears said the use of stop and search powers by police had to be "intelligence-led" and carried out in a non-discriminatory way. "The counter-terrorism powers are not targeting any community in particular, but are targeting terrorists," she said.
Her remarks represented a retreat from her earlier support for Ian Johnston, the Chief Constable of British Transport Police, who said young Asian men should be targeted and police should not waste time "searching old, white ladies".
Miss Blears received a mixed reception at the start of a tour of Asian communities. Riaz Ahmad, an Oldham Labour councillor, said he was glad there was no intention to "demonise" the Muslim community.
But Zahid Maqbool, the editor of a magazine for Asian youths, said not enough attention was being paid to the views of young Muslims.
Mr Davis's call for an end to multiculturalism is an indication of a fundamental rethink under way within the political parties and government over relations with the Muslim community after last month's suicide bomb attacks in London.
Although Tony Blair has rejected calls to restrict the growth of separate Muslim faith schools, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, whose Blackburn constituency contains a large Asian community, said Muslim religious teachers and Islamic schools could be licensed.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow attorney general, said few politicians yet appreciated the sense of anger and alienation felt by many Muslims in Britain. He said the London suicide bombings were "totally explicable" because of the deep sense of anger over the Iraq war, a wider despair about the Islamic world and what Muslims saw as a "decadent" western society.
However, Miss Blears said there could be no justification "for people blowing themselves up and murdering hundreds of other people".
Mr Davis argues today that questions must be asked about how the "perverted values" of the suicide bomber were allowed to take root.
He says Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, was right to call multiculturalism outdated.
"We should learn lessons from abroad, for example from the United States, where pride in the nation's values is much more prevalent among minorities than here," he says. "Above all, we must speak openly of what we expect of those who settle here - and of ourselves.
"Let us be clear. Non-Muslims have obligations to their Muslim fellow citizens - to strive for equal opportunities for all, to accept the mainstream version of Islam as a part of society and to reject the vile racism of the BNP and its like.
"But Muslims in turn have obligations: not simply to condemn terror, as one Labour MP put it, but to confront it."
He praised the Government's response to the London bombings and promised Tory support for tougher laws to catch and convict those preparing terrorist acts or inciting extremism.
Mr Davis calls for the establishment of a new border control police force to secure Britain's "porous" borders.
The process of granting British citizenship should be reviewed. It is "totally unacceptable" that one of the alleged bombers was given a British passport despite having a long record of bad conduct, including time in jail.
Mr Davis repeats the Tory call to review the Human Rights Act.
And so it begins...the dam is bursting.
Your views on Mr Davis, please - haven't heard of this chap.
WHAT???????????
Respect the world you escape to and leave your evil behind
NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I am muslim, I was born to evil...................
Exactly. They have finally decided that they might be against terrorism. They have not yet declared themselves to be on the side of Britain in this war.
Non-Muslims have obligations to their Muslim fellow citizens - to strive for equal opportunities for all, to accept the mainstream version of Islam as a part of society and to reject the vile racism of the BNP and its like.
The writer gets to print an offhand attack on the BNP, but BNP doesn't get to respond?
As long as some muslims seek to become devout, Islam will draw them into its evil.
Oh, and Allah is otherwise known as the Prince of Darkness. But don't take my word for it. Look at Islam's record of evil. The proof's in the pudding.
As my esteemed governor said, "MULTICULTURALISM IS A BUNCH OF CRAP".
I agree with him...
and now, so should the British.
This is rich:
"Mr Davis argues today that questions must be asked about how the "perverted values" of the suicide bomber were allowed to take root."
It happened the same way the Nazi terror was allowed to happen. It was rationalized away and deemed justifiable as long as it was happening to Jews "over there." And, as with Nazism, once it became justifiable for Jews, it was well on its way to becoming justifiable for everyone else.
If nothing else, maybe this will make more people in this country aware that we are headed for serious trouble here at home, and not just as it relates to radical Islam. We are rapidly becoming a divided society made up of various groups of un-assimilated segments of people. Think about it. The mass influx of foreigners(mainly illegal) are becoming a society within a society. They worship the enemies of our heroes. They look at our land as land that we stole from them. They have no intention of becoming a part of the American fabric, but instead seek to tear it apart.
And whas your first clue bud?
Was it the 170 different langues you had to deal with?
Was it the bashing of Chrisianity that had to be tollerated so every other ragamuffin swami could get equal time and destroy Christianity's influence on society?
Was it the blossoming crime that did it for you?
Was it watching the children of Britain slaughtered on it's streets?
Was it gang activity almost the exclusive domain of foreign nationals?
Was it the lack of any entry level jobs whatsoever for teens?
Was it the blossoming slums?
Was it the countless billions that foreign nationals can tap while citizens go wanting?
Perhaps it was in state tuitions for illegals while out of state citizen's children must pay full price
Well, I'd go on. Hell, the people that count will never read it. As a rule of thumb, it takes them about 25 years to figure out what the rest of us knew all along.
Par for the course...
To be more specific, it doesn't work with Muslims.
Indians, Chinese, Arab Christians all tend to assimilate well.
Indians, Chinese, Arab Christians all tend to assimilate well.
Yup, I lived for many years in NYC and everyone assimilated and still brought their unique culture to the party. It was great.
It is the Muslim refusal to get along that ruins it.
Islam cannot assimilate because it is evil at its core. If a muslim gives up the evil of Islam, well...they aren't muslim anymore.
Boy if he wins on this platform, and the Brits are not like the spaniards I hope, it is the beginning of the end of diversity as a major diety.
Pardon my ignorance of British politics, but what's a "shadow home secretary"?
You've got that right---the old melting pot worked much better.
The well-named Miss Blears defends multi-culturalism.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Shadow cabinet)
The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Opposition Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster System of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government. Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government. It is the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to pass criticism on the current government and its respective legislation, as well as deciding where amendments to the legislation are necessary.
In the United Kingdom and Canada the major opposition party and specifically its shadow cabinet is often called Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. The adjective "loyal" is used because, while there are policy differences, everyone acknowledges the role of the opposition in the system. However in other countries that use the Westminster system (eg. Australia and New Zealand), the opposition is known simply as The Parliamentary Opposition.
Some parliamentary parties, notably the British Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party, elect all the members of their shadow cabinets in a partyroom ballot, with the Leader of the Opposition then allocating portfolios to the Shadow Ministers. In other parliamentary parties, the membership and composition of the Shadow Cabinet is generally determined solely by the Leader of the Opposition.
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