MUNICH – British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday condemned Britain’s long-standing policy of multiculturalism as a failure, calling for better integration of young Muslims to combat home-grown extremism. In a speech to the Munich Security Conference, Cameron signalled a marked change in policy towards Britain’s ethnic and religious minorities, saying the “hands-off tolerance” of those who reject Western values has failed.
He urged a “more active, muscular liberalism” where equal rights, the rule of law, freedom of speech and democracy are actively promoted to create a stronger national identity. “If we are to defeat this threat, I believe it’s time to turn the page on the failed policies of the past,” he told the conference during a panel discussion attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But his remarks sparked a chorus of condemnation, with the Muslim Council of Britain expressing anger that the Muslim community was being still being treated “as part of the problem as opposed to part of the solution.” Cameron’s speech echoed controversial comments made by Merkel last year, when she also called multiculturalism a failure, saying Germany had not devoted enough attention to the integration of immigrants.
The prime minister, who took power in May 2010, argued that “under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream”. He said this had resulted in a lack of national identity in Britain which had made some young Muslims turn to extremist ideology.
“Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” Cameron said. “A passively tolerant society says to its citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone. It stands neutral between different values. “A genuinely liberal country does much more. It believes in certain values and actively promotes them.” Cameron clearly distinguished between Islam the religion and the political ideology of Islamist extremism, saying they “are not the same thing”.
“It is disappointing,” Faisal Hanjra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, told BBC radio, adding that it did not appear to mark in shift in the approach to tackling terrorism.
