| |
They protest too much
Labour’s defence of divisive multiculturalism goes against advice of racial equality body
When the IWCA tried earlier this year to inject a bit of common sense into the council chamber—by tabling a motion calling for the removal of public funding for projects which encourage racial and religious separatism and asking instead for support for those that favour integration—we were pilloried. Our motion was condemned by Labour councillors as ‘childish’ and ‘racist’.
So it is particularly interesting to see ex Labour member of the Greater London Assembly and current Chair of the Racial Equality Commission (CRE) Trevor Phillips voicing concerns similar to ours. In a speech made in September, Mr Phillips argued that Britain is ‘sleepwalking to segregation’ and emphasised the need to build an integrated society.
While Mr Phillips’ speech wasn’t intended as an attack on New Labour measures such as the expansion of single faith schools, or local and national government policies that result in different treatment according to ethnicity—for instance public funding of youth facilities for a particular racial group—it’s clear from his warning what the likely result will be: ‘the fragmentation of our society by race and ethnicity.’ Anyone who doubts such concerns only need be reminded of the recent riots between Afro-Caribbean and Asian communities in Birmingham.
The need for equality and fairness that lies behind our motion is perfectly clear to most working class people. Politicians in the Town Hall, however, seem to find the concept rather more difficult to grasp. Are they as divorced from reality as they seem or are they trying to hide a desire to see the working class divided along racial, ethnic and religious lines?
Leys Independent, issue 30, November 2005
| 
Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor Phillips has warned that Britain is ‘sleepwalking to segregation’—the ‘fragmentation of society by race and ethnicity’, arguing that Britain has focused too much on ‘multi’-culturalism and not enough on the common shared culture.
Oxford Labour councillor John Tanner said the IWCA’s motion highlighting the dangers of multiculturalism in fostering divisions in society was ‘racist’, as well as ‘childish, silly and ill-thought out’. New Labour is currently promoting faith schools, which are segregated by religion.
|
