Islamophobia, Terrorism and Fragmented Immigrant Communities

Published on October 19, 2006 - 11:26

By Liban Ahmad

Jack Straw’s comments on the veil also known as niqab have reinvigorated the debate
about diversity and the role of Muslim community in tackling the threat from terrorism
.The reaction to the British Labour politician’s comment were varied. In the eyes of a
prominent conservative MP, it underscores how sensitive ‘Muslim community’ has
become to criticism.

“At its very least, there is a growing feeling that the Muslim community is excessively
sensitive to criticism, unwilling to engage in substantive debate. Much worse is the
feeling of some Muslim leaders that as a community they should be protected from
criticism, argument, parody, satire and all the other challenges that happen in a society
that has free speech as its highest value, “wrote David Davis, the Shadow Home
Secretary, in the Sunday Telegraph.

In his piece David Davis pointed out that the government’s response to overreaction
from some members from the Muslim community in the wake of Danish cartoons was
inadequate adding that “the greater risk for our society is that legitimate discussion is
being closed down by knee-jerk reactions to questions which, however insensitively
they may be expressed, contain real issues that merit public debate. Ironically, such a
debate would offer an opportunity for all sides to better appreciate – whether or not
they agree – the range of opinion expressed.”

Ignoring diversity within a community leads to generalisation, oversimplification and

lumping community of communities together. Like other immigrants and migrants
from other faiths, Muslim communities had come to UK from different countries,
cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. Leadership of influential Muslim
organisations consulted by successive British governments disproportionately belong
to Muslim communities who came to this country more than two generations ago.
Globalisation, civil wars and cheap flights, among other factors, have contributed to the
increase in the number new Muslim communities in the United Kingdom. It is a failure
to take these facts into account that makes the use of the two words “Muslim
Community” a barrier to a debate with government, politicians and policy makers about
the role of Muslim communities in countering the terrorist threats facing Britain.
Uncritical acceptance of politicians’ views about nature of communities and their ability
to tackle challenges ranging from terrorism, brainwashing to radicalisation of the young
is—to borrow Stanley Cohen’s phrase—‘ moral panic’ in disguise.

Divided on Strategy

David Davids’ article in the Sunday Telegraph coincided

with an interview Lord Ahmed of Rotherham gave
Sunday programme on Radio 4, broadcast on 15 October
2006. The interview was said to have been provoked by a
speech delivered by Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government, in which, quoting
Gordon Brown, she said: “Unless moderates can
establish themselves at the centre of their communities
and faith, extremists could grow in strength and
influence.” From this very quote one can infer reluctance Ruth Kelly: Tough words,
or meekness on the part of ‘moderate Muslims’. The incoherent policy
government will fund Muslim community organisations
that are deemed to be “proactive ….in tackling in
tackling extremism and defending our shared values.” What about if organisations
depend on sources of funding other than local authorities’ funds?

Lord Ahmed’s interview highlighted a schism between the government and influential
Muslim leaders .“…if you look at every bit of rhetoric that has been coming out of the
government departments and very senior people, it has been sort of targeting at the
Muslim community leadership and keeping the Muslim community on the back foot
criticising them and that has opened up a wave for the f or neocons, the right wing
people who have attacking the Muslims. Islamophobia has become a contemporary
form of racism and frankly anyone wants to have a go, either you talk about fanatics
and or you link them with Islam and you attack entire community, demonisation of
religion, demonisation of entire community,” Lord Ahmed told Sunday.

Muslims living in deprived communities who are accustomed reading Muslim-

bashing headlines, and opinion polls that paint a picture Muslim communities as
terrorist symptahisers, will find consolation in Lord Ahmed’s words. Why?
Lord Ahmed points to what he regards as a trend of
underachievement that blights Muslim children—“
Muslim children are achieving less than half the
percentage in five GCSE grade a-c compared to
Indian children or Chinese children .They are the
lowest achievers…”--- continual government
interference—“ so much interference from people who
are saying ‘ spy on your children’”—and absence of
policies aimed at tackling “ parallel communities,
deprivation, ghettoes that exist within the Muslim
communities, whether it is in Bradford, in
Birmingham, in Luton or elsewhere in the United Lord Ahmed: Let down by
Kingdom.” establishment?

Why is Lord Ahmed calling for a more proactive role

for the government in tackling major social and
economic problems facing Muslim communities when senior members of the cabinet
hinted at loss of confidence in the Muslim leaders due to perceived emergence of an
intolerant breed of Muslim leaders?

Managing Diversity in Multicultural Britain

The threat from terrorism to Britain calls for a radical approach to managing diversity
within communities. Such an approach will be distinctive in the sense that diversity
will have to be valued as long as it does not standing in the way of posing the candid
questions about policies of the government of the day and attitudes of the
communities towards pluralism and cultural diversity. Emphasis on cross-cultural
understanding and exploring betters ways to cement community cohesion are two
strategies that will provide a basis for strategy that will contribute towards managing
diversity in Multicultural Britain.

New situations call for new approaches. In the light of government’s criticism of
Muslim leaders, micromanaging diversity issues may look like a sound option that will
balance the ‘leadership deficit’ within Muslim communities. Such an approach will, in
my view, be counterproductive for it is not based on a coherent understanding about
diversity within immigrant communities from Muslim countries.

The Somali community in Manchester is a handy example that can shed light on the
outcome of diversity policy that is unwittingly based on a stereotype. Manchester City
Council organised two conferences in 2003 and 2004 for the Somali community groups.
It was a genuine attempt to solve appararent factionalism that plagued Somali
community in Manchester. Representatives from more than 10 community-based
organisations working within 1 KM square attended the conference. Out of the two
conference emerged the Somali Consultative Forum made up of representatives from
community organisations. The Forum aims to forge a working relationship between the
Somali community groups and service providers. Manchester Council Community
Relations was entrusted with the task further developing the Forum and holding
monthly meeting for community organisations

The assumption behind such a community empowerment policy was acceptance that
clan based community organisations can not be done away with: no local authority can
bring fractious, clan based community groups together without viewing their
differences as diversity. But this approach has widened the adverse impact of social
exclusion within the Somali community in Manchester and deepened the perception
about community groups as divisive, clan based groups that continue to deplete the
remaining reserves of social capital. The squabbling community groups are part of
Somali culture, goes the unexamined assumption. But the picture is more complex than
the assumption. Voluntary organsations did not exist in Somalia. The civil war and
attendant trauma asylum seekers and refugees had to undergo and the prolonged
statelessness in Somalia have bred justified mistrust within social groups. Intra-clan
trust— “bonding social capital” to use distinction made by Professor Robert Putnam,
author of Bowling Alone, --based “on ties to people like you” (Clansmen and
clanswomen in Somali socio-political parlance) has provided a basis on which
community organisations thrived in Manchester. This type of social capital has not
been exploited further to create a bridging social-- “ ties to people unlike you – people
of different race,[people of different clan] people of different age, or people of different
gender.”

In 2005 spate of violence against vulnerable members of the Somali community in

Manchester revived questions about united community representation. A group of
young Somali men and women who are not linked to any of the Somali community
groups pooled their efforts to interview victims of the violence. The organised a
community meeting held in a Mosque. The Somali community members view the
mosque as nonpolitical, non-tribal, impartial entity that can contribute to efforts to forge
communal trust. The mosque meeting cooled the fraying tempers of community
members and organised successive meeting with the Greater Manchester Police. The
wider but unacknowledged outcomes of the Mosque initiative were the decrease in the
violence against Somalis and a boost in the confidence of the community to address
violence against its vulnerable members. The potential of the mosque to address,
violence, social exclusion and cement community cohesion has not been tapped
properly.

A development worker with a local threatre company that has developed a project for
Somali youth in Manchester said he had been amazed to see Somali youth identifying
themselves not along clan lines but as young, ambitious members of the community in
21 century UK. They set up an amateur troupe of actors and staged a play at Zion
Centre in March. “All I had read about Somali communities and their social
organisation has been challenged by what I have seen in Moss Side and Rusholme,” he
told me.

Few months Policy Studies Institute teams came to Moss Side for preliminary feedback
on research PSI has conducted on Everyday Interactions in Diverse Communities. One
Somali woman interviewee expressed anxiety and fear about living in Moss Side
whereas a Somali man, in his forties, said that life in Moss Side was not a problem.

One participant in the feedback session pointed out the significance of reintroducing a
locally distributed newspaper that covered community news about several wards in the
city. Before it ceased publication Area News played a major role in community dialogue.

The threat of terrorism to the United Kingdom can not be discounted. Joint efforts
between politicians, Muslim community and religious leaders are needed to ensure that
young Muslim men and women are not only at risk of social exclusion but also less
susceptible to terrorist exploitation and brainwashing. British government’s policy of
working with Muslim communities ought to be coherent rather than prescriptive.

Liban Ahmad
London, UK
E-mail: libahm@gmail.com