CAMERON'S MULTICULTURALISM WAKE-UP CALL

8/7/2019 CAMERON'S MULTICULTURALISM WAKE-UP CALL

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Douglas Murray

CAMERONS MULTICULTURALISM WAKE-UP CALL

In: The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 9th, 2011, page 12

Multiculturalism has failed, said David Cameron last weekend in

Munich. If anybody thought they had read those words before, it is because they

have. Many times. Last October German Chancellor Angela Merkel (sitting

onstage with Prime Minister Cameron when he gave his speech on Saturday)

pronounced a similar epitaph. Finally even Europes mainstream party leaders

seem too be realizing what others have long seen: that multiculturalism has beenthe most pernicious and divisive policy pursued by Western governments since

World War II.

Multiculturalism is a deeply misunderstood idea. That was one of the

reasons for its political success. At the heart of that success was the fact that

people were led to believe that multiculturalism meant multi-racialism , or

pluralism. I did not. Nevertheless, for years anybody who criticized

multiculturalism was immediately decried as a racist. As a silencing tactic it

proved devastatingly effective.

But the true character and effects of the policy could not be permanentlyhidden. State-sponsored multiculturalism treated European countries like

hostelries and pretty open ones at that. It judged that the state should notimpose rules and values on new-comers. Rather, it should bend over

backwards to accommodate the demands of immigrants. The resultant policy

was that states treated and judged people by the criteria of whatever

community they found themselves born into.

In Britain, for instance, this meant that if you were a white English girl

born into a white English family and your family decided to marry you against

your will to a randy old pervert, the state would intervene. But if you had themisfortune to be born into an Asian-background family and the samehappened, then the state would look the other way. Thats what these people

do, dont you know? Its their custom.

In 1984 a British school principal in Bradford called Ray Honeyford

politely suggested in an article in the Salisbury Review that it might be a good

idea if students at his state-funded school were able to speak English and did not

disappear to Pakistan for months at the time. The result was a siren of

accusations of racism, which willfully ignored his arguments and precipitated

the end of his career.


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The multicultural model may have continued a lot longer if it hadnt been

for radical Islam. The terrorist assaults and plots across Britain and the

Continent often from home-grown extremists finally provided a breaking-

point that few sentient people could ignore. The question now is what can be

done. The elegies should be for a failed policy. But if they are not followed upwith action, they will be eulogies of a failed society.

In his speech in Munich, Mr. Cameron rightly focused on the problem of

home-grown Islamic extremism of the violent and non-violent kind. He stressed

several preliminary steps among them that groups whose values are opposed to

those of the state will no longer bestowed with taxpayer money. It is a symptom

of how low we have sunk that ceasing to fund our societies opponents would

constitute an improvement.

But this is a first, not a final policy. The fact is that Britain, Germany,

Holland and many other European countries have nurtured more than one

generation of citizens who seem to feel no loyalty toward their country and who,

on the contrary, often seem do despise it. Reversing this will require political

guts.

The way forward is two-pronged. The first is that from school-age upward

our society must reassert a shared national narrative including a common

national culture. Some years ago the German Muslim writer Bassam Tibi coined

the term Leitkultur core culture to describe this. It is the most decent and

properly liberal antidote to multiculturalism. It concedes that in societies thathave had high immigration there are all sorts of different cultures and ideas that

can contribute to a society, but it will only work if they are united under acommon theme.

The second solution will be harder to enact because many people will

portray it negatively. The Muslim communities that Mr. Cameron focused on

will not reform themselves. The response of just about every allegedly

moderate Muslim group in Britain to the prime ministers speech was to

angrily deny his claims and then change the subject. This means the Britishgovernment will have to step in to provide clear guideline as to what our society

will and will not accept.

It will have to shut down and prosecute terrorist and extremistorganizations, and charities. There are groups that are banned in the U.S. but can

do still operate with charitable status in the U.K. Clerics and other individuals

who come from abroad to preach hate and division should be deported

whether Strasbourg approves or not. Meanwhile, organizations and individuals

who work actively against the state should be prosecuted. Sedition and treasonagainst Britain has practically been encouraged in recent years. This will have to

change.

Will David Cameron managed to do any of this? There is reason to be

skeptical. In the wake of the 2005 tube and bus bombings in London attacks


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carried out by British-born Muslims Tony Blair announced that the rules of

the game are changing. They proceeded to stay exactly the same.

It is possible that Mr. Cameron will show more political courage. If he does

he will undoubtedly be lambasted by the defenders of multiculturalism. He will

also become a leader of significance. If he doesnt, then future generations maywell associate him with Munich. But it will not be for Saturdays speech; it will

be with a previous prime minister who also went to that city and who returned

with an honor that proved deeply temporary.

Mr. Murray is the director of Londons Center for Social Cohesion.

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