Embracing the best of British

IT is almost a year since the July 7 terror attacks on London and the faith many of us had in the long-held tradition of British multiculturalism has still not been fully restored.

It is impossible to understand how four home-grown British youths became so radicalised that they were willing to sacrifice their lives to kill innocent civilians. Their actions have led to wide-ranging condemnation of multiculturalism.

This condemnation has continued with the re-publication of a Danish cartoon satirising the Muslim prophet Muhammad, which led to violent protests around the globe, and the results of May's local elections in this country which saw the rise of the British National Party.

And this week, a year after the London bombings, a poll for The Times and ITV News found that 50 per cent of British Muslims blamed the invasion of Iraq for the terror attack.

Despite this, I still firmly believe that the critics of multiculturalism have been hasty in their condemnation of a tradition which is so deeply entrenched in our culture. The UK has long been a multicultural state - composed of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Dual identities were common even before large scale immigration from overseas.

As someone born in India but raised and educated in Britain from a young age and who now represents a constituency which is 99.3 per cent white, I am well aware of the potential consequences of intercultural tension.

I have no doubt that multiculturalism has served this country well and if we allow it to adjust to our changing political and social climate, like other great British traditions, it will continue to do so.

While there are a number of places in Britain which are used by opponents of multiculturalism as examples of failure, there are others where multiculturalism has undoubtedly worked. London is widely regarded as the most multicultural city in the world, with almost every race, nation and religion represented in its population. Broadwater Farm Estate in North London, for example, was once a hotbed of racial tension, which culminated in the riots of 1985, but is now a blueprint of how an ideal multicultural community should work.

Woking, with its thriving Pakistani community of up to 8,000 - which has grown over the last 40 years - is a multicultural success after a significant decline in racial harassment and discrimination in the last ten years.

Additionally, Britain has the largest number of mixed-race families in the Western world and the censuses of 1991 and 2001 show that segregation is on the decline.

Trevor Phillips, the Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), regularly takes a swipe at British multiculturalism. Last year he claimed that Britain is drifting towards segregation - a claim which is at best spurious and at worst dangerous.

Although racism certainly exists in Britain - and I've experienced it on a number of occasions - neighbourhood segregation is certainly falling. If we define a ghetto as a neighbourhood where a single ethnic minority is in the majority with serious economic disadvantages, then there are none in Britain. Nor are any likely to be formed in the foreseeable future.

It sets a worrying precedent if the chairman of the CRE is so eager to condemn multiculturalism based on misinformation.

One recurring theme which has undermined the debate surrounding multiculturalism in Britain is the problem of definition. A commonly held interpretation says multiculturalism is allowing different cultures to exist in one society independently of one another without any threads to tie them together. This is the 'multiculturalism' which Trevor Phillips condemns.

But this is not how I interpret multiculturalism. To me, multiculturalism in Britain should be concerned with allowing our many different cultures to co-exist peacefully in dialogue with each other, tied together by a common thread and framework of values.

This common thread should be Britishness and the values are those democratic, liberal values which represent the very foundations of our society. As Gordon Brown recently said, Britishness should be seized back from right-wingers and, rather than being used as a by-word for imperialism and slavery, it should be used as a symbol of multiculturalism and tolerance.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh offers a wonderful definition of multiculturalism in his book, Rethinking Multiculturalism. The theory focuses on the notion that every culture is limited, in that it captures some aspects of the good life and the human predicament and not others. If cultures are limited then they can only enrich themselves if they enter into dialogue with other cultures. Thus, Lord Parekh argues that diversity is a value in the same way as liberty and equality because it enriches each culture and generates a degree of respect for others. From this he concludes that if intercultural dialogue is the best way to get to the truth about human affairs then societies should be constituted to accommodate and nurture this dialogue.

Multiculturalism is not about allowing a number of different segregated communities to exist separately in Britain. Nor is it about extreme practices which conflict with democratic rights and freedoms, veiled under the pretext of religion and culture, being overlooked in the name of tolerance.

I find it difficult to accept that two thirds of Muslim women in Britain are happy to be economically inactive. The abuse and mistreatment of women in the name of Islam is as intolerable as the abuse of homosexuals in fundamental born-again Christian churches, or the ritualistic torture of Afro-Caribbean children accused of witchcraft, which has been reported in church communities in London.

Multiculturalism must be a force which liberates and empowers individuals rather than being used by extremists to deflect condemnation for cruel and abusive practices.

The perceived failure of multiculturalism is partly due to the fact that, while successive governments have paid it some lip-service, none has been bold enough to allow it to significantly influence policy.

There are no quick-fix solutions which will create greater integration overnight, but there are a number of measures which should be seriously considered. The principle aim should be to actively encourage a dialogue and respect between communities in order to create a more diverse society where each culture is truly enriched by others.

Outlawing forced marriages is a welcome step as I believe that everyone should be free to choose his or her own partner in a liberal society.

The authorities should stop funding single-faith community centres which lead to avoidable segregation and should instead fund projects which attempt to break down the barriers between different faiths and cultures.

Also, the increasing number of state-funded single-faith schools is a cause of great concern for me. With its unyielding support for faith schools, the Government is setting itself on a collision course which could lead to further division. Religious education should come under more strict guidelines within the national curriculum to ensure that it is compulsory for every child to receive a fair and objective outline of recognised religions.

It is also essential that theories such as creationism continue to be taught as religious theories in appropriate lessons and scientific theories like Darwinism are presented as scientific fact. Creationism should not be taught in science.

On the other hand, one aspect of Government policy that will improve the situation is the expansion of citizenship classes in schools. Tracing Britishness back to its roots and emphasizing the values of freedom, fairness and civic responsibility to young children could really create a common thread which ties together different communities.

The true spirit of multiculturalism was personified by Mahatma Gandhi who was deeply rooted in Hinduism but greatly influenced by Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism. Now is the time to establish a consistent, redefined ethos of multiculturalism throughout Britain in the spirit of Gandhi.

This should not be concerned with safeguarding the separate identities of particular cultures, but it should encourage intercultural fusion and open dialogue. This requires that all cultures should be open, tolerant of others and self-critical. Rather than suppressing either the dominant culture or the minority cultures, it is necessary to erect a framework of British values to which all groups are fully committed.

* Dr Ashok Kumar is MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland