A review of Kenan Malik's book "From Fatwa to Jihad" (Atlantic).
Alarmed by race riots in the 1980s, local and national government in
Britain embarked on a multicultural strategy. Respect was to be
accorded to different ways of life and, fatally, these ways of life
were to be classified as communities with their own "community leaders".
In a way, it worked. Racism did, indeed, decline. But the price was
high. The creation of "communities" replaced racism with tribalism
and, in 2005, tribal riots between blacks and Asians broke out in
Birmingham. These riots were caused by multiculturalism. Before the
council told them they were members of a "community", they were just
people living together in the same place. "Hostility," writes Kenan
Malik, "is not in the blood of Asians or African-Caribbeans. It is in
the DNA of multicultural policies."
The creation of communities in the name of multiculturalism was an
admission of government incompetence. When Tony Blair wanted to fight
extremism in the "Muslim community", he said it was not his job but
that of "community leaders". Britain had become a patchwork of
non-white no-go areas.
From Fatwa to Jihad tells, for the most part brilliantly, this
baleful tale. Malik is well-placed to do so. He was born in India and
came to Britain at the age of five. His mother was Hindu and his
father Muslim, but he did not have a religious upbringing. Racism,
not religion, formed his early radicalism as it did that of many
non-whites in this country.
<http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article6015501.ece>Link
--
Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2009/04/from-fatwa-to-jihad-rushdie-affair-and.htm>monochrom
at 4/11/2009 08:16:00 PM
