Britain’s experiment with multiculturalism has “failed” to prevent the radicalisation of Muslims by hindering their integration into the British society, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.
In his first speech on radicalism and causes of terrorism, the Prime Minister said a “hands—off tolerance” of those who reject Western values had failed to prevent the rise of Islamic extremism in Britain.
In the major speech at the International Conference on Security Policy in Munich, the Conservatives’ leader attacked the Labour’s experiment with multiculturalism and argued in favour of developing a “muscular liberalism“.
Mr. Cameron also said the UK must ban preachers of hate from coming to the country while make Britain “a lot less” tolerant to Islamic extremists who whip up hatred against the West.
He said Britain has “even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run counter to our values”, a policy that needs to be revised.
“We need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism... We must ban preachers of hate from coming to our countries,” he said, spelling out ways of tackling all forms of extremism.
Mr. Cameron also suggested that there should be greater scrutiny of Islamic groups that get public money but do little to tackle extremism.
“Let’s properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights — including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism?” he said.
“We must also proscribe organisations that incite terrorism — against people at home and abroad,” he said.
Mr. Cameron said what is needed is the strengthening of national identity and allowing people to say “I am a Muslim, I am a Hindu, I am a Christian, but I am a Londoner... too“.
“Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism,” the prime minister said.
“Governments must also be shrewder in dealing with those that, while not violent, are certainly in some cases, part of the problem. We need to think much harder about who it’s in the public interest to work with,” he said.
The Prime Minister said some organisations that seek to present themselves “as a gateway to the Muslim community” were being showered with public money despite doing little to combat extremism.
“As others have observed, this is like turning to a right—wing fascist party to fight a violent white supremacist movement,” he said.
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