Please read into the following official statement what you like:
The Moslem Council of Britain Conference report on the scandal in Rotherham states: “The key point that we come back to is that looking at race and ethnicity and culture is a red herring. What we need to look at are the causes, the context, those who are probably victims and those who are perpetrators, and we need to act on each of these things. We must not pre-empt it by saying that we are looking at specific factors.”
I have absolutely no doubt that the Moslem council of Britain are genuine in their dedication to bringing justice to the victims of Rotherham. However, even if the vast majority of Moslems were against what happened, problems also seem to accompany Moslem immigrants, whether it is rapes is Oslo, anti Semitic abuse in Malmö, riots in Paris or beheadings in North London. As a leftist, I’m always open to a bit of immigration buy one of the key values of Epicureanism is moderation- having whole chunks of a few European cities become ‘Moslem areas’ seems anything but moderate to me.
Well, that’s depressingly awful. Impenetrable language and irresponsible, irrational conclusion.
That was only meant to be an observation, not a policy prescription.
And Carmen, could you please explain why I’m wrong?
I think there is a misunderstanding, Owen. Carmen was responding to the statement by the Moslem Council, not to your posting.
For the record, I sympathize with your point of view, Owen. Like you, My views are humanitarian and inclusive and therefore left- leaning. It is human to resent at some level the change in culture brought about by mass immigration that no one voted for and which has been foisted upon the country for no good reason. If all we have to show for it is improved cooking then it is not worth the sinking feeling that so many people have. What is egregious is that certain immigrant communities call the indigenous natives racist at the drop of a hat, just like extremist Jews call people antisemitic if they criticize Israel. They have a moral duty, if they find their own former governments unsatisfactory, to learn English and integrate (which they women do so much better than the men, it appears). If they take government handouts from the taxpayer they should have the tact to be thankful that they live in a modern country instead of one where their leaders shovel the cash into their own pockets. A change in attitude would be aporeciated.
By the way, the same resentment exists in the United States, where English is going to disappear as the main language in some parts, especially in California. Globalization may have benefitted some people, but the rest are told to put up with it.
OK thank you Mr Hanrott and sorry Carmen. I still believe that there can be Muslim immigrants who are successful, I’m just spectical of the way the West has handled the situation. And I’m absolutely opposed to UKIP-style ‘blame the immigrants’ xenophobia.
Owen, I enjoy your comments and was responding, as Bob noted, to the Muslim Council’s statement. Although it looks like you posted first, I don’t remember seeing your comment when I wrote mine. I’m sorry for the confusion but gratified at how graciously you responded.
I agree with you that “the way the West handled the situation,” merits your skepticism. For centuries, the West has relied on the one kind of power it seems to understand–raw military force to acquire resources from other cultures. Sometimes, as in the Pacific, the mere threat of a gunboat bobbing in the harbor was enough to gain entry.
Now, here we are centuries later, both in the U.K. and the U.S., reaping the whirlwind created by shattered communities which we left in our wake while the atomized members emigrate to the U.S. and the U.K.. As so often was true in past, so it is now that the better impulses of Western Civilization have to struggle both against its own homegrown racists and war hawks as well as the pressures from former deracinated colonial subjects whose own cultures barely function.
Net migration into the UK increased by 38% in 2013-14, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. In the 12 months up to March 2014, 243,000 more people arrived in the UK than left – an increase of 68,000 on the year before. Some 560,000 settled in the UK; the figure for emigration remained relatively stable, on 316,000. Two-thirds of the net increase was attributable to immigrants from EU countries – the majority from Eastern Europe. However, for the first time in almost three years, the number of non-EU migrants also rose, to 265,000. The Government has promised to reduce net migration to below 100,000 by next May’s election.