Is This The Beginning Of A Return To Sanity?

It seems that British Prime Minister Blair is going to actually require minorities in general--and Muslims in particular--to assimilate into British society:

Plans to withhold grants to religious and racial groups were announced by the Prime Minister today as part of a programme to ensure Muslims and other minorities intergrate into British society.

In a speech on multi-culturism Mr Blair said he also wanted to curb discrimination against women in mosques. He emphasised that he did not want to dilute religious identity but said that all British citizens had a duty to integrate.

He set out a series of proposals designed to strike the "right balance" between integration and diversity, some of which are likely to cause controversy among minority groups.

Blair even seems to have actual goals in mind:

First the Prime Minister said, all future grants to ethnic and religious groups will be assessed against a test of promoting cohesion and intergration [sic].

...He said: "Those (mosques) that exclude the voice of women need to look again at their practices." This would not involve changing the law but the Equal Opportunities Commission had been asked to produce a report by next spring on how it could address the problem of discrimination in mosques.

New British citizens already have to pass a language test but from April the 150,000 to 170,000 people who seek permanent residency in the UK each year will also have to pass an English test before residency is granted.

And visiting preachers would have to have a proper command of English as well as facing the existing test that the Home Secretary can ban them from the UK if their presence is judged not to be in the public good.

In addition, the age at which a person can get permission to come to the UK to marry may be raised from 18.

Mr Blair said the Government would also encourage all faith schools to "construct a bridge to other cultures" by twinning with schools from another faith.

...Mr Blair also re-entered the row over Muslim headscarves - saying it was "plain common sense" that teachers should have to remove them in the classroom.

That seems like a lot to have on the plate. The first step is to take a stand.
Now let's see if PM Blair and Great Britain can actually follow through and carry the Muslim community--kicking and screaming and yelling discrimination--into British society.

"The right to be different. The duty to integrate. That is what being British means. And neither racists nor extremists should be allowed to destroy it."

Good luck.

According to the Telegraph, this amounts to an overturning of 30 years of Labour support for mutliculturalism.

In recent weeks, Jack Straw, Ruth Kelly, John Reid and Gordon Brown have all played their part in a concerted revision of the Cabinet's stand which began in earnest after the July 7 bombs in London last year.

Mr Reid, in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday on GMTV, said he was "sick and tired" of the sort of the "mad political correctness" that led to Christmas being devalued. "I think most people just find this completely over the top and I would rather have a bit of what I call PCS - Plain Common Sense - than PC - Political Correctness," the Home Secretary added.

That's both Blair and Reid talking about Plain Common Sense--that may be a common theme used in presenting the rationale for the change in policy.

In defining anew what multicultural is now going to mean in the context of being a British citizen, Blair laid it out this way:

"The right to be in a multicultural society was always implicitly balanced by a duty to integrate, to be part of Britain, to be British and Asian, British and black, British and white," he said.

..."Integration is not about culture or lifestyle," said Mr Blair. "It is about values. It is about integrating at the point of shared, common unifying British values. It isn't about what defines us as people, but as citizens, the rights and duties that go with being a member of our society.

"Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and other faiths have a perfect right to their own identity and religion, to practice their faith and to conform to their culture. This is what multicultural, multi-faith Britain is about. That is what is legitimately distinctive.

"But when it comes to our essential values - belief in democracy, the rule of law, tolerance, equal treatment for all, respect for this country and its shared heritage - then that is where we come together, it is what we hold in common; it is what gives us the right to call ourselves British. At that point no distinctive culture or religion supercedes our duty to be part of an integrated United Kingdom."

The Telegraph article closes on an interesting note, that although Sharia law will not be allowed to be instituted in any part of the country, Muslims will be able to follow another model: the Jews--using agreed settlements of civil disputes by religious courts.

It's not clear whether Muslims will take kindly to the idea of Sharia law being optional, let along integrating into British society. But at least Blair has taken the first step.

He has a very long way to go. But if he can push ahead on this, it may have a domino effect on the rest of the West.

Technorati Tag: Prime Minister Blair and Great Britain and Muslims and Multiculturalism.