The following article by the Secretary General of the Next Century Foundation is prompted by the profoundly disturbing events in North London in recent days and weeks. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Next Century Foundation.

The Next Century Foundation is horrified to see the extremism being displayed in our society writ large by these attacks on our beloved Jewish community on the streets of North London.

There are, in practice, three strands to British Society and their echo is to be found in other societies worldwide. They are the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons and the much beloved minorities that make Britain a gem of a country.

And our minorities, particularly our Jewish minority, now feel vulnerable and that should not be allowed to happen. The persecution of the Jewish community is an abomination. Anti-Semitism and its bedfellow Islamophobia must be rooted out. They both have no place in the ethos of tolerance that underpins British society.

The State of Israel, our bellwether?

In some respects, the rock upon which our society is breaking is the State of Israel and its wars, primarily with Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. Are they wars of Israel’s making? Perhaps not. But they are wars Israel has pursued clumsily and with a heavy hand.

British charity law forbids charities to express a political opinion favouring one political strand in society over another. But we can say that the two major political parties have reacted ineptly to Israel’s wars. And in so doing they may have fanned the flames of extremism in Britain. We have seen an evolution in terrorism in the UK. The IRA bombings of the Seventies and Eighties. The right wing nail bombings of the late nineties. Then the emergence of radical Moslem terrorism with the tube and bus bombings of the first decade of this century. Almost all major terror attacks in Western countries in recent years have been by Muslim extremists. But being out of touch with the national mood, our governments´responses have proscribed Palestine Action and curtailed pro Palestinian demonstrations.

It is inevitable perhaps that our governments are out of touch. They are in their death throws as will be evident by the outcome of the local elections a week from now.

And we will see new blood on the scene and it will disturb us all. And Zak Polanski of the Greens will inherit the mantle of Andy Burnham and Jeremy Corbyn. Whilst Nigel Farage will inherit the cloak of Maggie Thatcher and Boris Johnson. And the liberals will inherit the centre ground. Whether their leader can become a modern Lloyd George by abandoning the kind of equivocation the liberals showed when they abstained on the Palestine Action vote is debatable. But perhaps he can. Whatever, the liberals will do well by default as the refuge, the last refuge, for the establishment vote.

So what does the NCF believe?

What does the Next Century Foundation believe in? We in recent years have supported and avowed the cosmopolitanism of perhaps one of the most prominent modern philosophers, the Anglo-Ghanaian Kwame Appiah.

That is not Tony Blair’s multiculturalism nor is it French style integrationalism. Far from it. It is not a middle path. It is a different path. Cosmopolitanism means you embrace all expressions, all cultures, and weave them together in a world in which an equal value is placed on all. This is not multiculturalism where the beautiful threads of the web and weft of our society stand alongside each other, nor is it the colourless sludge that is integrationalism. It is a society in which our children are educated together and live and love together whilst retaining and celebrating their distinct cultural heritage.

Our leading politicians have lost touch with society. Yes we do have some hard working excellent MPs and local councillors. But they suffer from the detachment from reality of their leaders. The current lead members of parliament, our precious Parliament, are cattle being driven, lemming like, to a slaughterhouse of their own making (and they are taking the wiser of their fellow MPs down with them). We watch their demise with sadness, but we must not allow their inadequate response to Israel’s wars and to migration and to the oil crisis to break the precious values of tolerance and love upon which the best of what it is to be British is based.

The violence on the streets of North London has been and is a repulsive Anathema. It is not the way to express disquiet with Israel. It is an abomination and the Next Century Foundation declares it such.
We believe in a better tomorrow based on tolerance and love and we know that we shall see it come about.

And What Should be Done?

That is a tough question but here are a few we would like.

1. Respect the high court´s decision and stop appealing against the proscription of Palestine Action. That would send a signal to the Muslim community that we care.
2. Set up a Religious Affairs Advisory Council to the government including, for example, the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mervis, a very Senior Sunni cleric, a VERY senior Shiite cleric (Possibly Ayatollah Safavi) and a senior Christian (perhaps the Archbishop of York) (you could have two from each faith in which case you could include the Catholic Archbishop). I would not include the non Abrahamic faiths at this stage.
3. Set up a flagship very large multi faith secondary school somewhere in North-East London which would have as its ethos balanced racial inclusivity and cosmopolitanism. Set up a similar school in Birmingham and Manchester.
4. Set up a religious centre in central London that would, in ONE SPACE, the same space, be a mosque on a Friday, a Synagogue on a Saturday and a Church on a Sunday. This has been done but it has not been done WELL
5. Set up an independent online platform for dialogue, possibly a facebook page, with an ethos of INCLUSIVITY that encouraged dialogue on all the SENSITIVE ISSUES. No holds barred.
6. Fully enable the right to work of approved asylum seekers and remove their automatic right to free accomodation.
7. Fund a series of half a dozen (strategically placed geographically) youth centres in Britain. These to be at places that are geographically at an interface between cultures and not to host culturally exclusive activities. They might have gyms and swimming pools but would primarilly be youth centres. They might accomodate ACF troops and scout troops. Youth clubs in the old fashioned sense, with associated outward bound activities, to promote inclusivity and to do so unashamedly.

That is for starters. We need a proactive fight that reduces extremism in the UK

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay