The other day David Cameron gave a speech in *Birmingham, UK, in which he described how he planned to combat Islamic radicalism in Britain. (Transcript.)
He laid out the four problems he hopes to address. Here's a thumbnail.
1st -- Radical Islam is energizing to young people. PM Cameron would counter that by doing a better job of teaching British values.
2nd -- Violent extremists didn't start that way. They developed into it after being radicalized to the ways of extremists. Cameron would get tough with the non-violent extremists to stop them before they do harm.
3rd -- Moderate voices are being drowned out by the extremists. Cameron intends to actively encourage the moderate voices.
4th -- There are people born and raised in the country who don’t really identify with Britain and who feel no attachment to other people there. Here Cameron has ordered a review "of how to boost opportunity and integration in these communities and bring Britain together as one nation." There he hopes to desegregate schools and communities. This is likely to be a tough one, although Cameron hopes the National Citizen Service program will help.
Let's wish them the very best of luck. Here in the USA we have our own enclaves of unassimilated people.
*You'll recall that Birmingham was the location of a scandal last year involving Muslim men accused of grooming young girls to become rape victims.
Comments