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news
1st October 2005
Multiculturalism or a clash of civilisations
By Ken Livingstone, chair UAF
The terrorist attacks on London in July brought out the best in millions of
people. Transport workers, police and emergency services showed extraordinary professionalism in saving lives. Within 24 hours, Tube and bus services were restored. As we came to terms with the horror of the attacks, Londoners made clear they were not going to be divided by terrorists, nor by anyone trying to exploit those tragic events. This was shown a week later when millions came out onto the streets to stand side by side with people of every race and religion in memory of those who had lost their lives.
Tabloid newspapers published picture after picture showing that the victims of the attacks came from every race and religion. Some ran articles praising Britain’s Muslim leaders who urged their communities to help the police to find anyone connected with the planning or execution of the attacks.
The dozens of opinion polls since the attacks showed the same pattern. People want everything possible done to prevent further attacks. At the same time, two thirds of people support multiculturalism and believe it makes Britain a better place to live, the same proportion think it would be unacceptable to stop and search people on the basis of their race and three out of four people think Britain’s role in Iraq made it more vulnerable.
Nonetheless, since 7 July, and far more openly since the attempted bombings two weeks later, there has also been a steadily mounting campaign by the right wing media and others to exploit the attacks to try to smash that progressive consensus.
The ideological axis of this is the idea that the world is increasingly dominated by a ‘clash of civilisations’ in which Islam is pitted against the West. In an ironic mirror image of Al Qaeda’s denunciations of the West, Islam is portrayed as uniquely evil, or, in the left variants, uniquely reactionary. This type of hysteria against Muslims is the same type of demonology as used against Jews in the first half of the last century.
It is no accident that this ideology arose in the United States at a time when Washington was developing plans for a new era of colonialism in the Middle East.
To understand why the US should adopt such a course you simply have to consider the following facts. With just five per cent of the world’s population the US consumes 25 per cent of the world’s oil. Having been self-sufficient in oil supplies until the end of the Second World War, the US now imports more than half of its oil consumption.
As two thirds of the world’s oil reserves are in the Persian Gulf, it becomes quite obvious why the Bush administration was determined to massively increase its military presence in the region — whatever the cost to the inhabitants — and to support a nuclear armed Israel as its key ally there.
If you are going to march into countries, steal their land and natural resources and kill those who get in your way, it is logical to demonise your victims and denigrate their civilisation and culture. Imperialism and racism have always been closely associated with one another.
Those who claim that the West is threatened by Islam are inverting reality.
From Campaign Group News, October 2005.
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