Polls suggest the mood in Britain has changed. Until recently, a majority was fiercely opposed to any sort of UK military involvement in Syria or Iraq. Now, it appears, more people support intervention than not, and what prompted the shift is pretty clear: The beheading of an American journalist hostage by a masked man with a British accent. Facing US indignation and a general election, government ministers feel they need to be seen to do something.
Thus, Prime Minister David Cameron rushed back from Cornwall, in south-west England, and called for “redoubled efforts” to stop people going to Syria and Iraq to engage in “extremist activities”.
The home secretary (minister for domestic affairs), Theresa May, said she was considering new measures to address the problem, only to be scolded by Labour party spokesperson for foreign affairs, Yvette Cooper, for being too soft. Among the actions being aired are pre-emptive anti-social behaviour order (civil orders made in the UK against a person who has been shown to have engaged in anti-social behaviour) against those thought to be planning trips to the region, new control orders, and a lower threshold for banning groups suspected of inciting terrorism.
People are also being promised more of what is already being done, including confiscation of passports from would-be fighters and deprivation of citizenship. Plus the much-vaunted prevent strategy — a programme designed to deter extremism, but widely ridiculed by some Muslims — is to be given a new lease of life. And the FBI is coming along to lend some backbone to the border force.
It is hard to be enthusiastic about much of this — not because such measures look timid, compared with the savagery of a staged beheading (although, of course, they do), but because even mooting them risks making the situation worse. It underlines what many British Muslims will rightly see as inconsistencies and double standards.
Only a year ago, the UK was about to join the US in air strikes against Syria’s president, Bashar Al Assad. Without a House of Commons vote against this, it would have been government policy. Yet young Britons, who articulated and acted on the same objective, are now branded dangerous criminals, not to be let out of the country, or if they have left, to on no account be let back.
Fault of successive governments
To an extent, Al Assad is a diversion. To punish British Muslims for travelling to Syria or Iraq is to make some very general — and divisive — assumptions. By no means all those who go intend to take up arms. Are Christian and secular aid missions acceptable, but not charity dispensed by Muslims?
And if even a minority of British-born Muslims are seduced by the idea of the caliphate, it must be asked how much might that be the UK’s fault, and the fault of successive governments: For privileging multiculturalism over integration; for giving unconditional refuge to radical preachers; for pussyfooting around such issues as gender segregation, face veils, rigged elections and school curriculums, before suddenly deciding that tolerance has gone too far.
Despite all these mistakes, the number of those who constitute a real danger looks tiny. Which may be why, when you examine the latest official statements, you find that they may not be quite what they seem.
Theresa May is only “considering” new measures; the ministry for domestic affairs minister James Brokenshire has warned against “knee-jerk” responses, and the foreign secretary (minister for foreign affairs) Philip Hammond has left all options open. Yes, they fear blame if just a few maniacs get through — the memories of the 7/7 bombings and the murder of the solder Lee Rigby — killed by Islamist extremists in south London in May 2013 — do not fade.
But to try to satisfy a public clamour with punitive talk is to speak loudly, while carrying the smallest of sticks. Most British Muslims do not constitute any threat. They, and the rest of Britain, need to hear ministers give that assurance at least as loudly as they sound their alarms.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
Mary Dejevsky is a former foreign correspondent.
