Question of integration is wider, more complex

I have known Peter Hain, Britain's Minister for Europe for more than 25 years. In fact I first caught up with him on the pavement opposite South Africa House (embassy) in London's Trafalgar Square in 1975, picketing in protest against apartheid in his home country.

Hain is white and he belongs to a courageous generation of liberal white minority who devoted two decades of their lives fighting against all forms of racism. He was a founding member of the Anti-Nazi League in the late 1970s, which effectively fought off the National Front in its heyday. Hain's anti-racist credentials have failed to shield him from criticism.

He is now under attack for remarks criticising what he calls "isolationism among Britain's Muslims". The rise of the extreme right in Europe has apparently persuaded him to speak out on the behaviors of some Muslims in the west, and on immigration and asylum policy.

Some Muslims, he says, are cutting themselves off and feeding both rightwing politics and their extremists. "We need an honest dialogue about the minority of isolationists, fundamentalists and fanatics who open the door to exploitation and who provide fertile ground for Al-Qaida extremists", he declares.

Muslims are welcome (to Britain) but Muslim immigrants could be "very isolationist" and need to integrate more, he argues. Hain's statement follows, warnings from the chairman of the commission for racial equality on the divided communities of the English cities, and Home Secretary David Blunkett's demand that people settling in Britain learn English.

While I agree with the general idea of Hain's remarks, they need to be debated further. It is generally accepted now that ministers and governments in the West view almost every thing in their countries and the world over differently, after the atrocities of September 11.

What Hain is suggesting that we should "honestly debate, has been there for a very long time, long before September 11.

Yes there is a strong tendency among some Muslim immigrant groups in the UK towards isolationism. Some have brought with them to the host country their own 'little Lahore' or 'little Cairo'. Others even guide and encourage their British children to consider themselves as 'outsiders', instead of learning how to move ahead as natural members of their society.

But what we really need is an honest dialogue about the fact that Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, whom I assume Hain has in mind when speaking about "Muslim isolationists", are the ethnic groups most likely to be racially attacked, the least likely to be employed and, subsequently, the least likely to participate in the voting process.

A recent survey by Mori for the Commission of Racial Equality may provide Hain with some indications to prepare for the "honest debate". Conducted through the month of April – during Jean-Marie Le Pen's first round victory in France – the national survey, came up with two major revelations.

First, only 10 per cent of white British people are hostile to a racial equality and antagonistic to the very existence of non-white people in the UK. Given a percentage point either way, this is a consistent figure for those who believe that to be true British you have to be white.

This group does not believe that it is important to respect the rights of minorities and they strongly reject the statement: "we should do more to learn about the systems and culture of the ethnic groups in the UK".

Second, there is a huge majority who not only understand that Britain is and always will be a multicultural society but who value it as such. This is evidently clear in many primary schools across the country.

The majority of British people do not consider that to be British is to be white (86 per cent); believe it is right to respect the rights of minorities (78 per cent); and think British people should do more to learn about other cultures in the UK (57 per cent).

Key among this group are the young, who almost on every indicator are more likely to have a liberal outlook on race than their elders.

When asked what culture they feel they belong to, my own three children, a girl (23) and two boys (21 and 15) anonymously agreed they see themselves as Londoners first, British second of Arab Muslim back ground.

The overriding message of the national survey is clear. Despite September 11 and last year's disturbances in the three Northern cities of Bradford, Burnley and Oldham, there is an overwhelming majority in the UK who would like to uphold the rising traditions of multiculturalism and aspirations for racial equality.

One other finding in the survey reveals that about half of the ethnic minorities and 80 per cent of the whites believe that non-white people should demonstrate a real commitment to Britain before they can be considered British; and a third of the whites believe those who settle in UK should not maintain the culture and lifestyle they had at home.

What they would like immigrants to abandon is clear, but what they would like them to replace it with is not.

When asked to come up with things they associated with Britain, respondents spoke of the royal family, countryside, fish and chips, drinking culture and people being reserved.

People find 'British-ness' difficult to define, according to the survey. "There is no consistent and homogenous sense of British-ness" concluded Mori.

Therefore, the question of integration is much wider and complex than simply identifying separatism and fundamentalism as purely Islamic.

There are fundamentalists in all religions. Similarly, the Muslim community is not the only immigrant group who have turned in on themselves.