London: Prime Minister David Cameron’s bid to help Muslim women integrate into UK society by learning the language is a welcome move, but it won’t slow the flow of recruits to extremist organisations such as Daesh, leading pressure groups warned on Monday.
Cameron has announced a £20 million (Dh104.7 million) fund to help Muslim women learn English in a bid to tackle segregation within communities and try to ensure they resist the lure of foreign terror groups.
The government estimates there are 190,000 Muslim women in England who speak little or none of the language, while some 700 Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria to join militant organisations — although the vast majority of those are young men.
Cameron told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was “a connection with combating extremism”, and improving English was important “if we’re going to try to help people become more resilient against the messages of Daesh”.
“If you’re not able to speak English, you’re not able to integrate. You may find, therefore, that you have challenges understanding what your identity is and you could be more susceptible to the extremist message that comes from Daesh.”
Monday’s announcement also raised the prospect of people being deported from Britain if they fail to learn to speak English, as Cameron suggested testing all immigrants who are on spousal visas after they have lived here for two-and-a-half years.
“We’re now going to toughen up so half-way through the spousal settlement programme — two-and-a-half years — there’ll be another opportunity to make sure your English is improving,” he said.
“You can’t guarantee you’ll be able to stay if you’re not improving your language. It is tough but people coming to our country have responsibility too.”
But Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told Gulf News in a statement: “The Prime Minister is absolutely right in wanting English to be taught more widely. But the aim to have English more widely spoken and for better integration falls at the first hurdle if he is to link it to security and single out Muslim women to illustrate his point.
“Muslims are only one third of the minority population. Reports suggest a significant proportion of immigrants from Eastern Europe struggle with English. And just last week it was reported that a Jewish ultra-orthodox school was shut down for teaching Hebrew only.”
London-based freelance imam Dr Omar Al Hamdoon also welcomed the creation of the fund but denied Cameron’s link to extremism.
“In the main, we really welcome this idea. There is the need for empowerment of all aspects of the Muslim community and teaching Muslim women English is certainly a great idea because it will help them to become better in society,” he told Gulf News.
“However, we don’t think it’s going to do much in terms of stopping people going to join [Daesh] or in terms of de-radicalising extremists. We can understand the premise of where they are trying to come from, but we disagree with it.
“At the end of the day, there are women who are going to join [Daesh] who speak perfect English and they are taking their families with them. Learning the language isn’t the factor that will stop people from turning towards terrorism if they have that tendency.”
The announcement was welcomed by Shaista Gohir, chair of the Muslim Women’s Network, but she said “it should be directed at all communities, not just Muslims — and it shouldn’t be linked to radicalisation. People learning English is a good thing, so they know their rights and can participate in society. Cameron says he wants to empower Muslim women. But what about Muslim women who already speak English and still face barriers to participation?”
Sufia Alam, the women’s project manager of the east London Maryam centre, pointed out a wide discrepancy between Cameron’s suggestion that 22 per cent of Muslim women have limited or no English, and the 2011 census, which said that just 6% struggled significantly with the language.
There had been deep cuts in English teaching provision for non-native speakers in the last parliament, she added.
Siema Iqbal, a Manchester GP, said she agreed that people coming to live in the UK need to learn English in order to improve their opportunities and interaction with others. “But the problem is [Cameron] is conflating not being able to speak English with contributing to radicalisation. I know many Asian women who can’t speak English but still influence their children — and push them to integrate into British society.”
Dr Ed Kessler, director of the Woolf Institute, which convened the recent Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life, criticised Cameron’s focus on Muslim women.
“It is extremely unfortunate that the prime minister has chosen to focus solely on Muslim women to make an important point about the integration of immigrants,” he said.
“The commission explicitly called on the government to use sensitive and inclusive language when dealing with matters of faith, yet once again points that apply equally to immigrants from a wide varie-ty of nationalities, backgrounds and religions — Iraqi Christians for example — have been used to associate all Muslims with difficulties associated with integration. As a result, rather than empowering women, the Muslim communities can be further alienated, making it harder rather than easier for Muslim women to seek help from public authorities.”
— The writer is a journalist based in the UK.
