This won’t trip off the tongue, but here is where Eric Pickles – communities secretary and the man who holds the glue to keep the many strands of society in place – was in the right ball park. When he sent that now infamous letter to mosques, telling Muslims they really ought to stop the terrorism – presumably using brown-skinned Kingsman-style superhero operatives – he also referenced the “challenges of integration and radicalisation”.
I have long felt that, as part of the national journey, we will eventually arrive at some hybrid, widely accepted British/Muslim construct. Widely accepted in the sense that it is not just a formulation Muslim communities feel is theirs, but also a compromise that other communities feel comfortable with – enough for cohesion to take place.
This is not to peddle the canard that Muslims stand apart from society. That implication was one of the most irritating features of Pickles’ letter. They are part of the patchwork. But there is also a simple truth here. The most successful migrant groups in our majority white, majority “Christian”, but largely secular country are those best able to strike a balance between the cultural possessions they keep for themselves, as a sort of communal psychological underpinning, and the things they give up, or dilute, to thrive in a society that demands a degree of collective compliance. It is not for me to say where others might successfully strike that balance. What works becomes apparent. Specific geology forms over time.
So that’s where Pickles was right. There is an evolutionary process underway. Here is where he was wrong. Did he really think he had the capital that would allow him to address mosques, and those who frequent them, in that fashion? Did he really think a round robin letter, released to the press in a risible show of dynamism, was the most effective way to connect? As a do-nothing communities secretary in a government that has been lazy at best, and negligent at worst, in its day-to-day relationship with minority communities – particularly Muslim ones – did he really feel well placed to offer advice with any expectation of constructive dialogue? If he did, time for a reality check. Context matters; sometimes it’s everything.
Government-community relationships are essential in times of crisis, but they don’t nurture themselves.
