On Monday, the Communities Secretary Steve Reed rose in the House of Commons to unveil ‘Protecting What Matters’, the government’s new ‘action plan’ to ‘strengthen social cohesion’ and ‘tackle division’. According to the accompanying press release: ‘Millions of families, friends and neighbours will feel a stronger sense of community, unity and national pride thanks to renewed efforts to stamp out extremism, hate and division announced today.’
I was not among those millions. Conspicuous by omission in the announcement was any mention of Islamism. The impression given by the minister was that ‘those who try to divide us’ and ‘subvert our shared values’ are not the Muslim students mourning the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader or people like Mothin Ali, the deputy leader of the Green party, who tweeted on the day Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Jews: ‘White supremacist European settler colonialism must end!’ Instead, it is politicians like Nigel Farage and Katie Lam who draw attention to the small boats and the grooming gangs.
