Room for different world views

We should ignore the attempt to conflate debates about race and faith with political identity.

Reading the debate between "supporters" and "opponents" of the New Generation Network (NGN), it is sometimes difficult to see what is at issue. Having nodded my way through a few pieces by Sunny Hundal, I found myself equally agreeing with Salma Yaqoob's most recent offering. Beyond the personalised insults, it is difficult to see the point where they disagree.

Like Sunny and Salma, I was born in Britain to an immigrant family. My parents were economic migrants, but they were also glad to escape the stultifying Catholic conservatism that marked Irish society at the time they left home. Although I was raised a Catholic, I never accepted the church's teachings on a variety of social issues.

Like most Irish immigrants, my parents faced some discrimination when they first arrived. The Race Relations Act had not been passed and it was still common to see signs in flats to rent that specified "no dogs, blacks or Irish". But I would not want to stretch the extent of this. Although many English people have a stereotypical view about the Irish, it is a largely benign one. Here, I suspect, my experiences diverged from those of Sunny and Salma.

When I was quite young, my father lost his job because he objected to his firm taking a contract in apartheid South Africa. My best friend at school was an English-born Indian and our school was in the London borough of Hounslow, which was experiencing a large wave of immigration at the time. The National Front was a significant force and my formative political experiences were going to Rock Against Racism gigs and Anti-Nazi League marches. I was in Southall in the riots of 1981 and was once arrested for punching John Tyndall, the then leader of the British National party.

The conflict in Northern Ireland was also a significant part of my political landscape. I was involved in the campaign to free the Guildford Four and spent a couple of days in Paddington Green police station under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

In other words, my world view was shaped by a variety of factors. I would agree with the signatories of the NGN manifesto who say that we are all individuals and no self-appointed representative can ever speak for an entire community. I would also agree with those Muslim community leaders who say that religion can sometimes be a badge of ethnicity. A British soldier telling a Catholic youth in west Belfast, for example, that "the Virgin Mary is a whore" was probably not attempting to engage in a theological discussion.

But I disagree that my race, ethnicity or religion necessarily leads to the adoption of certain political views or that any such group in Britain has the right to demand consideration on issues which, as the NGN correctly points out, concern us all.

We all know that the July 7 bombers cited Afghanistan and Iraq as part of their motivation to commit mass murder in multi-racial London and that a very small number of British Muslims have expressed some sympathy with these actions. It is fair to point out that Bush and Blair's "war on terror" has made the world a more dangerous place. It is also reasonable to ask whether the intelligence benefits gleaned through tougher policing of a particular community will outweigh the resentment caused in the process.

But beyond this we should ignore special pleading and, worse, the attempt to conflate debates about racism, religion and political identity. Take, for example, Salma's piece here, from August 2, defending the Foreign Office's dialogue with Muslim community groups in Britain:

Like the overwhelming majority of Muslims, I view US and British interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq as occupations and support the right of people there to resist ... sections of the Muslim community that are bearing the brunt of imperialism abroad in terms of brutal military intervention and at home, where justifications for such actions are sought using anti-Muslim rhetoric. In resisting imperialism, Muslims and the left are fighting a common enemy.

The article draws a parallel between the "resistance" of the Muslim community in Britain and the resistance against "those who seek to colonise Muslim lands". It also states that "Islamic political forces are growing in strength because they are increasingly seen as one of the few bulwarks against what is now naked imperialism and colonialism ... It is little wonder that some in the Foreign Office think Britain needs a dialogue with the Islamic forces that may one day overthrow the corrupt and dictatorial regimes we have sponsored for so long."

I have lost friends and colleagues to terrorist attacks in both Afghanistan and Iraq and, while I think that Salma is entitled to regard these murders as "acts of resistance", I am also entitled to hold her in complete contempt for doing so.

I strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq, but I did not do so as a British "second-generation Irish Catholic" and I do not see why being a British Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Sikh gives anyone any more insight into a particular aspect of world affairs than anyone else.

Religious and ethnic groups in the United States have mobilised effectively to influence US foreign policy, towards Israel, Cuba and even Darfur. The effects have rarely been positive, however, and I cannot see why anyone would think that this is an example to emulate.

The idea that political views should reflect communal identity is, in fact, profoundly reactionary. Sunny seems to get this point, but I am not sure that Salma does.