by Seamus OBlimey » Mon Oct 16, 2006 2:18 pm
And the beat goes on...<br><br>-------------------------<br><br>Kelly tells councils to identify extremist 'hotspots' <br><br>Matthew Tempest and agencies<br>Monday October 16, 2006<br>Guardian Unlimited <br><br><br>Ruth Kelly, the secretary of state for communities and local government, speaks outside the Victoria Park Plaza hotel in central London, where she was meeting representatives of 20 "key" local councils.<br>         <br>The government has told key local authorities to identify "hotspots" prone to Islamic extremism, as the communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, warned that the far right could exploit community divisions if Muslims did not root out their own extremists.<br><br>Ms Kelly held an hour-long meeting behind closed doors with representatives of 20 councils in London this morning to discuss community cohesion.<br><br>Her meeting comes after two weeks of increasingly political rows about the role of Islam in a multicultural society, sparked by Jack Straw's declaration that he asked female Muslim constituents to remove their veils when they came to see him.<br><br>The debate has evolved into a dispute over the right to wear religious symbols at work, with a Dewsbury teaching assistant who wears a veil in the classroom and a <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>British Airways employee told not to visibly wear a crucifix</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> coming under particular scrutiny.<br><br>But opposition politicians have warned Ms Kelly - <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>a member of the devout Catholic Opus Dei group</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - against "demonising a whole faith".<br><br>The Liberal Democrats' communities spokesman, Andrew Stunell, said: "Once again the government is guilty of chasing votes, not seeking solutions.<br><br>"If ministers really want to build a strong partnership with minority communities to confront extremism, they have done almost everything wrong so far.<br><br>"Honesty about the impact of our foreign policy on Muslim communities here and abroad over the last two decades would achieve much more."<br><br>Mr Stunell said that Muslims were as appalled by terrorism now "as Catholics were by the IRA campaign 20 years ago".<br><br>"It is no solution to separate and demonise a whole faith because of the actions of fanatics," he said.<br><br>Ms Kelly - whose post was created in May this year - told the meeting that extremism was the "biggest security issue" currently faced by "major parts" of Britain.<br><br>She urged the local government representatives to consider whether they were doing enough to tackle extremism in schools, colleges and universities, and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>whether they had identified "hotspot" neighbourhoods and sections of the community which could be breeding grounds.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>"This is not just a problem for Muslim communities," she said. "The far right is still with us, still poisonous, still trying to create and exploit divisions.<br><br>"Extremism is an issue for all of us. We all must play our part in responding to it. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The world has changed since September 11 and 7/7.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>"The government has had to change and respond to that, and we appeal to local authorities to do the same."<br><br>Yesterday, the government's race minister waded into the row over a Muslim teaching assistant's refusal to remove her veil, leading to increasingly bitter exchanges with Muslim groups.<br><br>Phil Woolas demanded that 24-year-old Aishah Azmi - already suspended - be sacked, accusing her of "denying the right of children to a full education".<br><br>Mr Woolas said that Ms Azmi's stand meant that she could not "do her job" at Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, and insisted that barring men from working with her would amount to "sexual discrimination".<br><br>But the Muslim Council of Britain condemned Mr Woolas for his "outrageous" and "reckless" foray into a "matter that should be decided by the school, and if necessary by the courts".<br><br>Meanwhile, the shadow home secretary, David Davis, attacked Muslim leaders for risking "voluntary apartheid" in Britain, and expecting special protection from criticism.<br><br>Mr Davis warned in an article for the Sunday Telegraph that "closed societies" were being created in the UK.<br><br>In an apparent hardening of the Conservatives' attitude to radical Islam, Mr Davis also supported Mr Straw's practice of asking female Muslim constituents to lift their veils during private discussions.<br><br>After Ms Kelly's meeting, Mr Davis said: "It is vital ... that the issues raised today are followed up on. What steps have been agreed by whom? Who is responsible for their follow-up and when?"<br><br>The education secretary Alan Johnson is expected further to fuel the religious debate this week by putting forward plans <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>forcing new faith schools to allocate a quarter of places to pupils who follow other religions, or none.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>A leaked letter from Mr Johnson to cabinet colleagues set out plans to add the measures to the government's education and inspection bill.<br><br>The Church of England has already announced that it will set aside 25% of places at its new schools, but a bid to make Catholic, Jewish and Muslim institutions do the same is likely to meet resistance.<br><br>Other key officials who attended today's meeting included senior Andy Hayman of the Metropolitan police, who was representing the Association of Chief Police Officers.<br><br>Other officers from various forces around the country were also thought to have attended the meeting, as well as the chief executives from a number of local councils.<br><br>In an interview later, Ms Kelly played down suggestions that the government wanted university lecturers to report students that they suspected of involvement in Islamic extremism to the police. <br><br>It followed the leak of a Department for Education document disclosing that proposals for tackling extremism on campuses would be sent to colleges and universities by the end of the year. <br><br>According to the Guardian, which obtained the report, it acknowledged that, for some academic staff, passing information to Special Branch would seem like "collaborating with the secret police". <br><br>Ms Kelly rejected suggestions that the proposals - which are still being worked on - involved asking lecturers to "spy" on their students.<br><br>"This is about protecting students from individuals who might be out there trying to prey upon them, trying to groom them into a path towards violence and extremism," she told the BBC's World at One.<br><br>"It is important that we strike the right balance but this isn't about picking on individual students or even spying on them, it is about sensible monitoring of activities to make sure that individual students on campuses are protected."<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1923713,00.html">politics.guardian.co.uk/h...13,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br>----------------------------------<br><br>Why does a government support and finance "faith schools"? <br><br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/faithschools/">teachernet.gov.uk</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> "This section contains information about faith schools and how they are working to make a positive contribution to community cohesion in England."<br><br>I can understand theology as an academic subject. But faith? <p></p><i></i>