In Britain, growing objections to multicultural society

Some community leaders insist that multiculturalism still works, that it has nothing to do with terrorism.

At its best, they say, it enables immigrants to settle more comfortably, retaining customs and culture while obeying British law. And it celebrates the diversity of Britain's population.

"It enables society to celebrate the best of the religion and culture that they have," says Khalid Mahmood, one of four British Muslim MPs. He says it doesn't necessarily mean isolation, pointing to a recent surge of involvement by the Asian community in political and professional life.

But terrorism experts say it's becoming counterproductive. Ethnic ghettos and a laissez faire attitude toward the "hate preachers" who operate in them has made Britain vulnerable, explains Bob Ayers, of London's Chatham House think tank.

"This promulgation of separateness tends to make people form themselves into 21st-century ghettos with their own cultures and socio-economic practices," he says, warning that this risks promoting "an environment that is capable of producing people who turn on their own country."

The problem then emerges of how much integration one expects. Most people on both sides of the argument say that learning English is an important requirement for immigrants. A modicum of cultural knowledge is also a reasonable expectation, they say.

But then opinion diverges. Recent arguments have raged here about whether girls should be permitted to wear hijab in schools; about whether a play deemed offensive to Sikhs should be allowed to be staged; about whether radical interpretations of certain faiths should be permitted to be preached openly.

There are, moreover, certain aspects of British culture that some minorities actively strive to avoid.

"There is a tradition here of going clubbing on a Friday night and getting punch drunk," notes Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain. "That's something many Muslim parents would not want for their children. Also, there were 185,000 abortions here last year - again not something that Muslims are happy with.

"Some traditions and values in Islam can be enormously beneficial to Britain, just as there are British values that Muslims would do well to learn from," he says, adding that this is one of the beauties of multiculturalism.

Another problem, community leaders say, is that minorities are expected to embrace a local culture that still discriminates against them and does not always represent their worldview.

A BBC survey last year found that minorities were far less likely to be invited to job interviews than white indigenous people. Unemployment is particularly rife among some parts of the Muslim community. An undercover documentary recently highlighted a strong racist current within the police.

"A fundamental point is about making minorities feel part of this society," says Bunglawala. He welcomed the government's initiative, launched Tuesday, to travel the country and meet with communities to hear their concerns.

"They will hear that many Muslim youths are not identifying with our government and our country because of some of our policies in the Muslim world," he says.

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