Dr Mashuq Ally,
was the Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of South Africa.
Currently he is Head of Equality and Diversity for the Birmingham
City Council and is prominent in bringing together diverse elements and
organisations within the community for dialogue and consultation.
He said that the openness of British society should be cherished.
Many people come here from unstable countries and benefit from
what they find here – peace and harmony, free speech, a strong legal
system and British values.
He believes that citizenship demands a commitment to British
society and that people must speak and understand the English language
to be part of that society.
Islam is a major community, two million in Britain and forty million in the rest of Europe.
They and people from other religions need to look at their faith in the
context of their new environment, their new family.
Deprived areas give rise to disenchantment, fundamentalism and
oppression. Community
cohesion will only arise when we have addressed these issues.
Some causes of concern are the rise in domestic violence, the
psychological abuse of women, the practice of female genital mutilation,
forced marriages and women still not leading in civic or socio-economic
institutions. |
Elizabeth Sidney OBE
is President of the International Federation of Women against
Fundamentalism and for Equality.
She campaigns eloquently for human rights particularly when they
are violated by religious, fundamentalist regimes.
Elizabeth Sidney said that she believes that we need ‘reconciled
diversity’ and gave “Billy Elliot” as an example - a traditional mining
family becoming reconciled to a son who wants to dance and discovering
that you could be a good son as well as a good dancer.
Elizabeth
is firmly against fundamentalism and quoted the author Ed Hussein (“The
Islamist”) who, though initially drawn into fundamentalism, eventually
returns to a more customary/traditional form of Islam.
We should determine what we mean by Britishness so that we may
protect it. We need an open
contract with people coming to this country.
They can access housing and jobs but they need to learn English,
understand democracy and see what they can contribute.
Our society needs a culture of everyone trying to give something
back – e.g. standing on local councils.
Diversity, she believes, is the lifeblood of society – we should
welcome the good and reject the intolerable. |
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Dr Mashuq Ally and Elizabeth Sydney OBE
