The problem with Integration
When addressing questions fielded by an audience of young men and women in West London last week, after I spoke from a panel of experts on the Far Right, Islamophobia and Gaza, someone inevitably lobbed a question which contained the oft used term: Integration. And as in most cases, the question was about whether Muslims in the UK had done enough to integrate, and whether “proper integration” is the answer to spiraling Islamophobia and racism targeted against Muslims throughout the country.
It brought back to mind an article written by former cabinet member and very briefly, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, who wrote in August in the Times: How the British dream of integration can survive https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/nadhim-zahawi-emergency-action-integrate-our-society-sm6wvzn7b
“Integration” has been a favourite go to for successive governments, home secretaries, police commissioners, journalists, commentators and academics, for decades. Many have contended that it was for the lack of integration that violent attacks have taken place or social problems have arisen, or crimes committed. I recall many commenting on the issue of integration in the aftermath of the 9-11 and then 7-7 attacks in New York and London respectively. I even recall having to sit through a Friday Khutba (sermon) and endure a 20-minute tirade launched by the Imam of the day, against the congregation (and by extension Britain’s 4 million Muslims) accusing them of causing Islamophobia by failing to integrate.
But what does integration mean? How is it measured, and most importantly, who does the measuring? Is there a certificate given to someone who manages to reach that illusive threshold of becoming integrated? Indeed, are there percentages to how much or little one has integrated, and a manual as to how to achieve better standards of integration?
Let me give myself as an example. I’ve lived in the UK since I was 4 years old, ie for over 52 years. My first language is English which I claim to speak better than most “Indigenous” white Brits. I’m emersed in British culture, recognise most British rock and pop bands, follow the English premiership and have supported Liverpool since I was 6, and whenever the chance lends itself, choose a steak pie over most else. Yet still, I’m told that I need to integrate.
What I fail to understand is that as heinous as the likes of Jimmy Saville, Harold Shipman and Fred West everyone (I would hope) finds them to be, none of them is ever questioned over their standards of integration. Yet, I, who claim to have lived by the law my entire life, studied and worked hard and paid my taxes, am constantly accused over my integration. Noteworthy in this regard, that my Sikh neighbour who has donned a turban all his life has never had to contend with this, nor has my Hindu friend from back in the 90s at university.
So to me, integration is simply a politically-loaded term that aims to assert ‘the other’, and to establish a certain set of power dynamics within society, particularly when it comes to Muslims. Just like when that other dreadful term, “Britishness” took flight around the time the global economy came crashing down on the poor and the vulnerable. In other words, it constitutes the seeds of racism, Islamophobia and ultimately xenophobia, and is an easy cop-out for those seeking to justify political, economic and social failures.
If someone is law-abiding and lives their life honourably, diligently and respectful of all those around them, then they deserve never to be accused over their levels of ‘integration’ and to enjoy their full rights as people who have taken residence in the UK. How difficult is that to accept?
Let’s not resort to ready-made one-worded justifications churned out by those who are too lazy to address the serious problems we face, or by those who actually wish to ignite the fires of division and to amplify differences and fractions within society, hence lead us all down the slippery slide of self-destruction.
