Hege Storhaug, HRS
I to runder har den britiske regjeringen bebudet en full omlegging av innvandringspolitikken, sist i januar, men de konkrete tiltakene lar vente på seg. Det siste utspillet er dog vanskelig å mistolke. Det er et oppfølgende utspill etter Camerons radikale oppgjør med ideologien multikulturalismen for ganske nøyaktig ett år siden i München. Innvandrere som vil bosette seg i Storbritannia vil bli avkrevd både språk- og kulturkunnskao, og de skal tilpasse seg ”mainstream” britisk kultur og verdier, som demokrati og rettsstat. Regjeringen vil demme opp for tiår med statlig finansiert multikulturpolitikk som har tillatt muslimske innvandrere å unngå å integrere seg, tvert om har politikken stimulert segregering.
The new strategy document titled «Creating the Conditions for Integration» was published on February 21 and states: «We will robustly challenge behaviors and views which run counter to our shared values such as democracy, rule of law, equality of opportunity and treatment, freedom of speech and the rights of all men and women to live free from persecution of any kind. We will marginalize and challenge extremists who seek to undermine our society and we will neither engage with nor fund such organizations.»
The document continues: «The long-term presence of a highly diverse population is generally an indicator of good integration and a strong sense that different people get on well. But this can be undermined and even reversed by a range of factors, for example if groups within the local community work and socialize separately.»
Among a series of other measures, the government says it will reform laws on immigration and settlement by increasing the requirements on those who want to settle in Britain. Those coming to the United Kingdom to work, study or marry will be required to demonstrate an ability to speak English, and those wishing to remain permanently or seek British citizenship will be required to demonstrate their knowledge of language and life within the United Kingdom.
Undervisningen i skolen skal fremme britisk historie og kultur, flaggtradisjoner skal styrkes, og den kristne troen skal gjenreises som sentral i det offentlige britiske livet. Statsråd Eric Pickles er ansvarlig for å gjennomføre den nye politikken, som han sier er et frontalangrep på Labours multikultipolitikk. Han beskylder Labour for å ha ført en politikk som utvannet opplæring i britisk kultur og historie og som promoterte en ”aggressiv sekularisme”.
Speaking to the London-based Daily Mail newspaper, Pickles said: «Under [Equality Minister] Harriet Harman’s agenda, the Labour Government encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream. Political correctness replaced common sense. People were left afraid to express legitimate concerns and frustrations. We need a new approach. One that emphasizes what we have in common rather than difference.»
Pickles continued: «It’s sad to see how, in recent years, the idea of tolerance has become twisted. A few people, a handful of activists, have insisted that it isn’t enough simply to celebrate the beliefs of minority communities; they want to disown the traditions and heritage of the majority, including the Christian faith and the English language.»
Cameron har tidligere (i Munchen i fjor), sagt at multikultur fremmer islamsk ekstremisme. Muslimsk ungdom blir rotløse og de er lette ofre for ekstremistene i sin søken etter identitet.
In a speech to the Munich Security Conference in February 2011, Cameron said: «Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We have even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.»
Cameron continued: «This hands-off tolerance has only served to reinforce the sense that not enough is shared. And this all leaves some young Muslims feeling rootless. And the search for something to belong to and something to believe in can lead them to this extremist ideology. What we see — and what we see in so many European countries — is a process of radicalization.»
Cameron said a two-pronged approach would be needed to neuter the threat of radical Islam in Europe: confronting extremist ideology and, instead of encouraging people to live apart, promoting a clear sense of shared national identity that is open to everyone.
Hva skaper en felles nasjonal identitet? Ifølge Cameron er et av de viktigste budene at Storbritannia trenger langt mindre passiv toleranse, og en ”langt mer aktiv, muskulær liberalisme”.
A passively tolerant society says to its citizens as long as you obey the law we will just leave you alone. It stands neutral between different values. But I believe a genuinely liberal country does much more; it believes in certain values and actively promotes them. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, democracy, the rule of law, equal rights regardless of race, sex or sexuality. It says to its citizens, this is what defines us as a society: to belong here is to believe in these things.»
In a follow-up to that speech, Cameron in October 2011 announced a series of wide-ranging reforms aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration and visa fraud in order to «reclaim our borders and send illegal immigrants home.»
Det skal slås langt hardere ned på illegal innvandrere og falske ekteskap som forsøk på å oppnå oppholdstillatelse.
Labour innførte statsborgertest i 2005. Som vanskelig kan kalles en særlig krevende prøve og som oser av mindreverdige holdninger til potensielle nye landsmenn.
Cameron further said that in the future, all immigrants applying for a British passport would be required to pass a British history exam first.
Migrants wanting to settle in Britain permanently have been required to take a Citizenship Test since 2005. But that test, a multiple-choice quiz called Life in the UK, was reduced to a laughing stock when the previous Labour government ruled that immigrants should not be required to learn British history because there was too much of it and «it would not be fair.»
Instead, applicants were asked questions about equal rights, discrimination and on how to claim social welfare benefits from the British state.
Cameron said: «We’re also going to change the citizenship test. There is a whole chapter in the citizenship handbook on British history but, incredibly, there is no question on British history in the actual test. Instead you’ll find questions on the roles and powers of the main institutions of Europe and the benefits system within the UK. So we are going to revise the whole test … and put British history and culture at the heart of it.»
Despite its efforts to reverse multiculturalism, the British government faces an uphill battle to achieve an integrated society.
At ny regjering under Cameron og derav en radikal endret politikk likevel vil medføre en kamp i oppoverbakke, mener jeg kan overføres til Norge. Gahr Støre lanserte like før jul et nytt utvalg som ble kalt ”Samholdskraft”, litt uheldig, da dette var et begrep fra Quislings nyttårstale i 1941. Derfor ble utvalgets tittel raskt endret til ”Samhold og tillit”. Mitt stalltips er at Ap kommer til å legge seg tett opp til Camerons verdiplattform.
Dagen etter at den nye britiske strategien ble fremlagt, publiserte ONS (Storbritannias SSB), tall som viser at totredjedeler av barn som fødes I London har minst én utenlandsfødt forelder. Statistikken viser videre at kun i seks av Londons 32 bydeler, har færre enn 50 prosent av de nyfødte minst én utenlandsfødt foreldre.
One day after the government announced its new integration strategy, the Office for National Statistics revealed that two-thirds of the babies born in London in 2010 had at least one foreign-born parent. In some inner-city areas, more than three-quarters of infants are now being born into immigrant families. The figure is below 50% in only six of the 32 London boroughs.
Migration Watch UK, a think tank that focuses on immigration and asylum issues, said: «These extraordinary figures illustrate the huge and rapid change that is taking place in our capital city. They illustrate the way in which London is being changed beyond recognition and on a scale and at a speed that makes successful integration so much more difficult.