The New Nation - Internet Edition

Anealla Safdar

One would never imagine that such a seemingly sociable and, some might say, tepid topic like community cohesion, defined by the Government as the "attempt to build communities" could spark such snappy debate. But, that is what happens when you put Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, Conservative Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion and Social Action Shadow Minister, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Communities and Local Government, Andrew Stunell, in the same room with around 100 young Muslims.

November 28, saw the second monthly session of its kind, where three members from each major political party meet with young Muslims in the House of Commons. Community cohesion, preventing extremism, the Government's relationship with Islam and empowering communities were on the agenda of this month's dialogue, with Barrister Fatima Kurji Jumabhoy chairing the debate.

Blears kicked the meeting off with a subject that British Muslims are all too familiar with. "I think that extremism is an issue that isn't simply for the Muslim community, it's an issue for the whole of the country," she said, "The truth is that we are facing a significant threat from terrorism." The way in which that 'threat' could be dampened must be a careful and delicate one, agreed the Government officials.

Blears admitted that the term 'community cohesion', one of the proposed remedies to extremism, was an instance of typical political jargon. So, she unpicked it for the audience. "I think it's about a sense of belonging, it's about a sense of belief, what you believe in. Nobody has a duty to assimilate themselves [but] I do think we need to understand how each other lives."

On October 7 2007, Blears announced that £50 million would be invested into cohesion promotion and tackling community tensions. This was an increase from £2m in 2007/08.

The roots of extremism, however, are deep and while funding for community action might be a positive step, audience members were keen to press the panel on the ways in which terrorism is targeted. "Every faith group has a positive duty to make their youth better, it's about enhancing communities," said Warsi, but agreed with other panel members that mosques, while sometimes being responsible for propagating extremist ideas, were not totally to blame.

Universities, on the other hand, where young people are politicised by just about anything, were seen as key locations where terrorism could be bred. "People express all sorts of views at universities. I look back to the days when I was at university, and when somebody said there was march on, you didn't really ask what the march was about, you just went…because you thought that was thing you had to do at university," said Warsi.

Stunell described himself as an 'active Christian' and sympathised strongly with the way in which the Muslim community was being treated by putting himself in the position of Muslims.

"What would be most likely to radicalise me? It would be a clampdown at university on Christian students," he said. Stunell expressed the view that extremism would not be tackled by targeting mosques and Muslim university students, or by stopping and searching those who 'looked' Muslim. "I just want the same test to be applied to every community, and to every faith group and in every situation," he said. He pointed out that up until now, the IRA has killed more people in the UK than any 'Muslim' extremist has, "yet we avoided the demonisation which is so easily tumbled into by public policy and then of course led on to that by the media."

The audience was also keen to discuss foreign policy, 'state terrorism' and the part they play in influencing extremism in the UK. Blears failed to give one audience member a definition for 'state terrorism' on the grounds that she didn't know what it was, but later, when pushed to talk about foreign policy, said: "I do not accept simply that foreign policy is the cause of al-Qa'ida terrorism across the world".

Both of the other party members said they did not support the so called 'War on Terror'. "I would not say that [foreign policy] legitimised what they did, but clearly it has had a powerful impact on them, and it's had a powerful impact on a wider circle of people," said Stunell. "Some of those situations which have provoked that response ought to have been done differently," he added. Warsi urged Muslims not to use their faith in taking political stances, suggesting instead that they use a reasoned approach like she did over the war in Iraq. "My viewpoint about the war in Iraq had…probably very little to do with my faith. If anything, it was more to do with the fact that I am a lawyer and I had concerns about it from a legal perspective." Warsi, herself a young Muslim woman, seemed to regain some of the confidence lost after her controversial comments concerning the BNP's 'legitimate' views on immigration were made public. Stunell's empathy and the way in which he insisted Muslims must not be demonised or alienated surely won the Liberal Democrats a few potential voters.

But Blears, despite her pledge to inject millions of pounds into 'community cohesion', found it difficult, as any other Labour representative would, to discuss terrorism without being questioned over her party's hugely unpopular political decision to invade Iraq.