A think-tank report said that, despite some commendable attempts at engagement, the government s actions continued to drive a wedge between the majority of British Muslims and the rest of society, rather than isolating the violent few.
Source: Rachel Briggs, Catherine Fieschi and Hannah Lownsbrough, Bringing it Home: Community based approaches to counter-terrorism, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Demos press release
Date: 2006-Dec
The leader of the far-right British National Party was cleared of charges of inciting racial hatred. In speeches made in 2004 he had described Islam as a 'wicked, vicious faith' and said Muslims were turning Britain into a 'multi-racial hell hole'. The Attorney General reportedly said that there was a 'gap in the law' which needed to be examined.
Source: The Guardian, 11 November 2006
Links: Guardian report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Times report
Date: 2006-Nov
A report examined ways of unlocking the potential of cities' cultural diversity. It identified practical strategies to encourage intercultural exchange between different groups. Evidence from the business world suggested that there was a 'diversity advantage' that could lead to innovations, access to new markets, and cheaper goods.
Source: Phil Wood, Charles Landry and Jude Bloomfield, Cultural Diversity in Britain: A toolkit for cross-cultural co-operation, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that Muslims living in ghettos were no more likely to become involved in terrorism than those living in mixed areas.
Source: Ludi Simpson and Nissa Finney, Place of Residence of Muslims Charged with Terrorism Under UK Legislation, Centre for Census and Survey Research/University of Manchester (0161 2754891)
Links: Summary | Manchester University press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A survey found that 70 per cent of people did not have close friendships with people from different ethnic backgrounds. White people were far less likely to mix with people from ethnic minorities than vice versa.
Source: Race Relations Survey 2006, Ipsos MORI (020 8861 8000)
Links: Report | MORI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A think-tank report examined the role of community groups that attended to the needs of particular faith or minority ethnic groups. These groups played an essential part in building bridges between minority communities and wider opportunities within their area, as well as helping to break down the barriers caused by prejudice and discrimination. Rather than being viewed with scepticism or doubt, they should be made part of the wider framework of public services and government, without losing the independence in which much of their credibility rested.
Source: Hannah Lownsbrough, Change Within: The role of black and minority ethnic community organisations, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Date: 2006-Oct
A Cabinet minister, Jack Straw MP (Leader of the House of Commons), said that he would prefer Muslim women in his local constituency surgery not to wear veils which covered the whole face. He said that the full veil - the niqab - made 'better, positive relations between the two communities more difficult', because it was 'a visible statement of separation and of difference'.
Source: BBC report, 6 October 2006 Links: BBC report | PMOS statement | IHRC press release | MCB press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2006-Oct
A report by a cross-party group of MPs said that urgent action was needed to deal with the growing incidence of anti-semitism.
Source: Report by All Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism, reported in The Guardian, 7 September 2006
Links: Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Sep
A study found that Muslim pupils in East Lancashire were much more liberal and tolerant than their white counterparts. The study was conducted as part of the Burnley Project, a two-year investigation, funded by the government, in the wake of the riots in Burnley in 2001.
Source: Press release September 2006, Lancaster University (01524 65201)
Links: Lancaster University press release
Date: 2006-Sep
The government launched an independent Commission on Integration and Cohesion. It said that the Commission would consider innovative approaches to empowering communities to improve cohesion and tackle extremism. Campaigners criticized the government for attacking multiculturalism, and for failing to mention the underlying problems of inequality, discrimination, and racism.
Source: Press release 24 August 2006, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (020 7211 6200) | Press release 24 August 2006, Operation Black Vote (020 8880 6061)
Links: DCMS press release | OBV press release | IRR press release | LGA press release | BBC report | Times report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Aug
A survey found that 25 per cent of people in Northern Ireland said that they were either very prejudiced (1 per cent) or a little prejudiced (24 per cent) against 'people of minority ethnic communities'.
Source: Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey 2005, Queen's University Belfast and University of Ulster (028 7137 5513)
Links: Report | UU press release
Date: 2006-Jun
A biennial survey examined a range of community-based issues, including views about the local area, racial and religious prejudice, and discrimination. 80 per cent of people in England and Wales in 2005 felt that their local area was a place where people from different backgrounds got on well together. This proportion was unchanged from 2003.
Source: Sarah Kitchen, Juliet Michaelson, Natasha Wood and Peter John, 2005 Citizenship Survey: Cross-cutting themes, Department for Communities and Local Government (0870 1226 236)
Links: Cross-cutting report | Active communities topic report | Community cohesion topic report | Race and faith topic report | DCLG press release
Date: 2006-Jun
The government published the results of consultation on the criminalization of forced marriage. Most respondents felt that the disadvantages of creating new legislation would outweigh the advantages, and potentially drive forced marriage underground. The government had therefore decided not to proceed with legislative measures.
Source: Forced Marriage: A Wrong Not A Right - Summary of responses to the consultation on the criminalisation of forced marriage, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (020 7008 1500) | Press release 7 June 2006, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Consultation responses | Home Office press release | MPA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jun
A report said that the tensions which led to race riots in Burnley (a northern town) in 2001 were caused by chronic housing problems, poor health, unemployment, poor civic pride, and segregated schooling - which were then exploited by racists. They were also aggravated by the council?s single regeneration budget programme, which was too narrowly focused on one area.
Source: Burnley 2006: The Real Story, Burnley Action Partnership (01282 477134)
Links: Report | DCLG press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A government minister said that schoolchildren should be taught "traditional British values" as part of an attempt to challenge extremism and promote a more cohesive society. All children aged 11-16 would learn about free speech and democracy in the United Kingdom, as well as the contribution made by different communities.
Source: Speech by Bill Rammell MP (Minister of State for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning), 15 May 2006
Links: Text of speech | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report said that divisions between communities in Oldham (a northern town) were still "entrenched" five years after riots there in 2001, even though race relations were improving. Divisions were most acute in housing and schools, and it might take at least a generation to remove them.
Source: Ted Cantle et al., Challenging Local Communities to Change Oldham, Institute of Community Cohesion/Coventry University (0247 688 8451)
Links: Report | DCLG statement | Oldham Council press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report analyzed the rise of support for the far-right British National Party. It said that a significant minority, as many as 8-25 per cent of the population, would consider voting for the British National Party even if they did not do so currently.
Source: Peter John, Helen Margetts, David Rowland and Stuart Weir, The BNP: The Roots of its Appeal, Democratic Audit/Human Rights Centre/University of Essex, available from Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (01904 629241)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Apr
A guide highlighted the important role local authority leaders had to play in promoting social cohesion.
Source: Leading Cohesive Communities, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Guide | LGA press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A new book on London's East End community blamed multiculturalism, and especially the sharing of welfare provision such as social housing with 'newcomer' Bengalis, for poor race relations.
Source: Geoff Dench, Kate Gavron and Michael Young, The New East End: Kinship, race and conflict, Profile Books (020 7841 6300)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Feb
A study explored the interaction between migrants social relationships in their community (their social capital) and the development of a stable and integrated society (social cohesion) at the local level. It questioned the extent to which social capital could reconcile contradictions between social cohesion and the social differences between diverse migrant communities.
Source: Roger Zetter, David Griffiths and Nando Sigona, Immigration, Social Cohesion and Social Capital: What are the links?, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Feb
The Scottish Executive published a strategy for tackling sectarianism.
Source: Sectarianism: Action plan on tackling sectarianism in Scotland, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Action plan | SE press release
Date: 2006-Jan
An article examined the nature of local 'bridge-building' – activities intended to increase interpersonal contacts between diverse ethnic, faith, and nationality groups.
Source: Margaret Harris and Patricia Young, 'Developing community and social cohesion through grassroots bridge-building: an exploration', Policy & Politics, Volume 37 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jan
A report examined the extent to which anti-social behaviour inhibited the development of cohesive and inclusive community life, and the specific issues which arose for different ethnic/faith communities.
Source: David Prior, Kathryn Farrow, Basia Spalek and Marian Barnes, Anti-social Behaviour and Civil Renewal, Active Citizenship Centre/Home Office (duncan.prime@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk)
Date: 2006-Jan
Research found that educating Catholics and Protestants together in school did have an effect on their attitudes later in life: they were more likely to reject traditional identities and allegiances than those who had attended a segregated school.
Source: Bernadette Hayes, Ian McAllister and Lizanne Dowds, In Search of the Middle Ground: Integrated education and Northern Ireland politics, School of Sociology, Social Policy & Social Work/Queen's University Belfast (028 9097 5117) and University of Ulster
Links: Summary | University of Ulster press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that Muslim women often saw the adoption of the Hijab as liberating, and a means to achieving gender equity in an increasingly gender-exploitative wider society.
Source: Saied Ameli and Arzu Merali, Hijab, Meaning, Identity, Otherization and Politics: British Muslim Women, Islamic Human Rights Commission (020 8904 4222)
Links: IHRC press release
Date: 2006-Jan