The Guardian view on Britain uniting against Islamic State

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/18/guardian-view-britain-uniting-islamic-state

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One week after being unveiled as the next westerner earmarked for ritual murder by the self-styled Islamic State, it is difficult to feel anything but the deepest foreboding for the British aid volunteer Alan Henning. The killings, and the relish with which they have been carried out, offer no reason to suppose that the terrorists will pull back from their threat or open their ears to pleas on behalf of their captive. But in the absence of a military solution to Mr Henning’s plight – or to that of John Cantlie, the British press photographer paraded by Islamic State today – appeals to the terrorists, though speculative and possibly doomed to fail, seem the right thing to do.

And it is beneficial that some of these interventions are coming, very publicly, from Muslims. In the past, as crises have unfolded, politicians and commentators on the right have been quick to accuse “the Muslim community” in Britain of failing to condemn atrocity and to make its allegiance clear. The speed at which figures within the various Muslim communities have come together to clearly disassociate themselves from the brutalities of Islamic State, has given Britain’s response to the hostage crisis, and its ongoing confrontation with Islamic State, a different quality.

Today, more than 100 British Muslim imams, organisations and individuals circulated a letter expressing “horror and revulsion” at the death sentence pronounced on Mr Henning and the “senseless murder” of David Haines, the Briton murdered by Islamic State last week. This intervention follows a more personal plea earlier this week from the British Muslim charity workers who were travelling in an aid convoy with Mr Henning when he was kidnapped last December. They were able to pitch their appeal in human terms, but also in an idiom specific to the teachings of Islam. Their YouTube video, entitled Call of Mercy to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from British Muslim aid workers, was delivered through the prism of their faith. There is also intervention by the young. Muslims from the east London-based Active Change Foundation are running a video and social media campaign which reframes the anti-Iraq war slogan, Not in My Name.

All three contributions speak to progress. It has never been the case that British Muslims have refused to condemn atrocities; not least because some still grieve for relatives lost to terrorism, including the London bombings nine years ago. But on this occasion, those condemnations have gained wide currency. Using traditional and social media, Muslim activists have been better able to disseminate their message. In addition, traditional media seems to have been listening this time. There should be no particular pressure on British Muslims to speak. They do not have to prove their legitimacy as British citizens or their horror at these atrocities. Still, we are richer for these gestures of collective solidarity.

But the involvement of prominent Muslims in this British response doesn’t lessen the requirement for government and the authorities to craft a better cohesion policy that will serve in times of calm and crisis. This need becomes more pressing amid worries that incidents of Islamophobia have accelerated in recent months. There are frequent and solid criticisms to be made about the patchy Prevent anti-radicalisation programme. In any event, a scheme to tackle radicalisation isn’t the same as a policy to address alienation and to achieve integration. Neither is anti-radicalisation the basis on which the authorities should forge contacts with Muslim communities or any minorities. Terrified by the notion that some Muslim leaders who once held advisory status might have been tainted by association with extremist views, ministers seem more comfortable having little or no contact at all.

There will be frustration within British Muslim households that, in the matter of Islamic State, they seem as impotent as every other citizen, and yet their efforts to save the lives of British citizens present opportunities for the future of communal relations. Ministers should grab them.