{"id":69372,"date":"2016-02-08T12:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=69372"},"modified":"2016-02-05T22:08:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T22:08:51","slug":"cameron-at-large-want-not-to-become-a-terrorist-speak-fluent-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/02\/cameron-at-large-want-not-to-become-a-terrorist-speak-fluent-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Cameron At Large: Want Not to Become a Terrorist? Speak Fluent English!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"baher-kamal\"<\/a>4 Feb 2016<\/em> – \u201cDo you speak English fluently? No? Then you risk becoming a terrorist.\u201d IPS posed this dilemma to some young Muslim women living in Cairo, while explaining that this appears to be UK prime minister David Cameron\u2019s formula to judge the level of Muslim women\u2019s risk to fall, passively, into the horrific trap of extremism.<\/p>\n

Here you have some answers: \u201cHe must be kidding, I can\u2019t believe that\u2026,\u201d says Egyptian university student Fatima S.M.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just insulting! What does language have to do with such a risk?\u201d responds Fakhira H. from Pakistan who is married to an Egyptian engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pure colonialism, Cameron still dreams of the British Empire,\u201d reacts Nigerian Afunu K. who works at an export-import company in Cairo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God! We knew that Muslim women are victims of constant stigmatisation everywhere, in particular in Western countries\u2026 But I never expected it to be at this level,\u201d said Tunisian translator Halima M.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A plaque targeting Prime Minister David Cameron, as demonstrators protest in Oxford Street, London, 26 March 2011. Credit: Mark Ramsay | Source: http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/neutronboy\/5562337245\/ | Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license<\/p><\/div>\n

Of course this is not at all about any scientific survey-just an indicative example of how Muslim women from different countries and backgrounds see Cameron\u2019s recent surprising statement: Muslim women who fail to learn English to a high enough standard could face deportation from the UK, the prime minister said on 18 January.<\/p>\n

Cameron suggested that poor English skills can leave people \u201cmore susceptible\u201d to the messages of groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (DAESH).<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two and a half years they should be improving their English and we will be testing them,\u201d the UK prime minister stated. \u201cWe will bring this in October and it will apply to people who have come in on a spousal visa recently and they will be tested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron\u2019s comments came as his Conservative government launched a $28.5 million language fund for Muslim women in the United Kingdom as part of a drive to \u201cbuild community integration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current British immigration rules require that spouses be able to speak English before they arrive in the UK to live with their partners. \u201c\u2026They would face further tests after two and a half years in the UK, said Cameron, before threatening them: \u201cYou can\u2019t guarantee you will be able to stay if you are not improving your language.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of Muslim living in the UK is estimated to be around 2.7 million out of Britain\u2019s total population of 64 million.<\/p>\n

The British government estimates that around 190,000 Muslim women (about 22% of the total) living in the UK speak little or no English.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 If you are not able to speak English, not able to integrate, you may find, therefore, you have challenges understanding what your identity is, and therefore you could be more susceptible to the extremist message,\u201d the UK prime minister affirmed.<\/p>\n

Cameron further explained that a lack of language skills could make Muslims in the U.K. more vulnerable to the message of extremist groups. \u201cI am not saying there is some sort of causal connection between not speaking English and becoming an extremist, of course not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Significantly, Cameron\u2019s cabinet did not ratify last summer the so-called Istanbul Convention, a pan-European convention establishing minimum standards for governments to meet when tackling violence against women. The UK had signed up on this Convention three and a half years ago. The Convention entered into force eighteen months ago.<\/p>\n

The UK prime ministers\u2019 statements came under fire in his own country.<\/p>\n

This is about a \u201cdog-whistle politics at its best,\u201d said the UK Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.<\/p>\n

Cameron\u2019s idea is \u201clazy and misguided\u201d\u2026 a \u201cstereotyping of British Muslim communities,\u201d reacted Sayeeda Warsi, former Conservative Party co-chair. \u201cI think it is lazy and sloppy when we start making policies based on stereotypes which do badly stigmatise communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham, the Home Affairs spokesman for the Labour Party shadow cabinet, accused Cameron of a \u201cclumsy and simplistic approach\u201d that is \u201cunfairly stigmatising a whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDisgraceful stereotyping,\u201d said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the UK-based Ramadhan Foundation.<\/p>\n

These are only a few selected reactions of a number of figures who have the chance for their voices to be heard.<\/p>\n

But imagine you are a Muslim woman and live in the United Kingdom. Like any other woman, you already face many daily hurdles in this world of flagrant gender inequality.<\/p>\n

Then recall that these challenges are augmented by the fact that you are a foreigner. Your religion in this case puts additional heavy stigmatisation weight in your mind and on your shoulders.<\/p>\n

What would you think?<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Baher Kamal, Egyptian-born, Spanish national secular journalist. He is founder and publisher of\u00a0<\/em>Human Wrongs Watch<\/a>. Kamal is a pro-peace, non-violence, human rights, harmonious coexistence defender among human beings and with Nature, with more than 43 years of professional experience. With these issues in sight, he covered practically all professional posts, from correspondent to chief editor of dailies and international news agencies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 ipsnews.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4 Feb 2016 – \u201cDo you speak English fluently? No? Then you risk becoming a terrorist.\u201d IPS posed this dilemma to some young Muslim women living in Cairo, while explaining that this appears to be David Cameron\u2019s formula to judge the level of Muslim women\u2019s risk to fall, passively, into the horrific trap of extremism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}