Islam & socialism

Discrimination against Muslims in Britain has increased markedly over the last few years. The horrendous, inhuman attack in Beslan, which outraged the world’s population including the vast majority of Muslims, will undoubtedly increase anti-Muslim prejudice. HANNAH SELL takes a socialist approach to how Islamaphobia can be fought, and draws out lessons from the policies of the Bolsheviks in the aftermath of the Russian revolution.

BETWEEN ONE-AND-A HALF and two million Muslim people live in Britain today. In London alone they come from 50 ethnic backgrounds. As a whole, Muslims are one of the poorest sections of British society. One in seven of economically active Muslims are unemployed, compared with one in 20 for the wider population. The two biggest Muslim communities in Britain, those originating in Pakistan and Bangladesh, are particularly impoverished. For example, in 1999, 28% of white families lived below the poverty line compared with 41% of Afro-Caribbean and 84% of Bangladeshi families.

The history of Muslims in Britain has been one of poverty and discrimination. Historically, however, the discrimination against Muslims in Britain has been one of many facets of the racism of capitalist society. In different forms, racism has been an intrinsic part of capitalism since its inception. Over the last decade, and particularly since the horror of 11 September 2001, there is no doubt that anti-Muslim prejudice – Islamaphobia – has risen dramatically. While other forms of racism remain, Muslim people face the sharpest manifestation of discrimination in Britain today. The government sheds crocodile tears at the increase in racism against Muslims and those who people ‘perceive’ to be Muslims. Yet it is the government’s policies that have resulted in a 41% increase in ‘stop and search’ against Asians by the Metropolitan police. More fundamentally, the government’s participation in brutal wars of subjugation against Afghanistan and Iraq – both majority Muslim countries – with all the accompanying propaganda denigrating the peoples of those countries, has inevitably increased Islamaphobia.

The home secretary, David Blunkett, has suggested that ethnic minorities have to make greater efforts to ‘integrate’ into British society, effectively blaming Muslim and other communities for the increase in racism. In reality, the converse is true. The more hostile society is towards them, the more ethnic and religious minorities will identify solely with their own communities. For example, it is true that the strength of many Muslims’ identification with their religion and culture has increased markedly. According to a recent survey, 74% of British Muslims considered that their religion had a very important influence on their daily lives – compared to 43% of Hindus and 46% of Sikhs. While there are many reasons for this, there is no doubt that the increased prejudice against Islam has led many young Muslims to defend their religion by increasing their identification with it.

However, it is not true that young Muslims in Britain identify only, or primarily, with the country from which they or, more often, their parents or grandparents came. Two thirds of all Muslims in Britain are under 25. Having been brought up in Britain, most have a dual identity, both part of Britain and alienated from it. These young people have grown up in a society where they feel under constant threat of arrest because of their colour and religion. They face increased discrimination in education and the workplace. They have been enraged by the government’s imperialist warmongering. However, only a tiny minority have drawn the entirely mistaken conclusion that the barbaric mass terrorism of reactionary Islamic organisations like al-Qa’ida offers a way forward. Contrary to tabloid propaganda, 73% of British Muslims are strongly opposed to terrorist attacks. At the same time, the potential for a united movement involving Muslim people is shown by the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who took part in the anti-war movement, alongside other sections of the population, in the biggest demonstrations ever in Britain.

How should Marxists approach the Muslim communities of Britain? Our starting point is to stand firmly against anti-Islamic discrimination, and in defence of the right of all Muslims, regardless of their class or outlook, to be able to live free of Islamaphobia. Concretely, this means fighting for the right of Muslims to practise their religion freely, including the right to choose what they wear. Genuine Marxism has nothing in common with those on the far-left in France who failed to oppose the ban on young Muslim women wearing headscarves in school. We have to actively defend the right of all to practise whatever religion they choose – or to practise none – free from discrimination and prejudice.

This does not mean that we see the entire Muslim population of Britain as one homogenous and progressive block. On the contrary, many factors, such as class, ethnicity and outlook divide the Muslim population. There are 5,400 Muslim millionaires in Britain, most of whom made their fortunes exploiting other Muslims. There are small Muslim communities that are extremely wealthy – for example just 88 Kuwaitis, most of whom are resident in Britain, have invested £55 billion in the British economy. While we have to defend the right of these billionaires to practise their religion free of repression, we also have to attempt to convince working-class Muslims that they have diametrically opposed interests to these people, and that the road to liberation lies in finding common cause with other sections of the working class worldwide but, as they are living in Britain, first and foremost here.

For socialists, the programme we put forward should always be aimed at encouraging the unity of the working class as part of the process of raising its confidence and level of understanding. That is why our sister organisation in Northern Ireland has always fought for unity of the Catholic and Protestant working class. In Britain today, the reactionary policies of Tony Blair and New Labour are fostering division – we have to attempt to cut across that.

Historically, there are strong traditions of unity in Britain between Muslim workers and other sections of the working class. This stems from the important role played by the best elements of the labour movement in fighting racism. Consequently, black and Asian workers, including Muslims, formed a strong bond with the labour movement even though the majority did not come from an urban background in their home countries. In the 1970s, black and Asian workers played a key role in many industrial struggles. The Grunwicks strike against low pay in 1976, which largely involved Asian women, was one of the key battles of the decade.

As a result of these positive traditions, until recently, Muslim people in Britain have tended to support the Labour Party. One survey in 1992, for example, concluded that: "Muslims are loyal to the Labour Party because they believe it to be for the working class, and also the Labour Party is far less racist in both attitude and practise than other parties, particularly the Conservative Party". A Mori poll following the 1997 general elections showed that 66% of Asian voters and 82% of black voters voted for Labour, much higher than the national average of 44%. In comparison, the Conservatives gained only 22% of the Asian vote.

However, New Labour today in no sense represents the interests of the working class. On the contrary, it is now a party of the ruling class, within which the unions are powerless. No wonder that not only Muslims, but a majority of the working class, no longer believe that the Labour Party is ‘for them’. Disillusionment is particularly profound amongst working-class Muslim voters. New Labour’s racist policies, despite having a more sophisticated gloss than those of the Tories, have deeply disillusioned most Muslims. But it is the war on Iraq that has acted to decisively break many Muslims from their traditional support for Labour. An opinion poll before the European elections reported that Labour’s support had fallen from 75% of Muslim voters at the last general election to only 38%.

While the anti-war movement gave a glimpse of the potential to win working-class Muslims disillusioned with Labour to a class alternative, this is not automatic. A vital precondition is that, following the complete betrayal of New Labour, the labour movement proves again and again in practise that it is determined to fight racism and Islamaphobia. But socialists also have to put the case for a class and socialist approach to Muslims. It is a real step forward that Muslims and socialists marched side by side in the anti-war movement. But we should not leave our discussions with anti-war Muslims at the level of our common opposition to the imperialist occupation of Iraq. We should extend the discussion into class issues here in Britain – including a programme and strategy for fighting New Labour’s privatisation and cuts. We must also raise the need for a political alternative to New Labour – a new mass party that brings together the anti-war movement with trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners – a party that represents and organises all sections of the working class.

In the course of these discussions it will be sometimes necessary to raise issues on which there is not complete agreement between socialists and some Muslims. For example, understandably given the racism that exists, a growing number of Muslims are demanding separate Muslim schools. On the one hand, we have to fight against racism and discrimination in schools, and for the right of all students to have the facilities to practise their own religion. However, this does not mean supporting separate Muslim schools, any more than we support other religious schools. We have to patiently explain that this road will lead to greater segregation and isolation of the Muslim communities which, in turn, will lead to increased racism against them.

Equally, while we campaign for the right of young Muslim women to choose to wear the veil, we also have to make it clear that we support their right to choose not too, even when that means coming into conflict with some other Muslims.