Cutting funding to youth clubs and provision of youth services can never be welcomed. The coalition attack on public spending will undoubtedly hit these areas, this may lead to antisocial behaviour and increase 'children hanging out on streets' something that the tory daily mail readership do not like. I don't mind seeing groups of kids chilling on the street but I can see why some people might find such groups intimidating.
Today Theresa May, the home secretary for women and equality made a distinction and chose to cut funding to youth groups attended mainly by young Muslims. She implies that instead of preventing radicalisation these youth groups promote it and this is a reason for cuts. If state funded projects fail to prevent the inculation of terrorist ideals then they need to be better managed and not wiped out. In the same way that cutting any youth club increases antisocial behaviour; targeting the youth work of one religious group for disproportionate cuts will increase marginalisation, division and extremism.
4 comments:
"British mainstream values" are to be required for government funding in future.
But are those values to be defined by orthodox Catholics? By conservative, or even not so conservative, Evangelicals? By traditionalist Anglicans? By black, or indeed white, Pentecostals?
Then by whom, exactly, are "British mainstream values" to be defined? How, exactly? And why, exactly?
What the Home Seceratary for Women and EQUALITY means by "British mainstream values" are those values held by the majority of Tory party supporters/donors
It's more than that. New Labour used to come out with this sort of thing, so it is no surprise that it is characteristic of Blair's fourth term. Neoliberal economics, the social liberalism that it entrenches, the ferocious secularism necessary to underpin them both, and the forcible imposition of all three on the wider world by means of neoconservative foreign policy.
Labour introduced the prevent scheme and I think Blair is pretty much a Catholic now but I'm not sure he has been confirmed. But you do have a point about ferocious secularism - A tolerant, multicultural and multifaith society should be aimed for rather than a forced secular, politically correct form of outward athiesm. Foriegn policy can wait for another blog post, as soon as I've finshed the one I'm on with about the steelworks...
Post a Comment