The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : 7/7 — "One year on and what has changed?"

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Friday, Jul 07, 2006

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Opinion - News Analysis

7/7 — "One year on and what has changed?"

Margaret Beckett

On the streets of the U.K., people of diverse faiths and views still talk to each other, sharing ideals and building friendships. Our commitment to the values that matter most to us — liberty, tolerance, and justice — has grown even stronger and deeper.

— PHOTO: AP

SECURITY STEPPED UP: British police officers stand guard outside an Underground station in central London. Friday marks one year since suicide bombers brought carnage and chaos to the city.

ONE YEAR ago, between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers detonated their deadly bombs on a packed London transport system. 52 people lost their lives. Over 770 were injured. The victims were white and non-white, British and non-British, of all faiths and none. Coming at the peak of the rush hour commute, it was a callous act designed to cause maximum disruption and physical harm.

In many ways the terrorists failed. But they did have an impact.

It was an impact, however, they perhaps had not counted on. Muslims of all descriptions across the U.K. stood together under one banner: "Not In Our Name." Across the U.K. and across the world people condemned the atrocity, standing together in silent determination to ensure that extremists would not take away their freedom. One year on and Londoners still use the public transport system. Tourists still flock to Britain's capital. Mosques still stand next to churches, temples and synagogues. The theatres, clubs, and restaurants of London are still filled with people determined to enjoy their freedom. And on the streets of the U.K., people of diverse faiths and views still talk to each other, sharing ideals and building friendships.

Long before July 7, 2005, our Government had been talking and listening to the Muslim community in Britain, as we do with other religious and ethnic communities that make up today's Britain. Muslims have been an integral part of Britain and our way of life for centuries. As long ago as 1940 the British Government donated £100,000 (equivalent to about £3.5 million today) to the building of the first mosque in London, in recognition of the many thousands that had fought for Britain in the First World War. The U.K.'s elite educational establishments, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, have had Chairs in Arabic Studies since the seventeenth century.

Today, British Muslims number almost 2 million. They sit as peers in the House of Lords and as MPs in the House of Commons. Over 200 are local councillors including several in my own city of Derby where, also, one of our most senior Muslim Councillors has held the office of Mayor — the first citizen of our city. From their contributions as lawyers, doctors, and business leaders, to being the Master of a Cambridge college, Muslims in the U.K. are an important thread in the social fabric that makes Britain British. And this contribution is only set to increase: the U.K. government has been, and remains committed to ensuring that Muslims and other minorities continue to play an active role in our national life.

Our government is also committed to combating extremism, unemployment, and underachievement in schools. We actively encourage greater debate amongst British Muslims and influential scholars, aiming to challenge the extremists' dogma. Government Ministers and senior officials continue to hold meetings with Muslim communities across Britain, to hear for themselves some of the issues facing young Muslims and to seek to address them. Much debate has followed as the discussions have, unsurprisingly, raised issues with our foreign policy, particularly toward the Muslim world.

The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are clearly a cause for concern among many, both in the Muslim world and outside it. It would be a disaster for the prospects for peace in their regions, were current efforts to fail.

Our recent troop deployment to Afghanistan's Helmand province is working to bring stability to that troubled country so that the Afghan people can look forward to a peaceful and bright future for the first time in many decades. My colleague, the International Development Secretary Hilary Benn, has recently announced a further £30 million for the province to assist in the provision of basic services, infrastructure and loans to farmers to help the production of legal crops.

In Iraq, we welcome the formation of a new elected Iraqi Government and watch with hope as they begin to govern for themselves and carve out a nation that is democratic and free from tyranny. In both these lands we fight with the elected national authorities against an enemy that is committed to a way of life that is repressive and violent. We will not let them succeed.

In the Middle East, despite the difficulties, we continue to press for a peaceful end to the conflict there. We will persevere along with all our international partners to work to establish a stable and secure state of Palestine, next to a stable and secure Israel.

We have had to realise that, more than ever, we live in an interdependent world. Prime Minster Tony Blair recently said: "Interdependence — the fact of a crisis somewhere becoming a crisis everywhere — makes a mockery of traditional views of national interest."

This interdependence propels us all to a greater union of co-operation. But this must be a union based around true common values. Not just stopping terrorists and their evil ideology, but also fighting poverty, the abuse of human rights and the injustices felt throughout our world that create the breeding ground exploited so ruthlessly by today's extremists.

Foreign policy differences are among the many factors manipulated by extremists to justify the terrorist attacks on London in July last year. That is why our response mattered and that is why it was watched so closely around the world. One year on has anything changed? Yes, our commitment to the values that matter most to us — liberty, tolerance and justice — has grown even stronger and deeper, as have our relationships with countries across the Islamic world, which share these common ideals.

(The writer is Britain's Foreign Secretary.)

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