24 October 2008
Jack Straw has made a statement for the Global Peace and Unity Event taking place this weekend (25-26 October), which brings together Muslims and non-Muslims with the aim of promoting peace and understanding.
The Right Honourable Jack Straw MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice:
Assalamu-Alaikum [peace be with you],
Throughout my adult life, it has been a privilege to name Muslims among my very best of friends. I have spent many hours talking with you, sometimes arguing with you, often laughing with you. I have been welcomed into your homes. I have been invited to celebrate your festivals. And I have visited your brothers and sisters across the Islamic world, most recently in Pakistan just last month.
It has also been a great privilege to act as a servant of this country, a country of which I am enormously proud. Proud, not only because we all benefit from a world class National Health Service, from good schools and from the minimum wage, but because we have a society where everyone is free to practice their chosen religion, and where the state upholds the rights of the individual.
The United Kingdom is a country where those of all backgrounds, races and religions overwhelmingly live side by side in tolerance, in friendship and in unity. Indeed, it is the very diversity of Britain which underpins our success, our dynamism and what makes so many individuals and families want to settle here.
But if we are honest with ourselves, it sometimes does not seem that way. That is because there are still those whose aim is to undermine this society we have worked so hard to create, whether they be the BNP and the far right or violent extremists professing to act in the name of Islam.
Both use the same tactic: division.
Both can be defeated in the same way: unity.
And that, in one word, is the value of events such as this.
By 'unity', I do not mean agreement about everything. Expressing dissent is not the same thing as division. Indeed, unity can be borne out of full and honest debate about our differences.
Our society should be one which recognises and celebrates our differences. One in which we all have an opportunity to flourish, regardless of who we are or where we are from. And a society which encourages everyone to participate economically, democratically, culturally at all levels.
I, for one, have felt some of the direct benefits of this sort of society - in the form of the significant and valuable contribution of the two million strong British Muslim community.
British Muslims make a visible, tangible difference to all walks of life in this country - from politics, law, the arts, sciences, and sport to the economy, finance, and academia. Those of us who are not Muslims but who have the privilege of knowing and working closely with Muslims can testify to that. And even those who lack this privilege cannot fail to notice the positive influence of British Muslims on this country, thanks to the many prominent Muslim figures in the public eye.
It is regrettable that not everyone recognises the positive - indeed, vital - contribution British Muslims make to our society. And it is more regrettable still that there are some who seek to artificially polarise the debate about violent extremism as being one between Muslims and non-Muslims.
All of this goes to emphasise the importance of the wider process of which you and this event are a part – the process of challenging negative stereotypes, reasserting shared values and building unity.
We must remember that there is far, far more that unites us than divides us.
Unity, democracy, tolerance, the rule of law - it is values like these which make Britain the country it is. But their survival and their growth cannot be assumed. We need to cherish, nurture and protect these values. This is not a passive responsibility - but an active duty.
It is through unity that we will achieve peace.
Thank you.