Unions defend multiculturalism

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS civil service union, and Billy Hayes, general secretary of the CWU communication workers’ union, are speaking up for multiculturalism, attacked recently by prime minister David Cameron.

They will be joining a Unite Against Fascism (UAF) rally on 9 March, called by the organisation in response to Cameron’s speech about terrorism.

Cameron made the controversial speech at a Munich security conference on 5 February, the same day that thousands of supporters of the far-right street protest movement, the English Defence League, marched in Luton.

Senior trade union figures have also added their names to a petition declaring our multicultural society and the respect and solidarity it is built on to be “a cause for pride”.

While insisting that “Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing” Cameron went on to blame a “weakening of our collective identity” on multiculturalism.

Different cultures had been encouraged to live separate lives, counter to “our values”, he declared, while criticising “hands-off tolerance”.

Defend multiculturalism: don’t let Cameron divide us. Wednesday, 9 March 2011, 7pm, Friends Meeting House, Euston Road (near Euston Station), London.

Petition: http://uaf.org.uk/2011/02/petition-defend-multiculturalism-dont-let-cameron-divide-us/