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WHEN Sarah Champion, Labour MP for Rotherham and the party’s shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, resigned her post, her boss Jeremy Corbyn was accused of ‘Stalinist tendencies’ for stifling debate and dissent. However, Ms Champion’s supposed offence of writing an article in The Sun on the recent conviction 18 men for grooming and raping young girls has caused ripples across the country, with many demanding a full and open debate.
The explosive element in Ms Champion’s article was her view that the predatory gangs preying on young, white, vulnerable girls were composed almost exclusively of British-Pakistani men. This was picked up by Trevor Kavanagh, a former political editor of The Sun, Britain’s most popular tabloid, in a recent column in which he asked what was to be done about The Muslim Problem. By capitalising the words, he evoked the infamous Nazi phrase, The Jewish Problem, which led ultimately to the Holocaust, and the murder of millions of Jews.
While Kavanagh’s article has caused protests and complaints, it has clearly touched a raw nerve. Time after time, these cases are reported on the front pages, and nine times out of ten, the sexual predators are of Pakistani origin. And while in Newcastle, there were a few Bangladeshi, Indian and Turkish gang members as well, most were Pakistani. One of them referred to his victims as trash.
Ms Champion is MP for Rotherham, the city that saw 1,400 girls being sexually abused over a period of 16 years. Thus far, 11 cities and towns have experienced these horrifying crimes whose pattern is depressingly familiar. Gangs of men, usually in the mid-twenties to mid-thirties — but some in their fifties as well — ply young girls, mostly from care homes, with alcohol and occasionally with drugs. They then demand sex in return for themselves and their friends. Over time, these girls draw their friends into these circles.
Another distressing feature that is common is the fact that when these girls ask their carers, social workers and even the police for help, they are generally ignored. If the Rotherham case went on for 16 years, it was because nobody listened to the victims. Those responsible for their welfare at care homes have no real authority, and are generally poorly educated and unqualified; social workers have seen their numbers cut due to the government’s austerity measures; and the police all too often consider scantily clad, drug-taking young girls “to be asking for it”.
None of this is meant to absolve the criminal gangs of their primary guilt of these appalling crimes. So when Ms Champion made a direct link between sexual predatory behaviour and a Pakistani background, many liberals agreed.
As she wrote in The Sun: “There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is? For too long we have ignored the race of these abusers and, worse, tried to cover it up. No more. These people are predators and the
common denominator is their ethnic heritage. We have to have a grown-up conversation, however unpalatable, or in six months’ time we will be having the same scenario all over again.”
To canvas the views of British Muslims, Newsnight, BBC’s flagship news programme, invited four young Muslims recently. They were asked by the popular anchor Evan Davis if there was an issue within their community that produced such behaviour. Three of them voiced the familiar mantra that we should not generalise on the basis of odd incidents like the one in Newcastle, but one disagreed. This young man, apparently of Pakistani origin, spoke about the concept of izzat, or honour, in Muslim communities. He held that girls who did not conform to the norm of ‘decent’ behaviour were considered to be fair game. Thus, females who dressed in short skirts, drank alcohol, and were out till late had no izzat, and could therefore be exploited.
Maajid Nawaz, an ex-Muslim radical and now involved in de-radicalisation initiatives, said on radio recently that there was certainly a problem that needed to be addressed. He pointed out that while South Asian Muslims were less than three per cent of the British population, they were involved in 28pc of crimes linked to gangs like the one recently sentenced in Newcastle. Trevor Phillips, long associated with a racial equality group, spoke against the kind of political correctness that stifled debate about uncomfortable subjects.
Labour leader Corbyn’s response was predictable. In a statement, he said: “In recent days, The Sun has published statements that incite Islamophobia and stigmatise entire communities. That is wrong, dangerous and must be condemned.”
One problem in Muslim communities is that boys are taught from a young age to look down on the permissive society that has taken root in Britain and much of the West. Simultaneously, they experience gender equality at school, and huge cultural diversity in the streets. These often opposing influences lead to great difficulty in forging a sense of identity as youngsters are torn between competing — and often conflicting — values.
Again, none of this is intended to absolve the convicted rapists of their criminal behaviour: in every human culture, rape is wrong, and in every faith, it is a grievous sin. This is doubly true when the victims are young, weak and vulnerable. While those found guilty will spend many years in jail, those in their communities will have to struggle with the stigma, with each fresh case causing anger against the hundreds of thousands of Muslims of Pakistani origin who have made Britain their home.
Add these crimes to the wave of jihadist violence across Europe, and you have the makings of a nasty backlash.
Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2017
