Londonistan

Erin Carden sobre o livro Londonistan, de Melanie Phillips.###

Londonistan, the new book by British journalist Melanie Phillips, is a gripping account of how Islamism is taking control of Britain's culture and institutions.

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Owing to an influx of Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, India, and other South Asian countries in the 1970s, Islam became "Britain's second largest community of faith after Christianity." With one of the world's easiest systems of entry and asylum, Britain enabled those who wanted to disappear into it to do just that. And many of them are far from benign: According to Phillips, "up to 16,000 British Muslims either are actively engaged in or support terrorist activity, while up to 3,000 are estimated to have passed through al-Qaeda training camps . . . [and] almost a quarter of all terrorist suspects arrested in Britain since 9/11 have been asylum-seekers."

The fad of multiculturalism has further enhanced the radicals' cause. Any effort to defend the distinctness of British culture and values is thought to be an attack on minorities and multiculturalism. A "victim culture" has taken hold in Britain, whereby the minority refuses to be held accountable for its actions, claiming it is being subjugated by the majority. As a result, the majority is often the scapegoat. More often than not, the fear of Islamic terrorists is trumped by the fear of being labeled an "Islamophobe." Phillips concludes that Britain is choosing the "path of least resistance" when it should, instead, be defending itself.

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Phillips exposes breakdowns on every level — within the British government, intelligence community, and police force — in the effort to defend Western values. A startling number of British Muslims support Islamist extremism. Londonistan gives warning that if Britain does not change its pusillanimous ways, not just its national security but its national identity will be swallowed up by the Islamists. Phillips remarks that "a nation can fight to defend itself only if it knows what it is fighting for, if it is secure in its own values"; Britain should listen to her urgent message.