Cameron and Faith: Where Is The Big Society Going?

An interesting insight into the vision David Cameron has for Britain comes from an article he has written for issue 68 of Keep The Faith magazine.

For the uninitiated, Keep The Faith styles itself, according to its blurb on Google, as 'Britain's leading magazine about black faith'. Personally I am not sure how 'faith' can be black or indeed any colour, and I feel rather perturbed by the suggestion that it can be. Then again I have always been a staunch atheist, so what do I know?

In a way, Cameron's approach to Keep The Faith is far from unique. Issue 68 is devoted to a series of condemnations of this summers riots, and Cameron makes it clear that he sees faith as a way of countering such violence. Underwhelmed as I was by the political content of the riots, it is hard not be reminded of the way the 1980s urban clashes were followed by politicians embracing multi-culturalism, community leaders and religious figures in the inner-cities - all to buy off future problems. Put simply, the Prime Minister does not want to see young black kids on street corners, but in church. Here Christianity remains in its traditional role as far as British political leaders are concerned - it is for civilising black people.

What is also interesting, and deeply disturbing, is how Cameron sketches the big society to this audience. Consider this quote:

"I don't agree with people who say there is no place for faith in society and public service. Just look at the good work of faith schools - including the one my own son and daughter attend - or the work of Street Pastors and the Salvation Army. In every town and every city, there are charities and voluntary organisations of all faiths doing teriffic things. And through the new Localism Bill, they are freed up like never before to transform their local communities. This revival is at the heart of what I want to achieve."

The privatisation or reduction of public services, with religious organisations filling the gap, was envisaged in the US by the neo-Conservative right and by George W Bush. In Britain, it picked up pace in London with Ken Livingstone's funding of East London Mosque's welfare programmes, and is set to continue with the big society. On this issue at least, the right, the left and the centre-right appears in harmony.

Several problems emerge with this approach. Firstly, what about those who don't want their local community 'transformed' by the church down the road? When Cameron praises faith schools, is he really unaware of the division they have fostered in Northern Ireland, and to a lesser extent Scotland? Why is their promotion in England going to be different, especially when we already see significant differences between, to take one example, Muslim and non-Muslim communties in places like Birmingham and east Lancashire? What if traditionally antagonistic faiths compete for influence in the same area, both looking to 'transform' the community?

Writing for Shift magazine in 2010, I warned that the big society was likely to end up as an Islamist beanfeast. The reality now appears worse - a beanfeast for any religious current going.

 

Comments

[james walsh]

To me these people are all about commodifying social relationships. It’s about destroying the social and the human so capitalism can have a new market. Our enemies it seems will stop at nothing and are sick. Their only god is money.

There trying to give us a heart of religion in a heartless world of money. There is a war coming and they want religion to divide and rule.

Why is nobody calling a spade a spade? This is the revolutionary situation they promised and now all the dickheads no they are part of the problem and their trying to rearrange the chairs on the ship.

I think this ship needs some new captains.
A lot of people have given themselves way too much rope :)

[james walsh]

ps

Short answer.

This society is going to war.

pps.

And the old religions are going to be part of the enemy if they side at any point to side with capital.

Maybe I shouldn't be listening to 'These Boots are Made (or mad) for Walking' It should be a revolutionary marching song. We've got a brand new box of matches. The politicos have never been able to understand music that's why they can't understand people- they don't have the heart or minds- they are utterly alienated from humanity. They hide from the class and lie to the class- i've ben messing where i shouldn't have been messing (according to the liers)- some need to do some serious changing. Because those who should have been getting the best have been well cheated. I have 15 versions- a super abundence provided by punk bands.

Now go and listen to some Motorhead and Hawkwind if you need reprograming you robots. This is planet of the apes time.

[mark]

Note he mentions the Salvation fucking Army - those nutters sent some idiot to our enforced 'job club' in Islington to give an insulting attitude talk to us unemployed that ended up with most people wanting to punch his stupid face in.
Yep they are another bunch of religious capitalist nutters in on the Welfare To Work Slavery programme - apparently they do quite handsomely out of it in Oz.

Watch out for the right wing Christian lobby, from Adam Smiths 'invisible hand' dishing out ethereal market goodness to the protestant work ethic to install the
f-right attitude into the plebs...

BTW Good to see your comments on the Bookfair. Glad other people understand and remember the history of identity politics and the damage it has done to activism.
You've obviously upset a load of the bourgeois liberal pratts on Indymedia ( and probably the arses who have never lived in Tottenham yet see themselves as experts on it...)

Nice one - keep up the good work.

[Internationalist]

"the Salvation fucking Army"

I have absolutely no musical talent so count me out but I've sometimes thought, wouldn't it be great to see an anarcho-communist brass band on the streets instead of those dreadful Christians.

Such things probably existed in earlier times. In fact there was a good lefty London brass band in the eighties that played Brecht & Weill numbers. Probably stalinists though.

[james walsh]

you should meet my mate Ross- he loves all the stuff- but he's hiding under the cover I think at the moment :(