Centre for Social Cohesion

The Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) is a think tank set up by Civitas "following widespread and longstanding concern about the diminishing sense of community in Britain". According to a BBC Newsnight programme on 5 September 2007 the CSC was a "right leaning think tank". Its main focus has to do with discussing and analyzing the best means to integrate or assimilate ethnic minorities and what implications this has for the wider society. A major focus of CSC are trends in Muslim society in the UK, how they are integrating or not, and the radicalized sections of that society.

CSC and its parent Civitas have been claimed by Tim Montgomerie and Matthew Elliott as part of the infrastructure of the conservative movement in Britain.

Establishment

Civitas spent £274,669 on the Centre for Social Cohesion Project Fund in 2006. According to its annual report this fund was "set up to encourage racial and religious harmony."

David Green initiated the Centre's blog on 5 April 2007 with a post announcing:

Civitas has established the Centre For Social Cohesion because of widespread and longstanding concern about the diminishing sense of community in Britain. Work has begun and we are now actively recruiting new staff.

In June 2007, a Civitas newsletter announced that the CSC would be based at Great Peter Street in Westminster with a staff of six under the direction of Douglas Murray and had already hosted an event with the Syrian dissident Wafa Sultan.

In an interview that month with Regeneration and Renewal magazine, Murray argued that the new centre would be independent despite perceptions of Civitas a Tory think-tank saying that "There's a difference between being ideologically perceived to be right wing and being party political."

Murray went on to argue that radical Islam was the greatest threat to community cohesion in the UK:

Activists from all sides, he says, 'get the problem' - and it rapidly becomes apparent that, as far as the Centre for Social Cohesion is concerned, 'the problem' is the rise of radical Islam.

Murray believes that radical Islam poses a very real ideological threat to British society. He acknowledges that other factors contribute to problems with community cohesion, but 'the main organised undercurrent behind disaffection is radical Islam'.

Also that month, "the Centre was represented at a conference in California which brought together many of the world's experts on Islamic extremism, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan, Ibn Warraq and Mark Steyn." This would appear to refer to the Collapse of Europe Conference held at Pepperdine University in Malibu which Murray attended.

The Centre's first email update, dated 1 July 2007, announced the recruitment of David Conway, James Brandon and Salam Hafez as senior researchers.

Activities

• It seeks to analyze why certain groups become radicalized, and in the process seeks it advocates banning some books, and not funding certain activities or resources.
• Analyze the role schools play or should play in integrating minorities or fomenting "patriotism".
• Analyze the role and effect of religious schools.
• Analyze and debate what the UK's immigration policy should be and what possible effects extant policy will have.

A-Z of Muslim organisations

The Centre's first publication, in July 2007, was an A-Z of Muslim Organisations in Britain.

Hate on the State

The CSC's first full length report was Hate on the State: How British libraries encourage extremism by Douglas Murray and James Brandon. This criticised the London Brorough of Tower Hamlets for stocking 'several hundred books and audio-tapes by radical Islamists' in its public libraries.

The study was the subject of a BBC Newsnight report by Richard Watson on 5 September 2007. Among those interviewed were Murray and Ed Husain who grew up in Tower Hamlets.

In a statement to the programme, Tower Hamlets council said:

"The Islamic book stock came from a narrow range of publishers, thereby not reflecting the broad range of Islamic thought.

"We recognised we needed to improve the balance of the Islamic literature in our libraries, which has resulted in us buying extra books more widely representative of Islam."

One Telegraph report said the study was published jointly by CSC and Vigil, and carried commentary from Patrick Mercer, a conservative MP who had worked with the latter group. However, a (presumably later) online version of the same report retained Mercer's comments but made no mention of Vigil. The study itself includes Vigil among those acknowledged for their assistance and cooperation.

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said of the report: "The idea that our money is being used to buy books that incite people to attack us is outrageous."

Campaign against Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation

CfSC has led a campaign against the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, alleging that it is a front for the Hizb-ut-Tahrir, based on the fact that one of its trustees is married to an HuT member and has in the past been a member herself. The research was used by David Cameron to attack the New Labour government in parliament. However, the Conservatives admitted some of their allegations turned out to be false. Houriya Ahmed, co-author of the CfSC report, appeared on BBC's Newsnight claiming that the state is funding a school allegedly run by HuT

A Degree of Influence

David Shariatmadari of the Guardian has criticized CSC for its 'relentless Islamophobia', which he argues has 'spread poison and whipped up anti-Muslim paranoia at every turn'. Commenting on the CSC publication "A Degree of Influence", Shariatmadari concludes that it 'makes a mockery of these legitimate concerns by presenting trumped-up arguments to push a barely disguised anti-Muslim agenda.'

CSC and the Anglican Communion

A strand of opinion within the conservative-evangelical wing of the Church of England which is strongly critical of Islam was heavily represented on the CSC's 2007 advisory board.

Examples included:

• Lord Carey: Religious commentator Damian Thompson wrote of the former Archbishop of Canterbury in 2006 that he had gained stature among Anglican conservatives in part because he had "developed a knack that eluded him in office: of talking common sense. He was the first senior churchman to attack moderate Muslim leaders for not condemning Islamic suicide bombers "clearly and unequivocally".

• Michael Nazir-Ali: Thompson wrote in June 2008 that the former Bishop of Rochester was "building a creeping power base inside the Church of England" which was "almost entirely the result of his brave stance against the creation of islands of Sharia law in Britain."

• Caroline Cox: Baroness Cox spoke along with Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali at the launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

The Centre and its director closely reflected the views of this group and its opposition to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Following a February 2008 lecture by Williams which addressed the relationship between Islamic law and the civil law CS director Douglas Murray called on Williams to resign.

Muray wrote that "The beautifully hostile press reaction to Rowan Williams' disgusting views is the only aspect of this story that could provide any hope", and accused the Archbishop of "calling for the institution of Islamic sharia".

A statement issued on the Archbishop's website stated that "The Archbishop made no proposals for sharia in either the lecture or the interview, and certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law."

CSC and the Quilliam Foundation

The Centre for Social Cohesion has a complex relationship with the Quilliam Foundation (QF), another think tank working on Muslim issues.

After joining Quilliam, former CSC researcher James Brandon strongly criticised Douglas Murray's approach to Islam in a January 2009 Comment is Free article:

My time there was a constant struggle to "de-radicalise" Murray and to ensure that the centre's output targeted only Islamists – and not Muslims as a whole. This October, however, I had finally had enough of this constant battle and resigned. To his credit, Murray has privately retracted many of his more noxious comments – but he apparently lacks the courage to do so publicly.

Brandon particularly criticised Murray's claim that: "conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board."

Murray responded to this in a Comment is Free article in October 2009, stating:

Some years ago, in a speech in the Netherlands, I said I wanted the culture of extra rights to stop, and for the rights of Muslims to be brought in line with those of all other people. Long after the fact and purely for positioning reasons, QF has condemned me for this.

He went on to accuse Quilliam of "using public money to advocate increasingly totalitarian attitudes towards the general public and judging Muslims by their own early standards."

Around the time Ed Husain came to public notice, I recruited him to work with me (through Civitas, the organisation that originally hosted the Centre for Social Cohesion). He liked my views and I had great hopes for him to become a source for real reform. This gave him the time and financial freedom to set up QF. But the increasing oddness of his opinions (particularly relating to my own freedom of speech) meant that eventually we parted ways. What is scandalous is that QF – set up to counter extremists such as their former colleagues in Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) – has done nothing substantial to challenge HT in the UK or radicalisation on UK campuses, the things it was actually set up for.

Ed Husain himself contributed to Comment is Free a week later, with an article which described Murray as an 'acolyte' of journalist Melanie Phillips, and called on them both to "cease attacks on Muslim scripture that were based on bin Laden's understanding of Islam".

Personnel

• David Green – Chairman
• Douglas Murray – Director
• David Conway – Senior Research Fellow
• Salam Hafiz – Senior Research Fellow
• John Thorne – Senior Research Fellow
• Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens – Researcher
• Hannah Stuart – Researcher
• Houriya Ahmed – Researcher
• Robin Simcox – Researcher

Advisory Council

• Lord Carey of Clifton (former Archbishop of Canterbury)
• Baroness Cox of Queensbury
• Frank Field MP
• David Goodhart (Editor of Prospect Magazine)
• Neill Lochery (University College, London)
• Denis MacEoin (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
• John Marks
• Michael Nazir-Ali, The Lord Bishop of Rochester
• Andrew Roberts
• Robert Rowthorn (University of Cambridge)

Authors

• Edmund Standing – Author of the Center's 2009 report on BNP's online activities.

Former Staff

• James Brandon- former Senior Research Fellow

Publications

• James Brandon and Douglas Murray, Hate on the State: How British libraries encourage Islamic extremism, 2007.
• James Brandon and Salam Hafez, Crimes of the Community: Honour-Based Violence in the UK, 2008.
• James Brandon, Virtual Caliphate: Islamic extremists and their websites, 2008.
• John Thorne and Hannah Stuart, Islam on Campus: A survey of UK student opinions, 2008.
• Douglas Murray and Johan Pieter Verwey, Victims of Intimidation: Freedom of Speech within Europe’s Muslim Communities, 2008.
• The West and the Future of Islam: A debate between Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Ed Husain, 2009.
• The Beth Din: Jewish Law in the UK, 2009.
• Robin Simcox, A Degree of Influence: The Funding of Strategically Important Subjects in UK Universities, 2009.
• Edmund Standing, The BNP and the Online Fascist Network, 2009.
• Houriya Ahmed and Hannah Stuart, Hizb ut-Tahrir: Ideology and Strategy, 2009.
• Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens and Edmund Standing, Blood & Honour: Britain's Far-Right Militants Blood & Honour: Britain's Far-Right Militants, 2009.

Affiliations

• Civitas
• Based in Clutha House, 10 Storey's Gate, London where Policy Exchange are based
• Henry Jackson Society – thev've co-sponsored events

Resources, Contact and References

External Resources

• WHY THE CENTRE WAS FOUNDED, Centre for Social Cohesion, via the Internet Archive, as archived 20 December 2007.

Contact

Centre For Social Cohesion

77 Great Peter Street

Westminster

London SW1P 2EZ

Tel: +44 (0)20 7799 6677

Fax: +44 (0)20 7799 6688

Web: www.socialcohesion.co.uk