The Myth of Conclusion

Abstract

In Bradford, a campaign for halal meat in school dinners in 1982 and the Honeyford affair of 1984–5 indicate that Muslims in Britain were increasingly asserting their identity politics from the early 1980s onwards, well before Rushdie’s crisis. Many Muslims campaigned for the removal of Ray Honeyford, the headteacher of Drummond Middle School in Bradford. He had written in favour of integration and against what he called ‘multi racialism’ (multiculturalism) in a 1984 article entitled ‘Education and Race: An Alternative View’ for the conservative Salisbury Review (Honeyford, 2006: n. pag.; Halstead, 1988: 59–61). In this article, Honeyford puts the word ‘racism’ in scare quotes and calls it ‘a slogan designed to suppress constructive thought’ (2006: n. pag.). He argues that anti-racist groups and institutions such as the Commission for Racial Equality (established in 1976) are responsible for tense racial relations. Muslim parents are blamed for taking their girls out of extracurricular activities such as sport, and for sending their children to Pakistan during term-time. Honeyford then stereotypes Pakistan as a country of dictators and heroin addiction.