One Society Many Cultures Statement

Statement

One society, many cultures

‘We believe that our most fundamental human rights include the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and cultural expression.

These universal rights must be defended for all groups in society. They are increasingly threatened by legitimacy given to intolerance in the mainstream political and media arenas, by the election of representatives of the racist extreme right to public office and by demonstrations on the streets.

It took hundreds of years of struggles, including international and civil wars, to establish the freedoms of religious and cultural expression and these must be vigorously upheld subject only to the proportionate protection of the human rights and freedoms of others.

These freedoms are essential to the cohesion of our one society with many cultures which is Britain today. To allow these rights to be threatened or attacked for any one group in our society inevitably undermines their universality for the whole of society.

We believe that at this time it is necessary for democrats, of all faiths and none, to come together to defend these fundamental freedoms, which are the cornerstones of liberal and democratic society.'