Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within

This article is about the book. For for the political term, see Londonistan.

Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within

Author	Melanie Phillips
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Subjects	Islamic terrorism Politics
Publisher	Encounter Books
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	212
ISBN	1-59403-144-4
OCLC	64595883
Dewey Decimal	363.3250941 22
LC Class	HV6433.G7 P55 2006

Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within is a 2006 best-selling book by the British journalist Melanie Phillips about the spread of Islamism in the United Kingdom over the previous twenty years. The book was published in London by Encounter books.

Overview

The book encompasses a critique of multiculturalism, alleged weak policing, cultural relativism and what Phillips calls a "victim culture". Her central argument is that these forces combined to create an ideal breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. Phillips highlights a number of notable organisations (such as the Hizb ut-Tahrir) and individuals (such as Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Richard Reid) were either based in or from Britain. Phillips points to the centrality of London-based individuals and groups to many terror plots around the world. According to Phillips another factor that enabled so many Islamists to flourish was an informal understanding between Islamists and the British authorities. For example she wrote that “as a former British Special Branch security offficer was reported to say, ‘There was a a deal with these guys. We told them if you don’t cause us any problems, then we won’t bother you.” Phillips concludes by observing that “The intersection of an aggressive religious fanaticism with the multicultural ideology of victimhood has created a state of paralysis across British institutions.”

Reception

According to Kenan Malik in The Independent, Phillips's arguments share some striking similarities with Islamists. He wrote that, "Both insist that we are in a religious world war between the forces of good and evil. Both believe that only religion can help restrain decadent behaviour and establish a proper moral framework. Both abhor the growth of secular humanism. Both see Britain as "a debauched and disorderly culture of instant gratification, with disintegrating families, feral children and violence, squalor and vulgarity on the streets".

Describing the book in The American Conservative magazine, the writer Theodore Dalrymple wrote "the British journalist Melanie Phillips documents not only the establishment and growth of Muslim extremist groups in London but the administrative incompetence and cultural weakness that permitted it to happen. Some pusillanimity that she records would be funny if it were not so deeply disturbing."

Writing for The Daily Telegraph, the historian and writer Michael Burleigh decided that the book could not be more "timely" and praised her "sensible suggestions".

David Smith, writing for The Observer, compared Phillips to "a crazed boxer" who "comes out swinging wildly and some of her punches land. ... But her shrill, hectoring tone does her no favours." Smith also claims that Phillips is wrong to say that piggy banks were banished from British banks in case Muslims were offended. "A small point, perhaps, but a telling one".

See also

• Criticism of multiculturalism
• Eurabia
• Islamism in London
• The Islamist
• Islamist demonstration outside Danish Embassy in London in 2006
• Islamophobia
• Londonistan
• Londonstani
• Undercover Mosque

Bibliography

• Phillips, Melanie (2006). Londonistan. New York: Encounter Books. ISBN 1594031444.

External links

• Brendan O'Neill, "Losing the plot", book review, New Statesman, 12 June 2006
• Fahad Zafar, "Londonistan", book review, DAWN, 9 August 2009
• Interview at Madrid11.net
• Interview at The Guardian
• Video of Phillips discussing the book at the Heritage Foundation
• "Library Reverses Rejection of ‘Potentially Incendiary' Book", New York Sun
• Summary of book at WikiSummaries