David Cameron’s decision to launch an attack on multicultural Britain on the same day as the English Defence League’s demonstration (EDL) in Luton was a incredibly bad one.

The Prime Minister’s speech was seized upon by the EDL as vindication for its Islamophobic mobilisations where attacks on mosques and other places of worship, assaults on the police and members of ethnic minority communities have become the norm.

Labour MP Sadiq Khan is correct to point out that the PM is fanning the flames. The EDL has already used Cameron’s comments to gain legitimacy and support with EDL leader Stephen Lennon stating: “”He’s now saying what we’re saying. He knows his base.” This welcome should give the Tory leader some pause for thought.

It also undermines Cameron’s own stated goal of eliminating Muslim extremism. By defining moderate Muslims that condemn violence as equally reprehensible, while failing to assert the same “muscular liberalism” in response to the EDL, the PM could succeed in alienating Muslim communities by encouraging those who argue that the West and its values are fundamentally anti-Muslim.

Cameron claims that racism from white people is condemned, while we are fearful to stand up to unacceptable views and practices from non-white people.

In reality we hear daily warnings of the so-called danger of Islam and scarcely a word is said about rising racism.

All terrorism is abhorrent. Terror originating among Muslims is rightly condemned. However, attempted terror attacks by white fascists have not received the same condemnation and level of coverage. Last year former British National Party member Terrance Gavan was sentenced to 11 years after admitting six offences under the Terrorism Act and other offences.

In 2009 a network of suspected far-right extremists with access to 300 weapons and 80 bombs was uncovered by counter-terrorism detectives. Thirty-two people were questioned in a police operation that indicated a right-wing bombing campaign against mosques.

Cameron claims that “state multiculturalism” has failed and proposes the need to assert a “national identity,” but he fails to define what this means.

Britain has been multicultural for thousands of years. We are a nation built on waves of immigration. Multiculturalism has enriched society in ways we take for granted – the food we eat, the music we listen to and, indeed, our heritage.

By celebrating multiculturalism we create a more cohesive and integrated society in which both fascism and extremism in Muslim communities would find difficult to flourish. This is why we launched the One Society Many Cultures campaign.

By allowing all communities to express their faith and culture – from religious Muslims to punks – everyone is free to be what they want, and faith and culture is no obstacle to feeling “British.”

Leicester – one of Britain’s most multicultural cities – is testimony to this. Leicester City Council actively promotes multiculturalism and unity through its One Leicester campaign. Research by the Open Society Institute found that in Leicester 72 per cent of Muslims born abroad said they felt British, with 94 per cent of those born in Britain saying the same.

This was also reflected at the Unite Against Fascism event in Luton. Muslims, Jews, “Sikhs against the EDL” – a group formed to combat the much-trumpeted myth that Sikhs support the EDL – trade unions, local musicians including punk bands, a mixed-race man and an Asian guitarist performing renditions of John Lenon’s Imagine and Amy Winehouse’s Valerie all celebrated their differences and simultaneously united as one against the EDL.

Celebrating multiculturalism is part of the fight against extremism – from whatever source, not the cause.

One Society Many Cultures is organising a session at the Progressive London conference on Saturday February 19 at the TUC in London. For more information visit www.progressivelondon.org.uk