Beyond Grievance: What the Left Gets Wrong about Ethnic Minorities

Beyond Grievance highlights the growing tensions between the liberal cosmopolitanism which defines much of the British political Left, and the patriotic faith-based conservatism that runs deep in many of Britain’s ethnic-minority communities. With American-style racial identity politics taking root in the UK, the book argues that many liberal-leftists are disregarding the attachments to the traditional triad of faith, family and flag in historically Labour-voting, ethnic-minority communities. Rakib Ehsan argues that Britain needs a robust civic patriotism which understands that a stable family unit is the finest form of social security known to humankind; a cultural arrangement which appreciates that faith is a vital source of strength and optimism across a diversity of communities. Providing a much-needed corrective to the toxic mixture of tribal identity politics and radical cultural liberalism on the modern British Left, the book presents the case for an inclusive ‘social-justice traditionalism’ rooted in family, security, and equality of opportunity.