Unity is the way to fight the far right

Finsbury Park in north London, which I represent and live in, is the kind of inner-city area the far right and nazis really despise. It is not wealthy, not iconically beautiful but warm and mixed.

Dozens of languages, nationalities, faiths and activities intermingle. Not without tensions, crime or problems, it nevertheless works as a society and community and has attracted people for many decades.

It is the kind of inner-city community to be found all over Britain in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool and beyond. Similar communities are found across Europe.

If you ask people in those areas what they like and dislike about their community it is soon apparent that the worries are housing, jobs, opportunities for young people and environment.

They aren't worried about supposed "threats" from different cultures and many admire the sense of tolerance and respect.

Unfortunately this acceptance of others is not shared by everybody - not least Anders Behring Breivik, who tried to justify his mass murder and bombing in Norway by saying he was fighting an Islamic invasion of Europe.

Nobody from the outside expected this would happen in Norway, a country that fought so bravely against the nazis in the 1940s and has shown an exemplary attitude to asylum-seekers and for the most part to world peace.

The attack was not directed against Breivik's supposed enemy but against the Labour Party and a political culture of multiculturalism. His killing of so many youths with ideals and inspiration is appalling.

In their memory we have to rededicate ourselves to an inclusive multicultural society united in our belief in a society based on meeting needs not greed and respecting diversity.

The response of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg that his country would defeat the threat "with greater openness and more democracy" is far different from the response of George Bush and Tony Blair in 2001 to the atrocity of the World Trade Centre, and far more intelligent.

However, the judgements offered by many media commentators and many "security experts" in the hours that followed the attack were very disturbing.

For several hours the discussion was suggesting some kind of "Muslim plot" and that the attack was part of retribution for the "war on terror." Some suggested it was because of Norway's - very disappointing - participation in the coalition in Afghanistan.

Even after it had become plainly obvious that Breivik was acting on a fascist ideology and the massacre was his method of gaining currency for his vile beliefs, the "commentators" persisted with the anti-Muslim line and questioned Europe's multiculturalism.

Robert Lambert from Exeter University, a former senior Metropolitan Police officer, wrote an excellent piece for al-Jazeera online in which he quoted the Europol figures for terrorist attacks in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 only one was related to Islam and 497 to other issues ranging from nationalism to racism. The following year the equivalent reported figures were four and 479. In the US Timothy McVeigh, a self-proclaimed Christian fundamentalist, killed 168 people in 1995.

What Breivik has done is alert the far right and nazis to his existence and aims. He has also graphically and tragically explained that the pan-European obsession with Islam has allowed and indeed encouraged the belief that Islam is a problem. This belief has then become an active instrument of government policy.

The last government introduced the Prevent strategy which was designed to fund Islamic organisations which actively opposed extremism. This might sound like a positive move but on the other hand it insisted that all Muslims prove themselves and agree an agenda with the Home Office. In reality it is divisive within the community.

More significantly the resources were not spent on anti-racist work or to fund groups opposing the rise of the far right.

The agenda from governments across Europe is effectively directed by the foreign policies of Bush and Blair post-2001 and a fear and inability to challenge the far right and its divisive, violent nazi message.

Ken Livingstone, as mayor of London, after the awful murders of July 2005 showed real courage and leadership in defending multicultural London and its strengths.

It is this message and this alone that will guarantee peace in Europe. The rise of the far right is frightening, from the BNP in Britain to Geert Wilders and his extremists in the Netherlands to the 20 per cent vote in Norway and Finland for the far right. Will the lessons be learnt?

Labour MEP for London Claude Moraes has bravely and consistently challenged the far right across Europe. Writing on Labour List he said: "It is very likely that the wider lessons of the tragedy will end up being ignored, most likely on the basis that far-right violence approaching this scale is rare, and even perhaps inevitable in the face of non-white immigration."

It was heartwarming to see hundreds of thousands in Norway turning out to condemn the Breivik attack. They were not there to "understand" racist concerns but to poignantly make the case for a cohesive multicultural society.

The appalling wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, launched under Bush's absurd "war on terror" 10 years ago, have created a nasty and dangerous climate of irrational fear and hit everyone's civil liberties.

The rise of the far right is in part a result of that and in part a result of their opportunistic response to the economic crisis.

The only answer is a unity of purpose to oppose unemployment, bad housing, market "solutions" and intolerance. To oppose wars of state terror aimed at grabbing natural resources. To acknowledge, and tackle, global poverty and the plight of migrants who are among the world's most exploited people.

Diversity is not divisive or dangerous. The human needs of everyone can only be met by common endeavour and unity.

Appeasing racists and the nazi ideology that is behind them does not lead to success or cohesion. Concessions and encouragement to the far right lead them to demand and get more - and then we all lose.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.