Multiculturalism has recently been under attack not only from its 'traditional' adversaries in the right of the political spectrum, but also by left wing, progressive commentators. Multiculturalism is seen as divisive and oppressive, and in the case of Islam in particular as a contributing factor to the radicalization of Muslims. Yet this critique, despite its many important points, focuses on multi-culturalism as conceived in state policies overlooking the actual politics of everyday multicultural existence. This article will therefore discuss the critiques of multiculturalism by influential progressive commentators, such as Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Kenan Malik and Gilles Kepel, before embarking on an empirical analysis of the online presence of British Muslim communities. The empirical analysis shows that interventions by Muslim citizens address the left wing demands for justice and equality from a positioned perspective, that of being Muslim in Britain. The open and public new media formats undermine attempts to form an essentialist Muslim identity; indeed, we suggest that the online Muslim sites might be better understood as loose networks rather than closelyknit communities. Additionally, rather than operating from a group enclave mentality, active efforts are made to connect at least to formal British politics.
