British PM unveils new plan to tackle extremism

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron waits to greet his Ukrainian counterpart Arseniy Yatsenyuk at Number 10 Downing Street in London, Britain July 15, 2015. Cameron on Wednesday said that Greece needed to be granted relief from its debts, backing an International Monetary Fund study on the subject. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday unveiled his new long-term plan to tackle extremism, warning citizens not to become "cannon fodder" of the "poisonous ideology."

"What we are fighting, in Islamist extremism, is an ideology. It is an extreme doctrine. And like any extreme doctrine, it is subversive," Cameron said in a speech at Ninestiles School in Birmingham.

"At its furthest end it seeks to destroy nation-states to invent its own barbaric realm. And it often backs violence to achieve this aim, mostly violence against fellow Muslims, who don't subscribe to its sick worldview," he told the audience.

Announcing the key principles in his new scheme, Cameron said Britain's strategy to defeat extremism must confront "head on" the extreme ideology that underpins it.

Warning young people not to join the extremists, he said:" You won't be some valued member of a movement. You are cannon fodder for them."

"If you are a boy, they will brainwash you, strap bombs to your body and blow you up. If you are a girl, they will enslave and abuse you," he continued.

Emphasizing the need to enforce the "British values", Cameron said there should be no more "turning a blind eye on the false basis of cultural sensitivities."

"We need everyone, government, local authorities, police, schools, all of us, to enforce our values right across the spectrum," he urged.

He added that the strategy must be to tackle both the "non-violent and violent" parts of the ideology and to "embolden different voices" within the Muslim community.