A police force has apologised to two Muslim men after officers failed to take action when they were racially abused at a council meeting. Officers stood watching as members of the public abused the men during a meeting discussing plans to build a mosque in Clitheroe, Lancashire.
Monthly Archives: April 2005
40 reasons why Tariq Ramadan is a reactionary bigot (according to the AWL)
“Behind Ramadan – urbane, reasonable sounding – stand the Islamists of the MAB/Muslim Brothers. Ramadan is the reasonable face of Islamic politics, and he is the thin end of the wedge…. we need to understand that attempts to shout down Marxist critics of Ramadan with demagogic accusations of ‘Islamophobia’ and even ‘racism’ are absurd.”
The Alliance for Workers Liberty resumes its campaign against Tariq Ramadan – not entirely unconnected with the fact that Professor Ramadan was addressing a meeting at NUS conference this week.
Predictably, the Islamophobic warmongers at Harry’s Place are eager to endorse the AWL’s attack on Professor Ramadan – even though it’s quite obvious that most of them have only the barest idea who Tariq Ramadan is or what he stands for. He’s an “Islamist”, after all, so he must be a reactionary bigot, mustn’t he?
See here.
(It is, however, worth scrolling through the comments for some more reasoned posts, notably by “sonic” and Stephen Marks.)
Muslims’ liberties ‘being eroded’
The civil liberties of Muslims have been eroded since the war on terror began, a Scottish spokesman has said. Osama Saeed, of the Muslim Association of Great Britain, said hundreds of Muslims had been arrested under terror laws only to be released soon after. He said threats such as Hogmanay bombings in Edinburgh had been “bogus”.
Hijab ban forces French Muslims out of state education system
France’s ban on religious symbols in state schools, a move meant to check a feared spread of Islamist radicalism, is prompting some Muslims to pull out of the system and launch their own schools and tutoring services. Representatives of new projects around the country turned up at France’s largest Muslim convention at the weekend, canvassing for money and support to educate girls who have dropped out or been expelled from school for insisting on wearing headscarves.
Robert Spencer has his own interpretation of this – he seems to think it is an example, not of resistance to state oppression, but of French Muslims’ rejection of “assimilation”.
Triple-pronged jihad – military, economic and cultural
“The idea was to develop good relations with Europe in order to separate Europe from America, weaken the West, encourage Arab Muslim immigration into Europe, organize a militant Islamic community in Europe, and develop a strong European Islam with political and intellectual influence on European development.”
Bat Ye’or, author of Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, explains to Alyssa A. Lappen how Islam plans to conquer Europe.
Hijab ban, but half-mast flags for Pope: Chirac’s ‘selective secularism’
“The French government ordered yesterday that flags on all public buildings be flown at half mast for the death of the Pope yesterday and was immediately accused of breaching the country’s secular principles…. France is so concerned about separating church and state that last year it passed a law banning Islamic headscarves and other signs of religious faith from public schools…. France’s main teachers’ union, Unsa, said the government was being ‘selectively secular’ in asking headteachers to lower school flags.”
See also “Marseille city workers given time off for Pope”, AFP, 5 April 2005
Attack on Dutch mosque
A group of youths smashed a mosque’s windows in the Netherlands, sparking street fighting with Muslim immigrants at the weekend.
One person was hurt and police arrested one man after the Saturday night disturbance in the city of Venray. Local media reported that the fight had involved about 60 Turkish immigrants and around 20 indigenous Dutch.
A surge of Islamophobic attacks hit the Netherlands in the weeks after the November murder of a Dutch film-maker, who was allegedly killed by a Muslim extremist. There were dozens of attacks on mosques and Islamic schools, including several bombings and cases of arson.
One man suffered unspecified injuries in Saturday’s fight and was hospitalised overnight, police said.
Morning Star, 4 April 2005
Tatchell hails religious opposition to oppression
In a statement that surprised those of us who know him as a secularist opposed to the intrusion of religion into politics, Peter Tatchell of Outrage! said yesterday: “While I normally have little sympathy for Islam, the Muslim Association of Britain has taken a courageous, defiant stand against the invasion and occupation of Iraq.”
Calls mount for Australian state to rescind religious hatred law
A campaign to rescind a law against religious hatred in the Australian state of Victoria is winning growing support from churches since two evangelical Christians were found guilty of vilifying Muslims.
For the background, see here.
No prizes for guessing Robert Spencer’s views on this. See here and here.
And worth noting that evangelical Christian groups have come out against a religious hatred law in Britain. See here.
‘Terrible disease spreading in Britain!’ sneers Spencer
“A new epidemic is spreading in the British Isles, and no one can find the cause! It’s called (gasp) ‘Islamophobia’! Children as young as 13 are displaying signs of Islamophobia and are voicing their support for the British National Party, researchers have found. Horror of horrors! As young as 13???? Can’t they be inoculated against this dread disease? Why, of course they can. A good dose of multiculturalism is doubtless in the offing.”
Robert Spencer takes a relaxed view of the report that British teenagers are drawn towards racism and fascism.