Yearly Archives: 2006

Molly case reveals hidden prejudice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Against the background of shame and anger at what’s being done in our name in Iraq, and the consequent reprisals, many of those who hoped against hope that the degree of difference in the Scots’ attitude to Islam, and Muslims who’ve chosen to live in Scotland, would withstand the pressures dividing communities in England. But the reaction to the story of Misbah Iram Ahmed Rana, or Molly Campbell to us, sweeps away much of our proud claim to be more tolerant and understanding than is often the case in many English cities. Probably quite unwittingly, a 12-year-old Asian Scot has shown many of us to be suspicious and mistrustful of Muslims.”

Margo MacDonald in the Scotsman, 6 September 2006

‘A post-9/11 vocabulary test’ from Michelle Malkin

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What have you learned since the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago? The mass murder of 2,996 innocent people on American soil forced open my eyes to the Islamic holy war against the West, freedom and modernity. The battle has raged not for years or decades, but for centuries – well before the Crusades began.

“The indelible sight of workers plunging from the Twin Towers – head first, feet first, solo, hand-in-hand – roused me from slumber. The photos of children who were incinerated on United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 77 compelled me to start paying attention to the beliefs, goals, language and lies of those who would gladly kill my children the same way. The United Airlines Flight 93 hijackers’ final exclamation as they drove the plane into the ground is a Muslim warrior leitmotif I will never again ignore: ‘Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!'”

Michelle Malkin at Townhall.com, 6 September 2006

Virulent Islamophobia experienced among UK Muslim communities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has completed a tour of the UK, during which it found a further rise in Islamophobia among the country’s Muslim communities. “One concern that was voiced repeatedly throughout the cities visited was the specter of a still virulent Islamophobia which was raising its head still higher in the wake of the alleged plane plot of recent weeks,” the MCB reported Wednesday.

The five-week tour covered 22 cities, traveling from Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland to Batley, Bradford, Burnley, Dewsbury, Leeds, Blackburn, Wakefield, Manchester and Newcastle in northern England. It also visited Muslim communities in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Walsall and Wolverhampton in the Midlands, Bristol, Gloucester in the southwest, Cardiff in Wales and Brighton, Luton and London in the southeast.

“The Muslim community fully shares the need to deal firmly with any plot against national security but as partner-citizens and not as a ‘generic suspect’ to be administered mass medication or collective punishment,” said MCB Secretary General Abdul Bari.

Bari said the tour was a welcome opportunity to listen to British Muslims from many different backgrounds all across the country speaking about their aspirations and concerns. He said that he was also delighted that following discussions many additional organizations have now agreed to affiliate to the MCB, which already embraces over 400 national and local Muslim organizations, charities, mosques and schools.

The MCB, which has been under criticizing from both politicians and the media to help the government counter-terrorism concerns, said that it would be producing a report about the tour to its Central Working Committee this month to consider recommendations.

IRNA, 6 September 2006

Ban the ‘burka’ – Daily Express

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Daily Express revealed yesterday that a burka-style garment is being introduced in hospitals to allow Muslim women to wear the dress of the oppressed. The readership of this newspaper was horrified: in a poll, 96 per cent said that there should not be an exception for any ethnic group. And how do hospitals across the country respond to this? By extending the scheme.

“There can be no fudge about this: it is absolutely clear that the majority of the British people do not want this offensive apparel to appear on our hospital wards. It is also clear that, just as they have done so often in the past, the powers that be are going to ignore the people and press on with plans designed to keep Muslim culture apart from ours. This wicked policy has already resulted in homegrown British suicide bombers. We must not let this nonsense go ahead.”

Editorial in Daily Express, 6 September 2006

Another Standard poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Evening Standard reveals the results of a new YouGov poll, commissioned as part of its “great Muslim debate”:

“People were split over whether Muslim girls should be allowed to wear a veil, such as the hijab, in schools, with 44 per cent supporting a ban and 37 per cent opposing such a restriction…. Nearly 11 per cent said Britain should keep the religious schools it has but not allow any new Muslim, Hindu or Sikh schools…. Seven per cent said Christian and Jewish schools should be allowed but not Muslim, Hindu or Sikh ones….. Overall, three quarters of people believe Muslim leaders could do significantly more to prevent the growth of extremism in their own community, with only 14 per cent saying they are doing all they reasonably can.”

Evening Standard, 6 September 2006

A lone man’s stunt raises broader issues

Posted on by Bob Pitt

LEWISTON, Me. — On a hot July night, a few dozen Somali men were kneeling shoulder to shoulder in prayer at a storefront mosque here when the door opened and the frozen head of a pig, an animal considered unclean in Islam, rolled across the floor.

Men fled in fear. A child fainted. Some called the police and ran after the person who had rolled the head in. A suspect, Brent Matthews, was quickly apprehended and charged with desecrating a place of worship. Mr. Matthews, 33, said that the incident was a prank and that he did not know the significance of a pig’s head.

Now, weeks later, Somali leaders say the incident has left a scar on their community of about 3,000 immigrants.

While they admit the act was the work of one man, it has heightened simmering tensions in this overwhelmingly white, working-class city of 35,000, where Somali refugees started flocking about five years ago, after first settling in more urban areas of the United States. Many said they came here because housing was inexpensive and Lewiston seemed a safe place to raise their families.

While much of Lewiston has been welcoming, some Somalis here believe the head incident reveals an undercurrent of suspicion and lack of understanding about their culture. According to the Census Bureau, Maine is 96 percent white.

New York Times, 5 September 2006

Posted in USA

‘The State is saying that all Muslims are complicit in acts of terrorism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

imran khan with neville lawrenceImran Khan, lawyer for Stephen Lawrence’s family, speaks to the Independent Lawyer journal:

“The police and the Government are saying that all Muslims – and this generality is clear in some quarters – are all complicit in acts of terrorism either by not condemning or not revealing those who do it, or you’re planning it. In some way, you’re all complicit…. Senior government ministers simply don’t accept when I tell them what’s happening in Bradford, Leeds and elsewhere. When they talk about Muslims and terrorism, they don’t understand what impact that has. As one minister said, it is those communities committing those acts, so they’ve got to expect to be stopped and searched disproportionately. That sort of statement produces a self-defence mechanism. At meetings in Bradford, two or three hundred people are absolutely petrified. They don’t know what they can speak about, what they can publish, what sermons they can give at mosques. It gives comfort to white racists who want to attack them. I draw a parallel with Lawrence. Those who killed him did so in an environment where they knew they could get away with it. That’s what happening in the Muslim community.”

Times, 5 September 2006

Evening Standard attacks ‘self-appointed’ MCB

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terrorism and the London response

Editorial comment, Evening Standard, 5 September 2006

THE POLL that we publish today of Londoners’ attitudes to Muslims and terrorism raises some disturbing conclusions about the social impact of terrorism.

More than a third of all Londoners – and more than a quarter of non-white Londoners – say they have felt uncomfortable near people of Asian or North African appearance on public transport. One-sixth of all Londoners surveyed have felt unhappy enough to move seats in such a situation.

Despite those anxieties, London has not been riven by the communal strife or racism predicted by some in the wake of the 7 July bombings last year.

Yet there is a clear warning in these poll figures for both the Government and for leaders of the Muslim community.

Only a quarter of those surveyed said they had confidence in the Government’s ability to tackle Islamic extremism. There was a clear majority in favour of extending the limit for the police holding terror suspects to 90 days, as originally proposed by the Government, and significant support for racial profiling of passengers to be searched at airports.

This will be a boost to those ministers, including the Home Secretary, John Reid, who favour tougher measures – although it is scarcely an endorsement of the Government’s response to extremism.

But the poll should send an equally clear message to Muslim leaders: three-quarters thought they could do much more to tackle extremism. The response of organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain to terror raids and tougher laws has almost invariably been to cast Muslims as the victims, effectively playing down the anxieties of the majority of Londoners, whites and non-whites alike.

The Government needs to take a less indulgent line towards such self-appointed leaders – and the community leaders themselves need to prove that they are actively working against extremism.

London’s tolerance and openness has held up amazingly well to date. It would be a tragedy if it were damaged by one community’s reluctance to face up to the threat.

Afraid to sit next to a Muslim on a bus?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Afraid to sit next to a Muslim on a bus? Londoners admit that, yes, they are

By Joe Murphy

Evening Standard, 5 September 2006

ONE in six Londoners admits moving seats on the bus or Tube to get away from a passenger they believe may be Muslim. The figure, revealing how people’s fears of terrorism have damaged the city’s community relations, is laid bare in an exclusive Evening Standard/YouGov poll.

More than a third admit that in the past 12 months they have felt nervous or uncomfortable while travelling near a person of Asian or north African appearance. Of these, half say they have moved seats or deliberately sat away from them. Almost 80 per cent confess to such behaviour two, three or more times.

The findings suggest the capital has become a less trusting and more divided city since the 7/7 bombings by Islamist extremists last year.

Londoners back tough measures to catch terrorists. Some 62 per cent endorse police demands for powers to detain suspected terrorists for up to 90 days without charge. Only 26 per cent say the current limit of 28 days is right and just six would revert to the old limit of 14 days. Among nonwhites, support for detentions is only slightly lower at 55 per cent.

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Posted in UK

Half of Danes see Islam as incompatible with democracy: poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nearly half of Danes consider Islam incompatible with democracy, according to a poll published on Monday. The Zapera poll, conducted for Danish think tank Mandag Morgen, showed 48 percent of those surveyed thought Islam was incompatible with democratic values. Thirty-four percent said they saw Islam as consistent with democracy while a further 18 percent said they were undecided. The results were in stark contrast to a poll conducted in February which indicated 51 percent of Danes thought Islamic values sat well with democracy, with 34 percent disagreeing – despite the poll being conducted in the wake of the Mohammed caricature row.

AFP, 4 September 2006