It is rumoured that the fascist BNP have already selected Richard Barnbrook as their candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election. If by some freak of fate Barnbrook were to fall under a bus, they could always adopt Jon Gaunt as a replacement. His latest article in The Sun, using the reports of “Muslim only” swimming sessions in Croydon (see Indigo Jo Blogs) to mount yet another demented attack on multiculturalism, ticks all the right boxes for the fascists.
Yearly Archives: 2006
Blair stirs up Islamophobia
“On his return from Washington, Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a speech to a selected audience at his Downing Street residence. The subject of his remarks was not the criticisms made by the Iraq Study Group of US – and by implication British – foreign policy failures in Iraq. Instead he sought to deflect any examination of his criminal war policy by launching yet another provocative attack on Muslims….
“In a blatant infringement of religious and cultural liberties, Blair made clear his support for restrictions on the Muslim veil and implied his backing for the sacking of Aishah Azmi, a Muslim teaching assistant, for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom. ‘It really is a matter of plain common sense that when it is an essential part of someone’s work to communicate directly with people, being able to see their face is important’, he said.
“As to ‘equality’ for all citizens, this was further belied by Blair’s announcement that the Equal Opportunities Commission is to look at restrictions on women in place in some mosques. But he made no suggestion that some Anglican and Evangelical churches be subject to similar inquiries for their opposition to the ordination of women priests and their campaign against homosexual rights legislation, let alone the Catholic Church.”
Why did they torture Jose Padilla?
There’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family or friends.
The courts finally forced the Bush administration to release Padilla into the justice system, and he is now imprisoned in Miami awaiting trial on charges that have nothing to do with what he was arrested for, an alleged plot to use a dirty bomb in the United States. It is claimed he had al Qaeda connections.
What makes this case so insidious is that, according to a psychiatrist who examined him over a 22-hour period, the treatment Padilla received in the South Carolina brig was such that he now “lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense.” In other words, a U.S. citizen was secretly worked over for 21 months to the point he is unable to think well enough to engage with his lawyer.
Philadelphia Daily News, 12 December 2006
See also George Monbiot in the Guardian, 12 December 2006
Laying down the law
Inayat Bunglawala replies to the distorted reporting about “sharia courts” in the UK.
The dehumanization of American Muslims
“Dehumanization is defined as a process by which members of a group of people assert the ‘inferiority’ of another group through subtle or overt acts or statements. Dehumanization may be directed by an organization or may be the composite of individual sentiments and actions.
“A coalition of anti-Muslim bigots have formed that sit at their computers full time seeking out news – no matter how vague – of bad Muslim behavior to demonstrate to their growing numbers of readers that all Muslims are irreparably evil…
“Their blogs are growing in readership. They are coming out with more and more best selling books smearing and slandering Islam and the Muslims, and are continuously invited back to major media outlets to promote their books and offer their ‘expertise’ on Islam.”
Tariq Nelson at The American Muslim, 11 December 2006
See also “Dennis Prager’s rant exposes raw hate”, by Ahmed Rehab of CAIR.
Blair speech provokes ‘debate’ on the Sun’s website
On 7 December the Sun reported Blair’s now notorious speech on integration, multiculturalism and Muslims under the headline “PM: Immigrants must conform”. A discussion on the Sun‘s website provides an appalling but enlightening insight into the sort of bigotry that Blair’s speech has encouraged and legitimised.
Typical comments read:
“What the hell happened? The same man who has let immigration and PC Loonies spiral out of control is now saying people need to respect the Brit way of life?”
“WHAT IS THIS FOOL UP TO? It’s too late now. You let them all in. It’s all talk as usual. The damage has been done, and his multicultural experiment has failed.”
“Be tolerant or not become part of British society? Most foreigners don’t want to be part of our society anyway, you prat. They just come here and form their own societies anyway, they don’t give a toss about British society.”
“Britain is a Christian culture; those of other cultures who do not want to accept this should not attempt to immigrate here or if here now should leave and return to where they can exercise their culture as they wish.”
“President Blair should have been saying this 10 years ago… we are now almost a muslim state!!!”
“Blair’s rambling speech was a feeble and pathetic u turn on the multi culti experiment that has gone from bad to worse…. So different then from the previous speeches on the benefits and ‘enrichment’ of immigration we have endured for the past nine years. Blair will not go into the history books as one of the world’s leading statesmen as his ego craves, but will instead be remembered as Britain’s worst political leader and the man who sold out his own people by turning the UK into an Island outpost for criminals and the dregs of humanity from every poor third world country on the globe.”
“… fact is that you cannot be a good muslim if you do not support jihad. It is mentioned several times in the Koran. An this superior attitude and many other offensive ideologies are the basis of the hadith. Which in my opinion is the muslim ‘mien kampf’ a Nazi style book…it Tells Muslims to not mix with unclean peoples like Christians or Jews and to kill them were they will not subdjigate to Islam or conform to shariah.”
“Read up on the muslim sites and see how radical they are!! especially, as they want to make the UK a state of Islam.”
“… there is no such thing as a moderate muslim, if you don’t follow islam you are the enemy and must be destroyed. islam is a modern plage that needs to be stopped.”
US right-winger provides advice on multiculturalism
Under the heading “Britain confronts militant Islam”, a writer for the US right-wing/neocon NRO offers his take on current debates in the UK over multiculturalism. Regarding the veil he observes:
“If this wretched garment, in at least its more stringent forms, has more to do with misogyny than piety, so the hostility it provokes owes less to outraged feminism than to the mounting unease felt by many Europeans at the presence of the increasingly assertive and increasingly extremist Islam rising within their midst…. there is something about the very appearance of the veil (and I am here referring to the burka and the only marginally less appalling nikab, a get-up that generously allows a clear view of the wearer’s eyes) that is alien, dehumanizing, and, in the context of Europe’s current troubles, thoroughly ominous. Little more than walking shrouds, these women seem like the harbingers both of future theocracy and the slaughter that comes in its wake.”
As for the suggestion that racial hatred legislation should be adequately reinforced in order to defend Muslims: “That’s madness. That’s cowardice. That’s appeasement.”
‘Tis the season to bash Muslims
Sunny Hundal responds to the spurious “Christmas is Banned” stories:
“Christmas is the perfect season for two things: re-runs and silly publicity stunts. Combine the two in media-land and what do you get? The annual slew of screaming ‘Christmas has been banned!’ headlines of course, which now resurface as regular as clockwork. Usually all ‘ethnics’ and their politically correct co-conspirators are blamed.
“This year, given the spotlight they have been placed under, it has almost universally been made into a Muslim issue. The farcical charade usually plays out as follows. A tabloid makes the outraged claim on its front page. Muslims complain they have nothing to do with it. ‘Oh yes you have’, say the press, pointing to the fictitious PC brigade apparently too scared to offend anyone with anything as scandalous as some tinsel and flashing lights.”