Monthly Archives: March 2008

BNP leader blames Muslims for Britain’s drug problems

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fat fascistThe BBC was last night dragged into a race row after it broadcast claims by the British National Party blaming Muslim immigrants for the country’s hard drugs problems.

The comments were made during a debate on multiculturalism on BBC2’s Newsnight, which examined the results of a survey for the channel’s White season – a series of documentaries on what it means to be white and working class in Britain today.

When informed the poll showed that white working class Britons were more concerned about drug and drink culture than immigration, the BNP leader Nick Griffin responded with an attack on Pakistani immigrants. He said: “You can’t possibly separate the hard drugs trade from the question of Islam and particularly Pakistani immigration. Any working class area of Britain – in a multiracial area – the hard drugs problem is related to Islam and Pakistan.”

Daily Mail, 7 March 2008

‘On Harvard’s Shariah/Islamofascist gym’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Debbie Schlussel responds to what she calls “Harvard’s latest capitulation to Muslims with separate hours for women at the Ivy League university’s gym”. She has even commissioned a logo for “the new Halal Harvard”. Schlussel writes:

“I’m fed up that this is not the first time this has happened and that Americans are doing nothing to take back their country. As readers know, I already wrote about the Fitness USA gym chain and how it agreed to install a wall separating men and women at its Lincoln Park, Michigan location per the demands of Muslimas and CAIR….

“This isn’t about ‘compromise’ by two parties. It’s about domination of the tolerant, wimpy majority by a tough, vocal minority that never takes not for an answer and always gets what it wants because of the majority’s soft, ever-sanguine disposition. They want to be able to wear very un-Islamic, skimpy clothes to work out. Tough. Build your own Islamic gym, complete with explosive belt-tightening exercises.”

Swiss court rules veil is no obstacle to citizenship

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Switzerland’s Federal Court has overturned two decisions by local assemblies to refuse citizenship on the grounds of women wearing a religious veil. Muslim organisations welcomed the rulings, which were announced on Wednesday, as a “step forward”. Under the Swiss federal system, communities also have a say on naturalisation issues.

The court ruling came after two local assemblies in canton Aargau, in northern Switzerland, rejected applications for Swiss citizenship by a Turkish woman and a Bosnian couple last year. Objectors said the veil was a sign of inequality between men and women and was therefore unconstitutional.

But Switzerland’s highest court found that wearing a veil was an expression of religious beliefs, which are protected under the Swiss constitution. The veil in itself was not a sign of the debasement of women, the judges wrote. The court urged citizens to look beyond their prejudices and said the fact that a Muslim woman wore a veil did not mean she was flouting the basic values of Swiss society.

Local decisions on citizenship applications have been a controversial issue over the past few years. Swiss citizens are due to vote on an initiative that aims to enshrine communities’ right to decide on naturalisation requests in the constitution. Launched by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, it demands that voters be free to decide on how to proceed on citizenship questions and that appeals against negative decisions be no longer possible.

Swissinfo, 5 March 2008

‘Drowning in a sea of migrants’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

White seasonWhite Brits are set to reveal what they really think about immigration in a series of bombshell telly shows. Members of the UK’s “forgotten” working class say they are drowning in a rising tide of immigrants. And they blast Labour politicians for abandoning them in the name of “multi-culturalism”.

They speak openly and honestly in a series of shows for the BBC’s White Season, but their controversial views are sure to spark outrage. Tomorrow night’s Last Orders features members of struggling Wibsey Working Men’s Club in Bradford, West Yorks. They say they are being driven into the arms of the extremist BNP by a Labour Party that no longer cares about them.

They say the heart has been ripped from their communities as mass immigration has seen them lose their traditions and their jobs. And they warn of a bloody race war. Scaffolder Paul, 21, said: “It isn’t our area any more, it is theirs. The Asians hate us and we hate them. The Muslims get all the new houses and the whites all the sh*te houses. There will be one big mass battle start in Bradford. I give it five years and it will explode.”

BBC documentaries head Richard Klein insisted last night: “I don’t think we have given a platform to extremist political parties. We have given a platform to people whose views aren’t often heard on TV.”

Daily Star, 6 March 2008

Police probe into BNP heroin leaflet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A British National Party member could face police investigations after he distributed hundreds of leaflets across Preston which blame Muslims for the heroin trade in Britain.

Tony Bamber, who stood in local elections for the BNP in Tulketh ward in 2006, denied being solely responsible for the distribution of the leaflets but admitted he was involved. Mr Bamber, 52, said: “The leaflets are not making a comment about the Islamic religion, they are making a statement about the activities of Muslims. The leaflets were made by Preston Pals, a group of concerned indigenous people in the city.”

The question of whether the leaflets amount to incitement to religious hatred is now being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Detective Sergeant Graham Gallagher, head of the Hate Crime Diversity unit at the Lancashire Constabulary, said: “This leaflet has been distributed around Preston, Burnley, and Pendle. We received a number of complaints after the leaflet was distributed to a number of addresses and we have now submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service to see if we have sufficient evidence to progress with our inquiry.”

Another inquiry looks set to be launched by the Royal British Legion, as the leaflets claim to be a Preston Pals’ publication. The Pals represent a Lancashire regiment – the 5th Battalion – which endured heavy casualties in the First World War. Mr Bamber, whose name appears on the leaflet, said he would continue distributing them.

This is Lancashire, 6 March 2008

‘We don’t need this Olympics mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Evening Standard applauds Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui’s stand against the proposed new Islamic centre in Newham, east London. The Standard informs its readers: “The ‘megamosque’ in Newham is being planned by Islamic group Tablighi Jamaat, which the FBI has described as ‘a recruiting ground’ for al Qaeda – a claim it denies. Shoebomber Richard Reid and 7/7 bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer were members.”

Alan Craig of the Christian People’s Alliance is also a happy man. He is quoted as saying: “It’s fantastic that Dr Siddiqui has come out in opposition to the mosque. There are many more that are reluctant to be involved with anything to do with Tablighi Jamaat because of their rumoured connections to the Taliban.”

‘Halt handouts to Muslim fanatics’ says Cameron

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David CameronDavid Cameron is to call for a ban on public handouts to Muslim extremists. And the Tory leader wants anyone who “rejects democracy” barred from sitting on public bodies.

Last night he also called on the Government to step up action to keep extremist preachers out of Britain, saying: “Terrorist apologists should be kept out, full stop, period.”

Mr Cameron told a leading Jewish charity that too many fanatical groups were still getting public funding. He accused Labour ministers of “taking their eye off the ball” in the fight against extremism.

In a speech to the Community Security Trust, which helps protect the Jewish community from anti-semitic attacks, he said: “The Government has allocated hundreds of thousands of pounds to local authorities to improve community cohesion. But there are worrying signs that ministers have taken their eyes off the ball.”

He cited examples of councils handing out cash for community projects that ended up going to extremist groups, including Hizb-ut-Tahrir.

Mr Cameron said that extremism was not confined to any particular religious or ethnic group. “During protests against the conflict in Lebanon, we witnessed the nauseating sight of well-scrubbed, middle class English people marching through central London holding placards that read ‘We are all Hizbollah’. That is the extremist mindset in action.”

Daily Express, 4 March 2008

The nonsense about “councils handing out cash” to Hizb ut-Tahrir is evidently a garbled reference to a recent debate organised by Anas Altikriti’s Cordoba Foundation at the London Muslim Centre (see here and here), at which Lord Ahmed and Osama Saeed opposed the HT view that Muslims should not involve themselves in electoral politics in the UK.

Obama says Islam smear offensive to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ali Eteraz takes issue with those who criticise Barack Obama for failing to take a principled stand against the “Muslim smear” campaign. He posts a video in which Obama says:

“I have never been a Muslim. Am not a Muslim. These emails are obviously not just offensive to me, somebody who is a devout Christian, who’s been going to the same Church for the last twenty years, but it’s also offensive to Muslims, because it plays into, obviously, a certain fear-mongering there.”

And at the end of the video, Jane Fissler Hoffman, a minister from the Obama’s Church says: “There is absolutely nothing wrong with being Muslim. But second of all, Senator Obama doesn’t happen to be Muslim. He is a Christian and he’s a member of my Church.”

‘Don’t build this mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The man who co-founded the separatist Muslim Parliament has denounced plans for a huge mosque next to the Olympic site. The Tablighi Jamaat’s PR company, Indigo, today launched its ‘charm offensive’ in the run-up to submitting proposals for a massive 12,000-seater mosque on contaminated land in Newham, East London. But Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, Indian-born elder-statesman of political Islam in Britain told Lapido Media:  ‘We have too many mosques. I think it should not be built.’ …

“Siddiqui’s views are in line with other prominent Muslims like Irfan Al-Alawi, Europe director of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism, who has expressed ‘extreme concern’ about the spread of Tablighi Jamaat. They have dared to speak out against the proposals despite pressure from the Muslim Police Association, the London Mayor Ken Livingstone – and now Indigo PR who are handling their propaganda. The mosque build is being seen as a test of strength by many observers around the world who are concerned it will tip a diverse city at ease with its multi-culturalism into an increasingly tense, religious politicisation….

“Councillor Alan Craig … in whose ward the mosque would be built, believes that it is ‘ludicrous’ for Indigo to describe the proposal by a massive, secretive sect hailing from South Asia as a ‘community project’. ‘What we seem to have now is the bizarre spectacle of the British “posh” who should know better, joining forces with newt-loving Red Ken against Pakistani and Indian Muslim elders in a sort of post-colonial guilt trip showdown which is just mind-boggling’ said Craig.”

Lapido Media, 3 March 2008

For details of the consultation with local residents, see the Abbey Mills Mosque website.

Download their leaflet (pdf) here.

Ed Husain justifies UK visa denial to Qaradawi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

DOHA — Former Islamist Ed Husain felt the denial of a visa by the United Kingdom to Dr Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the well-known Islamic scholar based in Doha, was absolutely justified. Speaking to The Peninsula at the Four Seasons Hotel yesterday, Husain said: “He is a man who speaks two languages. There should be no exceptions in condemning the deaths of innocent people. When it comes to Jews, he thinks it is favourable to kill. It was right to refuse him a visa to the UK because his views have an audience there.”

The Peninsula, 3 March 2008