Monthly Archives: January 2009

Italy to ban Muslim demos

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rome prayersItaly is to introduce far-reaching restrictions on where demonstrations can be held after a row over recent protests by Muslims outside cathedrals in Rome, Milan and Bologna, Italian newspaper reported Thursday.

The ministerial directive will ban demonstrations in front of all places of worship, barracks, commercial or cultural centers, highly populated areas and other “sensitive zones,” the Italian daily La Repubblica reported.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni will send a circular to all regional governors to ensure that “events like those that took place in front of Milan Cathedral do not happen again,” the daily Corriere della Sera reported. A ministerial directive on the issue will be ready by February, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP, without saying anything about its contents.

On Jan. 3, several hundred Muslims protesting the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip knelt down for prayers led by an imam for several minutes in front of cathedrals in Milan and Bolgna, provoking outrage among the Italian right. A similar prayer protest took place in Rome on Jan. 18 when Muslims participating in a demonstration passed the Colosseum and bent in prayer facing the Qibla, which is towards the ancient monument.

Maroni is a member of the anti-immigration Northern League, which is part of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s right-wing coalition government. Just a month earlier Maroni’s party had proposed to freeze the building of new mosques, a move that outraged Italy’s Muslim leaders and opposition groups because it essentially criminalized being a Muslim.

Al Arabiya, 22 January 2009

UK is not sleepwalking to segregation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SleepwalkingThe head of Britain’s equalities watchdog has come under fire for undermining race relations with “bogus and alarmist” claims that Britain is an increasingly segregated society.

The charge against Trevor Phillips, chairman of the equality and human rights commission, is made in a new book that also condemns him for propagating myths that Britain is blighted by race ghettos and threatened by extremism fostered in isolated Muslim communities.

The book, Sleepwalking to Segregation?, by two Manchester University academics, says there is no statistical evidence of “white flight” from inner-city areas with high numbers of minority ethnic residents. Official statistics reviewed by the authors show white people are, in fact, moving into certain inner-city areas with large ethnic minority populations, such as Leicester, Bradford, Lambeth, Wolverhampton, Wycombe, Manchester and Merton.

The book warns that repeated falsehoods about immigration, integration and segregation are promoting racial division.

Ludi Simpson, honorary professor of population studies and co-author of the book, said: “By propagating myths using bogus and alarmist interpretations of population change, individuals such as Trevor Phillips, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Andrew Green, chair of Migration Watch, are inadvertently promoting racial segregation.”

The authors also rejected claims that segregation bred terrorism, as there was no evidence that Muslims from areas with large Muslim populations were more likely to be charged with terrorism than those from others areas.

A spokeswoman for the equality and human rights commission declined to comment.

Guardian, 22 January 2009

Cf. the article “Ghetto Britain” in the Daily Star, which is based on material produced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

How to really prevent violent extremism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

George and Salma“The government is always looking for some Islamic organisation to proscribe or some Muslim cleric – preferably with a steel claw – to ban. All in the name of community cohesion and preventing violent extremism.

“But how many Muslims does the government think have been radicalised by the horrific scenes coming out of Gaza and the complacent hypocrisy of the British foreign office?

“The appeal for a policy that breaks with slavish support for Israel’s actions operates on a number of different levels. I’ve long since stopped addressing the great lacuna which passes for an ethical sense at King Charles Street. An argument based on naked self-interest stands a better chance. And from that point of view the efforts by various branches of government not only to justify the unjustifiable in Palestine, but to delegitimise protests over it are extremely difficult to fathom….

“In Tower Hamlets young people organised a 100-strong car cavalcade in protest at the massacres in Gaza and advertising a national demonstration in central London. The following day the police were handing out fliers at Brick Lane mosque telling people that such activities were illegal. Of all the problems we face in Tower Hamlets – including illegal activities – not one of them is young men cooperating with one another and using their cars to form peaceful convoys with a socially engaged message. I’m sure the same is true elsewhere in the capital.

“If the authorities in London and across Britain thought this through they would welcome this efflorescence of political protests over Gaza. How better to marginalise the violent extremists than by creating the space for radical but democratic political engagement?”

George Galloway at Comment is Free, 23 January 2009

Mail on Sunday replies to complaint over Azad Ali story

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muhammad Amin, editor of the Between the Lines blog, reports: “The Mail on Sunday has not only replied to my letter of complaint, but also (quietly) removed the articles from its website. However, John Wellington’s (Managing Editor) reply does not address the central issue of the complaint – the misquote and resulting false allegation. I have written to him once again urging him to issue a full apology in print.”

And over at Pickled Politics Sunny Hundal comments: “Last week a Muslim civil servant, Azad Ali, was suspended from work because an article in the Daily Mail said he suggested killing British troops in Iraq was justified, on his blog…. Now, I don’t have sympathy for his views but the Daily Mail were clearly bullshitting. Now they’ve withdrawn the article. Let’s see what happens next…”

‘The horror comes home’ – Martin Bright on the Gaza war

Posted on by Bob Pitt

martin_bright“In Britain, the main consequence of the Gaza War has been to provide a rallying point for the motley alliance of totalitarian sympathisers of the hard left and Islamic radical right. It is not the responsibility of the Israeli government to consider the consequences of their actions on the rise of militant Islam in Britain and Europe. But the dangers are real. The Islamist tendency represented by self-appointed representatives such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain was on the retreat. The Gaza War has given them new life, as shown by their prominence in the recent demonstrations, and across the media.”

Martin Bright in the New Statesman, 22 January 2009

Muslims create their own ghettos says Daily Star

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims want to create their own communities and remain segregated from British society. A shocking 44% think they should be free to develop along separate lines. But critics are fuming Muslims are refusing to fit into our way of life. English Democrats’ chairman Robin Tilbrook said:

“As far as I’m concerned, what we want to be about is having an integrated society. If people don’t want to integrate, they shouldn’t be here. It’s not at all right to have what’s really a sort of ghetto situation developing – it’s going to lead to trouble. We can’t have a single society with lots of different rules.”

Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “I’m not surprised because there are already Muslim enclaves all over the country. They keep themselves to themselves anyway.”

Daily Star, 21 January 2009

Geert Wilders to be charged with inciting hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders (2)A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician on trial for making anti-Islamic statements. Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made a controversial film last year equating Islam with violence and has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. “In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to … draw a clear line,” the court in Amsterdam said.

Continue reading →

Ilford Muslims challenge “Islamic ‘terror’ scare at Jewish school” story

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in Ilford have complained to the editor of the Ilford Recorder for the publication of a story in the local paper headlined “Islamic ‘terror’ scare at Jewish school”, and which refers to “two Muslim boys with knives” causing havoc at a Jewish school in the borough.

ENGAGE, 20 January 2009

Update:  Ilford Recorder editor Chris Carter has issued an apology over the headline, which he concedes could be seen as “inflammatory”. Mr Carter said: “The story was breaking and our reporting team was on the spot. Often stories change as we are posting them on the web, but in this instance I accept the headline was not appropriate, particularly given what transpired and apologise to our readers.” The paper has also published a letter from Abdurahman Jafar, who expresses his concern that “this kind of inaccurate and irresponsible reporting plays into the hands of the far right”.

MSF defends Azad Ali

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Latest Witch Hunt on Muslim leader by the Mail on Sunday

The Muslim Safety Forum is dismayed with the provocative article written in the Sunday Mail on the 18th January 2009 regarding MSF Trustee Azad Ali.

The central objective of MSF has been to build relations between communities and the police service during very difficult circumstances and ensuring dialogue remains open. The MSF is a voluntary organisation built on good will and trust between communities, the wider public and the police.

Azad Ali embodied that civic commitment and led the bridge building efforts between the police service and the community following the terrorist atrocities of 7/7 and the failed bombings of June 2007.

Chair of the MSF Mujib Miah said “Instead of highlighting the positive community building work Azad Ali has accomplished throughout his career, The Sunday Mail has sought to misrepresent his work. We understand he is taking legal advice in that regard.

“I have been inundated with calls from members and the wider public expressing disappointment and alarm by the serious distortion of Azad Ali’s character. In these difficult times inflammatory headlines such as these are counter productive and damage community cohesion.”

END

Note for Editors:

The MSF is made up of national and regional Islamic organisations including: Al Ershad Centre, Al Ikhlas Foundation / Muslim Prisoners Support Group, Al Khoei Foundation, Al Maghrib, Al Muntada Al Islami, Amal Trust, AMP – BTP, AMP – MPS, An Nisa Society, Bangla 2000 – 1990 Trust, Barnet Muslim Advisory Group, Basildon Islamic Centre, British Muslim Forum (BMF), Eritrean Muslim Community, FAIR, FOSIS, IFE, Iqra Trust, ISB, Islamic Cultural Centre, Kingswood Islamic Committee, LMC, MAB, MCB, Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre, Muslim Directory, Muslim Parliament, Muslim Voices, Muslimaat UK, Q News, Somali Muslim Community, Cage Prisoners, The Avenue School, The Muslim College, UKIM, Women’s Relief, YMO, UMO.

The MSF is the key advisory body for the Police Service and has signed a working protocol with the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police & ACPO to build better police / community relations. It has been advising the police on matters of safety and security from the Muslim perspective for over five years now. It meets on a monthly basis with senior representatives of ACPO and the MPS, the MPA, Home Office, CPS and the IPCC amongst others.

‘Britain’s surrender’ – another paranoid rant from Mad Mel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips Jihad in Britain“In Britain, the war in Gaza has revealed the extent to which the media, intelligentsia and political class have simply crumbled in the face of the global jihad….

“Years of demonizing Israel and appeasing Islamist extremism within Britain have now coalesced, as a result of the media misrepresentation of the Gaza war as an atrocity against civilians, in an unprecedented wave of hatred against Israel and a sharp rise in attacks on British Jews.

“Throughout the war, London’s streets have witnessed a hallucinatory level of violent and explicit support for Hamas from Muslims, members of the far left and supposedly progressive individuals….

“Last Thursday, Mr. Miliband wrote in the Guardian that there was no single, unified Islamist threat but merely a set of various local grievances, such as Kashmir or the Golan Heights. Such startling ignorance of the goals and ideological antecedents of the Islamic jihad, from Hamas to Hezbollah to Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, is of a piece with the British government’s stubborn refusal to accept that the West is under assault from a war of religion.

“The government denies this fact because it does not want to face up to the unpalatable realities of fighting such a war. So although ‘middle Britain’ is beginning to grasp that the Islamists in Gaza are the same as those rampaging through the streets of London, ministers are intent on appeasing Muslim extremism and intimidation both at home and abroad.

“Accordingly, while Britain’s security services have had significant success in smashing Islamic terrorism plots, government strategy for combating Islamist extremism rests upon seeking to mollify Britain’s two million or so Muslims by avoiding confrontation – which means turning a blind eye to threatening statements.

“Recently, prominent British Muslims who advise ministers against Islamist extremism wrote an open letter making the veiled threat that unless the government condemned Israel there would be a rise in violence in Britain.

“Ministers’ openly stated fear that this will indeed happen as a result of the war in Gaza makes them anxious to show Britain’s Muslims that they oppose Israel’s actions. They don’t understand that, by showing such weakness in the face of intimidation, they are not just betraying their Israeli ally but also undermining the Western defense against the jihad.

“Across the spectrum, Britain’s elites are terrified of dealing with militant Islamism. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that, in a pattern which goes back to the foundational Christian blood libel against the Jews, they are concealing their fearful inability to deal with Islamist aggression by displacing the blame onto its Israeli victims instead.”

Melanie Phillips in the Wall Street Journal, 20 January 2009