Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Faith can bring Jews and Muslims together

Posted on by Bob Pitt

InayatA leader of Britain’s biggest Muslim organisation addressed a Jewish audience for the first time in Hampstead on Monday.

The assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Inayat Bunglawala, was at the Everyman Cinema Club in Holly Bush Vale to take part in a debate about the similarities between Muslims and Jews. The MCB’s decision to take part in the forum Does More Unite Jews and Muslims Than Divides Them, was seen as a step towards bringing the two communities together.

Before the meeting Mr Bunglawala said: “It really is to try and explore how much Jews and Muslims have in common as minority faiths in this country. We want to show some enthusiasm from our part towards more cooperation between Muslims and Jews and we want to stay away from importing any conflicts from abroad.”

The panel also featured leading Jewish historian David Cesarani, chairman of the London Jewish Forum Adrian Cohen and the Independent newspaper journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland chaired the debate which was organised by the Jewish Community Centre for London as part of its Opinion Soup series.

Apart from the tensions in Israel and Palestine the most controversial topic was the much criticised decision of the MCB to boycott Holocaust Memorial Day. In response to the criticism Mr Bunglawala said: “The MCB has made a decision about Holocaust Memorial Day, it’s just one of many decisions every year we make. It is always put to the vote but I understand the MCB’s position has caused some distress. There are divisions within the MCB over this and the decision is under review.”

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Tatchell and Pim Fortuyn

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at Aaronovitch Watch, Bruschetta Boy makes some astute points in response to Peter Tatchell’s Democratiya article:

“… he is surely aware that being nasty to minority groups, who in general have a hell of a time, is something that you have to do very carefully indeed if you’re not going to cross the line into ordinary garden-variety racism. I can’t find any reference on the internet to Peter’s views about Pim Fortuyn and would be grateful for any pointers since I’m sure that he’s said something about him. It’s not exactly as if we’re in any danger of the List Peter Tatchell becoming a big force in British anti-immigrant politics, but Fortuyn does represent the far end of where it’s possible to take this line of reasoning, and those people on the Left who don’t feel comfortable in having a go at immigrants for this reason aren’t scared of nothing. A quick glance at the notorious ‘Harry’s Place’ comments boxes shows how careful you have to be about the kind of mates you tend to pick up if you make a career out of saying that we are in danger of being overwhelmed by aliens whose values are inimical to our own.”

New Zealand Muslims slam ‘conference of bigots’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mosques and MiraclesA conference of Christian church leaders on the “threat” of Islam to New Zealand is being condemned as a “conference of bigots” by senior New Zealand Muslims.

The organiser of the Mosque and Miracles conferences, national director of Middle East Christian Outreach Murray Dillner, said the conference would address the threat posed by Islam to New Zealand society – a threat he likened to the terrorist attacks in the United States of September 11, 2001.

“It’s an underlying threat, but it’s like the twin towers – they imploded. Islam does the same thing to a society – it makes it implode,” he said. “The mindset of Islam is to take over the world. They will do that by any means they can. The church in England ignored Islam. If the church in New Zealand doesn’t rise up, we will be in the same situation.”

Federation of Islamic Associations president Javed Khan said it was a “conference of bigots”. “It’s fearmongering; Islamophobia. The organisers are prejudiced, biased bigots,” he said. “For heaven’s sake, we are less than 1 per cent of the population. Muslims have been in New Zealand for a century. No Muslim has ever done anything like what they are afraid of.”

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Veil ban in schools will be divisive, say teachers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Letter in today’s Guardian:

You reported that following new guidance from the education secretary, Alan Johnson, headteachers are to be given the right to ban Muslim girls from wearing the niqab or veil in schools (Report, March 20). Various reasons are put forward as a justification for this, including security.

The claim that the tiny number of girls who wear the niqab are a security risk would be laughable if it did not demonise a vulnerable group of students. It should be remembered that similar claims from Jack Straw last year led to physical attacks on women wearing the veil.

In France where the hijab or headscarf has been banned in some schools, the result has been division and conflict. As teachers we are committed to building inclusive, multicultural and tolerant school communities. At a time of increased Islamophobia, talking about bans on the very few young women who wear the veil can only help to sow discord in our schools.

Kevin Courtney
Executive member, National Union of Teachers
Alex Kenny, Ray Sirotkin, Sara Tomlinson, Gordon White, Sally Kincaid, Nick Grant, Barry Conway, Ken Muller

Daily Mail columnist defends tolerance and equality

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Frances Childs“Several years ago I started work at a prestigious sixth form college on the outskirts of London…. I was utterly flummoxed when I entered the classroom on my first day to be confronted by three girls in the back row, sitting side by side wearing the niqab, the full-face veil which leaves only a tiny slit for the eyes. Recovering myself, introductions were made. The voices behind the veils told me their names but – because there were no faces to put them to – I promptly forgot them.

“In the year that I taught the class, the girls never sat next to anyone else. They never entered into class discussion and I admit that I never asked them their opinions about the books that we read. Simply, they embarrassed me…. So it was with delight that I read this week that schools will be able to ban pupils from wearing the full-face veils….

“The issue of the veil and Muslim girls has been sorted out once and for all in France. Unhampered by any concerns about possibly offending this or that group, the French government passed a law banning the wearing of any religious insignia at all…. Perhaps it’s time we passed a similar law in this country rather than simply letting individual schools decide the dress code. Otherwise, religious fundamentalists will be back, pushing ever harder against the barriers of tolerance, common sense and equality that we have fought so hard to preserve in this country.”

Frances Childs in the Daily Mail, 22 March 2007

Tatchell on the cultural relativism of the Left (part 398)

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Tatchell No Islamic State“Large sections of liberal and left opinion have gone soft on their commitment to universal human rights. They rightly condemn the excesses of UK and US government policy, but rarely speak out against oppressors who are non-white or adherents of minority faiths. There are no mass protests against female genital mutilation, forced marriages, the stoning of women and gender apartheid in the Middle East. A perverse interpretation of multiculturalism has resulted in race and religion ruling the roost in a tainted hierarchy of oppression. In the name of ‘unity’ against Islamophobia and racism, much of the left tolerates misogyny and homophobia in minority communities….

“Some liberals and left-wingers mute their condemnation of intolerance when it emanates from non-white people; whereas they would strenuously denounce similar prejudice if it was being vented by whites against blacks or by Christians against Muslims…. Fundamentalist Muslim clerics are permitted to endorse the so-called ‘honour’ killing of unchaste women; whereas any woman who dared advocate violent retribution against Islamist misogynists would soon find herself in court…. Respect for diversity has sometimes degenerated into the toleration of abuses; as when the anti-fascist left embraced the Muslim leader Iqbal Sacranie after he denounced gays as immoral, harmful and diseased….

“The anti-racist struggle has been weakened by the excesses of the ‘diversity agenda’…. part of the Asian community has split off to identify primarily as Muslim, distancing themselves from other Asians – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and atheists. This fragmentation has been endorsed by some on the left, who have colluded with communalism and the division of the Asian community on religious lines…. Multiculturalism can thus foster a ‘Balkanisation’ of the humanitarian agenda, fracturing communities according to their different cultural identities, values and traditions.”

Peter Tatchell in the Independent, 22 March 2007

Of course, some of us might argue that the anti-racist struggle has been rather more seriously damaged by white ex-leftists like Tatchell who spend a disproportionate amount of their time campaigning against people with black or brown skin.

French cartoons editor acquitted

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The editor of a satirical French magazine accused of insulting Muslims by reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad has been acquitted. A French court has ruled in favour of weekly Charlie Hebdo, rejecting accusations by Islamic groups who said it incited hatred against Muslims. The cartoons were covered by freedom of expression laws and were not an attack on Islam, but fundamentalists, it said.

BBC News, 22 March 2007

Muslim leader ‘dismayed’ by new ban on veil-wearing at schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) slammed new government guidelines spelling out the right of school heads to ban pupils from wearing religious dress such as the Islamic veil as “simply shocking” on Tuesday.

Education Secretary Alan Johnson has drawn up the updated guidance. The change follows defeat for a 12-year-old girl in a legal battle to wear the full-face niqab in class in her Buckinghamshire school last month. A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said that the government was not trying to impose a blanket ban on veils at schools.

But IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh said that he was “dismayed” at the guidelines. “Successive ministers, dealing with education issues, have failed to give proper guidance when requested by human rights campaigners about schools’ obligations regarding religious dress, including the head scarf, and other service delivery under human rights laws and norms. To now proceed to issue guidance against Muslim communities is simply shocking,” he added.

Muslim Council of Britain education spokesman Tahir Alam played down the significance of the new guidelines. He argued that “the matter still remains with the governing bodies and communities to resolve.”

Morning Star, 21 March 2007

See IHRC press release, 20 March 2007

See also the Guardian, 20 March 2007  and the Independent, 21 March 2007

Why this obsession with the niqab?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rajnaara Akhtar“Why are we talking about the niqab yet again? Once more this non-issue has hit the headlines.

“It is obvious that in light of the difficulties our schools are facing in tackling bullying, drug abuse, alarming rates of truancy, gang culture, knife and even gun crimes, and teacher abuse; the niqab certainly does not merit the Department for Education’s attention nor subsequent front page headlines in the news.

“A handful of girls wanting to observe the niqab should not be an issue and it should certainly not attract so much media coverage. All that this achieves is to provide further fodder for the ‘it’s those bloomin’ Muslims wanting more special treatment’ camp….

“The impact of the most recent circus surrounding the niqab will empower the Islamaphobes and force Muslims to stop debating the issue of the niqab internally, and unite against a perceived attack on their religious freedom. As a result, the natural progression of the niqab debate among Muslims may have once again been hampered.”

Rajnaara Akhtar of Protect-Hijab at Comment is Free, 21 March 2007