Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Canberra vetoes mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic leaders are demanding an explanation from Foreign Minister Alexander Downer after plans for the Saudi Government to invest in the construction of an Adelaide mosque were vetoed by Canberra.

The Foreign Minister revealed yesterday that the Government objected to a proposal for Saudi cash to be injected into development of the new mosque, which is believed to be located at Park Holme in Adelaide’s southern suburbs. Mr Downer said federal authorities had also been investigating broad concerns on funding sourced from the Middle East after concerns that mosques could become breeding grounds for extremists. “Obviously we don’t want to see any extremist organisation penetrate into Australia,” he said.

But Ali Vachor, secretary of the Islamic Society of South Australia, which manages the Park Holme mosque, told The Australian the decision had halted construction of the building. Mr Vachor said a “great portion” of funding for the development was being sourced from overseas and had not been approved.

Construction was halted after the laying of a concrete slab and prayers are being conducted in a recreation room. Mr Vachor said yesterday the Islamic Society of South Australia would seek an urgent meeting with Mr Downer to determine the reasons behind the Government’s decision.

The Australian, 9 January 2006

None are more equal than others

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“… just as the followers of different faiths should be protected against unfair discrimination in the provision of goods and services, so too should people on account of their sexual orientation. It seems to be an unanswerable argument. And it is one that British Muslims should be supporting….”

Inayat Bunglawala and Abdurahman Jafar at the Guardian‘s Comment is Free, 9 January 2007

Posted in UK

Why is my dad far away in that place called Guantanamo Bay?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Guantanamo5Ten-year-old Anas el-Banna will walk to the door of Number 10 Downing Street this week to ask for an answer to the question he has been trying to have answered for four years: Why can’t my Dad come home?

His father, Jamil, is one of eight British residents languishing among the almost 400 inmates at the American base at Guantanamo Bay, which opened five years ago to the day this Thursday – the day of Anas’s protest.

Mr Banna, was taken to Guantanamo Bay four years ago after being seized in Gambia along with fellow detainee Bisher al-Rawi. He was accused of having a suspicious device in his luggage. It turned out to be a battery charger. No charges have been made. He suffers from severe diabetes, but his lawyers say he has not been offered medication and has been denied the food he needs. His eyesight is now failing.

A year ago, his son wrote to Tony Blair for the second time to ask why the Government was not helping him return home. The then six-year-old did not even receive a reply. The second letter elicited a cursory note from the Foreign Office. It stated that because Mr Banna is not a British citizen, although his wife and children are, nothing could be done for him.

Independent, 9 January 2007

Right-wing US Christian group polls supporters on Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The American Family Association is currently polling Americans on their opinion of Islam as more Americans are converting to be Muslims. The growth of Islam in America is “concerning for a great many people,” said Randy Sharp, director of special projects for AFA, according to Agape Press.

According to the poll, the majority of respondents do not consider Islam to be a peaceful religion or a tolerant religion. The majority of respondents also said “no” to placing equal emphasis on the Koran and the Bible in America. In terms of politics, most Americans do not believe it would be good for America to have more Muslims in elected offices and most said they would not vote for a Muslim presidential candidate.

Christian Post, 8 January 2007

See also “AFA poll on Islam”, Daily Kos, 4 January 2007

As a mosque rises, a dispute flares in Berlin

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No Mosque in PankowA squabble over construction of the first mosque in formerly communist East Berlin is becoming the latest flash point between Muslims intent on asserting a strong identity in Europe and Europeans increasingly fearful that their secular societies are threatened by Islamic fundamentalism.

Members of the Muslim congregation hope the soaring minaret of the planned mosque will become a local landmark. “People should not fear us,” Iman Abdul Basit Tariq, the Pakistan-born leader of a flock of 200, said in an interview. “They should open their hearts to the beauty of Islam.”

Instead, the neighborhood has fought the mosque with marches, candlelight vigils, and petitions. Residents have also filed legal complaints that could block construction.

“Ideas of suppressing women and hatred for democratic values will soon be disseminated in the heart of our community,” said Roland Henning, a musician who lives half a block from the planned mosque. “And those of us who ask, ‘Why?’ are the ones being called intolerant and xenophobic. Europe isn’t just surrendering its culture. It’s surrendering any sense of logic.”

“Why should we be giving welcome to a group that hates German values and considers Christianity to be its enemy?” asked Joachim Swietlik, spokesman for the group opposed to the mosque. “Our concern isn’t based on their skin color or their countries [of origin]. It’s based on their contempt for the ideals of our liberal-democratic society.”

Boston Globe, 9 January 2007

[Picture: poster by the far-right Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD) who have been prominent in the campaign against the mosque.]

Abbey Mills: Pat Robertson’s TV station warns against religious extremism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) gets in on the scaremongering campaign over the proposed Islamic Centre at Abbey Mills in London. The CBN piece features an interview with Irfan al-Alawi of Stephen Schwartz’s Center for Islamic Pluralism (co-author with Schwartz of last week’s Spectator article) who states that the Abbey Mills mosque will become a threat to security “once the youth have been brainwashed, and been captured by the satanic ideology of the Tablighis”. Al-Alawi adds: “The person who is really behind it is Ken Livingstone.”

Local councils to ‘spy’ on British Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The British government is launching a controversial multi-million-pound package to help local authorities spy on Muslims to tackle so-called “extremism”, a British daily reported Saturday. Council staff will be asked to “establish systems to share potential risks or concerns at the local level with councils and staff acting as the eyes and ears for police in countering threats”, the Daily Mirror said.

The government’s tactics in tackling extremism has been criticized by Muslim leaders as misguided, counterproductive and a virtual “witch-hunt”. Some of its policies and comments by ministers have been blamed for provoking Islamophobia and alienating the country’s 1.8 million Muslim community, at a time when the government refuses to accept the damaging effects of its foreign policy, including the Iraq war.

Muslim News, 7 January 2007

See also Daily Mirror, 6 January 2007

Protection from press racism never looked gaunter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jon Gaunt and Sun“Newspapers were a green light to discriminate against black communities after the press watchdog ruled that rules banning ‘prejudiced’ articles were meant only to protect individuals. The bizarre decision came as a result of complaints to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) about an article in The Sun newspaper written by columnist and broadcaster Jon Gaunt.

“This website, and many of our readers, took issue with a column on 24th October last year, which claimed human rights were ‘just for foreigners, fanatics, freeloaders and perverts’…. It accused a Muslim schoolteacher Aishah Azmi of wanting to ‘stitch up our way of life’ by contesting an employment courts’ decision to ban her wearing the full veil in class even when adult male colleagues are present….

“But in a ruling received today by Blink, the PCC noted that their code of conduct (Clause 12) was ‘designed to protect the individual and is not generally applicable to groups of people. As such, the complaint that the article discrimiated against Muslims in general could not raise a breach of the Code. In this instance the Commission noted that the only individual who might have been the subject of prejudicial or pejorative reference was Ms Aishah Azmi, who had not raised a compliant about the matter’.”

Lester Holloway reports, BLINK website, 8 January 2007