Author Archives: Bob Pitt

For God’s sake, stop baiting the faithful

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Dutch want to ban the burqa. It’s as good as a declaration of war on the 800,000 Muslims living in the Netherlands – and this is yet another conflict that Britain should not get embroiled in. Yet there are plenty of signs that this country is going Dutch. Britain’s believers have recently had to fight for the right to wear symbols of their faith, whether that be a burqa or a crucifix….

“Is it any wonder that Muslims principally, but other believers too, are getting a persecution complex? And is there any way we can prevent the inevitable backlash? Liberty and the British Muslim Initiative believe there is. Together with representatives of the main faiths, they are calling for supporters of religious tolerance to rally in Westminster Hall tomorrow night. Ken Livingstone will speak at the event, as will the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, and veteran peace campaigner Bruce Kent.

“I, too, am speaking at the rally; like the other participants, I fear the Dutch example. Like them, I believe that if instead of acting as the oppressor, the mocker and the bully, Britain would present itself as a land of tolerance where all faiths are treated with respect and all believers allowed to practise their faith, the most disenfranchised and disenchanted extremists will find themselves wishing to copy, rather than kill, Britons.”

Cristina Odone in the Observer, 19 November 2006

College activists fear race reaction

Posted on by Bob Pitt

College activists fear race reaction

By Louise Nousratpour

Morning Star, 18 November 2006

EDUCATION campaigners warned of a potentially “racist and Islamophobic” backlash against new government guidelines on how to combat extremism on university and college campuses yesterday.

The Department for Education is to release guidance advising universities and colleges on how to respond if staff suspect that “extremist” literature is being circulated on campus or if they are worried about radical speakers visiting their institutions.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell insisted that Muslims were not being singled out, in the same breath as he declared that the threat from Islamic radicals must be faced head-on. “Violent extremism in the name of Islam is a real, credible and sustained threat to the UK,” he claimed. “There is evidence of serious, but not widespread, Islamist extremist activity in higher education institutions.”

Trade unions and student groups said that, while the guidance is an “improvement” on previous leaked drafts, it does not solve all the problems and falls short of suggesting practical steps to build cohesive relations on campus.

University and College Union (UCU) joint general secretary Paul Mackney stressed that universities and colleges must combine the guidance with a “robust strategy for defeating racism and Islamophobia.” He warned: “Radicalism must not be conflated with terrorism. Institutions must maintain a moderating environment where discussion flourishes, where people learn about different cultures and where ideas can be explored, challenged and debated.”

Continue reading →

Peoples Assembly tackles new racism aimed at Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stop The War Coalition today convened a peoples assembly in Central London to help tackle the new racism in the United Kingdom which targets the Muslim community. The aim of the assembly is to bring people together to discuss the relationship between Islamophobia and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to organise a campaign in response to war and racism.

Opening the assembly, the Chairman of Stop The War Coalition Andres Murray, described Islamophobia as the last resort of the warmongers to make up for their failure. “George Bush said he was getting ready for one last push. We too are ready for one last push to get the get the troops out of Iraq”. Stop The War Coalition widened its aims to opposition to the racist backlash against Muslims and the defense of civil liberties.

Mathaba.net, 18 November 2006

See also Stop the War Coalition website.

Defend religious freedom

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is one of our most precious democratic rights (Report, November 14). It took hundreds of years, including civil wars, to establish the right of every individual to freely pursue their beliefs, subject only to to the necessary and proportionate protection of the rights and the freedoms of others. It must be defended against every challenge.

Britain today faces a systematic campaign by sections of the media and some politicians, fanned by the extreme right, to undermine this right by sowing hatred against Muslims. This has culminated in attacks, fire bombings and assaults on women. This campaign constitutes an attack on civil and religious liberties, including an attempt to suppress the right of persons of all faiths to dress in accordance with their religious convictions. It must be strongly opposed – as indeed should any attack on the rights of Christians, Jews, Sikhs or any other religious group.

All democrats, of all faiths and none, should come together to defend these basic principles of freedom of thought, conscience, religion and culture, and join the rally in Westminster on November 20.

Ken Livingstone, Jon Cruddas MP (Lab), Andrew Stunnel MP (Lib Dem), Dr Abdul Bari MCB, Shami Chakrabati Liberty, Anas Altikriti British Muslim Initiative, Jeremy Dear NUJ , Dr Edie Friedman Jewish Council for Racial Equality, and three others

Letter in the Guardian, 18 November 2006

Tory MP shows ignorance of Islamism, wins support of Mad Mel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips applauds the contribution of Paul Goodman, Tory MP for Wycombe, to the debate on the Queen’s Speech. It is easy to see why, because Goodman accepts the equation of “Islamism” with “Islamist extremism” and even “Islamist terrorism” which is common currency among Islamophobes like Mad Mel and Martin Bright, whose Policy Research pamphlet When Progressives Treat With Reactionaries Goodman recommends in his speech.

Goodman states: “Islamism divides not on the basis of class or of race, but on the basis of religion. To this politician, it has three significant features. First, it separates the inhabitants of the dar-al-Islam – the house of Islam – and the dar-al-Harb – the house of war – and, according to Islamist ideology, those two houses are necessarily in conflict. Secondly, it proclaims to Muslims that their political loyalty lies not with the country that they live in, but with the umma – that is, the worldwide community of Muslims. Thirdly, it aims to bring the dar-al-Islam under sharia law.”

Perhaps Goodman should check out some rather more informed and balanced studies of Islamism – for example, The Future of Political Islam by Graham E. Fuller, who writes:

“In my view an Islamist is one who believes that Islam as a body of faith has something important to say about how politics and society should be ordered in the contemporary Muslim World and who seeks to implement this idea in some fashion. The term ‘political Islam’ should be neutral in character, neither pejorative nor judgmental in itself; only upon further definition of the specific views, means and goals of an Islamist movement in each case can we be critical of the process. I prefer this definition because it is broad enough to capture the full spectum of Islamist expression that runs the gamut from radical to moderate, violent to peaceful, democratic to authoritarian, traditionalist to modernist.”

UCU: radicalism must not be confused with terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paul MackneyThe University and College Union (UCU) has said campus relations must improve if the government is to successfully combat the spread of extremism at universities.

Speaking as the government publishes advice to lecturers on tackling radicalism, UCU joint general secretary Paul Mackney said universities and colleges needed “a robust strategy for defeating racism and Islamophobia”.

“But radicalism must not be conflated with terrorism,” he added. “Institutions must maintain a moderating environment where discussion flourishes, where people learn about different cultures and where ideas can be explored, challenged and debated.”

Continue reading →

Newsnight’s own-goal over Hizb ut-Tahrir

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“On Tuesday, Newsnight broadcast a dreadfully unfair and muddled report by Richard Watson which purported to show that HT were in reality encouraging their members to acts of criminality and tried to associate them with the encouragement of violence. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is worth watching – it is online here – to see the John Ware/Martin Bright school of filmmaking in action: plenty of insinuation and innuendo about wrongdoing on the part of HT; a dearth of any substantive facts. It was followed by Jeremy Paxman’s interview with a representative of HT, Dr Abdul Wahid. Again, this is also worth watching, particularly for the quite understandable look of amazement on the HT rep’s face at the dire quality of the Newsnight report.”

Inayat Bunglawala at the Guardian‘s Comment is Free, 17 November 2006

‘Why Islamic hate on campus needs to be tackled’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamist groups first identified Britain’s universities as a fertile recruiting ground more almost two decades ago. They followed the example set by the far-left, which had been hugely successful in the 1980s in attracting young people with impressionable minds to simplistic utopian ideologies….

“Student unions and vice-chancellors have made various attempts to tackle the problem but have always held back from really dealing with it because they fear being accused of Islamophobia. The radical groups have continued to organise and indoctrinate, often under false names, and have found the process increasingly easy in the climate of anger surrounding the Iraq war.

“Jewish students at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London have complained of fears for their personal safety because of the pronouncements of some fellow students. Members of student Islamic societies have been among those arrested and charged in recent counter-terrorist operations. Campus radicalism persists and is spreading. Mere ‘guidance’ from mandarins in the DfES is unlikely to stop it spreading.”

Sean O’Neill in the Times, 17 November 2006

Dutch government to ban veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rita VerdonkThe Dutch government said Friday it plans to draw up legislation “as soon as possible” banning full-length veils known as burqas and other clothing that covers a person’s entire face in public places.

“The Cabinet finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing – including the burqa – is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens,” Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk said in a statement.

Basing the order on security concerns apparently was intended to respond to warnings that outlawing clothing like the all-enveloping burqa, worn by some Muslim women, could violate the constitutional guarantee against religious discrimination.

The main Dutch Muslim organization CMO has been critical of any possible ban. The idea was “an overreaction to a very marginal problem” because hardly any Dutch women wear burqas anyway, said Ayhan Tonca of the CMO. “It’s just ridiculous.”

In the past, a majority of the Dutch parliament has said it would approve a ban on burqas, but opinion polls ahead of national elections Nov. 22 suggest a shift away from that position, and it is unclear if a majority in the new parliament would still back the government-proposed ban.

Associated Press, 17 November 2006

See also “Dutch government backs burqa ban”, BBC News, 17 November 2006

The ban would of course mainly affect the niqab rather than the rarely-worn burqa. But why should Verdonk (or the BBC) bother about the technicalities of Muslims’ funny foreign clothing?