Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips on the threat of global jihad (again)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mad Mel has just seen the Islamophobic “documentary” Obsession: Radical Islam’s War With the West and cannot restrain her enthusiasm:

“It should be made compulsory viewing for every politician and pundit who clings to the misguided belief that all we face is terrorism rooted in various grievances around the world. It is the single most powerful and terrifying public exposition of the fact that a global Islamic jihad is now being waged from Bali to Istanbul, from Chechnya to Madrid, from Morocco to Manhattan, from Thailand to Bloomsbury – and that the world that is under attack is deeply in denial about what it is facing. More than that, this film shows in graphic and undeniable detail that this jihad is a direct descendant of Nazism…. Some of the footage in this film leaves you speechless.”

Ah, if only that were true.

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 7 November 2006

For an alternative view, by Sheila Musaji of The American Muslim, see here.

BNP and leader ‘no longer racist’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainThe leader of the British National Party (BNP) has told a court that neither he nor his party are racist. Nick Griffin, 47, told Leeds Crown Court that in the early 1990s “the party could be described as racist” and himself “to a certain extent”. But he said this was no longer the case and said a speech in which he described Islam as a “wicked, vicious faith” was not intended to stir racial hatred.

The married father-of-four said he had studied the Koran for many years, and his research had led him to the conclusion that the problems he perceived in local communities were not racial, but cultural and religious.

The jury was shown extracts from the Koran, books on Islam and reports about the religion, which Mr Griffin used to claim support for his view of Muslims. He said the Koran provided an excuse for terrorists and radical Muslims, such as Egyptian-born cleric Abu Hamza. “He’s not a crazy extremist who is perverting Islam. He is getting this from the book.”

BBC News, 7 November 2006

The left must defend freedom of expression

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The left must defend freedom of expression

By Ken Livingstone

Socialist Campaign Group News, November 2006

The outpouring of negativity towards all things Muslim in the media following Jack Straw’s statement that he asks constituents who seek his help to take off their veils was predictable.

Far from a disinterested ‘debate’, much media coverage more closely resembled the kind of systematic, drip, drip, drip demonisation of Jewish people in the first half of this century.

Muslims have been condemned for their religion, their dress, their schools, their ‘sense of grievance’, their difference, their separation and virtually every other aspect of their religion and culture. And those lambasting them have been variously praised for their ‘courage’, ‘bravery’ and ‘willingness to break taboos’.

The biggest beneficiaries of this outpouring of prejudice has been the extreme right. In the 1930s, the Blackshirts targeted the Jews. Today the BNP puts a so-called Islamic threat at the centre of its election campaigns.

This is directly legitimised by tabloids like the Daily Express with its front page ‘Ban the Veil’ campaign. That is also why this so-called ‘discussion’ has, in reality, been accompanied by a surge in physical and verbal attacks on Muslims, with women abused for wearing veils, mosques attacked.

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Bishop attacks ‘Muslim hypocrisy’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A senior Anglican bishop has accused many Muslims of being guilty of double standards in their view of the world. The Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, told the Sunday Times some had a “dual psychology” in which they sought “victimhood and domination”. The Muslim Council of Britain said the comments were “not very helpful”.

BBC News, 5 November 2006

See also Sunday Times, 5 November 2006

For earlier anti-Muslim comments by the bishop, see here and here.

London mayor backs anti-Islamophobia rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BMI_Liberty rallyIslamophobia on the March

By Ken Livingstone

Morning Star, 4 November 2006

On November 20, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster, a national rally will be held to defend freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Organised jointly by the British Muslim Initiative and Liberty, it has the support of a wide range of organisations, including faith groups, anti-racist campaigns and labour movement bodies.

The rally will be the first step in initiating a national campaign to defend freedom of religion and culture and to combat the rise of Islamophobia.

The aim is to support the principle that communities from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, of all religions and none, should live together in a spirit of tolerance and respect for each other’s customs and values.

London itself is in many respects a model for the sort of multicultural society we want to build. The diversity brought about by successive waves of migration has been a key factor in the success and dynamism of the capital.

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How veil remarks reinforced its support

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jack_StrawJack Straw’s comments on veils have been good news for the owner of The Hijab Centre in the MP’s constituency of Blackburn. Nadeem Siddiqui tells me he is selling more veils than he did before his local MP made his controversial remarks.

Mr Siddiqui is the largest seller of veils in the area. “I used to sell two or three a week but now I am selling five to six. They are mainly being bought by young, British-born Muslim women,” he said. “These women are experimenting with the wearing of the niqab. Their mothers often do not cover themselves but they seem to want to do it.”

It is probably not the impact that Mr Straw intended when he wrote in his local newspapers that he felt uncomfortable when dealing face to face with veiled women. The majority of Muslims condemned Mr Straw over his comments. One month later, they are still upset.

“I voted for Mr Straw at the last election” says Mr Siddiqui. “I’m now reconsidering my support for him. Most of the people around here are doing the same because of what he said about the veil”.

British Muslims do not accept the argument that veiled women contribute to segregation or are a barrier to integration. Instead they feel they are being deliberately stigmatised as a problem community and are fearful of the future.

BBC News, 5 November 2006

BNP backs bish

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The fascist British National Party has applauded the anti-Muslim comments by the Bishop of Rochester. They are particularly taken with the Bishop’s observation, in relation to Muslims, that “there can never be sufficient appeasement and new demands will continue to be made” – which is of course what the fascists themselves have repeatedly asserted.

The BNP’s Kent correspondent adds: “It is increasingly apparent that there are a growing number of people within the Church of England who are prepared to publicly express their concerns on issues related to the growth and influence of Islam in Britain in these troubled times – this is all to the good!”

BNP regional report, 5 November 2006

Charles Johnson is equally enthusiastic about the bishop’s call for an end to the appeasement of Islam: “This is exactly right, and has been borne out time and time again. It’s a primitive, tribal mentality that exists outside of rationality.”

Little Green Footballs, 5 November 2006

We have to deport terrorist suspects – whatever their fate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nick Cohen 2“Everyone now condemns past governments for allowing London to become ‘Londonistan’, a centre for Islamist exiles”, Nick Cohen tells us. Do they, now? And would those “Islamist exiles” include people like Rashid al-Ghannoushi, perhaps? Presumably so, because as far as Cohen is concerned there is no principled difference between democratic Islamists and Al-Qaeda supporters.

Cohen continues: “A foreigner who MI5 says is a threat to national security has no right to refugee status.” Such touching faith in the reliability of Britain’s security services. And none of your liberal whingeing about people being entitled to a fair hearing, or having a right to question the evidence MI5 might claim to have against them.

No, Nick’s quite clear about it. There is no realistic alternative – the suspects will simply have to be deported back to their countries of origin. And if those countries are headed by dictatorial regimes that habitually use torture against oppositionists … well, that’s just tough.

Observer, 5 November 2006

See also Lenin’s Tomb, 5 November 2006